2. Cassie
January Studios is one of the best film studios on the west coast. It just so happens to sit across from Dave’s Diner and right down the street from my apartment. It felt like fate when I first moved here, to live so close to a place that could be where I act in my debut film. Well, that was many years ago and now I’m questioning if I even want to be an actor.
Have you ever had a dream that you’ve been chasing for a while and nothing seems to happen with it? No matter how many times you wish for it or try to manifest it, it feels like the world is working against you? Well, that’s how I feel. I’ve landed a few smaller parts and a few commercials, but I haven’t found a role that fulfills me. A role I can look back on and feel grateful for because of all the opportunities that came from it. Instead, my resume contains low-budget films and my acting showcases.
This job at the studio may not lead to anything, but at least it will be something different. I love working with Lucy, but the late-night shifts at the diner are not my favorite.
I pull into the studio, drive to the employee lot, and park in the designated area for production. Carla included exceptionally detailed instructions in the email. I’m 30 minutes early. When I woke up this morning, a wave of anxiety washed over me, clouding my thoughts about my first day. I hoped arriving early would help ease some of that.
I get stopped by the doorman when I enter the building. I find out his name is also Dave. Dave the doorman. Cute. Although I already know where to go based on the email, I explain that I’m new and trying to find Carla, and I let Dave point to where I need to go for reassurance. He tells me I should pass through the door, head up the stairs on the right, and Carla’s office is the first door on the right. If I continue going straight instead of up the stairs, it will eventually lead me to the set, he says.
I put on a fake grin and say thanks, trying to hide the fact that my chest is tight and my fingers won’t stop fidgeting. I try to only focus on my excitement as I step into the studio.
I find the office easy enough. The door is wide open and there’s a woman sitting at the desk at the back of the room.
Her mocha hair, curled to perfection, drapes over her shoulders as she leans over the desk. She’s flipping through pages attached to a clipboard.
“Hi, Carla?” I ask. I don’t want to assume that she’s Carla, but she is the only person in the room, so it seems like a safe bet.
She looks up, eyes wide, mouth broken into a huge grin. She waves me over to sit.
“You must be Cassie! You find the office okay? I hope Dave didn’t give you too much trouble down there.”
“Oh, yes, easy enough. Thank you for the detailed email. It helped,” I say as I take a seat across from her.
“Great, great. Okay.” Carla flips through a few more pages on her clipboard before taking them off and handing them to me.
I look at the pages to find a schedule.
“That is the schedule for this week and next. Marcy will–” Carla says.
“Marcy will what?” A voice comes from behind us.
I turn around to find the same girl from the diner. Today she’s wearing a purple dress to match her purple bob.
Marcy’s eyes widen, and she points to me with a smile on her face. “Small world, eh?”
“Indeed,” I say as I turn back around to Carla’s desk, my thoughts wandering to how Marcy and Emmett know each other. Marcy takes a seat on the edge of the desk, avoiding the chair next to me.
Carla looks from Marcy to me with her eyebrows raised.
Marcy sees her confusion. “Oh, right, Cassie was my server at the diner last night.”
Carla slowly nods. They both look down and I realize they both have clipboards. Are clipboards mandatory here? Do I need a clipboard for my three pages of paper? I make a mental note to order one online later.
Marcy gives me the rundown on what to expect for this job. I’ll come into the studio a few times a week and do normal PA duties, such as deliver mail, ensure actors get to set on time, and occasionally run errands for the talent on off hours if their driver is unavailable.
Our days should stay pretty busy, but we have downtime to sit on set in case someone needs something. Marcy wants to give me a tour, so we tell Carla goodbye, and I smile before we head out the door and back down the stairs.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize it was you last night.” Marcy looks back at me.
“You couldn’t have known, and I didn’t know either. So not a problem. I’m just happy to be here,” I reply.
Dave the doorman waves to us as we pass him and head down the long hallway. There are posters on either side from movies that were filmed at the studio, similar to the ones at the diner. There are also photos of staff and cast for some of them with autographs from the principal actors. I look at them and my arms prickle with goosebumps. I know that many movies are filmed in California, especially the classics, and most of them were filmed at January Studios.
I have to walk faster to catch up to Marcy, who veers to the right to follow another hallway. My gaze wanders from the bright lights on the ceiling to the staff standing around the corridor chatting with one another.
We say hello to other staff that pass by. Marcy calls everyone by name.
“How long have you worked here?” I ask. Watching how Marcy moves around the studio, recognizes everyone, and the confidence she exudes makes me think she’s been here for a while.
“Um, three years?” She slows her pace to walk in line with me. “I started as a PA. Now, I’m an assistant director and manage logistics on set.”
“Oh, that’s awesome.” I’m about to ask about Emmett, but we finally reach the set.
We walk through the door frame into a large room. To the left, there’s a table lined with all sorts of food and drinks. There’s also another double door, but I’m not sure where that goes. The rest of the room is full of different sets. There appears to be a police station, a café, and a living room.
Marcy leads me to the center of the room to a man sitting in a director’s chair. His short gray hair matches his beard, which is trimmed short around his jaw and upper lip. He’s wearing a black t-shirt and dark jeans with a white pair of Converse. He is the most stylish director I’ve seen.
The man smiles and stands to greet us.
“Marcy! Feels like we just ended the last film, right?” They hug. I shift from one foot to the other and glance around the room.
“Hi, Ed. Yes, it’s hard to believe it’s already been two months.” Marcy turns somewhat to me and holds her hand out, gesturing in my direction. “This is Cassie, my new assistant.”
Ed takes two steps toward me and extends his hand. I give it a shake.
“Nice to meet you, Cassie!” Ed beams.
“Likewise. What movie is being filmed right now?” I can’t help but ask. I’m curious.
“You’re looking at my next Academy Award winning movie.” Ed chuckles. “It’s about two detectives that try to solve a big crime happening around the holidays. We have a few office scenes and a café scene to film. I’m hoping for an easy first week!”
I nod and smile.
Ed turns to Marcy and asks her some questions about this week’s schedule, making sure she has everything she needs. Once they align on the first few scenes for the day, Marcy lets Ed know she’s going to continue showing me around.
I wave bye to Ed and follow Marcy through the double doors by the food table. It leads to the trailers outside where the actors hang out during the day when they aren’t filming.
When I need to deliver script changes or check on an actor, this is likely where I will come, Marcy tells me. She points up to the mailboxes, which sit on the top of the stairs of every trailer by the main door. There are five trailers, A through E. Every mail item will have a trailer letter on it to make it super easy. So far, there aren’t any tasks I don’t feel like I can tackle. A lot of the job consists of checking on others, which I already do daily at the diner.
Once we pass the last trailer, there’s another set of doors that leads back inside. Through these double doors is the cafeteria. Lined with large tables and chairs, the room is big enough to fit the entire crew if it needed to, but right now, there are only a handful of people since it’s still early. I’m told most people don’t arrive at the studio until a bit later, depending on when filming starts for the day.
“Marcy!” A tall man with gorgeous blond locks greets her.
Everyone we’ve run into so far has greeted Marcy with excitement, like it’s been years since they’ve seen each other and they’re reuniting. Here, it’s only been a few months. From what I can tell, the people here are close, likely because it takes months on end to finish a movie.
“Hi, Tyler! Everything going okay for you?” Marcy asks.
Tyler directs his gaze at me before returning to Marcy. “Yeah, we’re good. We have enough food for this week, and that’s all that matters.”
Tyler extends his hand to me and waits for me to grab it. “Hi, I’m Tyler.”
I reach out to shake his hand. “Cassie.”
“Oh, right.” Marcy slaps her right palm to her forehead before taking it away. “Cassie, this is Tyler. He runs the catering here at the studios. Tyler, Cassie, is my new assistant. Don’t give her shit.” Marcy glares at him.
Tyler holds up both hands in defense. “Hey, it’s too early for fighting.”
“What’s for breakfast this morning?” a voice behind us yells.
I turn around to find two other people walking toward us. They appear to be fighting about something because one of them has a clipboard and is pointing to something with extra oomph. The clipboard thing appears to stretch departments.
I’m still standing next to Marcy. I definitely feel like the newbie here, everyone seems to be such great friends.
Marcy ignores their question and turns to me. “That is Max.” She points to a red-headed man wearing jeans and a white t-shirt who’s easily over six feet tall. He waves. “And that is Lane.” The person walking with Max is a few inches shorter, with a shadow of a beard that matches his dark brown hair. He’s wearing black everything; shirt, pants, and shoes. He smiles and dips his head. “They lead casting at the studios.”
I smile and say hello to the both of them, trying to contain the bundle of nerves that want to burst out like confetti. First impressions are everything, and I want to be sure that I leave a great one in case they end up hiring me for a job one day.
I don’t have a lot of friends in Los Angeles. I hang out with Lucy, but she’s my roommate, so I don’t have a choice but to see her. I’ve made a few friends at my acting class, but they aren’t the type of friends that prioritize seeing you. Our friendship remains mostly at surface level. There is no grabbing coffee together or hanging out outside of mandatory class activities.
Besides class and the diner, I don’t have a lot of energy to give to find new friends. I would have to give up something if I wanted to pursue more friendships. Many people don’t understand the hustle of trying to become an actress in such a saturated market. It’s easier to spend time alone.
Marcy and I eat a little snack with everyone before heading back to set. She wants me to watch Ed film the first scene of the day. I’m familiar with small commercials filmed in dusty conference rooms or low-budget short films shot outside or in people’s houses, but this is my first time being on a more formal movie set.
We move to stand by Ed and prepare for him to yell action. They’re filming a scene that takes place in an office setting where the main character enters through the door and appears to be arguing with someone on his cell phone. A brief scene that will then cut to follow him in a close up by a desk.
Marcy pulls up two chairs for us to sit in.
Ed yells, “Action!”
The door flings open on the opposite side of the set and in walks one of the main characters of the movie. A tall man, dressed in a full suit, with shaggy brown hair. He’s on his cellphone, like the script states, yelling about some lead that is no longer a lead.
He’s walking toward a desk when his eyes catch mine.
Shit.
“Cut!” Ed yells. “Emmett, eyes toward the desk when you’re walking.”
Emmett nods quickly and apologizes. He glances at me for half a second, his eyes wide and his head tilted. Mocking me from last night.
I bite my lip to stifle a laugh.
They only need to run the scene one more time before it’s perfect and Ed is content.
Emmett walks over to us after the scene and smiles. It’s the kind of smile that is contagious, not quite reaching his eyes, but enough to cause me to need to catch my breath.
“Way to already suck on your first day on set,” Marcy says, not even looking at Emmett. She’s busy flipping through her clipboard and reading the schedule for the day.
“Yeah, Emmett, what Marcy said,” Ed chimes in.
I stay quiet.
“Hi, Cassie.” Emmett looks directly at me this time, not shying away from the fact that we have indeed met before.
Ed looks at Emmett with a cocked eyebrow. Emmett basically just admitted why he lost focus on set, and it wasn’t because he forgot his lines. To be fair, I wasn’t expecting to see him so soon, either.
I thought after leaving the diner last night, I would never see him again. And if I did, it would be on a TV screen when I’m on the couch watching him act in his latest movie. For whatever reason, the thought did not cross my mind that he would work out of the studio. It makes sense now, since Lucy told me there was a new movie being filmed, but when I saw Emmett last night, I couldn’t think about anything other than the way he was looking at me.
A while later after filming a few more scenes, Emmett walks off the set with Marcy and me. We’re heading back to the cafeteria for lunch.
“You want to join us?” Marcy asks. Emmett is walking to her left. I’m on her right.
He nods. “Yeah, I have a little bit of time.”
Instead of sitting next to Marcy, Emmett sits next to me, and they talk about what they did during their time off. Emmett stayed here in his apartment, preparing for the next role since he committed to doing back-to-back movies. “Pretty uneventful,” were his words. Marcy went to visit her family in southern California.
Emmett turns to me. “So, Cassie, didn’t expect to see me so soon, huh?” He smirks.
I know Marcy is staring, but I avoid looking at her. Instead, I continue to stare at my salad and put a forkful of lettuce in my mouth. I give him a side-eye glare, which he must find funny because he knocks my leg with his and releases a small chuckle.
After we finish our food, Marcy asks Emmett if he can give me a tour of the inside of his trailer, just in case I’m ever tasked with running any errands for any of the actors. She was going to show me with one of the empty trailers, but she needs to go meet Ed.
I tell Marcy I’ll come find her when I’m done. My heart races at the fact that I’ll be alone with Emmett. I take a deep breath and tell myself that he’s only being nice because it’s my first day, hoping that helps to calm the butterflies in my stomach.
“After you.” Emmett gestures to the inside of his trailer. He holds the door open as I pass by him and move inside.
It’s bigger than I expect.
Emmett walks past me and takes a few steps to the right. He shows me the living room, which has a single couch big enough to fit a few people on it. On the opposite wall, there is a mounted TV. Emmett mentions that his gaming system sees a lot of use when he has company over in the middle of the day.
He walks past me again, this time walking to the kitchen. He shows me where he keeps his snacks and such, although it can vary from trailer to trailer.
He points out the bathroom, and that’s pretty much everything. There isn’t much else to it. Just two rooms and a bathroom, enough to keep the actors content during the day.
Some actors live in hotel rooms, but Emmett tells me he has an apartment nearby that he’s owned for the past few years.
He looks at me. We’re standing in the kitchen, and I’m about ready to head out to find Marcy.
“Want to stay for a few minutes?” he asks.
I shouldn’t, but I nod. “Just a few minutes,” I say.
He smiles and gestures to the couch.
I don’t know what it is, but I’m nervous. My stomach feels like a swarm of butterflies has invaded and they keep fluttering from one side to the other.
I sit on the couch and take a deep breath. I know I should have left, but I figure it’s good to get to know who I’m working with. Right? Yeah, that’s it. It’s research. Smart Cassie is taking the seat now and will have none of Emmett’s looks distract her.
That is, until Emmett sits close enough to me on the couch that our knees bump. He’s facing me, and his right arm is sitting on the back of the couch, bent so his head can rest on his hand.
I look over at him. He’s just staring at me, not looking anywhere but my face.
“What—” I start.
“So—” He interrupts.
We speak at the same time. He nods at me to talk first.
“What do you typically do during your breaks during the day?”
“It depends. Sometimes I only have enough time to go to the cafeteria to eat. Max, Lane, and Tyler come over if I have more time to kill. Why? Want to spend more time with me, Cassie?” he asks, flirting with me.
I didn’t prepare for this. Smart Cassie would think with her brain and respond with something like, ‘I would love to get to know you on a professional level’, but that’s boring.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” I say and immediately regret it because Emmett suddenly gets up from the couch and wanders into the kitchen.
He chuckles to himself while he’s perusing in the fridge. He grabs two sparkling waters, handing one to me when he comes to sit next to me again.
“I think you and I are going to have some fun,” Emmett says.
I’m still too nervous to ask him what his definition of fun is. So, instead, I settle on responding with a nod.
“So, tell me about yourself.” Emmett smiles.
“That’s like asking me how the weather is,” I quip.
“So, you’re a little sassy. Got it.” He winks and it’s taking everything in me to not fidget, to remain still, as my stomach fills with little zaps of movement.
“I’m not sassy,” I retort. Emmett dips his chin and raises his eyebrows in question. “Okay, fine.” I give in. “But would you rather I be dull, Emmett Davis?”
“No, that’d be awfully boring.” Emmett responds, lightly shoving my shoulder. “But seriously, humor me.”
My eyes roll involuntarily, but I oblige. “Let’s start with the basics. Moved here five years ago from Indiana to pursue acting. One younger sister, Annie. I normally work whenever I’m not rehearsing.” I pause, taking a sip of my drink.
“Boyfriend?”
“Why? Interested?”
“Do you want me to be?” Emmett asks, his lips turning up in a smirk.
“Is this how you get a lady’s attention?” I tilt my head.
“First time trying. Is it working?” Emmett shifts in his seat. He turns more toward me, his gaze never wavering from mine.
“It’s not not working.” I’m honest.
“Mhm, good.” His lips curl inward and his gaze drops momentarily, then a small smile makes its appearance.
“Tell me about yourself. Always wanted to be an actor?” I ask.
“Acting is all I’ve ever done. My dad had me signed up for gigs as soon as I muttered my first word. But no, it’s not what I’ve always wanted to do.”
“What did you want to do?”
“Stick around, Cassie, and I’m sure I’ll spill my secrets to you soon enough.”
Why do I want that? I shouldn’t crave more from Emmett, I hardly know him. Yet, for some reason, I’m drawn to him. More than I should, and part of me thinks he feels the same.
“Emmett.” A voice echoes from the kitchen.
“My radio.” Emmett looks toward the kitchen and sighs before standing up from the couch to make his way over to where the voice originated.
“Go for Emmett.”
“Can you send Cassie to Carla’s office? I’m assuming you’re done showing her your trailer.” Marcy’s voice echoes from the speaker. She doesn’t ask why it was taking so long to show me the 300 square foot trailer.
If she asked, what would I even say? Oh, yeah, sorry, I’m too busy trying to convince myself to not stare too long at this gorgeous man in front of me.
“On it,” Emmett responds and sets the radio back on the counter.
He walks over to me and extends his hand toward me. I grab it, and that’s when I realize that I am definitely attracted to this man.
He pulls me up too fast and I stumble forward into his chest. I’d like to say I’m surprised that he catches me, but I’m not.
“Um, s-sorry,” I say and move to take a step back, but I forget the couch is right behind me.
I teeter backwards and Emmett’s hands instinctively reach for my waist, pulling me back into his embrace.
“Falling for me already?” Emmett asks.
My gaze meets his, his arms still wrapped around me. Neither of us move. One step from either of us would bring our chests together. I picture myself tipping my jaw up, Emmett doing the opposite, and leaning down to press his lips against mine. My cheeks fill red from the thought. I bite my lip, which isn’t smart because Emmett’s eyes track my every movement.
“I should go,” I force myself to say out loud.
He nods and releases his hold on me. Similar to last night, I immediately want to be wrapped up in him again.
I head back into the studio to find Marcy and find my thoughts replaying the last hour with Emmett. I don’t understand how he’s left such an impact to invade my every thought. I’ve known him for less than 24 hours, yet I find myself wanting to spend more time with him. He wasn’t wrong. I want to see him more.
I’ve already faltered in my goal of avoiding any complications. If I looked up “Complications for Cassie” in a dictionary, Emmett would be number one, bold and underlined. I need to stay focused on my plan.
Time to put up a barrier against Emmett and keep things professional.