CHAPTER 11 #2
“Sure.” Jessie nodded. “Why don’t you and I go into the dining room, where we’ve set up the snacks and some drinks?
We can get something for Lacey, too. Cameron here can show her around a little, and maybe Kennedy can show you around later.
That’s not a bad idea, actually,” she added, seemingly more to herself than to anyone else.
“We’ll see the bedrooms in a bit; maybe after your luggage is in there. ”
“Okay. You good?” River asked Lacey.
Lacey appreciated her checking because she hadn’t expected them to be separated at all this weekend, but especially not right away like this.
“I’m okay,” she replied.
“I guess you’re stuck with me, then,” Cameron said. “I just got here myself, but I think I know the layout well enough for us not to get lost. Want to check out the downstairs first?”
“There’s a downstairs?” she asked as River and Jessie walked off.
“Yes. I haven’t been down there yet, but I’ve seen pictures.”
“Sure,” Lacey agreed.
Cameron motioned for her to go first, and Lacey didn’t know where to go until she noticed a staircase to the right. She walked down the stairs with a freaking movie star behind her and tried not to think about that fact as she arrived at one main room with a few doors.
“Game room. Pretty cool, huh?” Cameron asked.
“Oh, yeah,” she replied. “Definitely don’t have one of these in my apartment.”
Cameron laughed a little.
“Oh,” Lacey added, looking over at her. “I assume you have one of these at home.”
Cameron shook her head and replied, “No. We have a gym. Kennedy isn’t a big game room person.”
“Are you?”
“I like pool and stuff. I don’t play often. I would love an air hockey table, though. My dad and I used to play it at arcades when I was growing up, and he never let me win. I think I appreciate that now more than I did when I was younger.”
“I like air hockey,” she said. “I’m not good at it – like, at all – but I like it.”
“Not good at it?”
“No. You could gently push the puck over that air, and I’d have that joystick-looking thingy positioned perfectly for the whole twenty seconds or so that it would take the puck to reach it, and I’d still miss it, and you’d score.
I have some hand-eye coordination issues when it comes to games and sports. ”
“So, I should assume you don’t play any professionally?” Cameron asked through her laughter.
“No, I’m a masseuse.”
“Oh, cool. I’m an actor.”
Lacey laughed and said, “Yeah, I kind of knew that already.”
“Didn’t want to assume.”
“I entered a raffle to have a double date with you and your girlfriend. You didn’t think I knew who you were?”
“River could be a big fan and could’ve entered for you two. Maybe you don’t even watch movies.”
“Well, it was me. And I just saw a movie you were in, actually.”
“Ah, my most recent rom-com,” Cameron concluded and walked over to the pool table, where she dragged her fingertip along the side of it.
Lacey watched her almost entranced, which she should not be.
“I mean, they named my character Whitney and his Chad. Can that movie be any more white?”
Lacey laughed and replied, “Yeah, I noticed that. It was still good, though.”
“Was it? Tell me what you really think.”
Lacey nodded and said, “I only went to see it because River and I were having a date night. I thought the writing was a little stale and overdone, and the actor playing Chad was pretty forgettable. You were good in it. Honestly, if you weren’t, I might have just walked out.”
Cameron laughed wildly and said, “Yes! Thank you.”
“Sorry?”
“You just told me the truth; didn’t you?”
“You asked me to.”
“And you did. You didn’t try to bullshit me or anything. I really appreciate that.”
“I was worried you might not like me very much after I said all that.”
“No, it’s great. Really. Thanks.”
“Why did you do it if you didn’t like it?” Lacey asked.
“Deal with the studio. I had one more movie to do for them, and this fell into my lap. It was easy enough, shot in two months and mostly on a soundstage, and now, I’m done; obligation over.”
“That’s how it works, huh?”
“Sometimes, yeah,” Cameron said. “Hey, I think this is one of those tables that you can change out with, like, a ping-pong table and air hockey. Want to help me find the door that opens to the extra supplies and stuff and see if I’m right? Play air hockey with me and don’t let me win?”
“Sure,” she said with a little laugh, but her laugh stopped when one of the camera guys practically fell down the staircase, as if he’d just remembered that he wasn’t supposed to let them have even a moment alone off camera.
“I think it’s probably in–” Cameron stopped when she saw that he was there, too, and something in her changed.
She turned less open and less playful all at once, and that hurt Lacey a little, so she decided to step into action and take over.
“Loser buys the first drink?” she teased and walked over to what looked to be a closet door.
“The drinks are free here,” Cameron replied with a little of her playfulness returning as she laughed. “But you’re on.”