CHAPTER 15
The rest of the day’s rehearsals had gone a little better.
Samara could tell Dana had still been at least a little nervous, but while rehearsing her scenes with other actors, Dana had been fine, and when they had rehearsed together, Dana had been great.
It was like she’d been back to being Bray in all the right ways.
Samara had tried not to give herself a compliment about bringing out the best in her scene partner, but if she’d done anything to help Dana with those nerves, she was happy.
They’d only had one full day of rehearsals and tests because they were already too far behind to do much more than that, so they would rehearse for a few minutes later, right before they shot a scene, or they would have to do it on their own time in their trailers, on their walks, or at lunch to ensure that they were ready.
Samara was used to that. It seemed like every film, even the big-budget ones, was always behind in some way, so the time allotted for rehearsal or run-throughs often got shortened.
One film she’d worked on had cut their two weeks of upfront rehearsals entirely due to a crew dispute that had delayed everything.
They’d done fine, but Samara would have loved to have had those two weeks to at least try to get to know everyone on the cast a little prior to shooting some tough scenes with them.
The next day, at just after seven in the morning, they were on location, shooting the interior bar scene, which was one of the first in the film after the scenes where they introduce Bray and her friends and their trip to New Orleans, as well as Stella and her friends heading out for a night on the town.
They were shooting the downstairs stuff today, where they meet for the first time, and later, they would shoot the first kiss there as well.
That scene was important to convey because, in the film, same as in real life, a fight would break out after, interrupting them.
Bray – Bryce in real life – would be pulled away as part of the police roundup, taken to the station, and questioned before they would let her go, and by the time she would return to the bar, Stella – Sophie in real life – would be gone, without them having each other’s last names, or a phone number, or any other piece of helpful information.
“Everyone ready?” Reed asked when they all took their positions.
Dana looked a little nervous now that they were actually about to shoot this thing, so Samara leaned in. She knew their mics would pick it up, but she didn’t have much of a choice either way, and she wanted to tell Dana this.
“Use it,” she said softly.
“Huh?” Dana asked.
“Use the nervousness. Our characters are meeting for the first time, and it’s love at first sight, so you would be a little nervous. Use that. Mix it with that cool confidence Bray has, but use it.”
Dana nodded and replied, “Thanks.”
Samara just winked at her. She actually winked and wondered where that had come from. She wasn’t a winker. Was winker even a word? What did people who winked all the time call themselves? Someone who winks?
“Samara?”
“Yeah?”
“Are we ready?” Reed asked.
“Oh, yeah,” she replied.
“Okay. Here we go, people.”
Reed went through all the motions, yelling, “Roll camera. Roll sound.”
When she said, ‘Action,’ Bray and Stella were supposed to end up at the same round high-top table, attempting to claim it for themselves and their friends, starting off their meeting involving all their friends in their first encounter.
“Oh, we–” Dana said her line when she bumped into Samara just as they reached the table. “Hi.”
“Hi,” Samara, as Stella, said back, trying to make it look like she had just seen the sexiest woman in the world, which wasn’t all that difficult given who she was looking at. “Sorry. What?”
The night before, after they’d wrapped their rehearsal, Dana had gone back into the hair trailer, and she had walked out with the sexy Bray hair that had Samara wanting to run her hand through it, just like Sophie, apparently, had done the night that she and Bryce had met.
Dana’s long curly hair had been amazing, and if Samara were being honest, she would’ve loved to have had her hands in that, too, but Dana could grow that back out whenever, and right now, her shorter hair with the curls made her look sexy as hell, which was exactly right for the role she was playing.
“I just…”
“We were going to sit here,” the actress playing Kristie, one of Bray’s friends, said, pointing down toward the table that Stella and the actress playing Jessica, who was supposed to be Sophie’s real-life friend Jill, had taken.
“Oh. We can share, can’t we?” Jessica asked Kristie.
“Yeah, uh… no problem,” Bray said. “Bray.”
“Stella,” Samara replied and shook Bray’s outstretched hand.
“You are?” Jessica asked Kristie.
“Kristie,” the actress replied.
“Jessica.”
“And this is Maggie,” Dana, as Bray, said when a third woman approached, carrying four drinks. “Where is Stevie?”
“Bathroom,” Maggie replied, setting the drinks on the table. “Hi.”
“Hi,” Jessica said. “I’m Jessica. That’s Stella. You guys locals or tourists?”
“Tourists,” Maggie said.
“You?” Bray asked, looking only at Stella, which made Samara nearly go weak in the knees because that haircut really did it for Dana.
“Oh. I live here. So does Jessica.”
“Yeah? Cool,” Bray said. “Do you live… together?”
“No, Jessica and I met tonight,” Samara, as Stella, replied before she shook her head quickly. “Not like that. Not like we met, and we’re here together, like on a date or something, or that we’re–”
“We’re friends,” Jessica interjected. “She means we’re friends but is using a lot of words to say it.”
“And cut!” Reed yelled. “Let’s get a touch-up on Stella. We’re getting some shine on the camera. And Bray, make sure you stay on your spot.”
“Huh?” Dana asked.
“Your X,” Reed replied. “You moved a little too close to Stella, and we lost you in the light. Stay on the mark for me, okay?”
“I did?” Dana asked herself and looked down.
Samara’s eyes followed Dana’s, and sure enough, Dana had clearly moved over at least six inches into her space.
“Yeah, Bray, stay in your own light,” Samara teased her.
“Sorry,” Dana replied, laughing a little as she backed up while the makeup team approached Samara to apply a fresh layer of powder that she couldn’t wait to remove later.
The lights weren’t too bad today, which was nice. It was supposed to be night in the bar, so the outside of the building had been covered up to ensure no sunlight got through, which helped.
“All right! Let’s do that again,” Reed said. “Jessica, can I get you to move just a few inches to your right?”
The actress playing Jessica moved.
“Thanks. Let’s try it again the same way and at the same pace. I might want to speed up the banter in the next take, but let’s see what we get.”
“And stay in your light there, Bray. Don’t forget,” Samara teased again.
“Afraid I’ll steal that spotlight from you with this new haircut?” Dana asked, running her hand through it.
“Dana! Why the hell did you do that?” Reed half-yelled. “You messed up your hair. Hair!”
Samara laughed and said, “You got in trouble.”
“Shit. Sorry. Forgot,” Dana replied.
“Rookie,” the actress playing Maggie said.
“Excuse me?” Samara glared at her.
“Nothing. Sorry,” the woman replied.
“Well, next time you want to make a comment about Dana, you might want to remember that she’s the lead here and you’re supporting cast,” Samara stated.
“Samara, it’s okay,” Dana said as her hand went to the small of Samara’s back. “I am a rookie, and it was a rookie move. You didn’t mean it that way, did you?” she asked the actress.
“No, I was just joking. Sorry,” the woman said.
Samara reluctantly turned off her glare, which she could see had scared her fellow actor a little, and then, she felt the hand on her back disappear as the hair team showed up to fix Dana’s hair.
It had gone on like that for the next several hours, with them taking breaks here and there, breaking for lunch, going back into the room, and doing it all over again with just Bray and Stella.
Take after take after take, and Samara was already exhausted, but they only had this bar for a couple of days, so they had to rush to get all of these important scenes now, or they might run out of time in their location and have to redo it all later somewhere else.
“Hey, what are you doing for dinner?” she asked Dana when they broke after six.
“Nothing. Trailer, I guess, like lunch.”
“Sorry. I had a call at lunch, or I would have eaten with you.”
“It’s okay,” Dana told her as they walked toward their trailers. “It’s like my first day at a new school, kind of. I didn’t want to eat in the tent because I just worked in catering yesterday, and it would’ve felt too weird, so I grabbed some stuff really fast and disappeared in my trailer.”
“Want to eat dinner with me?” Samara offered.
“Sure.”
“Jana?” Samara said to the PA following behind them.
“Yeah?”
“Can you grab Dana something to eat? I assume my food will meet me at my trailer, but they won’t have anything for her there.”
“Sure. What do you want, Dana?”
“Whatever. I’m not picky.”
“Why must you make my job so difficult?” Jana joked.
“How is me not being picky hard?” Dana laughed.
“Because it’s easier if you just tell them what you want,” Samara said. “What’s on the menu for today?”
Jana checked her phone and replied, “Chicken parm.”
“Yeah, just get me that,” Dana said. “Chicken, pasta, and a breadstick or something.”
“It’s seventy-four degrees at night, and we’re about to go back under hot lights for the next several hours. You really want a heavy dinner?”
“It’s what they have,” Dana said. “Why? What are you having?”
“Salad,” she said. “With tofu.”
“Oh, of course,” Dana replied, mocking her. “I guess I’ll just have that,” she said to Jana. “But put chicken on mine instead of tofu.”
Samara laughed and said, “Want the vegan cheese, too?”
“Real cheese, please, Jana,” Dana added.
“You got it,” Jana said. “Drink?”
“I’ll just steal one of her fancy waters.” Dana pointed to Samara. “Can you make sure that she’s stocked up when you bring my food, though? Six in the fridge and maybe six in the cabinet, just to be safe.”
Dana looked at her to confirm.
Samara smiled and said, “That would be great. Thanks, Jana.”
“No problem. I’ll have someone from catering take care of it.” Jana then pressed something on her phone and said, “Hey, I have a dinner order for Dana.”
When they arrived at Samara’s trailer, Jana left them to go take care of that, and they went inside, where Samara was happy to feel seventy degrees as she sat down at the table for a moment, allowing the coolness to wash over her.
“So, how am I doing?” Dana asked, sitting down next to her. “Be honest.”
“Good,” Samara replied, opening her eyes and looking over at her. “You’re doing good.”
“I messed up my stupid hair.” Dana laughed.
“Your hair is not stupid,” Samara noted, smiling at her. “It looks really good on you. It’s like it completes your Bray transformation.”
“So, I’m just full-on Bray now? I’ve ceased to exist as Dana?”
“Oh, no, she’s still in there. Bray wouldn’t have picked on my food choice for dinner.”
Dana laughed and said, “Just a salad for dinner? How do you eat like that?”
“Well, I eat five to six times a day.”
“You eat three times a day. I’ve delivered your meals.”
“I eat meals three times a day, yes, but I have snacks in between. Green juice, a soy granola bar, or something of that kind. Sometimes, it’s fruit.
I usually plan it all out in my head for the day.
That’s why I usually eat a light dinner and a heavier lunch, depending on what I’m doing that day, and that’s why I get a little annoyed when my breakfast doesn’t arrive, and I have to change my plans. ”
“A little? I thought you were going to bite my head off,” Dana argued.
Samara laughed and said, “Hey, can I talk to you about something non-food-related?”
“Sure.”
“Well, after dinner, we… We’re shooting the kiss.”
“Oh,” Dana replied. “Yeah. I’ve never had an on-stage kiss before, so this is a first for me. Any tips? Bray initiates it, so I want to make sure I do it right and that you’re comfortable with it. They didn’t want us to rehearse that.”
“Because they want it to be the first time we actually kiss on camera, hoping we get it right on the very first take, which rarely happens. I wanted to tell you something, though.” She hesitated and felt the blush creep up her neck. “Go for it.”
“Huh?”
“For the kiss; go for it. Don’t worry about me, or that it’s weird because there are people and cameras around. Pretend like it’s just you and me in the room, and that Bray and Stella are soulmates, about to have their first kiss.”
“Well, Bryce and Sophie are soulmates.”
“Right. Just use that,” Samara told her. “And your hero hair.”
She laughed and ran her hand through it, mussing it.
“Hey!” Dana laughed as well. “You’re going to get me in trouble again.”
“I know. Worth it.”