CHAPTER 19
She knew Dana was upset with her. She wanted to tell Dana to join the club because Samara was upset with herself.
She couldn’t believe she had done that: she’d kissed a woman in the middle of a crowded dance floor.
Yes, she’d been wearing a wig and some ridiculous glasses, but if someone had paid close enough attention, they would’ve been able to recognize her.
Hell, maybe someone had recognized her, and there were already photos or even a video online, with people wondering if she’d just been drunk, making out with some tourist, or if there had been more to the story and she’d been sober, making out with her new co-star, which was the actual truth.
Samara couldn’t even pretend to be drunk.
She had finished her strong drink very quickly, yes, but it hadn’t kicked in fully by then.
She could still try to tell Dana that it had, but Dana would know better than that.
Dana always seemed to know things, could pick up on things, or didn’t mind telling Samara things directly and honestly, which was a nice change of pace for Samara most of the time because a lot of people just gave in to her every whim.
Kyla did not these days, but that was mainly because pregnancy had affected her temper, and she was ready to pop.
Before that, though, Kyla had basically done whatever Samara had asked.
Not only was Dana honest with her, but she was beautiful and sexy, and when Samara had been dancing with her, all she had wanted to do was kiss her for real this time.
She’d been ready. She had felt ready to take that step.
She’d known it would be good. Dana could kiss.
And Samara had actually been wondering if they’d kiss as themselves and not as their characters, if it would be any better.
It had been. Dana’s lips had been like water on a burning fire of the desire Samara had felt for her since day one, but also like a match striking the fire up all over again.
The drive back to their trailers hadn’t helped.
She hadn’t known what to say, and the temperature in the car had been way off because the driver hadn’t made sure the car was ready for them, which had been Samara’s fault.
He hadn’t been prepared for them to leave so soon, and neither had she.
She’d wanted the dance, the kiss, another drink, a make-out session off to the side of the dance floor, with hands roaming and Dana asking if Samara wanted to go home with her.
Samara was sure she would’ve said no because she would’ve come to her senses by then.
Kissing her co-star and doing more with her after would’ve been a mistake, but she had never wanted anyone so much before.
She hadn’t ever been so attracted to another person, and she’d let that get in the way of her logic, which had been constantly telling her to stop this, find some stranger, get laid, and move the hell on.
When they had gotten back to set, Dana had offered to help her out of the car, but Samara had declined.
She got out on her own, pulled off the glasses and the wig, and hurried past Dana into her trailer, deciding to just sleep there instead of going to her hotel since the room here was already at seventy degrees and it was late anyway.
“Samara,” Dana said to her from just outside the door. “I’m sorry.”
Samara just stood there, leaning back against the counter where Dana had stood earlier, and wished she could tell Dana that it wasn’t her fault. This was something that Samara had to own.
◆◆◆
“Can we move some things around?” she asked Reed the next day.
“Not really. Why?”
“I just think we could shoot some of my scenes today. Maybe we move shooting Stella and Jessica’s stuff when they walk into the bar to today and finish the Stella and Bray stuff tomorrow.”
“There’s no tomorrow, Samara. Today is our last day at this location.”
“Is it a budget thing? Can we rent it out tomorrow, too, or maybe a day next week? I can cover the rental cost.”
“No, we cannot rent it out tomorrow. They’re hosting some big high school reunion or something here. And next week won’t work because–” Reed paused then and stopped walking to ask, “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” she replied, stopping along with her. “I just feel really ready for that scene.”
“The scene where it’s just Stella and Jessica walking into a bar? Doesn’t seem all that challenging. Did you really have to prep much for that?”
“Hey, I have lines.”
“Two; you have two lines. What’s really going on here? Where’s Dana? You two have been attached at the hip lately.”
“We have not been attached at any hips,” she argued a little too aggressively and walked off. “I’ll be in hair.”
“Okay. I’ll see you on set, then,” Reed replied. “Bye, I guess.”
“Bye!” Samara yelled back and headed to the hair trailer. “I’m here,” she said, walking in and finding Dana sitting in a chair, with the empty one next to her ready for Samara.
“Morning, Samara,” her stylist said.
Samara couldn’t remember her name, so she just said, “Hi. Has my breakfast been delivered here by any chance? It wasn’t in my trailer when it was supposed to be.”
“Maybe the person who was responsible for dropping it off didn’t want to risk getting yelled at for it being wrong somehow,” Dana noted.
Samara caught Dana’s eye in the mirror and gave her a nod. She probably deserved that.
“I don’t have it in here, no,” the stylist replied.
“Dana, you’re all done,” Dana’s stylist said.
“Thanks, Tanner,” Dana replied and stood quickly.
Of course, Dana knew her stylist’s name. She knew everyone’s name. She was polite, direct when needed, and sassy. She was definitely sassy and honest, and Samara wished she had Dana’s courage to just kiss a woman on a dance floor and not worry about all the possible consequences.
“See you out there, I guess,” Dana added to her and left the trailer.
“Her hair is so much easier now that it’s short. Twenty minutes, and she’s done. Yours, however, will take about an hour,” Tanner noted.
“Great,” she replied sarcastically.
Two hours later, Samara’s hair was done, her makeup had been applied, and she was back in the same outfit she had worn for two days to complete the bar shoot.
Well, while it was technically the same outfit, they had two shirts, so it was at least a clean shirt.
She walked to the bar and sat in her chair, staring down at her phone, pretending to do something while she waited for someone to say it was time to get started.
“Morning,” Bryce said.
“Good morning,” Samara replied without looking up from her phone.
“Everything okay? I heard you wanted to change the schedule and shoot some solo stuff today.”
Samara did look up then because Dana was sitting in her own chair next to Bryce and had heard what Bryce had just said. Dana stared at Samara for a second, but then, she looked away.
“Yeah, just thought it might be a good idea.”
“We’re almost done here,” Bryce told her. “Reed mentioned you wanted to start with Stella and Jessica walking into the bar, but we’re doing that at the end of the day instead. I hope that’s okay.”
“It’s fine,” she said.
“We’re ready. Let’s get moving. We’ve got a lot to get through today,” Reed said.
Samara stood, leaving her phone on the chair, and went to her mark, but when Dana approached, she stood about a foot off her own X and couldn’t meet Samara’s eye.
“Uh… Dana? Want to get in your light, please?” Reed added. “Your mark?”
“Sorry,” Dana said, moving forward.
“Let’s get this today. I didn’t like the light on the coverage we got yesterday, so let’s get this in one or two takes so that we can reset and move on.”
“Are you okay?” Dana asked.
Samara’s face fell because Dana was clearly mad at her, but she was still asking her if she was okay.
Samara nodded, and Dana moved all the way into her, placing her hands on Samara’s hips, where the script called for them to be.
When Reed said, ‘Action,’ Dana moved her lips to Samara’s neck, but she didn’t kiss her there this time; she just held herself an inch or two away, pretending as if her lips were meeting Samara’s neck.
“Cut!” Reed said loudly. “Samara? Want to at least pretend that you like what she’s doing there? You look like you’re confused that Bray would be kissing your neck.”
“Sorry. Yeah. My bad,” she said and shook her head.
“And your arms; can you maybe put those on Bray somewhere instead of just dangling them at your side?”
“Yup. Got it,” she replied.
They went again, and Dana only pretended to kiss her on the neck again.
Samara pretended she liked it and moved her hands haphazardly over Dana’s back, trying to focus on being Stella and not thinking about the fact that it was Dana.
She was Stella right now, and this was Bray, and they were falling in love.
“Let’s try it again,” Reed said on the fifth take. “Ladies, I know we’re really just getting some coverage here, and we’ll use the two-shot from the other day for most of this, but I still need to see that you actually like each other today. Can we try that, please?”
“Sorry,” Dana said this time.
“Let’s go one more time. Everyone ready?”
Reed gave them their cue once more, and Samara mustered up all the acting talent she could, but it still didn’t feel like enough.
She’d never had this problem before. With any other co-star, she had been able to act like she liked them for the scene.
Of course, she had never kissed a co-star for real the night before filming.
“Cut,” she said.
“Sorry?” Reed asked. “Did you just say, ‘Cut?’”
“I’m sorry,” she said, and Dana looked at her in confusion, but Samara leaned in and whispered, “Put your lips on me.” She hoped the boom microphone didn’t pick that up, but she knew it had. “It’s okay.”
“Is it, though?” Dana asked and shook her head. “Let’s just get this over with, please. Whatever you want. The camera is on your face, so can you maybe pretend I’m some buff actor you’d actually do this with so that we can move on?”
“Dana,” she began softly. “I’m–”
“Ladies, we’re running out of time here,” Reed said.
“We’re ready,” Dana replied. “We’ve got it.”
Reed went through the motions, and Dana leaned back in.
When her lips pressed to Samara’s neck this time, Samara closed her eyes.
She didn’t need to pretend that it was some actor.
Dana did it for her. When Dana actually sucked on her neck lightly, Samara’s hands went to work, moving over her back, pressing and squeezing, and not just for the camera.
She wanted to apologize to Dana, but she didn’t know how, and she couldn’t exactly do that here anyway, so she gasped a little and waited because Reed would surely be telling them to cut soon.
Dana’s lips moved to Samara’s earlobe, and she sucked it into her mouth.
Samara gasped again because that wasn’t in the script, and no one would be able to see it anyway due to the camera angle.
She knew this had nothing to do with the movie.
This was all Dana, not Bray. She held on to Dana now, trying to let her know that she understood that, and Dana’s hand slid under her shirt, resting on Samara’s stomach.
“And cut,” Reed said.
“What? No,” Samara replied.
“No?” Reed asked.
Dana pulled back and stared into Samara’s eyes. Dana’s green ones were darker than they had been moments earlier. Samara wondered if her own eyes were just as dark, and she swallowed as she stared into those greens because she knew she’d just had Dana sucking on her earlobe, not Bray.
“Are we okay today?” Reed asked after a minute.
“We’re good,” Dana said.
“Okay. Well, I think we finally got it. Thank God! Let’s move on. Reset,” Reed said.
Dana turned and quickly walked away from her, like she couldn’t get away fast enough. Samara wished it hadn’t gotten to her, but it had. She cleared her throat and tried to fix her shirt in an attempt to pull herself together.
“Everything all right there?” Bryce asked.
“Why wouldn’t it be?” she replied, forcing a smile before she grabbed her phone and walked to her trailer.
She needed a minute to herself, but when she got there, she grunted loudly. The room was seventy-three degrees and climbing. She smacked at the thermostat and tried to change the temperature, but it didn’t respond.
“What the hell?” she asked no one and walked back outside. “Jana!”
“Hey,” Jana said, walking over to her. “What’s up?”
“The thermostat is broken. It’s too hot.”
“In your trailer?”
“No, on the golf cart behind you. Yes, in my trailer.”
“Okay. Sorry,” Jana said. “Want me to get someone to take a look?”
“Of course, I do. Call maintenance or the trailer company or something. I need it to be seventy degrees as soon as possible.”
“I’m on it,” Jana replied, reaching for her walkie-talkie.
“Just go into mine,” Dana told her.
Samara turned to see that she was standing outside her own trailer. She looked annoyed but also a little disappointed, and Samara knew she’d been the cause of both of those emotions.
“Sorry?” she asked.
“Samara, my trailer is fine. Go on in. I’ll just hang out in yours.”
“It’s too hot in mine.”
“It’ll be fine for me,” Dana said, walking toward her.
“How do you know yours is seventy?”
“Because I set it to seventy. Feel free to verify it for me, though,” Dana said and walked into Samara’s trailer, closing the door behind her.
Samara considered following her and talking now, but she knew she couldn’t.
She really needed a minute to herself, and likely, so did Dana.
She walked into Dana’s trailer and was surprised to find that Dana had been right.
Samara sat on the small sofa and let the perfect temperature cool her heated skin.
Then, after a moment, she stood and opened Dana’s fridge, hoping for a bottle of water.
Inside, she found exactly six bottles of her own favored sparkling.
There were also six of those bottles on the counter that she’d just noticed.
“God, she’s perfect. What the fuck are you doing, dumbass?” she asked herself before taking a long drink.