Chapter 4
Chapter Four
“ H ey, Blake, got a second?” Rachel asked. She’d positioned herself between him and the door so he couldn’t escape. “I was hoping to ask your advice.”
He knew from past experience that what she wanted was to manipulate him into doing something he probably wouldn’t like.
“What world problem can I help you solve?”
“Oh, nothing earth-shattering.” She waved that concern away. “It’s just…that last bit before the break was brutal, wasn’t it?”
“It was a little rough,” he admitted.
It had been more than rough; it had been sandpaper grinding on granite.
“Thank goodness it’s not just me.” Rachel breathed out a sigh. “I’ve seen some pretty shocking performances, but that was, well…”
“Like sitting in rush-hour traffic in August with no air-conditioning?” Blake offered.
“Yes!” Rachel nodded, her brows furrowed. “Don’t get me wrong. Piper can sing, but seriously her reading was stiff, wasn’t it? She was practically a cardboard cutout.”
Rachel looked at him with questioning eyes and waited for him to respond.
“Stiff doesn’t quite cover what that was,” he conceded. “But it’s just the read-through. Hopefully she’ll get better.”
Rachel put a hand on her chest. “The poor thing. She just doesn’t have the background like you and I do. I’m glad someone so inexperienced managed to get an opportunity like this, but what if today’s, um, performance is the best she can do?”
Blake pictured the final animated movie with Piper’s stilted, choppy delivery and shuddered. There was no way Paul or Tamar would let something like that out into the world, which meant they’d do take after take after take until she got it right—or worse.
He’d seen movies go through complete rewrites, launch dates get shifted back by years, or even permanently shelved. How would he ever get his own project funded if this one didn’t get off the ground?
“Jesus Christ, it’ll be like animated purgatory.”
He shouldn’t have said that out loud. He glanced around, but Piper was talking with Gina and Jeremy. He didn’t think she could have heard.
Rachel looked thoughtful. “We could teach her, maybe. Help her see where she’s going wrong. How long do you think that would take?”
“Too damn long.”
It looked like the veteran actors were giving Piper a pep talk, but she needed a lot more than that. She needed to be told the truth about her performance, and then she needed a crash course in acting.
“I suppose they chose her for the sweet, simple way she sings. Or maybe her popularity? Would you have picked her for the role of Princess Jewel? ”
Blake thought about what he’d seen of his costar so far. She came in late. There was clearly some family drama going on that had her completely distracted, and who knew how long that would last. Then there was the reading.
Holy hell, the reading.
She sang like an angel, but the movie was mostly dialogue, and she really sucked at that.
“Hell no. Piper Bellamy is definitely not my first choice, but you have to admit she has a great voice.”
Rachel put a hand on his arm. “Do we have a responsibility to bring this up to Tamar and tell her that we’re worried, or do we just let this car crash happen?”
Blake stilled. This was the lead-up to her real game plan, but he wasn’t exactly sure where she was going. Tamar had suffered through the read with the rest of them and hadn’t said a word. “Bring up what, exactly?”
She leaned in and spoke in a low, conspiratorial stage whisper. “If we say something now, it’s not too late to get someone else into the role.”
The ah-ha lightbulb clicked on over his head.
Rachel was stuck playing the sister while someone she thought was a one-note pop princess took the starring role.
“I suppose you have an idea of who that someone should be?”
Rachel’s smile was far from innocent. “I haven’t given it much thought. I’m just worried that if we don’t say something, we’ll all regret it in the long run. All of our names are attached to this project, after all. If one of us fails, we all fail.”
“It’s not going to fail,” he said with absolute conviction. “It can’t. I won’t let it.”
“Of course you won’t. You’re a professional. So am I. And Tamar loves you. She’ll fix this if we talk with her about it together.” She stressed the word together in a way that sent a chill right up his spine .
If Rachel had her way, she’d take the lead right out from under Piper. The last thing he wanted was to be forced to play the hero to Rachel’s heroine. He’d been down that road before, and he knew where it ended.
He’d rather work with an unknown like Piper Bellamy. She at least didn’t make him want to haul ass to the nearest airport.
“Should we go to Tamar now?” Rachel prompted.
It wasn’t a question, it was a command. She’d learned how to deliver those with just the right amount of honey in her voice by the time she was out of diapers, but he knew better than to blindly go where she pointed.
Every particle of his body rejected the very idea of doing anything with Rachel, let alone undercut a costar. “No.”
“If we wait, it will just get worse—”
He held up a hand. “I’m not starting a project by trying to get the lead fired, Rachel. That’s cold, even for you.”
“No.” Rachel clenched her jaw, and all pretense of innocence and concern vanished. “What’s cold is letting someone you think is not qualified kill a project like this. What’s cold is pretending like you don’t give a shit when I know you do. You have the power to fix this.”
“It’s not my call.” He gave her a cold, go-away stare.
“Fine. When this all goes bad, just remember I tried to help.” Rachel turned and stalked off.
He watched her go, grateful that the conversation had ended.
Piper had choked today, but she had potential.
If Rachel didn’t chase her away.
Rachel wanted the lead role, and once she set her sights on something, she went after it with single-minded obsession.
But Tamar liked Piper. So did Paul.
Both Jeremy and Gina appeared to have faith in her too.
Piper just needed coaching, and Blake was an excellent teacher with a vested interest in making sure this project jumped through all the hoops as fast as possible.
He sauntered over to Piper’s group, ready to charm his way into helping Piper learn how to act.
He held out a hand to Gina Paige first. “Gina, it’s great to meet you. Blake Ryan.”
Gina shook his hand with a small laugh. “We’ve met before.”
“We have?”
“On set for Water Under the Bridge .” Gina released his hand. “I believe you were six. Your mother had us all taking turns playing babysitter.”
“Oh, sorry.” Blake grimaced. “Mom was really shameless about that kind of thing. I swear there are days when it feels like half of Hollywood’s A-list has changed my diapers.”
“You’re probably right. But don’t worry, most of us didn’t mind. You were adorable.” Gina winked.
Blake turned to Jeremy. “Good to see you, Jeremy. It’s been a while. How’s Maggie?”
“She’s in college now. Wants to be a screenwriter, God help us both.” Jeremy put his hands together as if praying. “How is your mother? I heard she was in Spain or Syria or somewhere with an s .”
“Stockholm,” Blake said. “She’s back next week. She sounded happy with the shoot. So far, nobody’s broken anything skiing so that’s good.”
They all laughed at the inside joke except for Piper, who offered a polite smile.
“Sorry, inside joke.” Blake held out his hand to Piper and put on his absolute best smile. “We haven’t officially met. I’m Blake Ryan.”
For a second, he thought she was going to refuse to shake his hand, but then her warm, firm grip closed around his. “You introduced yourself already. We all did. But in case you missed it, I’m Piper Bellamy. It’s nice to meet you.”
Piper Bellamy had one hell of a smile. It was open, genuine, and it reached all the way to her eyes.
“That was a table intro. This is personal.” He glanced at Gina. “Mind if I steal Piper away for a second?”
Gina looked from Blake to Piper and back again with a knowing smile. “Sure. Today’s all about getting to know each other, so have at it.”
“I could use a drink. You?” Jeremy held his arm out for Gina.
“Definitely.” Gina took his arm and let him escort her out of the room.
Blake was impressed that they both managed to hide their smirks until they left the room.
Blake led Piper away from the door so they couldn’t be overheard by anyone lurking in the hall. The rest of the room had emptied out, so aside from a few staff replenishing the break table, they were alone.
“What’s going on?” Piper asked.
He leaned casually against one of the tables. He wanted to put her at ease before he told her what was really on his mind. “I just wanted to get to know you a little before all the crazy starts. You seemed a little frazzled when you came in this morning.”
“A little.” A flash of irritation crossed her face. “I hate being late. Especially today. I’ve been waiting for this kick-off for over a year and I really wanted it to go well.”
He waited a beat while the catering cart rumbled past them. “This is your first table read, right? What do you think so far?”
Piper’s gaze shifted from him to the door, or maybe to the chair where she’d been sitting. “The first song felt solid. The second could use a little tweaking in the middle.”
He couldn’t imagine what she meant by that. Both songs had been more than solid; they’d been perfect, as far as he was concerned. “How’d the read feel?”
Piper huffed out a laugh. “Horrible.”
He was relieved to hear that she knew how bad it had been. If she hadn’t been aware of her own performance, she wouldn’t be able to improve, and she’d be insulted by his offer to help. “You’re new to all this. It can be overwhelming and really confusing.”
“Like wandering backstage after they turn off the lights.” Piper shook her head. “I feel like I ran into something at least three times this morning. Maybe four. You were great, though. I really liked the way you put, um, character into the song.”
“Thanks.” He inclined his head in acknowledgment of the politely veiled critique. “I’ve been in this business since before I could crawl and sometimes it’s still hard for me. I can give you a few pointers, if you want.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Really? Like what?”
The tight muscles along his shoulders relaxed. She was open to help. So far, so good. “Have you read the whole script?”
“Yes.” She gave him a steely-eyed, are-you-kidding look.
“Did you memorize your lines?”
She tilted her chin up. “I memorized all of the lines.”
He nodded, impressed. He could count on two hands the number of people he knew who bothered to learn all the lines, not just their own. “The first thing you need to do is stop reading.”
“Stop reading. At a read-through.” She looked thoughtful. “I thought about doing that at the end when I saw you ignoring the script. You think it will help?”
“Yes.” He smiled at the thought of passing on this particular piece of advice. It was the same thing his mother had said to him when he was a teenager. “Instead of looking down at the paper, look at me. Get up and move around if it helps.”
“Okay,” she said. “I can try that. Anything else? ”
What he’d just told her wouldn’t even come close to fixing the problem. Even if she didn’t read the words, it was her first time delivering lines in front of a group. She’d still be stiff and nervous until she relaxed into the role.
“What were you thinking when Malignon was holding your sister hostage?”
“I wasn’t really thinking anything. I was focused on reading.” She glanced away, looking a little sheepish. “After a while I was focused on how awkward I felt. I kept trying to mimic what you all were doing but I think that just made it worse.”
He had to find a way to make this personal for her. “Don’t mimic what you think you see. Put yourself in the character’s shoes. If some bad guy snatched your sister right in front of you, how would you feel?”
“It depends on the sister,” she said dryly.
He couldn’t stop the bark of laughter. “Right. You said you had family drama. One of your sisters?”
“Della.” Piper sighed. “It’s always Della. Lizzie and Mattie don’t push my buttons like that.”
“Okay. What if you were walking down the street with Mattie when out of nowhere a stranger grabs her by the arm and drags her away from you. How do you feel?”
Her face darkened. “Pissed off.”
He waved off that initial response. “Try again. Anger comes later, after you’ve had time to process. Be in the moment. Here.”
He threw one arm around an invisible girl, then picked up a bottle of water off the table and held it at her imaginary throat. “I have your sister. I’m going to kill her if you don’t give me what I want.”
Piper gave him a be serious look.
He jabbed the water bottle at his hostage again and snarled. “There’s blood dripping down her neck. Can you see that? ”
“This is ridiculous.” Piper looked around as if to see if anyone was watching.
He sneered at her like the kidnapper he was pretending to be. “Welcome to acting. Now work with me. Really see her.”
“Okay.” She drew out the word and then she shrugged and squinted at her invisible sister. “Okay, you have Mattie.”
He jabbed the bottle at her invisible throat again, then hissed in a breath as if he’d just really stabbed someone. “I will end her life. I will cut her and make her bleed. I will make sure she doesn’t live to see the sun rise.”
He waited until the unsure look in Piper’s eyes shifted into something more like concentration.
He kept his voice soft, so he wouldn’t interrupt her focus. “Why do I have a knife to her throat? What am I trying to do?”
“You want to scare her.” She swallowed. “You want to scare me too. Make us both do what you want.”
She was starting to get it. “ Now what do you feel?”
“Terrified,” she said so softly he almost couldn’t hear it. “I’m afraid she’s going to die and I won’t be able to stop it.”
He smiled his approval. “ That is what you should be thinking when you say those lines.”
He let go of his pretend hostage and opened the bottle for a quick drink.
“So you’re saying I should be more tentative or quiet?” She put a cartoonish quiver in her voice. “Like a horror movie?”
He almost spat the water out but managed to swallow it down before he answered, “Uh, no. Hell no. Not like that. At all. Never do that unless you’re in the next Scream movie.”
Amusement flashed through her eyes. “No quiver? Darn. Just when I thought I was getting it.”
He gave her a patient look.
“What? As if any of this is serious. You were just holding a water bottle to the throat of an invisible girl. ”
“You’ll never get better if you don’t try.”
She shot him a dirty look but relented. “You’re right. Okay, how about this.” She cleared her throat. “Let my sister go.”
It wasn’t overly dramatic or stiff, which was an improvement, but it wasn’t right either.
“Now you sound like you’re at a contract negotiation.”
She crossed her arms. “You do it, then. Show me.”
“You’re missing the point. I can’t show you. You have to feel it.” He gestured with the bottle. “What else is going through your head in that moment?”
“I don’t know. I still say I’d be pissed off.” She rubbed her face, clearly frustrated by this impromptu acting class.
“And…,” he prompted.
“I don’t know.” She glared at him.
He whipped his arm around and once again became the bad man trying to kill her sister. The bottle became his knife, and he stabbed at the imaginary throat of his victim.
“See that blood running down her neck? I did that.” He waited a beat. “She’s trying not to move or even breathe in case I slip. Her eyes plead with you for help. Can you see her?”
“Yes.” Piper started to reach out, then dropped her hand.
“How do you feel?” he whispered.
For a second or two, he didn’t think she would answer. This method wasn’t for everybody, and she’d never done this sort of thing before. It could take some people years of practice before they relaxed enough to really slip into a moment.
But then she surprised him.
“I’m determined. To stop you.” Her gaze locked on his. “I want to do something. Not just stand here, helpless. But I can’t rush you, because you have the knife, and it makes me really, really frustrated and scared, but determined too.”
He stared into her expressive, intelligent, deeply brown eyes. “Now say the line again. ”
“Let my sister go.” Her eyes flashed with determination and fire, and the line came out steely and filled with authority, with an undercurrent of fear.
“Yes!” He pointed at her. “ That is Princess Jewel. Well done.”
“Really?” Her pleased smile lit her eyes. “Thanks. I get what you’re saying now. I think.”
He could tell by the slightly worried look in her eyes that she didn’t really get it, not yet. He had a feeling she would have trouble applying what she’d just learned to the rest of the script. It was a start, but it wasn’t enough.
In the next scene, Princess Jewel would run into Prince Jesse deep in the forest. Jesse would charm her and tease her and generally annoy the hell out of her until he got what he wanted, which was to tag along on her journey to find the stone.
Piper would need to channel a whole other set of emotions, which for her meant starting back at square one.
He had an idea for how to get her there faster. He just hoped it wouldn’t make things more difficult in the future.
He took a drink from his pretend knife slash water bottle. “Now all you have to do is go through all the other scenes and figure out how you should be feeling in each one.”
“Oh that’s all, is it.” She picked up a bottle of water and opened it.
“Hey, nobody said this acting gig would be easy.” He shoved a script out of the way and leaned against the table.
“I didn’t expect it to be.” Piper took a sip of water and replaced the cap. “But I’ve been coming here off and on for months to visit the animators and work on the songs. It all felt comfortable and familiar, until today.”
“What’s so different about today? You’ve spent your whole life on stage in front of crowds screaming at you. This,” he gestured at the mostly empty room, “should be easy compared to a sold-out stadium. It’s animated. Nobody’s even going to see you except us. ”
“It’s a lot easier to perform in front of a sold-out stadium. Everybody there is excited to see you and they’re rooting for you to do your best.” She glanced at the chair where Rachel had been sitting. “Here, it feels like everyone’s waiting for you to screw up.”
“Not everyone.” He tossed the water bottle at a nearby trash can. It hit the side and went in with a loud clunk. “Trust me. Lots of people here would rather see you at your best. Including me.”
She looked doubtful. “Really? That’s why you rushed right over to teach me how to act?”
He grinned. “Okay, maybe it’s a little self-serving, but that’s only because we’re all in this together. Even Rachel. She might be mad she lost out on the lead, but she sure doesn’t want the whole thing to tank. Not when it has her name attached to it.”
Piper glanced at Rachel’s chair. “I know she wanted the lead, but I thought she was over it.”
Blake saw his opening and took it. “Rachel doesn’t get over anything when she wants something. But don’t worry, as long as you meet me, Gina, and Jeremy at least a quarter of the way, she won’t have a chance to push you out.”
“Push me out?” Her voice rose a little. “ Meet you a quarter of the way…where?”
“Don’t get me wrong, you have talent. We all heard it when you sang. It’s buried in there somewhere. I’m sure with enough excavation the three of us can dig up a decent performance out of you.”
“With…what?” Her voice had taken on a dangerous note.
That was getting into the ballpark of the right emotion for the next scene. Princess Jewel should be startled at first, then frustrated. Now all he had to do was tip Piper over the edge into irritated. “Excavation. You know, it’s when you dig way down deep until you find the nugget hidden under layers of dirt.”
“Dirt.” Her eyes flashed. “You think my talent is hidden under layers of dirt. ”
There was also supposed to be an element of attraction when Jesse met Jewel. He needed to bring in a layer of flirtation to her mood and his.
“You know, it’s a shame this is animated. You’re working at a disadvantage.”
“Oh really.” She clenched her jaw. “Why do you say that?”
She’d nearly had enough. Perfect.
“See, the audience would overlook a lot of your performance limitations if they could see how you look in those leggings.”
He cast an appreciative glance over Piper’s dancer physique. Her skin-tight leggings did nothing to hide her deliciously toned ass. If she wore this outfit every day, it was going to be a pleasure working with her.
He let that show on his face.
“You…you’re such a…”
He snapped his fingers and pointed at her. “There. That feeling. Hold on to that. You’re going to need it in the next scene.”
He sauntered away, pleased with himself and relieved that Piper Bellamy had turned out to be such a quick study.