Chapter 16
Tim
Simon grabbed his phone and headed outside. This was my chance to collar him about the mean comments about Tabitha on the production company’s website. No wonder he’d failed to mention that clips were going to be posted every night.
Waiting a beat, I followed him out the door.
He strode toward the barn, and I hovered behind a bush while he made a call, which made me feel a little guilty about eavesdropping.
Clearly, he was talking to his agent, complaining about doing another reality show.
I felt like Goatee, lying in wait, but still, I lingered.
He hung up, and I caught him just as he was reaching for the kitchen back door.
“Hi, Simon.”
He jumped. “Where the fuck did you come from?”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure,” he said warily.
I motioned for us to walk away from the door.
Standing in the gravel driveway, I moved toward him, feeling my forehead furrow deep with worry, hoping to appeal to his empathy, though I hadn’t seen much of that emotion from him so far.
“Hey, those shitty comments that have been posted about Tabitha. She’s not dull or boring or a shrew. Someone needs to delete them and monitor them going forward.”
Simon barked out a laugh. “Oh, you poor lad. You really think I have any influence on the edited shorts or what gets posted online? I’m just a cog in the wheel of the evil empire.
I direct the raw footage. I have no influence over the ultimate cut—that’s the editors and higher-ups in London.
” He clapped me on the back, clearly showing he was done with this conversation.
“Release to the experience, my boy, release to the process. You cannot control everything.”
“But—”
Simon shook his head vigorously.
My stomach churned, ill. I was frustrated that Simon had so little control, but I believed him. How was I going to make sure Tabitha was fairly represented when this bloody show aired? I had to think of something before she read the comments.
As if trying to escape faster, Simon swung open the door and cried out when he saw Solomon, one of the interns, silhouetted in the doorframe.
“What the fuck? Is this scare the director day or something?”
I was surprised to see Solomon too. More that he was standing and looking like he had a purpose, because he was usually half prone, sprawled over a chair, drinking a can of soda, and fiddling with his phone.
“Hey, Tim.”
I pressed the bridge of my nose, heavily preoccupied with my disturbing conversation with Simon. “Hi, Solomon.”
“Could I have a word in the library?”
Another trip to the library. What was this one about? I had no clue, but Solomon seemed unusually intent, spiking my interest. “Okay.”
Once we were in the room, he firmly shut the door.
“Hey, I was wondering if you could help me with something?” he asked.
“Depends.” I crossed my arms, unusually guarded and defensive. This day was already not going too well, and I was starting to feel very cynical about this shoot and everyone on it.
“Could you help me get Yuxi’s attention?”
Yuxi’s attention? But they already seemed to know each other.
“What do you mean?”
He shifted, squirming, and fiddled with his short, dark hair, clearly embarrassed now. “I mean I really like her. I’ve liked her for a long time and I want to ask her out, but I need to impress her a bit beforehand.”
I smiled, relieved this was the point of the conversation. “Why are you asking me for advice?”
He raised a hand toward me and trailed it downward from the top of my head to my booted feet.
“Fair point,” I said with a straight face, and we both laughed. Solomon’s relaxed demeanor made him look even younger, and I tried to guess his age. He was slight and boyish, swimming in a black T-shirt and jeans.
“Wait—aren’t you at high school?” I asked. “I don’t know if I feel comfortable about this.”
“Dude. Hurtful. We’re at film school together. We’re both twenty-three.”
“Oops, sorry.”
“Now, how do I get her attention?”
There wasn’t enough time to tell him to go to the gym and start working out.
“Well, you need to show her you have something going on. What I see is you sitting around a lot, on your phone, and generally doing nothing.” Guilt nudged me in the side at my harsh words, but it had to be said.
Solomon threw up his hands. “There is literally nothing to do. I mean, all the real jobs are taken. And both Yuxi and I know how to operate cameras and sound equipment, so it’s frustrating.”
Sounded like an excuse to me. “You could help Tabitha and me with the physical work.”
He didn’t look happy about that, which sent a ragged edge of irritation through my chest. I was losing my patience with him.
“Hmm, maybe,” he said. “But I want to do real work. I have technical production skills.”
I rolled my eyes at his backhanded insult about my job, but I thought more.
“Okay. I don’t know that this is very technical, but I noticed no one from the company is posting on socials while we’re working during the day.
I mean, I know Simon asked us to take photos and vids and post on our own accounts at night.
But I’ve looked on the production company’s site, and although they post a short bit of footage every night, they’re not posting timely stuff on their socials yet.
It might help boost our chances of winning. ”
His face suddenly lit up. “Yeah, great idea. I can offer to do that and ask Yuxi to help.”
Thinking about the production company’s website reminded me of the nasty comments I’d seen last night about Tabitha.
“Hey, could you also take vids of Tabitha being nice and fun and helping people, and post them?”
“Of course. That’ll be easy. I mean, she does always help people and is nice and fun. Except to you.”
And what could I do about those comments about Tabitha online?
“Has she seen those comments about her?” Solomon’s mind had gone there too. “I mean, I would imagine she has, but she didn’t mention anything this morning. I bet she’d be ropable if she did.”
“I’m not totally sure, but I don’t think so.” She’d be crushed, and it was important to prevent that.
“Really? And no one’s ever said anything to her? Shit, maybe I shouldn’t be taking advice from you. Dude, you need to tell her. Or someone does, because some of those comments are out of order. Someone needs to stand up for her online.”
“Look, don’t say anything yet. Give me a chance to try to turn this around. In the meantime, could you just make sure you post as many positive vids of Tabitha as you can?”
He cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable. “The only thing is, I’m pretty sure I’ll have to get my mum to sign off on the postings.”
My head shot back. “Your mother? What’s she got to do with it?”
He looked surprised. “She’s the boss of this company. You know how internships work, right?”
“Not really.”
“Nepotism.”
“Shit, that is great. You have a lot of influence.” We’d get this resolved, no problem.
He bit the inside of his cheek. “Um…not sure about that. Okay, thanks, Tim.”
There was something about his hesitation that made me think I had to do something else that was more in my control. I’d create a fake handle and defend Tabs in the comments and point out her strengths.
He clapped me on the back like we were old friends now and reached out to open the door.
“I still think you’d impress Yuxi more if you did the hard, physical work,” I said.
“Some decent ideas, Tim.” He gave me a doubtful smile like you’d give an elderly grandparent. “Good talk.”
MAKEOVER YOUR MONEYMAKER, sneak peek.
Four design teams compete to turn a home into a business.
Team: Tim and Tabitha
100 Comments:
ShakeYourMoneymaker: Four stars. Hammering good enemies-to-lovers series. Dialogue could be faster-paced. It’s scripted, right?
RugbyThighs69: I want to be strung on Tim’s tool belt.
TeamTimFTW342: Talking of highly strung, what about her? Why is she whining about how Aberdeeen describes the dating weekends? You don’t like The Bachelor? What a snob!
GirlBossesDoItBetter: Stop spouting bin juice. Tabitha was putting viewers straight on what her parents’ dating weekends are about. She never mentioned The Bachelor, so don’t twist her words, you gobshite.
CotswoldsOwn: You’re not doing yourselves any favors at the tuck table, dear. Move. Away.
LaIslaBonita: You are a sexist loser.
DramaFarmer: The snooty cats. Mic drop.