Jace
The sun set an hour ago, I don’t know maybe two. I’ve completely lost track because the spark that ignited between Lennox and I the moment we started reading lines together has turned into a full blown inferno.
The words, the banter, the tone and micro expressions passing between the two of us with each line read is like nothing I’ve ever experienced.
This…this is what I was born to do. Acting yes, but the passion behind the story is even better than the first time I read through it, and it’s all because of how we respond to each other. The delivery of his lines coincide naturally with the tone of mine.
I have zero regrets going against what everyone said and taking on this role. I can feel it in my bones with how Lennox and I are responding to each other.
“You need to stop this shit!” I scream my line as I toss a fake bottle of pills across the room, the depth of my voice volleys off the walls as the plastic container ricochets against the table and onto the floor.
My chest is heaving as I force a heavy breath. Lennox falls to the floor, grabbing at the bottle like the pills spilled out and he’s frantically trying to gather them up.
“Why did you do that?” he yells, looking up at me. Rage behind his eyes, like nothing I’ve ever seen. He’s transformed into Ryan Wilson, drug addict and lead guitarist of Iron Horizon. Even in his tiny micro expressions, I see it.
He throws the fake pills on the ground in frustration and stands. Abruptly, he wraps his hand around the base of my neck and slams me against the wall.
“Why are you doing this?” he grits through his teeth, angry but with defeat and sadness in his tone. His hand squeezes hard against the soft flesh of my throat.
“Because I need you.” I pause, watching the way his dark irises flicker between my eyes and lips. My pulse speeds up and my chest now rises and falls on its own accord because of how close he is. “I need you to stop killing yourself.” I pause again. “I need you too fucking much.”
His breath is still heavy against my skin but his eyes soften. This is where we kiss. The first time James and Ryan kiss in real life and on screen. The first time they admit there’s something more than friendship.
We’re deep in this scene and I don’t think he’s going to stop. Is he going to kiss me?
I can’t hide the wild curiosity in my eyes nor the lust. It’s real, as real as it can get, and I don’t know that I’ve ever felt so in tune with anyone before. Not even with my female co-stars that I’ve had to be intimate with.
His lips part as he slowly leans into me. The grip on my neck loosens as he tilts his head to the side, then his eyes look up, directly into mine.
He wants to kiss me. And I think I want him to.
For my character or myself. I have no idea.
A slight squint appears at the corner of his lids, so quick that if I wasn’t just a few inches away I would have missed it. He blinks, stepping back and a glacial breeze flies between us.
“Wow,” he says, avoiding my gaze. “That was something.”
I don’t know what I’m feeling. I’m confused by the chemistry we just had and the best read-through I’ve experienced with anyone. We had no props, no scene, no cameras. Just us and it was explosive.
“Lennox, look at me,” I say, sternly.
He jolts a look in my direction at my demand, looking straight at me again. The rage is gone, the lust is gone. Wonder fills his now jade colored eyes and it’s like he’s disoriented.
I feel exactly the same.
But he needs to know how good he was.
“That was spectacular,” I say. “You were…incredible.”
That signature smile, the genuine one I don’t see in his videos but in photos when he doesn’t know someone is watching, appears. “You too.” He runs his hands through his hair as he huffs out a long breath.
I’ve been rehearsing lines with other actors for as long as I can remember.
My first memory of acting was a toddler commercial I was in.
Or maybe I just think it’s a memory because I saw the commercial later in life.
Either way, my entire life has revolved around reading lines, setting the scene and rehearsing but I’ve never been so enamored watching someone before.
Now I’m starting to understand why everyone is so drawn to him, his character, his persona.
Placing his hands on his hips, he glances toward the kitchen eyeing a basket at the corner of the island.
Walking over to it, he pulls out a couple of the items then says, “Perfect!” He glances over at me, holding a stick in one hand and a bag of marshmallows in the other. "Let's make s’mores!”