Chapter 4 #2
‘And remember to knock this time!’ Mark called, guffawing as she turned to go down the row of trailers.
Violet was sure his laughter would haunt her dreams.
A moment later, Violet finally found Finn’s trailer, beside his co-star Jennifer Harkness, near the front of unit base, not far from where she had started.
She double-checked the character name on the trailer, even mouthed it aloud to herself and then, just in case, she knocked on the door and waited for a second.
From behind her, an amused voice said, ‘I don’t think I’m in there.’
Murder is wrong, Violet told herself. Murder is wrong. Although if she thought she could get away with it, she’d probably be okay with it right now.
‘Just checking,’ she muttered through gritted teeth, pulling open the door, then standing aside to let Finn climb the steps and enter. She clambered up after him.
‘I’m supposed to ask you if you’d like a tea or coffee,’ she said, lurking in the doorway to his trailer. Finn was looking around. He peered into the little bathroom before tossing his bag onto the table and flopping down onto the sofa.
‘Supposed to? That doesn’t sound very can do, does it?’ he said, stretching his arms along the back of the sofa and balancing one ankle on his knee.
This is my big break, this is my big break.
‘Your sides are here,’ Violet said, ignoring his remark and pulling the A5 printouts of the scenes they would shoot that day from the little clutch of papers she was shielding from the rain. She dropped them on the table.
‘So. This is odd, isn’t it?’ Finn said casually, as if commenting on a strangely shaped banana. ‘You’re a trainee.’
Violet said nothing, not wanting to get into a conversation.
Finn chuckled. ‘A trainee in her mid-thirties. And I am lead cast.’
‘Would you like a tea or coffee?’ Violet grated out, each word making her feel smaller.
Finn ignored her question.
‘How long have you known we’d be working together again?’ he asked.
Violet sighed. ‘About seven minutes.’
‘Really? You didn’t take this job because you knew I’d be on it?’
The question destroyed the last vestiges of her attempts at staying calm and reserved.
‘What?! No, Finn! Quite the opposite. Had I known you’d be here, I would have run fast in the other direction.’
‘So you’re not stalking me? Because Vi,’ he grinned at her. ‘You can just admit how you feel about me. No need to pursue me like this.’
Violet glared at his grinning face.
‘I think we both know that I’d pay good money to be able to avoid you.
For your information, I actually turned down a theatre job a few years ago when I found out you were in the cast.’ She was gratified to see a flicker of surprise on Finn’s face.
‘I had no reason to think you’d be working on this, and no way to know.
If I had found out, I certainly wouldn’t be here. Now, do you want tea or coffee or not?’
Finn stared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowed. There was a shadow of stubble along his jaw.
‘Coffee with milk,’ he said, crossing his arms and watching her. ‘What are you going to do first, Vi? Take Mark to costume or get my coffee? I’m very thirsty,’ he added. He coughed into a fist. ‘Parched, actually. I hope dehydration won’t affect my performance.’
Violet could think of several things she’d like to do to him that would definitely affect his performance in all sorts of areas, but she pressed her lips tightly together and scream-cursed at him in her head before answering.
‘I will take Mark and be back in a jiffy with your coffee,’ she said, forcing a smile.
It felt more like a grimace. Violet could feel one side of her mouth lifting more than the other, and her eyes didn’t budge at all.
‘How long is a jiffy, exactly? Just so I know how long to wait.’
‘I’ll be as fast as I can, Finn,’ she ground out as she backed down the trailer steps, stopping herself at the last second from slamming the door.
Safe on the other side of the door, Violet sucked in the sharp winter air and the never-ending drizzle.
Of all the things she had imagined she might face today, walking in on a nearly naked sixty-something actor with Finn Ellington in tow was not on the list. And he was effectively her boss.
Her shoulders sagged. She had aged ten years in the past thirty minutes.
How was it possible that it wasn’t yet even 07:30 in the morning?
This was about as bad a start to her first day as she could have imagined.
Scratch that - she could not have conjured this horror and humiliation in her wildest imaginings.
But she didn’t have time to stand and chew over events; she had to get Mark to costume and then fetch Finn - ugh - a coffee, or throw in the towel less than one hour into her new life.
Her radio fired off in her ear.
‘Rachael for Violet.’
Violet paused and pressed her radio button.
‘Go for Violet.’
She still felt daft saying that, but she also wanted to show she knew radio etiquette. She was pleased she had remembered the key points from her training days.
‘Violet,’ Rachael’s voice was terse. ‘Did you just walk in on Mark getting changed? With Finn with you?’