Chapter 5 – Lana
I t’s been a week since I got told I got the lead role, Cassie Reynolds. I’ve been working hard at my job all week. Just anticipating the production phone call. Liam briefly mentioned that he has another job, he works nights.
I wonder what he does for work? To be fair, I didn’t talk about where I work either. I pull my hair up in a ponytail. Tina called me up to catch up. She recently heard I was back in town.
Tina and I had become distant since I was last in town. Not really sure why. But I’m glad she called, I need some semblance of my life back. Some normalcy.
I take a deep breath as I get ready. I look in my jewelry box for a necklace to wear. As I’m searching I find a necklace I haven’t seen in ages. I pick it up with shaky hands.
“Happy Anniversary, Lana.” Blake says. I giggle as he throws me on his bed.
He starts kissing me. I gasp and groan. He kisses my neck and licks up and down.
I close my eyes and suddenly his presence is missing.
“Don’t move. Your neck is missing something.
” I take a deep breath as I feel his weight leave the bed.
“Like what? Your hand?” I giggle. “No. Just stay there and don’t open your eyes.” He says. I hear him rummaging through stuff. After a few minutes I feel the bed dip down. “Okay. I’ve been hiding this for a while.” He says.
He helps me sit up. I feel the cold metal land on my skin. I gasp. “Fuck that’s cold, Blake.” I say. He laughs. “Stop complaining.” He says. I giggle. I feel the necklace hug my throat as he clasps it. “There.” He said.
I open my eyes to see a choker laced with beads. It’s intricate draped in half loops across my collar bones and hanging down. “Blake, this is beautiful.” I say as I touch it delicately. He cups my chin in his left hand and tilts my face towards him.
“Not as beautiful as you.” He says. Then our lips collide. I moan against his mouth as he lets go of my chin and pulls me close. He lays back and pulls me on top of him.
A sharp knock shakes me out of the memory. I wipe the tears I didn’t know were streaming down my face. I drop the necklace back into my box as if it burned my hand. I shut it and quickly run to the door. “I’m coming!” I reach the door and open it to see Tina standing there.
“Did you have a hot date in your room or what? I’ve been sitting here knocking for what felt like ages, Lana.” She says with her hips on her hands. “No, I, um, I’m sorry just got distracted when I was getting ready, I guess.” I say. I turn away in case she noticed my eyes were puffy.
I look around for my cross body. “Also, nice hair! I love the red and blonde combo.” Tina says as she shuts the door. “Thanks.” I say. I finally find it tucked beside the couch. I pull my bag over my head. “You ready to go?” I ask.
“Ya, sure!” Tina says. “Awesome, let’s go. I’m ready to eat.” I say. Tina and I walk out of my apartment. I lock the door behind us and we head downstairs. I haven’t seen Tina in years, hopefully this get together isn’t horrible.
We start walking to this little diner a few blocks away. Portland’s finest. “So where did you disappear to, Lana?” Tina asks. I sigh. I was hoping she wouldn’t ask that question. I really don’t want to answer.
“College.” I say. “College? Without telling anyone bye? A little weird, don’t you think?” She asks, with a bite in her tone. “Look, if you’re upset because I didn’t -” She cuts me off.
“I just find it a little weird you just up and moved. No postcard. No phone call. It’s like you fell off the face of the earth, Lana.” She says. I stop in my tracks and turn around to face her.
“What is wrong with you?” I ask. “What is wrong with me? More like what is wrong with you? You’re the one who didn’t say a word about leaving.” She says with her arms crossed.
“You’re the one who didn’t stay in contact with me after Kari’s party.” I say. “You mean the party that you ghosted me at? I couldn’t fucking find you, Lana. Where the fuck did you go?” She asks.
My face flushes, I feel it spread across my cheeks. I’m not revealing my secret. Not now, not ever. This was my secret with Blake. Our secret. “I was looking for you, Tina. You left me for some other girl.” I state.
“Jessica?” She asks. “I don’t know her name and I don’t care. Listen, maybe we shouldn’t be friends anymore if you’re going to give me the second degree about not being at your beck and call at a party I didn’t really want to attend in the first place.” I say. I look at her pointedly.
“There is something seriously wrong with you, Lana. Maybe you’re better off back in Seattle. Maybe you’ll be happier there.” She turns and leaves. I’m stunned. What the fuck is her problem? What did I do? And why does she care so fucking much about where I was at the party?
I walk away. I end up walking a few blocks to Storms Brewing. I walk in and take in all the changes. They took out a few of the tables, added a couch. They have a bar area where there are people conversing after a long work day.
I look around and see Jen behind the counter. Not much has changed. She looks amazing. I walk up to her. “Hey Jen!” I say, enthusiastically. I missed her while I was away. I tried to work at another coffee shop but nothing will ever top Storms Brewing.
She looks up. “Lana Voss??” She practically yells. I nod and she comes out from behind the counter to give me the biggest hug of my life. At least she still loves me. I grin at her. “Woah, your hair. So punk.” She says.
I giggle. “Well, it is the nineties, Jen.” I laugh. “I guess you’re not wrong there.” She says. “Your usual?” She asks me. “Are you kidding?” I ask. She laughs. “Coming right up.” She says. I watch her disappear behind the counter and I go take a seat.
I can’t believe how much has changed in here. It’s so…modern. I look around and notice their hours have changed too. Now they’re open til one. I wonder when they decided to change it.
I just sit there taking in my surroundings when Jen comes up with my hazelnut flavored iced cappuccino. “I still don’t understand, why iced?” She asks. I laugh. “I’m weird, I guess. It’s always been my favorite.” I say.
She sits down in front of me. “So how is Lana?” Jen asks. I sigh. “It’s been a wild five years. I wish I could answer that with something simple and it’s just, not.” I say, truthfully. She nods.
“Well, whenever you and I both have the time, we need to sit down and have a chat.” She says. She gets up from the table. “You’re always welcome here, Lana. Don’t be a stranger.” She says then she walks away to take care of another customer.
What started off as a day with who I thought was my best friend turned into a disaster. But at least Storms Brewing is still here and has taken off by the looks of it. I sigh. Jen is so sweet, even now.
I take a drink of my coffee. At least I have a production day with Liam to look forward to, hopefully sometime this week. I need it. Something to keep my mind off Tina and what a bitch she was to me.
I realize that I didn’t pay Jen and I go up to the counter to give her money when I bump into someone and drop my iced coffee. It falls to the ground and splashes me and the person in front of me. “Oh my god I am so sorry.” I say.
The guy turns around and we make eye contact. “Lana?” He asks. “Liam?” I ask in return. He grabs a bunch of napkins and he cleans my cheek. “What are you-” We both start to say in unison. I laugh and so does he.
Jen rushes over. “Lana, oh my god.” She says as she sees the mess. “It’s totally my fault Jen. I came up here in a hurry to pay for my drink and I clumsily ran into Liam.” I say breathlessly.
“Don’t worry about it, Lana. It’s on me. You should know that by now.” Jen states. “No, Jen, I can’t let you do that.” I pout. “Allow me?” Liam asks. He hands Jen roughly fifteen dollars and we both gawk.
“To cover the one that fell on the floor, a new one for her and I want to try what she has too. Keep the change.” Jen stares at me. I stare at Liam in awe. She takes the money and goes back behind the counter to make the drinks.
Liam grabs my hand and leads me away while another worker cleans up the mess. “Why did you do that?” I ask. “Because. It seemed right.” He says. I stare in awe and then look down. Liam is still holding my hand.
I gently pull my hand from his. “Well, thank you. Jen is a great friend of mine and I’m still sorry for dropping my drink on you and me.” I ramble. He laughs. “Lana, don’t worry about it, seriously. It wasn’t a big deal I promise.” He says.
I walk around him to go sit on the couch. I sink down. Holy shit this couch is comfortable. They must’ve been doing well to be able to afford this couch. I sigh in contentment.
Liam chuckles. “Comfy?” He asks and walks closer. “Oh yeah. Very.” I say back. He sits next to me and I’m fully aware of how close we are. This isn’t the time, Lana. Liam is my coworker. Liam is my coworker.
He puts an arm behind the couch by my head. I feel my face flush spreading softly at first and I look up in time. Jen heads over with two cups of hazelnut iced cappuccino. She looks at me then at Liam and raises an eyebrow.
“Lana, you didn’t tell me you were together.” My eyes bug out. Liam chuckles, “Oh, we’re not together. She’s my coworker.” He points out. “Coworker?” She looks at me. I shy away. I didn’t think she’d let me come back after I gave her less than a two weeks notice when I left.
“Yeah. We’re working on a movie together.” I say. “A movie?” Jen looks at Liam as she hands us our drinks. She then puts her hands on her hips. “We really need to talk soon.” She says. “You better call me, Voss.” She looks between the two of us and runs off to get the line up front sorted.
“Well, I’m in trouble.” I say. “Oh, and why’s that?” Liam asks. He takes a sip of his drink. “Wow. I really like this.” He says. I look at him surprised. I decide to ignore his question for now because I’m not about to trauma dump on my hot coworker.
“You like my drink?” I ask. “Yeah. Do people normally not like your drink?” I shake my head. “Well I think you’re a genius.” Liam states. I feel the heat spread across my cheeks again. Damn it. How am I ever going to make it through production with Liam?
Liam gets up from the couch. “I hate to leave, but I have to get ready for work tonight. We should definitely hang out again sometime before production, of course.” He says. I nod. “I’d love that.” I say back.
He leaves and I internally groan. “You’d love that?” I sounded so lame. I hope he doesn’t think that. I quickly tell Jen bye, and then I make my way back to my apartment building.
Embarrassed after my encounter with Liam, I stayed holed up in my apartment for a while. I decided to straighten up and I found a copy of The Oregon Gazette from last week. On it says, MIDNIGHT MAYHEM GRAND OPENING. I guess I didn’t pay much attention to the newspaper last week.
I didn’t realize Portland even had a scare attraction. Might be fun to go, to help with my acting skills. I contemplate it. But the newspaper ad says that they sold out of tickets opening weekend. What if they sold out again?
I guess, that’s a risk I’m willing to take. They don’t have a phone number, so I guess I’m driving to find out. I get ready to go to Midnight Mayhem. I pull on a black t-shirt, my fishnet tights, black ripped shorts and my boots.
I pull out the choker that Blake gave me and I put it on. I stare in the mirror for a few seconds. I miss him so much. I hope coming back to Portland was a good plan. I touch the necklace, grab my flannel and walk out the door. Time to go to Midnight Mayhem.
Midnight Mayhem was roughly a forty five minute drive. I didn’t realize it was way out here. Oh well, I did decide to come out here. I park my car in the field with all of the other cars. It’s packed. Holy shit.
I get out of my car and tuck some cash in my back pocket, and my ID just in case. I make my way to the front gate. Everyone has already purchased tickets it seems. I hope there’s at least one ticket left.
I finally get up there and the guy taking tickets turns toward me. “I need a ticket.” I say. He looks over to the other person and they go to check. “You’re in luck, we had one more ticket.” He says. They hand it to me, and I hand my cash to the guy to take. I actually made it in.
That was insane luck. I walk into the park. There’s all kinds of stuff going on. There’s a handful of actors on pedestals. They’re doing so kind of introduction of the cast members. There’s got to be at least twenty to thirty people. This is insane.
No wonder it’s a huge hit. It’s very well thought out. Everyone’s costumes compliment each other without overstepping. It’s all unique. It’s hard to believe that this is only the second week of Midnight Mayhem being open.
There’s people consuming alcohol and blowing fire above people’s heads, there’s people walking around on stilts and people running through crowds scaring anyone close.
I watch as a banshee runs through the crowd and everyone is going wild as the shriek pierces everyone’s ears. Holy shit. “Enjoy your time at Midnight Mayhem.” The intercom comes on, and then music starts.
The main lights come on illuminating the park and then the rest of the crowd disperses. Wow, that was amazing. Insane, really. The dedication a lot of these people have towards staying in character is crazy.
No different than an actor or actress. I guess I do need to take lessons from them. I decide to walk around and take in my surroundings.
Midnight Mayhem is absolutely incredible. I am in awe. The spooky abandoned atmosphere, the way the scare actors all work together without stumbling, and the way this whole place feels.
I see an actor in my peripheral. I don’t think much of it and continue to walk through the park. I back into the alley and I’m suddenly cornered.