This Thing We Call Love

I didn’t sleep well that night, tossing and turning in my bed, unable to sleep, as images of earlier swam through my mind. Why had Andy been so rude to me? What had I ever done to him? I’d just met the guy for Christ’s sake!
It was hot underneath my blankets, and I pushed the faded old quilt to the end of the bed, and later the pillow too, but only managed to fall asleep late after midnight.
In the morning, I took a cold shower and got dressed, and as I made my way into the kitchen, I realized I was running later than I’d thought. I swallowed a granola bar in three bites, chased it down with milk straight from the carton, and started for the door.
I took a few steps outside before I realized that there was a black car in my driveway.
When the passenger door opened, and a familiar face came into view, I couldn’t help the grin that came to my face.
“Hey girl!” Allison smiled.
“Hey,” I smile as I step into the car.
-----
Allison parks, turning to me. “Okay, so I have a few errands to run, but I’ll be back to pick you up?”
“Sounds good,” I say as I reach to unbuckle my seatbelt.
I step out of the car, waving as she blows me a kiss. I laugh as she reverses her car out of the parking spot.
When I turn, the sound of a horn blowing causes me to snap back around, to see a black Corvette Stingray honking Allison out of the way obnoxiously, causing all of the commotion.
“Hey! Can’t you see that this is the exit!?” She yells.
Four security guards run out and I raise my eyebrows at the situation in front of me.
The window to the corvette is rolled down and I see Andy, of course, holding his hand out to her as he apologizes.
“Sorry, babe, there are fans on my tail,” He says before driving in and parking right in front of me.
When I look behind the car, I see the gates closing and security guards blocking the entrance and exit from his swarming fans.
I turn around to walk away, but someone calls my name. I turn back.
Olivia, one of the actresses I met yesterday, waves at me as she walks over. I smile as she stops in front of me.
“Hey, you filming today?” she asks me.
“I don’t think so. Ash still has a few things he wants to go over with me.”
She nods her head in understanding, “Ah, well, tell me when you do. I’d love to sit in on a scene or two.”
My eyes widen at that. She wants to watch some of my scenes?
“Um, yeah, sure. That would be cool.”
The driver side door of the car that she got out of opens, and Andy climbs out with those same sunglasses on.
So they travel together, interesting…
“Well, I’ll see you inside,” She giggles before walking to him and taking her bag from his hand. When she turns around, he wraps his arms around her from behind and spins her around which makes her giggle even more.
I blink. What the heck? Am I missing something here?
He completely ignores me and grabs her hand, walking right past me and into the building.
-----
“So, I shoot tomorrow?” I smile broadly as Ash informs me of everything I need to know.
“Yes, definitely. So for today you can just get someone to show you around the place, watch whoever’s filming, whatever,” He smiles and places his hand on my shoulder warmly.
I smile, “Sounds good to me.”
After three hours, I’d already watched Andy do two different scenes.
I must say, he’s a brilliant actor and I get why people make such a big fuss about him. Although I feel like the fuss is mostly because of his looks, which I painfully have to admit… are drop dead gorgeous.
At the moment, he’s talking with Ben, a smile lighting up his features. After chatting with him for a while, he turns, walking over to where I’m sitting.
“How was I, babe?” He asks, looking at me with a smile, his deep voice sending unwanted shivers down my spine.
I frown, turning around, and see Olivia standing behind me, but she’s too busy chatting with one of the screenwriters to pay any attention to him.
He rolls his eyes and if I see correctly, he looks sort of disappointed.
“You were great,” I speak up.
He turns his attention to me and I smile timidly.
“Thanks…” He pulls a face, brushing off my compliment as if it didn’t count for shit.
“Forget it,” I look back at the other actors.
He surprises me when he speaks up again, “So did you like my stunts?”
“What?” I raise a brow at his smug face, “Oh, you mean the ones your stunt double did? Loved it.” I smirk.
He scoffs, “I could do it myself. They just insist that I don’t.”
“Aww, they’re afraid you’ll hurt your pretty little face?”
He smirks, his blue eyes lighting up mischievously, “You think I’m pretty?”
I get off my seat and he follows me.
“You know, you amateurs just seem to get feistier and feistier every time. You should be grateful you’re even in my presence.” Cocky bastard.
Now it’s my turn to scoff, “Amateur?” My brows raise.
“Yeah, amateur. Low budget films don’t count. If you even got to that point,” His arms cross and he tilts his head to the side, “Did you bribe someone? Suck a few dicks to get here?” He raises a perfect brow, “It doesn’t make sense.”
My blood boils and I glare at him as I basically growl, “I worked to get here!”
He raises his arms in surrender, “Oh, I hope so. But you better not fuck up when we film tomorrow. We do not cut for amateurs, we fire them. You’re easy to replace, remember that. And yes, that’s pressure on you.”
I blink at him, suddenly feeling extremely intimidated because his words are true. I can’t mess up.
“How you even got past your callbacks is a mystery to me. I saw the tape. There were about ten other girls who were much more talented and better suited for the role of Leah than you.”
Okay, jeez, can you stop now?! His cruel words were starting to sting, but I refused to show him that.
I bite my lip, preventing myself from saying something rude or pathetic.
“You don’t have a say. You’re just one of the actors. You don’t have the power to fire me.”
He laughs darkly, “Oh, sweetheart.” He cups my cheek and I quickly jerk away from his hand, “You have no idea how much power I have,” He stares me dead in the eye with a wicked smirk on his lips.
My lips part but I decide not to say anything. It’s probably best that I just shut the hell up.
“Oh, no last words? No quick comebacks? Smart move.”
“Sorry, babe, I was busy. You were great though!” Olivia clings to his arm, breaking the tension.
He smiles down at her, “So, dinner tonight?”
“Party,” She corrects him.
“Right,” He kisses her temple and I turn around, walking away from the dickhead.
I blew out an aggravated breath as I walked.
Andy didn’t believe in me -- didn’t think that I could make it. Well, I was going to prove him wrong, and as I walked away, I raised my head high and held my shoulders back.
I knew I was going to make it.
I had to.

Notes