This Thing We Call Love

“Do you know this entire script by heart?” He asks, indicating to the script in his hand by holding it up.
“No,” I say honestly, “But I know all of my lines roughly.”
“So, if I were to pinpoint a random page in here, you’d be able to improvise from the scene?”
“Yeah, I’m sure I would.”
“Stand up,” He commands and I frown before standing slowly. “Here, you have one minute to read through this page.”
My eyes widen, “One minute?”
“Fifty nine, fifty eight, fif --”
“Okay, okay,” I say, snatching the script from his hand before walking a fair distance away from him and into another room for privacy.
Leah: Come here, take your shirt off. (Johnny feels vulnerable at this point.)
( Johnny lays beside her, feeling amiss.)
Leah: Tie that around your arm. (Leah holds out a tourniquet.)
Johnny: Can’t I just smoke it?
Leah: This is the best way. trust me.
Johnny: (Feels defeated.) Can’t you just do it for me?
Leah: This is your first time. You want to remember it as your own free will. (Leah hands him the needle.) Embrace it. Pull the trigger.
(Johnny wraps the tourniquet around his arm. He inserts the needle into his arm, pushing the plunger all the way down, the heroin in the needle slowly disappearing into his arm. Johnny gasps.)
Johnny: (breathily) Oh, my God.
(Leah straddles Johnny’s lap.She kisses him suddenly, taking him by surprise.)
My brows raise. I’m definitely surprised. Oh God, this is the scene that he wants to improvise? No. Definitely not. No way. Did he know that this was the page he turned to? Did he plan this? To utterly humiliate me? I can’t do this --.
“Time’s up,” Andy says, making me jump. I turn and see him looking at me, which he was probably doing the entire time since the walls are made of glass. This fucker.
My cheeks heat up.
“But --”
“We’ll improvise. Come here,” He places his glass down and walks towards me, taking the script out of my hand.
I watch as he glances down at it, his face blank of any emotion. He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes for a good couple of seconds. Is this how he gets into character?
He walks over to me, his body stopping right in front of me, “Leah, no.”
Oh fuck, I can’t do this. “Say it louder,” I manage to whisper.
God, it’s just a scene, Charlie. It doesn’t mean anything.
He leans over me, his lips inches away from mine. I suck in a deep breath, not moving. We stand like that for a moment, his eyes burning into mine, and I can tell he’s not going to back down.
Then he cups my cheek, bringing my face up to his, our lips practically touching at this point.
So I, being who I am, burst into a fit of giggles, breaking the tension.
Rather it be from embarrassment, the ridiculousness of what we were doing, or something else, I don’t know, but I couldn’t stop laughing.
I bend over from the force of my laughter while he stands still, face blank.
“You should have seen your face!” I choke out, my breathing hard.
After a few seconds of me just laughing, he cracks a small smile, although it doesn’t fully reach his eyes.
“You need to learn your lines, Charlie,” He states after I’ve finished.
“That scene’s probably not until a couple of months,” Hopefully. “What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal, Charlie, is that you have to be prepared. They don’t always shoot the scenes in order. What if they threw this in your face tomorrow?”
I blush at the thought. “They’d tell me the day before,” I shrug.
I feel him take a deep breath before stepping away from me, “Not the point.”
-----
“Can I go home now?” I ask, yawning, “It’s already past midnight.”
“And we’re still busy.”
“I can’t cry on demand, okay!? I’m not you! It’s impossible. Now can we do something else before I leave!?”
“How would you go home without me, anyway?”
“Oh, I don’t know, I’d call something called a cab,” I smile sarcastically.
“A cab? Do you even have any idea where you are?” He asks, taking a drag from his cigarette.
I bite my lip. He has a point.
“Besides, I’m getting pretty tired too.”
“Bring me home then.”
“I’m too tired to drive, babe,” He yawns as well.
“Andy,” I whine.
“What? I’m serious. It’s been a long day.”
“Well, what am I supposed to do then, huh? Sleep on the street until princess gets his beauty sleep?”
He smirks, raising a brow, “Oh, come on, I don’t have countless of rooms here for nothing.”
Wait. Is he suggesting that I sleep here?
“No,” I say, catching on. “I have somewhere that I have to be tomorrow.”
“Where?”
“Nowhere in particular,” I say, not wanting to discuss CC with him. I smile as I think of CC and how cute he is.
“Is it a guy?” He raises a brow, noticing the expression on my face.
I blush, “Why do you want to know!?”
He raises his hands in surrender.
“Fine, no more questions. Do you want to see the room you’re staying in tonight?”
“Do I have any say in this?”
“No, not really. Unless you’d prefer staying on the street.”

Notes