Wednesday
Picture 2
Kimmydon's Choice: both
Title:
“I’m just going to take a smoke break,” Lisa told the crew. “Take your time setting up the next shot.”
Stepping out of the car that was the main prop, Lisa walked around to the hood, leaning against it as she grabbed one of the cigarettes from her handler. She snorted as she put it into the flame on the end of his lighter.
“Isn’t my health and well being in your job description?” she asked for the umpteenth time, pulling her hair back from her face.
“Yeah,” Clifford said, smile on his round face. All of him was round. Not that he couldn’t protect her, but he looked like a big teddy bear. “I’ve seen you in a nic-fit. I am protecting your well being.”
Lisa laughed, pulling herself up further on the car’s hood as camera-men, gaffers, grips, gophers and all other manner of company men swirled around them. Her co-star hadn’t even shown up yet this morning. That wasn’t a surprise, he wasn’t in these shots, but he should arrive soon. They should have started their scenes by now. Her game wasn’t on today. It was the damn grey sky here. She thrived in sunlight. The schedule didn’t leave her any real down time either, so she was more than a little burnt out.
Pulling one leg up, she laid her hand on it to examine some dirt that had gotten under her fingernail. At first she frowned at it, but then she started to smile. At least she was working outside. They might have filmed this on a set, but she was thrilled that the director had opted not to. The fresh air and the smell of the evergreens lining this back road helped take the edge off. That and the cancer stick.
She jumped at the sound of a shutter. There were a lot of common sounds around a film set. That one wasn’t rare, but it usually meant that paps had gotten in.
That wasn’t the case this time. The director, John, was actually squatting there with a crappy digital camera in his hand. Lisa smirked and John frowned.
“I’m not here,” he ordered.
Lisa looked down. “You’re shooting my legs!” she accused, noticing how they were splayed.
“I am not!” he argued. “I’m framing the shot.”
She scowled and lowered her leg, crossing ankles. Then she raised an eyebrow, daring him to object.
He scoffed. “Lisa, you know how good you are at this?”
Her scowled lightened. “I like to hear people like you tell me,” she told him.
“I know you had a time getting here,” John allowed, “but you earned it. There’s a reason you’re cast so often.”
Lisa sighed. “Blessing and curse,” she muttered, pushing from the car and rubbing out her butt. A gopher took it from her; it couldn’t wind up in a shot.
“Rob’s here!” someone called from behind trailers at the far end of the road.
“Good!” John called back. “Start getting the lake shot set up. We’ll be there in minutes.”
Lisa chuckled. “Confident, are we?”
“I am. You’re going to nail it this time.”
And she did. She pushed through the rest of her day, worked chemistry with Rob, who was not recovering well from the night before. She longed to ask what bad news he’d gotten; he didn’t normally drink during shoots. There was never enough or the right time though.
“Cut! That’s it for today,” John said, coming around the camera. “I’ll see both of you in the morning.”
Lisa looked up, surprised how early it was in the day. She turned to ask Rob if he wanted to get a coffee in town, but he was already gone, his handler following him. Ford came to her side and Lisa smiled. The big man would be great company.
“Let’s get some ice cream,” she said, rubbing her hands together.
Clifford laughed. “I’m watching my figure, you know,” he joked, rubbing his round belly. He didn’t fool her. She’d watched him toss fans that got aggressive or simply too excited. There was muscle beneath.
“Yeah, so am I.” Lisa rubbed a hand over a thrust out hip that still didn’t have enough flesh on it to earn any sort of booty call. “Come on. I’m off early!” Realizing she was whining, she stopped.
“Right, ice cream,” Clifford said, taking her arm and turning her. “Anyone else coming for ice cream?” he called around the set. Everyone here still had a number of jobs to do for the day, though John seemed to consider coming along before going to his trailer to check out dailies. “Yes!” Ford said with a fist pump. “I get the girl again!”
Lisa snickered even though she’d heard that particular joke a dozen times. “Yeah yeah, you get the girl.”
She stopped at make up to change out of her costume and back into her own clothes, sighing as she put her feet into flipflops. The shick-shick, shick-shick of her steps was satisfying as well.
Ford drove her away from the lake and back road into the tiny town of Jasper Springs. There might have been paps, there might have been rabid fans, but there weren’t. The schedule had changed to have them here earlier than expected and the press hadn’t caught on yet.
Lisa stepped out at the same time as Ford and he ran around the vehicle to her side.
“Please. What’s going to happen here? The four year-olds are going to attack?” She pointed to the pre-schoolers climbing up and the ladder of the slide. A pair of tired looking moms sat on a bench. Lisa headed for the swings and took one while Ford grumbled.
“That’s not the point. You have your job and I have mine,” he reminded her.
“Yes, your job. This is my dream, you know. Or it was. To be a movie star. Sounds like the high life, right? When was the last time I had a date, Ford? You know, you came along,” she teased.
“Yeah, six months. What was his name, Neil?”
Lisa sighed. “Some up-tight suit. Neil sounds right. Don’t get me wrong,” she told Ford, pushing off and setting the swing in motion, “I’m not giving it up. No way. But...”
His warm brown eyes followed her pendulous path. She continued, “It’s like reality and fiction are all mixed up. Like this is the fairy tale, and the fairy tales I film are the reality. That doesn’t make any sense, does it?”
He shook his head. “Nope. Your fairy tale has me in it? Definitely messed up.” His grin was impish. “Don’t leave the swing,” he ordered. “I’ll be watching.”
Lisa didn’t watch him go, she just closed her eyes, listened to the children laughing, felt the sun that had finally broken through the clouds. She could be happy here, like this.
Even better was the sudden splat of cold on her nose and lips. Her legs were knocked aside as she collided with her heavyset bodyguard and pulled them back, digging into the sand.
“Shit, sorry, Ford.” She licked her lips and tasted the chocolate from the ice cream cone he held. She jumped off the swing and grabbed it. “Thank you!”
“This is my job,” he said, using her words. “Your well being. We can chase our dreams together. Mine is to see you have fun along the way.” He put a thick arm around her shoulders and squeezed her, kissing the top of her head.
“I’ll try,” she promised.
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