“Yeah. I’ll find out what it’s about,” she said and turned to leave.
“Hey, before you take off? Is there time for me to take someone to dinner tonight, or am I booked with the shoot?”
“You have an hour and a half around eight. Did you want me to make reservations?”
“If you could, that would be great.”
“Who are you taking?” Hana asked.
“I planned to ask Misaki so I could get to know her better.”
The look they both gave me reminded me to call my girlfriend. This may have been the longest we’d gone without either seeing each other or talking since we started dating. I’d received a couple of text messages that had frowny faces on them. I’d better make time, or I would be seeing a frowny face on her when she arrived.
◊◊◊
We were scheduled for another group golf scene. When I arrived on set, the girls were all talking and giggling, while the guys looked bored. If I didn’t know better, I would have guessed they were all in high school. I walked straight up to the girls, and suddenly, all conversation stopped.
I looked at Misaki and gave her my best smile.
“Would you do me the honor of having dinner with me tonight?”
“I, uh,” she stammered.
Her stunned expression was priceless. Before we could say anything else, Mr. Otsuki hustled over. He’d been eavesdropping.
“Hang on! Stop!” he barked out. “I need you to do that again, and I want the same reaction.”
Misaki looked around, dumbfounded, as did the rest of the cast.
Hana quickly came over and helped me learn how to say it correctly in Japanese.
It’s never as easy as you would think. We had to do it with four different camera angles and nail the expressions each time. Misaki did a great job, but the other three girls got the giggles, which turned out to be an even cuter response.
When Misaki stammered, she ad-libbed and stood a little straighter, and then bowed her head in acceptance. Asian girls acting submissive really turned me on. That caused me to get a big smile, and I turned to Kenta and gave him a thumbs-up.
“
Once the scene was in the can, Misaki made a beeline for me.
“You weren’t serious, were you?” she asked.
“Yes. I was asking if I could take you to dinner.”
She looked at me suspiciously.
“My driver will pick us up at eight, and we’ll be back in time for the rest of the day,” I said.
She nodded again and scurried off. It took all of two seconds for Kenta and Jiro to corner me.
“What was that all about?” Kenta demanded.
“You said you wanted to learn how to ask a woman out, and I thought that was a good example.”
“You can’t just ask them,” he whined.
“I think he just did,” Jiro pointed out.
“But …” Kenta stammered and then turned and left us.
Jiro found it all amusing, and he had a good laugh before we had to go back to playing golf.
◊◊◊
My little question had the cast stirred up. Mr. Otsuki loved it. He left the cameras running a few times when the girls got together and gave Misaki advice on what she should do on the date. Hana was my spy and would fill me in when they said something I should know. Of course, I could see where this little drama might blow up in my face, so I made it a point to call Brook.
“I take it you’ve been busy,” she answered right out of the box.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Lexi called me and told me that you’re working crazy hours,” she said, and then changed topics. “What’s this I hear that you’re seeing Halle?”
It sounded like Halle had called to give my girlfriend a hard time.
“Her movie was in trouble, and they needed a little star power.”
That made her laugh.
“More like you wanted an excuse to hang out with her.”
Brook knew me too well.
“You got me,” I said, and then added, “We’re treating this like Vegas, right? What happens in LA, stays in LA?”
“Maybe I’ll have to call Little Tony and put a hit out on you. I’ve heard they bury people in the desert for whatever ‘happens in Vegas’ that they don’t like. I’m sure there are some places in the LA hills where you could disappear.”
“We could call it a Christmas gift to Halle. The girl has everything, and I never know what to get her.”
“I miss you, you big dork. You leave Halle alone. I’ll be out shortly, and you’ll forget all about that hussy,” Brook assured me.
I told her about dinner with Misaki and the drama it had created. Brook’s only advice was to remember her feelings and not to go overboard.
◊◊◊
Frank Ingram, my publicist, showed up right before eight.
“Frank, what’s up?” I asked as I shook his hand.
“It’s been busy. I wanted to advise you that the video of the paparazzi dustup hit all the gossip sites today. I’ve gotten several calls from people in the business, loving it. It’s fun to see the shoe on the other foot for a change. This time, it was them with their pants down.”
“It was a little disconcerting when they boxed me in. I hate that kind of stuff. If they had just asked, I would have stopped and talked to them.”
