We were interrupted when I was called to the set.
◊◊◊
I had to laugh at myself later. We’d had to do a scene three times because I flubbed my lines. I was embarrassed because we usually only did scenes once. It was such a stark difference from every other movie I’d done where multiple takes were expected. I realized I was upset over nothing when Tsuyoshi rolled his eyes at me.
“Yeah, I know, you’re right,” I admitted. “I just take pride in what I do.”
“No one is saying you shouldn’t. Mr. Otsuki absolutely loves you. He was afraid you would be hard to work with,” Tsuyoshi said and raised his hand to keep me from cutting him off. “Not that you have a reputation for being hard to work with, but he was concerned because most of your lines are in Japanese. It’s not an easy language to pick up.”
“Oh.”
“So quit sulking and let’s get back to work. You have a long monologue in the next scene. I don’t need you messing that up because it would reflect badly on me as your mentor,” he added to twist the knife.
It was my turn to act like a put-out teen, which was what he wanted. Message received: grow up and suck it up. We got back to work.
◊◊◊
We were let go early tonight. When I say early, it was still after midnight. Everyone thought being an actor was so glamorous. I had a feeling that if they’d just put in over fifteen hours on set, they somehow wouldn’t agree.
I came home to find Miss Halle James hanging out with Brook. It looked like they’d polished off a couple bottles of wine.
“Someone’s getting lucky,” Lexi said in my ear.
“Why don’t you hang out with us to keep me out of trouble?” I suggested.
“Hell, no. I need my beauty sleep. I trust you to do the right thing, which is both of them,” she teased.
“Thanks,” I said sarcastically.
I strolled into the living room.
“Join us,” Brook said as she patted the space on the couch, which just happened to be between the two girls.
“How was shopping?” I asked.
They both laughed at me because they knew I hated to do it.
“Halle has a crisis,” Brook shared.
“Ben asked me out,” Halle announced.
“Wouldn’t it be a little cliché to date your leading man? Plus, isn’t he dating Isabel Alexandra? No offense, but she was in
Isabel was what Halle would look like if she got a boob job—not that she needed one. The girls decided to ignore me.
“There’s nothing wrong with having fun, you know. I’m sure Ben wouldn’t be your forever guy, but he’s exactly what you need right now. Someone who would be infinitely fun,” Brook counseled.
The Alpha Male in me suddenly took notice. While I realized that Halle wouldn’t just sit around and pine over me, she and I had dated. With Halle sitting next to me, looking hot and smelling so good, it wasn’t right that Brook would be talking about Ben Doman like that.
“I don’t know,” Halle said, thinking about it. “Ben has a reputation with women.”
“Like, one part of it is that he already has one,” I interjected.
“He is yummy, though,” Brook said.
Was I invisible or something?
“When I was probably like six, I told my mom that I just wanted to eat cake all the time. I imagine dating Ben would be like that,” Halle said.
“I bet your mother dissuaded you from that,” I said.
“Yeah. Mom said that the idea of cake for every meal sounded good in theory, but that it wasn’t healthy. She said that I would either get fat from all the sugar or start to wish for a salad. Mom assured me I couldn’t live on cake alone.”
“A little cake never hurt anyone,” Brook offered.
“You can tease, but my point is, it can’t all be hard abs and devilish good looks all the time,” Halle said. “I think we need unhappiness and hurt, or all the joy we feel is meaningless. If all I am is happy all the time, how will I ever grow as a person? Actors need life experience to get better. If all I’m eating is cake, then I miss out on the rest. If my heart is never broken, how will I know true love when I see it?”
For some reason, I noticed that Brook couldn’t look at Halle while she said that. Instead, she stared at her hands and pretended that Halle’s words didn’t hit a little too close to home.
“That’s the biggest difference between someone like Ben and someone like David,” Halle said, and then sucked in a surprised breath.
I could only surmise that she’d broken an unspoken rule. It was like the ‘bro code’ of not going after another guy’s girl. Halle had a pinched look for a second and then relaxed. I think she remembered that I was into her, and she didn’t have to worry about me being like Ben. Personally, if I had someone like Isabel Alexander waiting for me at home, I would have been as good as the Pope. Ben was an idiot.
“Why is Ben doing this?” I asked to change the focus to his cheating ways.
“It’s like you said about the leading man and woman cliché. We have had some intense scenes and have become close. That, and Isabel told him she wanted to open up their relationship,” Halle shared.
I snorted.
“What?” Halle said, getting angry.
