Something Uncle John had taught me was that people always have a choice in how to handle a bad situation. Here, I could rail against it not being fair and get both her and me upset, or I could suck it up and support her decision. It would be so easy to make her wrong. Brook could have talked to me about it before deciding, but I suspected she had to make a quick decision.
Before I said anything, I took a deep breath to try to calm myself.
“I want you to know that I think you’re making the right decision. I don’t like what it’ll do to us. But we both knew that when I left after graduation and when you headed off to Princeton, we would break up. It looks like life has happened, and the time frame has moved up. I will always love you,” I said as the tears began to flow down my face.
Brook was bawling, and I heard her drop the phone. In the background, I heard her mom come into her room.
“He loves me,” Brook told her mom.
I heard the phone being picked up, and Ava was on the line.
“You okay?” she asked me.
“No,” I was able to get out.
“I don’t think she can talk right now.”
“Take care of her for me. Tell her we’ll talk later. Remind her that she won’t get rid of me as a friend. We’ll figure it out,” I said.
“I will,” she said and paused. “David, thank you for understanding.”
“Okay. I’ve got to get going,” I said and hung up.
Lexi appeared suddenly and gave me a hug. Brook must have told her what was going on. She just held me as the emotions from the week washed over me. I was such a wuss. Guys were supposed to keep it in and only cry on the ride home.
Misaki stuck her head in the door and then ducked out. I took a huge breath, held it for a moment, and let it out.
“Can you go deal with everyone and tell them that I need a moment?” I asked.
“You okay?”
“No, but I’ll get it together.”
“Go wash your face, and I’ll get you some food,” Lexi said. “Go. I’ll deal with them.”
I watched her leave and then took her advice. Despite my world crashing around me, I had to focus on finishing this J-drama.
They say God never gives you more than you can handle. I seriously doubted I could handle much more this week.
◊◊◊
I’m not really sure how I managed to get through the rest of the evening’s film schedule. Mr. Nomura assured me that I’d delivered, performance-wise, when I asked him during one of the sessions we had for me to learn my lines. I cared about my craft and wanted to deliver not only for my own standards but because the crew and my castmates deserved my best.
Later, Lexi told me that when I came back, anyone would have been hard-pressed to know that I’d just received such bad news. I guess I was a better actor than I’d thought because I was dying on the inside.
It all finally ended at close to three in the morning. On the ride home, I reflected on what I’d said to the cast earlier today. “I want to be your favorite hello and your hardest goodbye.” Brook Davis was my ‘hardest goodbye.’
◊◊◊
Chapter 32 – Defenseless Wednesday January 11
Today was the last ‘official’ day of filming. The plan for the rest of the week was to complete on-location scenes. There were only a few B-roll sequences to finish—mostly wide landscape shots; no actors needed.
My contract said I had to be here through Sunday in case we had to reshoot anything. They would spend the next few days deciding if they had everything they wanted in the can before everyone scattered.
I’d just finished back-to-back scenes and wouldn’t be required for a little while, so I planned to go to the coffee shop on campus. I could use a serious caffeine injection due to my lack of sleep over the past few days. Plus, I had to get away for a few minutes.
That I’d ever thought being a movie star was a fun way to make money was starting to make me question my sanity. With our tight schedule, it had become our norm to shoot from nine in the morning to the wee hours of the night. A trip to the coffee shop was more of a sanity break than anything else.
I found Lexi and Manaia at my side as I headed for the door. Manaia had the drone under his arm and released it as soon as we got outside. The students at Pepperdine had gotten used to us filming on campus and generally left my fellow actors and me alone now.
I had noticed that they’d figured out that the drone signaled that I was walking around campus, and the number of cute girls around seemed to mysteriously increase. Lexi likened my drone to a puppy or baby. It was a chick magnet but had the added benefit of not having to be fed or cleaned up after.
With my long legs, and being a man on a mission, I was soon leading our merry band. When I turned the corner at the library, I ran into a girl and knocked her books out of her hands.
“Jerk!”
I looked down, and it was the actress who’d played Juliet in the play we’d filmed. I gave her a neutral look and did my one-eyebrow-raised look. She realized it was me, and her face turned red.
