Chapter 14
Hudson
I sat near the cameraman with a cup of coffee in my hand, preparing myself for the next shot. We were three weeks into shooting the movie and things were going better than expected. Mona, when she played her character Rebecca, was not hard to deal with at all. On camera, she was sweet, charming and hilarious, but she was a hell of an actor, because off camera, she was the exact opposite.
“Yeah, man,” the cameraman said, “I’ve shot a few of her movies. She is a monster to the crew but because she’s ‘America’s sweetheart’ or whatever, we have to pretend she didn’t throw a scalding hot cup of tea at us for shooting her from the wrong angle.”
“It’s definitely better to stay on her good side, though I’m not sure she actually has one,” I said as I gave him a playful punch on the shoulder.
He laughed. “Yeah, man. You just have to come here, do your job and then leave her alone. That’s it.”
Simon came out from behind the monitors. “Alright, everyone, places! We have to knock this scene out before we lose the light. Places!”
I discarded my cup of coffee into the trashcan and headed to my place. Just then, Chloe walked onto the set. I smiled and gave a slight nod in her direction and she gave me a subtle smile in return. We had done a great job keeping our relationship quiet. We found ways to sneak around and steal some time together, and it definitely added an air of danger to the whole affair. But truth be told, I was looking forward to the day when we could stop sneaking and be more upfront with our mounting affection for each other.
I averted my attention from her and walked on set next to Mona, who was already glaring at me.
“For heaven’s sake, Hudson, can we please get this done in one take? I am utterly sick of running the same lines with you for multiple takes. I am a professional and I expect those whom I work with to be just as professional. Got it?”
“Mona, listen. The director is not giving me any negative feedback and neither is anyone else, so I’ll do my job and you worry about yours.”
She turned her nose up at me just as Simon started the countdown for us to begin shooting our scene. “Alright, everyone, let’s get this going! Action!” Simon yelled from the director’s chair. Chloe stood just to his right, and throughout the romantic scene, I made subtle gestures to show that I was thinking about Chloe. I made brief eye contact with her, and whenever she stood in my line of sight behind Mona, I spoke to her with more passion. It was much easier to pull the lines off when I truly felt what I said about someone.
Chloe blushed, but tried not to make it obvious. That was the hardest thing for us, especially since we had grown so close in such a short time.
“Rebecca, listen,” I ran the lines, and pulled Mona closer to me with Chloe in my line of sight just behind her. “Why do we have to keep pretending this isn’t real? Fuck the obstacles. They don’t matter to me. Only you matter to me.”
Mona moved out of my grasp and turned her back to me. “I know, Maddox, I feel the same way, but… there are just so many obstacles. My family is threatening to disown me if we continue this path. I don’t know what to do. I love you,” she turned back towards me. “I truly do, but this is a mountain that I don’t know how to climb.”
I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her closer to me. Her light brown eyes bubbled with false affection that was obvious to me, but for everyone else, they would never tell the difference. “Baby, you were never meant to climb it alone. We can climb it together.”
She leaned closer to me, but before we could kiss, Simon yelled out, “Alright, cut! Excellent! Wonderful!” Mona rolled her eyes at me and then stormed off set. I was used to her reactions by now. Even when we were appreciated for a job well done, she behaved as if I didn’t perform to her expectations. “Five minute break, everyone.”
Chloe brought me another cup of coffee. “Here you go, Mr. Andrews. You did a great job.”
“Thank you. Can you do me a favor? Will you walk me to my trailer? I have something I need to run by you, and if it’s acceptable, then maybe you can take it to Simon for me.”
“Oh, yeah, sure thing.”
We walked down a small pathway until we got to a vacant area of the lot. I dropped the coffee out of my hand and pulled her in for a kiss. Her lips were the missing pieces to a puzzle that I had been trying to put together for the past few years. “I was waiting all day for that,” I said as we released each other.
“Same. Simon has been on my ass ever since I got here. I can hardly catch a fucking break. But here it is.” She looked at her watch after the alarm went off. “And damn it. There it goes.” With a huff, she explained. “I am supposed to go and grab the new sides from the writers and if I don’t have them for him, he will eat me alive.”
I grumbled to myself, trying not to think about what Simon would do if he found out we were together. “Damn. Do you want to come over to my place tonight?”
“Absolutely.”
She pecked me on the lips before she walked in the opposite direction. I looked down at the cup of coffee that had spilled onto the cement. As I leaned down to pick it up, I heard Simon’s voice from behind me.
“Well, well, well.”
Startled, I spun around while he continued, “I see you and my assistant are close”
Fuck. “No, not at all. She was just helping me run some lines and…”
Simon held his hand up to stop me. “No, no, Mr. Andrews. That did NOT look like you two were just running lines. That looked a little more serious than that. Be honest with me. What exactly is going on between you two?”
“Nothing. Honestly, it is nothing. Just a little fun for now, you know?”
“Is that what the kids call it nowadays?” Simon growled. “How about you don’t try and feed me any bullshit lies? I spend enough time around actors to know when you are full of it. And you, Hudson, are up to your eyeballs. You’re screwing my assistant.”
“Simon,” I tried to interject, panicked.
“You can call me Mr. Dominik from here on out, Hudson. And things are about to change on this set, I can promise you that.”
I felt every nerve in my body begin to fire at the same time. Shit. I didn’t want to fuck things up for Chloe, and I sure as hell didn’t want to fuck things up for me. I wasn’t sure if I was going to double over in pain, or just throw up on Simon’s shoes. “Mister… Dominik… please.”
But Simon just shook his head. “Keep your phone on you, Hudson. When I call, you better answer. That’s all I’m saying. You better answer. Or go ahead and assume that you will never work in this town again.” He turned on his heel and started to walk away, leaving me standing in the alley, thinking that throwing up was the best option.
Oh, god. How the hell am I going to tell Chloe?