Chapter Five
Seven Years Ago
“Elena, I know this is a lot to take in, but you need to move your feet,” Alyssa said standing next to me and my mother outside the conference room, where my first meeting and table read for Empire Burning would take place. I was about to meet the star-studded cast for the very first time. And Ethan Anderson was just on the other side of the door. My chest hurt and my head spun with adrenaline and nerves.
“Honey, don’t be nervous,” my mom said encouragingly, patting my shoulder. “It’s just another day on the job.” She gave me an encouraging smile, flashing her perfect teeth, and tossing her wavy blonde hair, so much like my own, over her shoulder.
Right, I thought. Just another day hanging out with celebrities. No big deal. Alyssa gave me a sharp nod, encouraging me to go on in. Taking a deep breath, I pushed the door open. I took two short steps into the room before stopping abruptly and my eyes locked on Ethan Anderson. He hadn't looked up when I entered, keeping his head down over the papers on the table in front of him. His sandy blonde hair fell in front of his forehead faintly, grazing his eyes. It was like there was a pull of energy in the room towards him. Everything seemed to focus on him.
My sudden stop caught Alyssa off guard. She had been right on my tail and slammed into me when I stopped, dropping her portfolio, scattering papers everywhere. “Elena!” she scolded in a hushed tone.
Oh my god, I thought, bending over to immediately help Alyssa pick up the papers. What a great first impression. After we gathered everything, I stood up, turning to face the table again. Every single person was staring at me. Luckily, my first meeting was very small. I had only met a handful of people from the studio and the film, so this really was the first impression for most of them. Jeffrey Jones, the director, sat at the head of the table. He was surrounded by an assortment of people. Two people were supposed to be his assistant and associate directors, according to what Alyssa told me on the way here of who would be at the meeting. One person was also supposed to be a writer from the screenwriting department. I assumed the two nervous-looking individuals sitting away from the table, next to the wall closest to Jeffrey, were the director’s personal assistants.
Ethan Anderson sat near the far end of the table, his green eyes locked on me now from across the room. His expression was difficult to read, though. He looked more curious than anything, his strong jawline locked in a tense position. My whole body ignited under his scrutiny and I knew a deep flush was creeping down my body. Next to Ethan sat another man I didn’t recognize with his face buried in his phone. Perhaps, he was on Ethan’s payroll. On Ethan’s other side sat Richard Brando, another notable celebrity, though much older than even Ethan or myself. Richard was Marlon Brando’s nephew or some relation. You could definitely tell Richard took after his uncle’s looks. At this age, he reminded me of a rich, Italian grandfather. Richard and his own assistant both openly stared at me with amused expressions.
"Go sit," Alyssa muttered. I nodded and separated from her and my mother, who went to sit in the chairs along the wall. The only open seat at the table was near the end across from Ethan between Richard's assistant and one of the associate directors. As I made my way to my seat, I realized I was overdressed, wearing a blush-colored shift dress and a pair of light brown wedges. Everyone else was wearing shorts or jeans and t-shirts. Ethan was the only person that wasn’t wearing a crew or V-neck t-shirt. Instead, he wore a light gray button-up shirt that really highlighted his golden tan. God, he was beautiful. I wondered how on Earth I would be able to act with him looking at me the whole time.
“Elena,” the man seated next to me said. "You may not remember me. I'm Mark, the associate director. I was at your callback audition. You did excellently." I smiled feeling more confident at his words. Mark slid a script in front of me, which I accepted even though I had one in my bag.
“Alright,” Jeffrey cleared his throat from the head of the table. He wasn’t a very big man, actually almost short, but his energy and the way he carried himself filled the room. He was middle-aged with some strong laugh-lines and worry-wrinkles beginning to trace across his face, his dark gray hair thick across the top of his head. Still, his blue eyes were bright and shone excitedly all the way across the room. “You know I don’t like to beat around the bush, so we’ll get straight to it. This meeting we will go over our expectations for the film and highlight some key points that will be pivotal to success. The script in front of you is the most current, but keep in mind, as the mood changes, the script changes. But I’ll try to take it easy on you. We’ll do a few read-throughs to get our bearings. Let’s start with the meet-cute, shall we? Sandra meets James for the first time and Morgan interrupts. Should be easy enough for a first read. Elena,” he said, looking directly at me, his eyes shining, but narrowing in on me. I tried not to react to his attention. “Just do the read through. No need to get it just right.” I nodded confidently and flipped my script open to the correct page.
“Okay,” a woman spoke up that I assumed was the writer. She had short hair with purple tips, giving off an artistic vibe. “Interior Holman’s Office. Midday. Sandra Wilson is waiting, sitting in a chair facing the desk, apparently lost in thought. James enters abruptly.”
Ethan began reading from the script, but not even sounding as if he was reading at all. “You must be Sandy,” his voice boomed.
"Oh!" I read my line and actually jumped for real, not expecting his voice to be so loud. I’d done table reads before when I had the soap opera gig back home, but I mean… it was local public broadcasting. We didn’t take it very seriously. I didn’t think it was something they did with big films, but what did I know about Hollywood? I continued, trying to fill my voice with as much uncertainty as I could, “Uh, no. Sandra, actually. Who …who are you?”
“No, no,” Ethan replied dismissively, drumming his fingers on the table. “I know exactly who you are. You’ve always caught my eye.”
“No, you’re mistaken,” I replied, giving an awkward laugh. “I’m sure we haven’t met.”
“Well, you’re right. We haven’t,” Ethan agreed. He spoke so confidently. I wondered if he had read this scene more than once. I'd read the script a few times, but hadn't really focused on this particular scene yet. I looked up at him and paused for a beat longer than necessary. Ethan looked up at me, noticing my silence, and I felt myself paralyze under his gaze, his endlessly beautiful eyes hypnotizing me.
He slightly raised his eyebrows and I snapped my head back to the script. “I’m sorry,” I continued to read, hoping no one noticed the extra lapse of time. And if they did notice, hopefully they thought it was strategic acting. “Were you looking for Mr. Holman?”
“No, darling,” Ethan said with a voice that made me melt. “I was looking for you.”
The writer spoke up again, “James moves closer to Sandra, sitting right next to her. Sandra looks torn between discomfort and infatuation. Morgan enters abruptly.”
Richard spoke up with his gruff voice, “Sorry to keep you – oh, Mr. Burns! What are you doing here?” He also spoke with clear confidence so it didn’t even sound like he was reading. He even gave hand gestures.
“Sorry, Holman,” Ethan said smoothly. “I was just leaving. I just had to deliver this memo to Sandy.”
“James gives Sandra an envelope,” the writer narrated.
“I didn’t realize you knew each other,” Richard said suspiciously.
“We don’t,” I said a little too quickly, but staying in character, knowing how I was expected to act. “I don’t know what’s going on or how you think you know me but –”
“Darling,” Ethan interrupted in his shiver-inducing voice. “Just read the memo.” Ethan paused for a beat. “I’ll call you, Holman.”
“Okay, good,” Jeffrey interrupted. “Now, let’s discuss then do it again.”
We spent the rest of the day going over notes and changes Jeffrey wanted us to make in our readings and did several more scenes. I was grateful that Jeffrey wasn’t just making recommendations to me; he was actually critiquing all three of us. I had been so afraid that my inexperience in film would set me back from the others, but I had a good feeling about everything so far. As the hours stretched on, Jeffrey finally called it a day. My voice was almost hoarse having talked so much in one day with few breaks. I made a mental note to increase my daily water intake.
Every one started bustling at once when Jeffrey got up. He left the room quickly followed by Frank (I figured out that was the other assistant director’s name), Jeffrey’s assistants, a production assistant, and the writer. Mom and Alyssa had left the room about a half hour before, so I took my time gathering my things. Richard was quick to leave as well. He patted Ethan on the shoulder on his way out with his assistant following closely behind. “See ya, Ethan,” he called in his gruff voice and gave me a polite nod, as well.
Mark turned to me, “Great job today, Elena.” Mark smiled and lifted his ball cap off his bald head before adjusting it snugly back on. He was a sweet man and had been very encouraging throughout the day. “You’re going to wow the whole world. I know it.”
I smiled somewhat bashfully. It was still weird for me to hear people speak about me that way. I knew I had talent. I wouldn’t have been where I was if I didn’t. I just hadn’t yet figured out how to handle the compliments. “Thanks, Mark.” Mark knocked his hand on the table and winked at me before getting up to leave the room, as well.
I stood up and peeked over at Ethan who was still sitting down talking so quietly to his assistant I couldn't hear what they were saying. I reached down to grab my messenger bag from the floor and dropped my script inside. I noticed Ethan's assistant stand up and quickly walk out the room, bringing his phone up to his ear, muttering quietly. Then it was just Ethan and me.
He stood up and I lifted my eyes to him, those deep green eyes pulling me in again. I gave a polite smile and turned to walk out the door. He grabbed his phone off the table and quickly stepped around the table to block my path to the door. My heart rate increased while I looked up at him in surprise. He towered over me. He had to be a few inches over six feet tall. I had no idea how tall he really was in person. “Elena Lewis,” he simply said. Then, he waited.
I’m sure my eyes widened. It felt as if the air had stopped in my lungs. “Hi,” I said quietly and a little to breathily. I immediately began mentally slapping myself in my head. Hi? Really? I wished I had something more to say.
“Hi,” he smiled at me. It was a friendly, trusting smile that had me wanting to give him my hand and tell him all my secrets. Instead, I cocked my head to the side and gave him a questioning look. “Have you tried Craft yet?” Ethan asked.
My mouth dropped open slightly, my brow furrowing in confusion. “Craft?” I asked not having a clue what he was talking about.
“Yeah,” he said, standing up straighter, almost rocking back on his heels. “Come on. Let’s check it out.” He stepped out into the hallway and I followed him without a second thought. Whatever connection I was feeling with him, I felt like I could follow him anywhere. I peeked around the halls, but we were still alone. My mom and Alyssa were nowhere in sight. I briefly wondered where they were before decided I didn’t even care.
“Okay, I give,” I said, beginning to relax a bit. Ethan Anderson was interested in me. Well, I didn’t mean interested in me, but he wanted to talk to me. He was having a conversation with me. He was walking down the hall with me. What is this life? I wondered. “What’s Craft?”
Ethan looked over at me casually, an amused grin on his face. He raised an eyebrow and leaned a bit towards me while walking as if he was going to tell me a secret. "It's craft services," he said. "The bigger the film, the better the Craft. And you and I? We're a pretty big deal." Hearing him say ‘you and I' made me want to melt all over again.
Unfortunately, my characteristic Elena Lewis class made its debut and I snorted. I actually snorted. “Okay, first of all,” I began, still chuckling, though somewhat red in the face from my embarrassing snort. “I am not a big deal. You are the big deal.”
Ethan stopped walking, placing a hand on my arm to stop me from walking. His hand also stopped me from laughing. And practically stopped me from breathing. “Okay, first of all,” he said mocking me. “You need to start realizing that you are now a big deal. You may not have had much experience in film…” He paused, raising that damn eyebrow at me, the side of his mouth curving up. His hand was still on my arm. “But this film is going to win awards, Elena. And you are on the fast track to being a big deal. So own it now.” He raised his chin in the air as he watched me take in everything he just said. I didn’t know what to say. Sensing he had gotten through to me, he turned and started walking again, dropping his hand from arm, leaving tingles so strong it felt like he was still holding me. I started breathing again and continued walking next to him.
By this time, we had rounded a corner and were in a large studio lounge area that I hadn't been to yet. Off in the corner was almost a restaurant-style craft services. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Back home, they had craft services at the local studio, but it had only been a food cart. It was like one of those carts you would find on street corners that sold hot dogs. The only time you ate from there was when you were absolutely starving and you needed something in your stomach so the microphones wouldn't pick up the growling from hunger pains. Craft was a whole different ballpark. Ethan wasn't kidding when he said bigger films had better craft services. The place looked like it served anything you wanted.
As we walked up, Ethan made a noise like he was thinking about something. I glanced over at him and he looked back at me. “It’s not the best I’ve seen, but it’s pretty good,” he reviewed. “What are you having?” he asked me.
As I took in the all the candy and sweets, popcorn, pretzels, nachos, and read the menu offering grill items, I didn’t know what to choose. “A pretzel,” I decided. “Sounds good, don’t you think?”
“Your choice,” Ethan smiled. He turned to the worker, an older woman who smiled civilly at us. She didn’t look like she even recognized Ethan. Or maybe the thrill of being around big name actors had worn off for her. “We’ll take two pretzels, please?”
The worker began prepping our order. Ethan pulled his phone out of his pocket, which I noticed was vibrating in his hand. He gave me a nod, holding up a finger, and answered the call. I tried not to eavesdrop, but he didn’t step that far away and there wasn’t much going on in the lobby at the moment – so I really couldn’t help myself.
“Hey, sweetie,” he said in a hushed tone. “Ah, I can’t…No, I’m sorry. I told you, I’m at the studio today…Well, you know I want to…Why don’t you come to the studio?” He glanced over in my direction, and I smoothly pretended to just be looking around the lobby. The worker was almost done with our pretzels at this point while Ethan continued to speak somewhat quietly into the phone. “No one’s going to know who you are, it’ll be fine…Baby, I can’t. I’ve got a meeting with the director soon…Sweetie, don’t be like this…Sweetie…” I tried not to watch, but I saw out of the corner of my eye as he looked at his phone before stuffing it back into his pockets. Had someone seriously just hung up on Ethan Anderson? I pursed my lips feeling oddly protective of him. He was so sweet; any girl would be lucky to just have a phone call with him. I saw him run a hand over his sandy blonde hair, slicking it back across his head before he came back over.
"Sorry about that," he said nonchalantly. The worker handed him over the pretzels. He handed me one, then reached into his pocket and dropped a tip in the jar for the worker. "I've got about ten minutes," he said, dropping in a seat at a nearby table. "Then I'll have to go meet the boss." He gave me a smirk like we were sharing a secret joke. I looked around, noticing we were sitting in an area that looked as if it was supposed to be an indoor patio. It was relaxing and we were able to watch people pass through the studio lobby doors. “So, I have a confession,” Ethan said, interrupting my people watching.
“What’s that?” I asked, still a little stunned that I was eating a pretzel at the studio with Ethan Anderson.
He swallowed the bite he had just taken of his pretzel. I tried not to watch his lips as he ate his food, but come on. He was Ethan Anderson! “Well,” he said. “I may have Googled you when they told me who got the part.”
I nearly choked on my pretzel. “What?” I asked. “You Googled me?” I think I must have inhaled some of the pretzel salt. A movie star had Googled me. And not just any movie star, but a famous, award-winning actor! “What did you find?” I asked, not really knowing. I had never actually Googled myself before, but I really wanted to now, if only for the sole reason to see what Ethan had read about me.
“Of course I Googled you,” he said chuckling. He took another bite of pretzel and I shamelessly watched him chew and swallow, making my mouth water. “There wasn’t much, really. There was a bio from your soap opera. Your Insta account showed up. You take a lot of selfies, by the way.” I felt heat rush my face. I was quickly becoming humiliated. “And there were several articles about you from when you were in high school. Track, drama productions, basketball. You were a busy girl.”
I stared at him, speechless, my brow furrowed. "I am mortified!" I exclaimed, finally breaking my silence and laughing loudly. "I can't believe you stalked me!" I was full belly-roll laughing now. I think all the pressure from the day was finally making me crack. "Ethan Anderson, one of the biggest celebrities I have ever heard of, stalked me!”
Ethan joined me in laughing, “I didn’t stalk you!” He looked around the lobby, where people were starting to stare at us. “Stop making a scene, Elena. You’ll get me kicked out of here.” He said it seriously, but his eyes were still bright with laughter.
My laughter finally died down. “Oh wow, Ethan,” I took a breath, trying to calm my racing heart. “That was a good one.”
He winked at me. “I think I’m going to like working with you, Elena,” he said slickly, giving me a deep, knowing look.
I mustered up my self-confidence and looked him right back in the eyes, “I think it might be okay to work with you, too.”
“Okay, huh?” he asked, still smiling. “I’ll take that.” He stood up then, grabbing our empty plates and took them over to a nearby trashcan. “Well, the boss is waiting.”
“Thanks for this,” I said, standing up, trying to really emphasize my gratitude. “I was a little scared coming in today, but I appreciate your time.”
"Anytime, Elena," he said, placing a hand on my shoulder. Not in a romantic way, but in a friendly, caring way. "Anything you need." He gave me a wink and then sidestepped around me, making his way back the opposite direction we came from.