Chapter Eleven
“Hey, Jacob,” Lynn greeted him at the makeup station.
“Hey, sweet Lynn.” He sat down
She got out her magic brushes as he called them and began her routine. After a silent ten minutes, she said, “You look…”
He paused. “…Like?
“Umm, I can’t pinpoint it.” She set her buffer down. “More relaxed.”
He fought the smile. Yes, like a man would after almost 8 hours of wild sex.
“Oh, my god!” she whispered.
His gaze rose up.
“You got some!” She giggled.
He froze. Now, do not snap back at her. Play this off. “How the hell do you know that?”
She picked up the highlighter brush. “I am good. I know faces. I look into eyes and expressions every day.” She shrugged. “But I am glad.”
He chuckled. “And why are you glad?” This should be good.
She looked around and then leaned closer to whisper, “I think you are the best actor I have ever seen in action. But I knew you held some kind of tension. Not good at all. It transfers to the screen.”
Shit, there was that expression again, he was beginning to really hate the term. “So you are saying, I will walk out there today and the entire set crew will say, ‘Well, just look at that well fucked man!’ ”
Staring at him, she started to laugh and almost dropped the powder cake.
He looked sheepish and gazed all around. His eyes met a startling pair of blue eyes as he locked gazes with Anna in her makeup chair across the set. Her gaze made him feel…oh, shit. What did he feel? He pulled his eyes away. “Just dust my nose Miss Crystal Ball.” He gave Lynn a good natured wink.
She lowered her brush, dusted his nose, and nodded. Her smile was still huge.
After about an hour where the crews all came and got coffee and danishes, the set looked closer to being ready. Then the noise on the set became incredibly loud as all the departments set up for yet another hour.
Then they finally heard the call, “Picture’s Up!” This meant the cameras were almost ready. Next, everyone heard the call sheet. This would be all the actors who would be required on set for today’s shooting, what scenes were scheduled, and which locations would be used
There were a lot of Day Players on that sheet. Extras hired just for the day. Then Jacob already noted there would be a lot of Rhubarb in the background. He always laughed at this term. It meant people would be mouthing words in the shot like in a crowd all around them in the bar. He’d read in acting school that it was because extras were often asked to mutter the word “rhubarb” to produce the effect of genuine conversation, with their mouths moving convincingly.
“Call to Action! Set Points.”
Jacob moved to the set. It looked and felt just like a real bar. People were all stepping back and forth to be in position. Dressed in jeans and t shirts, pool cues in hand. Beer mugs aloft. Next, he heard Hony Tonk music. He stood in a t shirt and jeans himself, his usual neat black hair a bit mussed.
Anna or Eve as her part dictated, stepped behind the bar.
There was more noise and shuffling from all around. The music clipped, stopped and then started again. Then the noise slowed to a mere scuffing, then to nothing.
“Quiet on the set!”
This was it. Damn did he feel a little nervousness? He checked his breathing. No. His lines were all in his head and so was the character. Time to let him out.
Then there was the Clapper held by an assistant, displaying key information about the scene being filmed scene number, take number, film name.
Standing at his start point which was at the door, Jacob gazed at Anna. Now though, she was Eve. They had chemistry to all hell and had loved each other 3 years ago. Dade wants her back, though he did not know this until he sees her again. He immersed himself in the feelings of sweet sex, angst and a little surprise. All needed for this scene. Closing his eyes for a second, his inner mechanism activated like a click in his head. Ready…
“Action!” the director called out.
The clap board then snapped.
Then the sound of people talking, music keyed and a smoky haze filled the bar.
Camera pan to Dade as he walks through the bar. He is Dade Remming raised in the coal mining community, black dust coats his DNA, he lost an uncle and a brother to cave ins. He swore he would not go the same way. He went off to college, earned a business degree and now landed a job with the very coal mining company that ran this whole area. So, there are mixed feelings by the locals, and from his own family. He is a traitor to them in a way.
Eve is bent down behind the bar to grab glasses.
Dade sits in a stool and says, “Whiskey neat.”
Eve pops up over the bar at hearing that voice. Her smile is a blend of a smirk and a sneer. It does not detract from the stunning beauty that she is at all. In fact, it enhances it. “Well, look who blowed into town.”
Jacob only now catches the southern lilt in her voice. Sexy as all fuck. Yes, the one she used as Miss Red Dress. He pushes that out. Dade pauses as a bit of surprise passes across his face. “Eve?” He tips his head back and takes a long look at the woman in front of him. A long, slow, sexual perusal of her face, tits, body. His expression changes to one of smooth ice, one that belies the heat in his eyes. “All growed up, I see.” His voice purrs just a bit with the same southern lilt that matches hers.
Eve looks a little flustered, just enough to show how she feels but it is fleeting as she covers it. “Still like Jack?”
Dade nods.
She sets him up with shot glass then pours the dark amber into it. She slides it sideways across the bar with accurate precision.
Jacob felt impressed, Anna had definitely studied bartending at some point.
Dade catches it perfectly in his grasp. Takes a long look at her now flushing face as her anger does show. Then he tips it back and downs it. Slapping it on the bar, he grins at her. “Just like fire.” Then he swipes his mouth with a lip smacking. It’s the same thing Dade would say after they fucked, years ago.
The music plays around them but the rapid backdrop conversations slow to a halt.
The extras—bar patrons all turn to stare at the couple at the bar.
Her confident but heated smile drops from her face. An angry wild woman look replaces the barely held rage Eve is feeling. “You sonofabitch!” She then lunges over the bar and grabs his t-shirt.
They tussle for a second.
Then their faces meet.
Camera pans to an OTS‒over the shoulder shot‒then to a close up by the third camera, the boom mike swings silently over their heads.
Dade whispers to her lips, “It is so nice to see you again, Eve.” He smirks.
Eve’s eyes widen and she hauls her arm back then slaps him across the face.
SMACK!
The sound reverberates through the now quiet bar.
Dade winces but tries to downplay that it smarts like hell.
Well shit, that did hurt. Got issues there, Anna? Jacob wondered. Dade raises his hand and slowly rubs his palm across the spot on his jaw. His eyes never leaves her face.
A big burly older man grabs Eve up from behind the bar and pulls her down. “Now, Evie…Now, now.”
Dade stares at her with smoldering eyes, he knows he deserved it, knows he walked right into that. He slaps a twenty on the bar top. “So I suppose this means I got my only shot.” It wasn’t a question.
Eve huffs as the man holds her arms down. “Hell, yeah. You had your shot already!” Her voice raises.
Still smirking, though for Dade facing her anger at how he’d just up and dumped her 3 years ago and left town, he should not be wearing one. He turns away and stops as all the locals are staring at him. “Well, she gets no tip.” He shrugs his muscled shoulders and strolls out.
The patrons all stare as he walks out.
The bar…the set grows quiet.
The director even stilled as he stared. Then he finally seemed to snap out of it and yelled, “CUT!”
A flurry of mutterings and awe inspired voices echoed from all around.
Jacob turned around to face the set.
“Well, shit!” the director exclaimed with a stunned laugh.
The AD next to him just nodded rapidly while looking floored.
“God damn perfect!” the director says. “One take!”
Jacob swung his gaze over to Anna.
She beamed at him and mouthed, “Perfect.”
Jacob’s elation plummeted. Just what was said when they were together two days ago. Perfect. Fuck!
He felt…
No fuck that. He turned and headed back to his chair to await the next shot.