Chapter Two
“You’re working with the cameras,” he asked as Ashlyn slowly turned back to him and acknowledged that she would have to speak to him.
“Yeah,” she answered. “You’re an extra.” Wow, that was brilliant, Ashlyn. You really know how to draw them in, she thought.
“My name is Javon,” the man said, offering his hand. Ashlyn shook it.
“Ashlyn,” she replied.
“Your eyes really make you stand out,” Javon said. Ashlyn self-consciously looked at the ground. Everyone said the same thing. Her green eyes were one-of-a-kind, beautiful, unique, and memorable. She had heard it all before, but somehow, when Javon said it, it made her feel different, like his opinion mattered.
“Thank you,” she said, searching for something to complement back toward him.
“You should be in front of the camera, not me,” Javon continued. Ashlyn looked up and caught his eyes. When she did, she forgot everything she wanted to say. She felt like she was frozen. A strong urge rose up within her to kiss him, but she batted it away. Why was she so physically attracted to him?
“I guess we all have our place,” Ashlyn finally said. “I love working with cameras, so I much prefer to be with my camera than act.”
Javon shrugged. “It’s the loss of the viewers then.” He smiled directly into her eyes, and Ashlyn felt desperate to busy herself in some way. This man was going to distract her and make her unable to work when he was around. If she couldn’t think when he was looking at her, how would she be able to work?
“I’m going to get some water,” Ashlyn said. “I’ll talk to you later.” She took a step away and felt as though she were freeing herself from a trance, but Javon stepped forward again.
“I’ll get your water. You wait right here.”
Ashlyn didn’t like it, but she waited, watching Javon as he walked away. Her eyes dropped to his ass, and she half-smiled. He was certainly a very attractive man, and she didn’t mind looking at him. It was when she started to talk to him that he was a problem. If she was calling his attention as much as he was calling hers, then they would distract each other. They had to keep Gary, the director, happy or they could both lose their jobs. There was no dating among employees, even extras. If you were dating, you had to keep it a secret.
Ashlyn accept the bottled water right at the moment when they were called to return to their position. Ashlyn thanked Javon for the water hurriedly and turned toward her camera, but Javon grabbed onto her arm.
“I just want to say. . .”
“We need to get back to our positions,” Ashlyn said. “I can’t talk anymore.”
She pulled her arm gently from his grasp, her arm still tingling from where he had touched her. She hurried to her camera and pulled the shot into focus. Ashlyn wanted to take the time to evaluate what she was thinking and feeling, why Javon’s touch affected her so much, but she knew that her job had to come first. It had been hard to get this position, and if Ashlyn lost it, it would be even more difficult to get another. Ashlyn panned the scene below her then closed in on Javon’s face. He gave her a smile just before the scene started. Ashlyn was shaking her head, but she was also smiling. Maybe Javon did like her. It was kind of fun for someone to think her attractive.
Ashlyn threw herself into filming, and even when the actors received a short break, she used the time to review her shots. She wanted them to be perfect. She wanted to pick up her mistakes before someone else did and correct them so that she wouldn’t be at fault for needing extra filming.
The extras were let go at noon, and Ashlyn grabbed one of the half-sandwiches available at the table. She choked one down and returned to reviewing her shots. Javon approached her with a laden plate.
“Don’t you want to actually eat something?” he asked. He held the plate out to her. “I got some extra.”
Ashlyn let her eyes slide to the plate quickly before turning back to her camera. “I already had something to eat, so I’m not hungry. But thanks.”
“What do I do with the plate now?” Javon asked, causing Ashlyn to look up and meet his eyes.
“I guess you’ll have to eat it,” she shrugged. He was a big guy.
Javon shrugged. “I guess I will. So how long have you been filming with Gary?”
“Um, this is my first time,” Ashlyn answered, turning back to her camera.
“I thought so. I’m pretty sure that anyone who works with Gary for a long time already has grey hair.”
Ashlyn laughed, though she looked around to see if anyone else heard. “You’re just trying to make trouble. I am not about to get in trouble because of your jokes.”
“Hey, freedom of speech, right?”
“And Gary has the freedom to fire, so you should probably keep your free speech to a minimum,” Ashlyn recommended, once again burying her face in her camera. If she let herself be distracted by Javon, she knew that she would get hurt. It was better to focus on her first love, filming.
Gary started waving his arms, and people were moving before the words had even left his mouth. “We are working on scene three, folks. Let’s get moving!”
People scurried around, and Ashlyn hurried back to her camera. She was ready. She knew her place and didn’t need further direction. To her surprise, Javon followed her back to her camera.
“Shouldn’t you be going onset?” she asked, wanting to tell him what to do but not knowing his place.
Javon shook his head. “No, I’m not in this scene. I’m done for today.”
“Oh, then I guess I’ll see you later,” Ashlyn absentmindedly answered as she adjusted the lens.
“I thought I’d stay and watch you do your thing,” Javon said. “It’s not as though I have any other pressing appointments for today.”
Ashlyn turned and studied Javon for a minute. “I’d prefer you don’t do that,” she tried to say it as politely as she could.
Javon shrugged and bit his lower lip. “I would prefer to. Go ahead. Work. I won’t say anything.”
Ashlyn pursed her lips and turned back to her camera, frustration already building up. She didn’t feel comfortable knowing that he was behind her watching her. Ashlyn tried to focus solely on her camera, but her thoughts kept turning back to what Javon was thinking or doing or if he was looking at her.
After half an hour of silence from Javon, he decided he should start a conversation in the middle of filming. Maybe he really didn’t know what he was doing, but it seemed like he was trying to get her fired.
“Have you always been into film?” he asked.
Ashlyn waved her hand at him, trying to tell him to be quiet without saying anything herself. He was quiet for a few minutes. The actors had just started doing the scene again when Javon spoke again.
“Do you have a favorite movie?” Ashlyn turned and gave him a dirty look. He was going to ruin her shot!
Gary walked into the middle of the shot and looked over at the spread of cameras. “Five minutes’ break! Cameras, I hear someone talking during a shot. You better shut up or you’ll be fired. Absolutely no talking.”
Ashlyn turned on Gary. “Are you trying to get me fired? Shut up, will you? I’m not going to have my job ruined because you’re too stupid to know to shut your mouth on set.”
“Hey,” Javon said, standing up and using his tall frame against her. “You need to calm down.” He placed one hand on each of Ashlyn’s arms, but she wrestled herself free.
“No, I don’t! You need to leave! You don’t have a reason to be here anymore. Just go!”
Javon’s face showed that he was not going to put up with her yelling at him. “Ashlyn,” he spoke her name in a way that seemed to take command of the situation. “Don’t speak to me like that. If you don’t want me to talk, you need to say that.”
“Fine, don’t talk. Or better yet, leave! Please! This job is really important to me!” Ashlyn knew she was pleading, but she didn’t know what else to do. This job was the most important thing to her in the world. Her hands were in balls at her side, and she was scared that Javon would refuse.
“Calm down,” Javon said. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll leave you to work completely alone and quiet if you agree to go to dinner with me.”
Ashlyn’s fury seemed to melt in a moment. What was he trying to do? Did this count as manipulation? Whatever. If it meant that he would leave her alone, it was worth it. She didn’t even care if it would be good food or not, but looking at Javon, he probably always went to restaurants with good food.
“Fine, whatever,” Ashlyn said. “If you promise to always leave me alone. Just let me film.”
“Great, I’ll see you at the Red Lobster as seven o’clock tonight. Deal?”
“Yeah, sure,” Ashlyn said, turning away from Javon. Things were much quieter, and she saw that one of the other cameramen was staring at her. Ashlyn stared him down. He finally looked away sheepishly. Ashlyn turned back and saw that Javon was already halfway toward the parking lot. Good riddance. Now, she could focus on filming.