“What’s it about?”
He smiled. “Well, the main guy, Devon—the socially repressed workaholic—he’s messed things up pretty badly with his love interest. He came to her office to try to talk things out, but she doesn’t want to hear it.”
Biting my lip, I avoided meeting his eyes. “Sounds like he has a lot of groveling to do.”
“Oh, you have no idea.”
Eli shoved his hands in his pockets and leaned his body a little so that he’d be more in my line of sight. “So...did you just drop in because of your fascination with the film industry, or...”
“I wanted to talk to you,” I admitted. The hope written all over his face pulled at my heart. Being around him again had my whole body tingling with anticipation.
“Can you hang out here for half an hour? That’s all it’ll take to wrap up this scene, and then I’m all yours.”
My chest tightened at the double meaning I could take from his words. The nervousness I currently felt around him made it hard to remember a time when I thought we’d be living together. In another universe, we were watching movies cuddled up on our couch, or taking the puppy we’d rescued for a morning walk.
“I can wait.”
It was mesmerizing to watch Eli take control of that room. He told the actors where to sit and talked them through the emotions they’d be portraying. Anytime he called out a direction, I felt a flurry of butterflies. He seemed so in control. And happy. One of the actors kept messing up his lines, but instead of getting frustrated, Eli kept cracking up at the mistake.
I had never seen him acting, but I knew there was no way it could bring out the same joy in him that this clearly did.
I watched, completely entranced until Eli called ‘cut’ about forty minutes later. He ripped his headphones off his neck and made a beeline straight for me, as if he had only been thinking about getting back to me the entire time.
“Sorry that took so long.” He looked like he wanted to reach out and hold me in place.
“You’re riveting to watch,” I said. “You’re really good at this.”
“You think?” And just like that he appeared boyish and eager for approval.
“You’re a natural,” I insisted.
His eyes glazed over a bit before he blinked a few times. “Why don’t we get out of here? There’s a coffee shop just next door.”
We walked there in silence. Eli held the door open for me and I stepped into the small shop. Worn leather seats in a mix of colors were crammed into every crevice of the space. I sat down and nervously ran my hands over my soft corduroy pants while Eli got us coffees. I noticed the barista shoot a look between Eli and I, likely recognizing us from the show. Thankfully, she didn’t say anything and the rest of the shop was completely empty.
When he sat back down across from me, I took the hot beverage, grateful to have something to do with my hands.
“So,” Eli started.
“So,” I continued, tapping the edge of my cup. “I’m glad you decided to go the independent route for your movie,” I finally said. “It feels more genuine—more you.”
“I couldn’t take my father’s money. Not after everything.” A shadow crossed his face. “I’m never planning on speaking to him again if I can help it.”
“Wow. We’re just getting right into it.” While I had come to talk things out, it still felt hard bringing up these memories.
“Calla, since that last day I’ve thought about nothing except what I would say to you if I ever got the chance. I’mdyingto get right into it.”
“And what did you come up with?” I asked, concentrating on keeping my voice steady.
He moved forward in his seat until only a few inches separated our knees. He seemed to contemplate taking my hands in his before thinking better of it.
“When I arrived on set that first day, I genuinely thought I was there to film a movie. My father had provided me with a whole fake script and everything. I had already quit acting, but he said that if I did this one last movie, then he would fund the project of my choice. We weren’t on great terms. He’d been threatening for months to cut me off completely if I didn’t clean up my image. But getting a rise out of him lit a fuse in me. I couldn’t help myself. I wish I had been more mature, but I can’t change that now.”
He raked a hand through his hair. “So, I finally agreed. But when I got there, and Shay revealed the real nature of what we’d be filming, I tried to walk off. She talked me down and I decided to stay. She told me about you.” He eyed me nervously. “I can’t lie about that. She told me there would be a girl in the cast who would be good for my image.”
“Good girl with the tragedy,” I muttered.
“But I never intended to go through with it,” he insisted. “I had it in my head that I was going to agree to the show and fuck with my father. Maybe start a fight, or get involved in drama. I hadn’t thought it through yet. I just thought, what a great way to mess up my image even more, and send a big ‘fuck you’ message to him.” He licked his lips, eyes searching mine. “But then I saw you. You looked so panicked, and Icould see the betrayal written all over your face. It wasn’t just an inconvenience for you. It actually hurt you to be there. And from that moment, I knew I needed to know more.”
