‘I hope so.’ The light from his phone wavered as she stretched it up towards the top shelves.
‘Can you see up there?’
‘Not really no,’ she admitted. ‘There are some steps around the corner though. I can grab them.’
‘Why don’t I do the top shelves?’ He needed to dosomething.
‘Sure. It’ll be quicker if we don’t need to keep moving the steps.’ Her voice was stronger now and she seemed to be relaxing as every minute passed and he wasn’t attacking her. So that was something. They began looking over the boxes and trays and crates that were packed floor to ceiling. So many powders and potions.
‘Christ, this is a lot of makeup.’
‘It surprised me too.’ She lifted the phone for him to check on the shelf above her head and the light shone over the glossy black of her hair. He glimpsed a small, narrow nose and long, curling lashes before he forced himself to concentrate on the shelf.
‘Is this your first film shoot, then?’
‘Yeah. First makeup gig full stop.’
That might explain the nerves. ‘You’re fresh out of uni?’
‘University? No. Just…slow at choosing a career I guess.’
‘What made you want to get into makeup then?’
‘Oh…’ He heard her take a sharp little breath, like he’d shocked her. ‘I like how versatile it is, I guess. And clever. How you can pick out different features and it totally changes someone’s appearance. But you know all that, obviously.’ She cleared her throat.
‘It does help so much to get into character. Having the physical makeup on I mean, rather than just CGI that’s added later. I had these big sucker wounds all down one side of my body for one film. It took hours but watching the SFX artists build it up was amazing.’
‘I’dloveto do that kind of thing one day. I probably should have started sooner though – I’ve got so much to learn. I wish I’d known I wanted to do this when I was in school.’
‘You’ll get there. It’s ridiculous the way kids are expected to have their futures all mapped out at fourteen just so they can choose which exams to take.’ He shook his head, realising he’d gone off on a tangent. ‘Sorry – my nephew had to choose his options at the beginning of the year and was freaking out because he still isn’t sure what he wants to do.’
‘So, you didn’t know you wanted to be an actor when you were fourteen?’
‘I knew I liked mucking about in drama class. I just never thought I could be an actor for real.’ In truth, he’d never imagined much of a future for himself at all. His dad had been dead for six months by the time he took his options, but the anger – the habit of living day by day – hadn’t left him yet. What did broken boys from the estate end up being? Trouble, mainly. His aspirations had been limited to getting through the day, getting through school, and having a laugh with his mates. ‘I thought I’d probably end up full time at the garage where I had a weekend job.’
‘What changed?’ she asked and then immediately rushed on. ‘Sorry. I didn’t mean to be nosy. You probably feel like you’re being interviewed.’
He frowned. ‘You’re fine. Don’t worry. We’re just chatting. I was spotted by a casting director when I was on an A-level school trip at the theatre. She was trying to fill a part and I had the right look. I took her card, went to an audition, one thing led to another and here I am now.’
‘Trapped in a glorified cupboard.’
He laughed at her quip, and his blood pressure went down a few more millimetres. ‘So, what led you to this cupboard?’
‘Literally? I was avoiding going out for drinks with everyone.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I didn’t want to explain my life story to them.’
‘Wow, is that a polite way of telling me to shut the fuck up?’
‘No.No.’ She sounded so horrified, he had to laugh again. ‘I just feel so stupid. It’s silly not to want to go for drinks with people.’
‘Why? Sometimes you’re just not in the mood, right?’
‘I suppose,’ she agreed, but she didn’t sound so sure and went quiet again.
‘Are you coming to Sicily?’ he found himself asking. He told himself it was because the chatting took his mind off the frustration of the situation. Not because the idea of him having the chance to get to know her outside of an escape-room situation-comedy scenario, was starting to appeal to him.
