“It won’t hurt if I do it right,” he said.“And I will.”
“So you won’t be fucking me up against a tree for my first time?”
“No.”He smiled.“Your second time, maybe.”
I laughed.“You’re making me hard again.”
“You used to get up and run for the shower right after we fooled around, remember?”
“Yeah,” I said.“Guess I got used to it.Anyway, if I have a shower now, I’ll have to stop touching you, and I want to shoot again, like pretty bad.I’ve missed this so much.”
I kissed him, and we started making out again.This time we took our time.
Chapter Twenty: Filming the Scene
We didn’t fool aroundagain for the next while.Not because we didn’t want to, but after that night, we both got slammed with work.I got assigned two projects, one of which was helping a PhD candidate finish his thesis on time.The other was for an industry-funded grant with no wiggle room on the deadline.Both due on the same day.I had to practically book time to use the bathroom.Eddie was having a hard time too.Apparently, Jack liked to revise his scripts on the fly, and he’d made Eddie’s part a lot bigger, which meant he left the apartment before sunrise and came home in time to get six hours of sleep.Then he was up and out again.Some days I didn’t see him at all.
I wasn’t home a lot either, because Undeclared Mustard were gigging, and I had to practice my routine for Eddie’s movie, and I was still in therapy.My therapist bumped me down to one session per week because of my schedule, even though he said I needed more.
The one bright spot in that hellscape was when I was online and saw a listing for a cottage rental up north that I’d bookmarked.And I remembered I’d planned to propose there.But I didn’t have the headspace right then to think about it.
At least he had time to catch up on sleep by taking naps in his trailer.I didn’t have a trailer, and I was walking around tired all the time, mentally, physically, emotionally.
Then one day, it caught up to me.I woke up with the start of a migraine, and it got worse throughout the day.I tried to push through, but I couldn’t.
I needed to talk to him, so I called him.I knew it was selfish—he could have been in the middle of filming or sleeping, and I’d be interrupting.Maybe Iwasinterrupting something, because he didn’t answer his phone.Jack did.
“Uh, hey,” I said.“It’s Craig.”
“Hi, Craig,” Jack said.He sounded angry.“I want to film your tap routine tomorrow.Can you come at four o’clock?”
“Sure.”I didn’t want to think about tomorrow.“Can I speak to Eddie?”
“He can’t come to the phone right now.”
I heard Eddie’s voice in the background.“Give me the phone, Jack.”
