Page 56 of Camera Stays On

“I like it,” Andi blurted. “It’s...”

“Kind of slutty?” Bea teased, then grabbed some dishes to take to the sink.

“Bea!” Andi yelped, a wide smile on her face as she tried not to laugh. I didn’t have the control. I burst into laughter, bending over, holding my stomach.

“Well, I think that settles it then. I can keep my slutty mustache?” I asked Sawyer. He rolled his eyes and stood.

“I don’t care all that much. Just get your lines down. Come on, Juliet. I want to run through the set and do a quick inventory. Make sure nothing got damaged last night.” They left, and I handed Bea the dish sponge.

“You got this?” I asked.

“It’s my job.” She shrugged. “All the grunt work.”

Thanking her, I went upstairs to shower. As I stood under the water, my mind wandered back to last night. Andi’s pretty pussy was so fucking life-threatening. My cock was rock hard, and knowing I wouldn’t be able to focus all day, I stroked myself to the memory of being inside her. There was no way I’d ever be giving that up. I’d had a taste, and now I needed the whole meal.

After I came and rinsed off, I stared at myself in the mirror and fingered my mustache, a smile creeping across my lips.

My mustache was slutty?

By how red Andi’s cheeks got, I’d say it was a good thing.

I dressed in the clothes Juliet approved. They were from my own wardrobe—a white T-shirt and flannel overshirt, with my cleanest jeans and boots. I’d be in a suit for the rest of the movie anyway. Heading back downstairs, I went to the other side of the house, where the set doors were unlocked and open. Finding Juliet and Sawyer in the set kitchen, I swallowed hard. They were staring at the floor, right where I’d fucked Andi last night. Had we left something behind?

“What’s up?” I asked, pretending not to be too curious.

“Someone spilled their liquor on the floor. I had Bea mop it, but it’s still sticky.” Juliet sniffed. “Who had coconut rum?”

Mild relief washed over me as I recalled that neither Andi nor I had consumed whatever Bea was cleaning up. Someone else had been in here after us. I left them to their thoughts and explored the set in the daylight. Darius came in, holding a stack of scripts. I took one and sat down in the fake living room to study the first few pages. Since our budget was minimal, Sawyer had to film in sequence to avoid resetting our clothes and makeup. Darius and Mick joined me, and we discussed the script while everyone slowly gathered.

“Still no Lux?” Sawyer asked once the room was full. We looked around the room, and again, Lux was missing.

“Is her stuff still here? Maybe there was an emergency and she left,” Darius suggested.

Andi shook her head. “It looked like her bags were still in her room. Did anyone see a car come across the yard?”

There were mumbles of no, and the energy in the room shifted from eagerness to film to something more ominous. While most of us started expressing concern, Juliet, Gavin, and Sawyer were visibly annoyed.

“We don’t have time for this. I knew I shouldn’t have brought her in. Lux has always been kind of a flake. I don’t want to lose daylight, so let’s get some b-roll and set up shots. We can call and see where she is later. She’s definitely not getting fucking paid for today.” Sawyer stalked off, murmuring about having a cigarette and calling Ma to check on the dogs.

Juliet sighed and brought her phone to her face. “Let me try to call her.”

Sawyer returned a few minutes later, and we got to work. I’d never been on screen before, but I’d worked on plenty of movies behind the scenes and had a degree in film. Found footage was one of the easier genres of horror. Mistakes could be easily forgiven, and the worse of an actor you were, the more genuine it made the movie look. People were supposed to believe this actually happened. That’s what made The Blair Witch Project and so many others good—the idea that it could happen to you.

Finally prepped for our first set of scenes, I stepped in front of Sawyer’s camera and became Ethan Slater, eager fiancé of Cleo De La Rosa.

“This should do it,” I said, my back to the mirrorless camera Sawyer was holding. I climbed onto the short ladder and fixed the handheld camera to the wall, making sure to look into the lens as we’d practiced. “This way, we’ll capture every single moment this weekend.” I held the smile for a beat too long and then stepped down, back on the ground.

The rest of the afternoon went just the same. Mick, Darius, and I were filmed setting up the cameras, establishing for the viewer that this would all be taking place via camera footage later. We took a break midafternoon, at which time Sawyer was visibly agitated by Lux’s disappearance.

“We’re already on a tight deadline, and had a script change-up, and now she’s just ditched? We don’t have time for this.” He shook his head. “Good goin’, Mick.”

“Me? She didn’t say shit to me. I haven’t seen her since we went and played hide-and-seek...” His eyes spaced out, and his mouth fell open. “Oh, God. Lux!”

Mick sprinted out of the room. We followed as he went to the entrance of the set. The loud jangling of metal on metal rang in my ears.

“Lux! Come on, don’t play games.” His voice grew more and more panicked before he screamed out, “Fuck!”

Everyone burst in and stopped short, frozen as we watched him yank on the trunk I’d pointed out last night.