AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Realization hit me like a lightning bolt and my eyes widened. "You're right. They’d totally fire me."
"And you could forget about that recommendation letter from Alanis." Beth nodded. "Good idea, Char. We'll keep her straight. We have to."
I could feel my head bobbing along with their comments, even as my eyes glazed over and I began to think it through. The movie execs weren't going to like it if one of their crew members went behind their backs and ruined their star's reputation. If I let my feelings run away, I could say goodbye to working with Alanis. She hated me enough, already. And no matter how horrible she was, every moment I worked for her was worth it if I could get a recommendation for school.
When I'd skipped home from work this evening all starry-eyed over Zane, I hadn't even paused to consider that stuff. It was a good thing I had my friends to keep me from floating away in the clouds over some boy...even if he was a boy that made my heart pound like a marching band drum.
"Oh my gosh, you guys, I didn't realize how important this was until now." I gripped the sides of the laptop and pulled it closer until my face took up the entire screen. "You have to help me!"
"We will." Charlotte's low voice was calming. "Don't you worry."
Beth nodded. "We've got your back, Lex. This guy and your feelings don't stand a chance."
I sighed in relief. This was foreign territory for me. Flirting had become like an art. It was my favorite past-time. To turn it all off was almost against my nature. But I'd do it. For Zane, for me, and for my friends.
"Thanks, ladies. You're the best. See you tomorrow at school."
They blew kisses at the screen as I ended the call. Snapping the computer shut, I leaned back on my pillow and thought about my future mini career as an actress. I'd played the flirt before. Could I play the cold, distant girl who didn't care about boys? Yes, I could do it. I was the career gal. No longer distracted by pretty eyes or a heated glance.
Or the memories
of a sweet kiss in a picnic shelter.
That was no longer me. Lexi Black was a changed girl. No more thoughts of Zane.
And tomorrow, Alanis Nori was really going to find out why I was the best assistant of her life.
Chapter Eight
Things were heating up on set—literally!
I wiped the back of my hand across my forehead as I followed Alanis from her trailer over the scorching asphalt pathway toward the soccer field. It was as if the end of August had decided to bring the pits of Hades to Rock Valley. The AC at school hadn’t been able to stamp out the wafting BO from the masses of teenagers suffering inside the limestone building. And despite my extra layer of deodorant and spritz of perfume I’d put on after class, instead of starting my second day on set with a cool and collected piece of mind, I was in a sweaty, gross, hair-sticking-to-my-neck kind of mood.
And seeing all the boys playing shirtless on the field only made it hotter.
Maybe it was only for a movie, but it was easy to watch these actors sprinting across the field and get lost in the movement of it—as if I were watching a real soccer game. Half of the boys wore colored jersey vests. Trust me, it still showed off plenty of skin and yummy muscles for the cameras to capture. The other half of the boys had their abdomens fully on show.
It was skins vs. shirts and in my book, everyone was winning.
My eyes slid across the field and landed on the one person I shouldn’t have been looking at. There stood Zane, in the middle of the pack, with all those rows of muscles I had suspected of existing on his solid stomach. Yep, they were real. He was laughing about something Freddy had said to him, his white teeth flashing. I tried not to stare, but it was impossible not to. Alanis’ impatient huffing as she strode ahead knocked me back into reality.
“What’s going on?” I asked her, practically jogging to keep up with her long strides. The plastic tote she’d given me banged against my thighs as I hurried.
Despite the heat, she wore a shiny wind suit with the sleeves cut off and a matching pair of silver gladiator sandals. Her hair sat in a bun on the top of her head. The weather didn’t seem to affect her at all. She didn’t sweat. Not even a droplet. But the sideways glance she shot at me contained plenty of heat of its own.
“They’re shooting a scrimmage scene today,” she said, her lips pressing into an unimpressed frown. “While I work on our lead actress, I need you to apply spray on the boys.”
Absolute joy gushed out of a geyser deep within my chest. It appeared on my face in the form of a goofy grin. Alanis was giving me a job to do! I had no idea what the spray was for, but I’d take anything over sitting on that chair for another four hours.
“Ma’am, yes, ma’am.” I saluted her, unable to contain my energy for another minute. “What’s the spray for?”
“It’s for the glisten.”
“Glisten?”
Had Alanis overheard my conversation with Beth and Charlotte last night? We’d been talking about glittering vampires, not teenage boys wearing shin guards and nylon shorts.
“One part glycerin and two parts water.” Alanis stopped to look at me, her critical eyes taking in the wetness that had seeped through my blue t-shirt around my shirt collar. Nothing could stop it. Not after a day of classes in eighty-degree classrooms. “It’s for the sweat. We want our boys to glisten as they appear on screen.”
