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Chapter 14
Ivy sat in a canvas director’s chair watching as the art department put up a synthetic ice rink. It was the scene in the movie when Ilsa told Rick that she’d been accepted at USC. Ivy remembered how they were both a little sad as it meant they were going to be separated by three thousand miles. Ivy was lost in thought when…
“Ivy? Cocoa?” She looked up. Drew handed her a steaming cup of cocoa. It was a peace offering. She smiled. “I’m sorry about Saturday,” he said.
“Thanks. I love hot cocoa. And I’m sorry I pushed you,” Ivy admitted.
“J. B. is making it today to get us in the Christmas spirit.”
“It’s delicious.”
“So what do you think of our rink?” Drew asked proudly.
Ivy considered it. “It’s not exactly what I’d imagined when I wrote the scene. It’s plastic.”
He was aghast. “Do you know how much real ice would cost? At least ten thousand dollars. This synthetic stuff keeps us on budget.”
“Is it going to look like ice?” Ivy wanted to know.
“Of course.”
“How do the actors skate on it?”
“That’s what stunt doubles are for.” He sounded exasperated.
“And the extras? They can’t be the only ones in the scene. At least not the scene I wrote.” Ivy wasn’t sure why she was being a little snarky with Drew that morning. Maybe it was the lingering feelings from their hike. She didn’t like how he put down her hometown.
“You’re really giving me a hard time about this.”
“I just want the ice to look, well, real,” Ivy said. “Authentic.”
“Don’t worry—when all the actors have their winter gear on and they’re gliding around the ice, it’s going to look very real.” Then Drew got a phone call and stepped away from Ivy.
The production crew finished laying down the fake ice, and Ivy realized the rink looked tiny. She didn’t understand how all the actors would fit on the ice, much less make it look real. Everything about the scene was suddenly looking too fake to her. She had a pit in her stomach. It got even worse as she noticed Nick walked onto the set carrying two coffees. What washedoing here? Ivy wondered.
Nick looked around for a moment, unsure. Amari ran over to him. She was dressed in a pretty winter sweater that Ivy thought looked awfully familiar. She wore an adorable pom-pom hat. Everything about her screamed cute winter clothes. Ivy tried to look away, but she couldn’t help watching as Nick smiled at Amari and handed her a coffee.
“One non-fat latte with no foam,” Nick said.
“You’re a doll. Thank you!” Amari took the coffee and reached up to kiss him.
What? Ivy couldn’t believe that they were kissing. And in public! She was horrified. What Ivy didn’t realize was that Nick quickly pulled away. But Ivy didn’t see that moment. She was too busy fuming to herself. She tried to project a happy exterior and put on a big smile. She got up from the director’s chair and strode across the set to find Drew inspecting the plastic white picket fence that was being constructed around the entire ice rink in the parking lot of the high school against a patch of pine trees. Ivy checked to see that Nick was watching—he was—and she marched up to Drew, turned him around, went in for a kiss—and sent his cocoa flying in the air! It soaked his shirt. Something he was not happy about.
“What the hell, Ivy?”
“I’m so sorry, I just…”
“Just what?”
“I just don’t understand how this is going to look real.”
“Bruce,” Drew called out. “Can you take Ivy through the shot? She’s nervous. And I have to go find a new shirt.”
Bruce stepped over to her. “Here, let me show you how the rink is actually bigger than you think.” Ivy followed Bruce over to the asphalt portion of the “ice.” She noticed that two skaters were lacing up rollerblades. “So, Amari and Griffin will skate on the plastic part of the ice, wearing actual ice skates. And when he twirls her, we’ll use a double since Griffin can’t really skate.” Ivy nodded. This all made sense so far. “Then to give the illusion of a larger ice rink, we’ll have extras on rollerblades in the foreground, but we’ll never see the rollerblades. We’ll only see their upper bodies. We’ll do that for the large, establishing shot. Come here, look through the lens, and you’ll see what I’m talking about.” Ivy followed Bruce over to the camera set up.
Drew returned, wearing a Seneca Lake T-shirt. “How soon before we can get the first shot off?” he asked. Ivy smiled as she watched Drew kick into producer mode.
“I’d say about thirty minutes. Griffin’s still not finished with hair and makeup,” Bruce said. She wondered if Griffin was stalling because he was nervous about having to skate.
