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“Hey, hey, you’re sleeping.”
“Mm. What’d I miss?”
“The Grand Admiral guy just grew a horn, and he thinks it can point them to the hole in space-time.”
She blinked, rubbed her eyes. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
“You sure about that?”
“Horns go in space holes. Sounds about right.”
We both fell out laughing, though it wasn’t that funny. A little while later, she shook me awake.
“He fell in the space hole. It was really sad.”
“That’s what you get for… for…” I couldn’t think of an end to that sentence, and somehow, that was funnier than horns in space holes. We’d laughed till our sides split, and then—
“Eric?” Lacey sat up, squinting. “What time is it?”
“Early. We slept through the night.”
Lacey jumped up like a bee had just stung her. “Shit, shit, my call time!”
“No, we’re okay. We’re on the same schedule. It’s your death scene today. Here, let me check.” I reached for my phone and pulled up my call sheet. My breath caught in my throat, and I felt my heart plummet. Lacey glanced at me.
“What?”
“Check your call sheet. I think…” I flipped to the texts I’d missed during our movie binge. I had two from my PA, a couple from Sam. A terse one from Berg, all-caps as always:CHECK YOUR CALL SHEETS — REWORKED DUE TO WEATHER!He’d rounded out the message with a disco ball emoji, but I guessed he’d stuck that in there by mistake.
“No way.” Lacey sat down with a thump. “They moved back my death scene to the end of the month. Today, uh, today is…”
She didn’t have to say it. Our big onscreen kiss. The culmination of Kate and Lock’s pent-up passion, released in a burst of nuclear heat.
“I have to go,” Lacey said. “I have to get dressed.”
I didn’t point out she was already dressed. I could still almost feel where she’d kissed me for real, the ghost of her teeth where she’d bitten my lip. I wasn’t prepared to do that again. Not after last time, that rush of strange feelings.
The door slammed. I jumped. Lacey was gone. Last time had been—
A fluke. Just a fluke.
We’d been stressed out, was all. Caught by surprise. Whirled up in emotion from the scene we’d been shooting. I’d gotten swept up in it, but that was over. Lacey didn’t want me. I didn’t want her.
But today, I was going to kiss her again.
My heart beat against my ribs and I willed it not to. I’d done this a hundred times. A hundred onscreen kisses. I’d never felt anything but what my character felt, there in the moment, gone in the next. It wouldn’t be any different with Lacey. I’d be Lock, she’d be Kate, and our kiss would be their kiss.
And maybe she’d do that thing with her tongue.
I smacked myself hard across the flat of my thigh. She wouldn’t do the tongue thing. It would be a screen kiss. Safe, dry, and sanitary. Your standard screen kiss.
I showered and dressed in a daze, and we headed to set. Our ride over was awkward, all stilted small talk. Lacey took out her script and pretended to read it. I could see she was faking because her eyes didn’t move. Every so often, she turned the page.
“We’ll be fine,” I said, as we crossed the lot. “We knew this was coming. It’s just been moved up.”
“Yeah.” Lacey paused and glanced over at Berg. “Do you think he did this because he knew it’d be weird? To get us on edge so there’d be more tension?”
“I wouldn’t put it past him.” I squeezed Lacey’s arm. “Don’t let him shake you.”
