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Prologue
It’s easy to confuse infatuation with love. When the first hints of attachment have managed to seep in, drowning your senses like you were a vegetable submerged in a bubbling broth, it can almost be impossible to see beyond its vibrant hue and murky depth. That is to say that by the time you’ve become aware of yourself it is already too late. Infatuation, with its slimy tendrils and greedy hands, has made you a prisoner. Taking you hostage from the inside. It wraps itself deep around your core, blinds you with its many hands and deafens your ears. It would be fair to say that infatuation, in all its forms, takes pleasure in being cruel. Warming you with promises of love and tenderness, only to tear the façade away and leave you with nothing.
Love, however, can be accused of much of the same.
It has never been said that love was not a liar. In fact, it is the worst – or perhaps best – liar of them all. And above all, loves chokehold is fathoms stronger.
Love takes your entire being, all your value and faults, your aspirations, your hopes, your fears, weaving them into strings in order to play puppeteer with your heart. And while infatuation eventually bores of its game of pretend and allows you to escape, the claws of love burry themselves deep in your flesh, its life becoming one with your blood, and will never let you go.
Tell me, do you know what it feels like to have your heart ripped out of your chest and immediately after while there’s still a gaping hole in you, which has begun to bleed, have to then watch in horror as love in its smug truth plays racquet ball with the thing that was keeping you alive? I have personal experience.
In 1982 I was twenty-three and newly homeless. Being young and full of that “why not” attitude that drives us to pursue careers that our parents would frown upon for not being sensible, I had found myself working on the set of an action movie starring an up-and-coming actor whose notoriety came in the form of his imported and badly dubbed over films. My job was simple: move props where ordered and keep them from getting damaged. Definitely not the most glamorous job anyone dreams of having. I had no premonition that this temporary stint of mine would change the otherwise normal course of my life entirely.
I had planned to save up enough to buy a house of my own, taking every opportunity to fit the stereotype of ‘the wholesome neighbor everyone is friendly with’. I wanted my modern farmhouse where I could watch the sun die behind the hills and decorate with an outrageous amount of homemade trimmings.
However, this idealized version of my future would never come to fruition. My life derailed the day I became formally introduced to the highly animated, always theatrical celebrity known as ‘Lou Jitsu.’
Chapter One: Construction Ahead
“…and don’t call me again. I’m tired of dealing with your drama. If you want to be away from me so bad then I have no reason to help you, you’ll have to figure it out the way I did. On. Your. Own.”
The voice on the other end of the line barked their parting words, then with a *Click * the line went dead. She sighed and hung the phone back on the receiver. She pulled her jacket tighter around herself and exited the phone booth. It was uncharacteristically cold for fall in New York City. She guessed the temperature was somewhere in the low thirties, not cold enough to snow but still nothing to sneeze at. Absentmindedly, she wondered if she would make it back to the shelter in time for dinner.
Renae Jones had been living in Queens for the better part of a year, but not entirely by choice. Her mother had forced her to move away from the family home with her, as the woman avoided housework like it was the plague, though she quickly kicked Renae out after stating she was, “…tired of you doing nothing. I have never met anyone as selfish and ungrateful as you.”
It wasn’t a loss in Renae’s eyes. Their relationship had slowly become a volatile and violent one. She was tired of looking after everything, and her mother wanted a live-in maid. She was happy to leave, if a little saddened to leave her belongings and keepsakes behind. Finding herself alone with no other family to turn to she headed for a shelter as far from her mother as possible.
It came as a shock to learn that the shelter had been on the brink of being too full to help. Apparently, plenty of other women in the city had been hit by hardships too. Her first night stay was nerve-racking, managing maybe an hour of sleep between mindless worry over what to do next. She’d have to find a job come morning if she wanted to continue to stay there, but at least food and shelter were taken care of for the time being. Over the next few days, she made an effort to look for all open jobs that her degree could get her, yes it may be only temporary, but that was no reason to go for something that paid peanuts.
As a stroke of luck, or maybe pure coincidence, Renae had been on her way to the bus stop when across the street she could hear quite a lot of commotion. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her, and upon crossing found herself watching an action scene for an upcoming movie being shot. The lot was a construction site, and not even a fake one put together for the purpose of shooting either, an honest to goodness building was in the making. And from what she could glean, these actors were incredibly skilled: a half dozen guys had been able to take hit after hit and keep coming back for more takes. Although upon closer inspection, while the hits all looked convincing it was clear that they were professionally faked for the sake of their safety.
Renae couldn’t see what most of the fuss was about, or why so many people had crowded around the area to watch. That was until she saw a young Asian man in a blue jumpsuit. His fighting skills were even more impressive than the other guys she’d seen so far. While the camera men were shooting his face was intense, his brow furrowed in concentration while the smirk on his lips betrayed his air of cockiness.
She had come to learn that the man’s combat style was more than dressed up choreography when he grabbed two stuntmen by the collars and, lifting them as if they weighed nothing, swung them onto their backs.
Renae’s jaw slackened, and she practically feel her eyes popping out of her skull. He was so small compared to them and he tossed em’ like they were sacks of potatoes! The actor must’ve felt her gaze because when the scene concluded his dark eyes met hers.
For a moment he didn’t move, a blank look over his face, clearly caught off guard. The intensity of his stare sent a sudden rush of heat to her face. Had his eyes looked that bright before? She absently wondered. Her mind went blank when a grin broke out across his lips, the star confidently sauntering his way over. When he stopped in front of her, he placed a hand over his heart and dramatically cleared his throat. In his surprisingly deep voice he drawled out, “Do you believe in love at first sight – or do I need to walk by again?” Renae blinked. Once. Twice.
She squawked out a laugh in surprise, just barely containing a snort. She really had not be expecting that. The raven-haired man bent at the waist to lean lazily on a sawhorse, pressing his face into his palm. That cocky grin hadn’t left his face for a second.
“Tell me,” He continued on in his somewhat Americanized accent, “do ladies as lovely as you often come by this way, or am I just lucky?”
At this point it was becoming much harder to contain her laughter. He was absolutely insufferable, clearly full of himself, but somehow incredibly endearing at the same time. She grinned back at him, the smile reaching her eyes.
“Say, I didn’t catch your name, sir. Aren’t you being a tad forward?”
He matched her tone and her smirk. “Didn’t throw it. Not a crime to point out such obvious beauty as yours.”
A pause, an unspoken conversation passing between the two.
I find you incredibly interesting… I hope you think the same.
“You can call me Lou. Surprised you haven’t heard of me, ‘Lou Jitsu, famous martial artist’. Star of: ‘Jitsu for Justice?’ But I guess it can’t be helped.” He shrugged.
Renae inwardly shook her head at the goofiness of this guys’ stage name. Nevertheless, it seemed to suit his demeanor and appearance. Speaking of, now that she’d gotten a better look at him, she could admit he was fairly eye catching. He was wearing vibrant colors on his jumpsuit, primarily blue with gold and orange reminding her of a sunset, donning a similarly matching pair of orange gloves and yellow tinted visor glasses. His hair was styled into a pompadour as equally theatrical as the man himself.
What she was most invested in however was his facial features. Perfectly angled eyebrows made his every expression much more amusing, and she could just kick herself for thinking so, but she found his sharp jawline incredibly attractive.
“And you?” Lou tilted his head, his interest seeming genuine. The tilt of his head gave him the appearance of a lost puppy, curious and enthusiastic. A new wave of heat washed over her. She wondered if he knew she’d been inspecting him.
“J-jones. Renae Jones.” She spluttered, coughed, and cleared her throat. “At the utterance of her name Lou’s eyes lit up and he suddenly stood as though his spine were made of steel, puffing out his chest.
“Well, Miss Jones, I think I could show you a good time,” he paused and chuckled to himself, “If you’d allow me that is.”
Renae’s smile fell from her face and landed in the pit of her stomach. She should have expected that. There was no reason this apparently famous actor would talk to someone like her unless he wanted something. Whatever glimmer of attraction she had held for this man was quickly squashed.
“I’m sorry to say that I’m a tad busy looking for a job at the moment. Not all of us are privileged to be famous, Mr. Jitsu.” She spat his stage name out slathered in sarcasm. Her face remained flat; her lips pursed themselves into a thin line when the words left her mouth. Renae concluded that this entire detour had been a major waste of time, not only that, but she’d definitely missed her bus.
Lou’s face dropped; any hint of his bravado vanished. He’d not meant to offend her, and from what she said his offer had been severely misunderstood. He began to wave his hands frantically, shaking his head.
“No, nonono. I apologize, I did not mean it in that way.” He gulped; she could see his Adam’s apple bob. “I wanted to ask you if you’d like to come with me to ‘The Pyramid’ tomorrow night.”
Although her brow was raised in well-earned skepticism, Renae could not see it in her to refuse his offer. As much as she’d like to pretend the opposite, the minute she’d seen him fight she’d thought Lou was interesting. Interesting in a ‘there’s definitely something more to this and I need to find out what it is or I may just go mad with the endless possibilities’ kind of way. And yes, she may only be giving in because she thought he was pretty, but she wasn’t going to admit that to herself. She liked to believe that she was logical after all and meeting up with someone you’ve known for approximately five minutes at a club in New York was far from it.
Before she could respond however, he’d started again.
“A-and if you’re in need of a job I’m sure I can help there!” He said this with a smile, although it looked to be a particularly nervous one. “Our director, Ray Thomas, he’s been saying over and over that we need a new runner! You’d be perfect!”
Renae looked his expression over. He really did look sincere about the job, not only that he looked to be sweating bullets. He really must’ve been beating himself up about offending her earlier with that ‘good time’ line. She really hoped she was as good at reading people as she thought. She let out a soft sigh.
“Can you guarantee the job?” She asked.
Lou nodded eagerly, a newly lit happiness in his face. “That, I can do. Why don’t we introduce you now and fill Old Ray in?”
With that he grabbed hold of her hand and tugged her after him. She didn’t know what she’d expected this guy to be like, but it definitely hadn’t been this. He was energetic, eager to please, and seemingly good natured. Part of her felt guilty for thinking that he was only after her for her appearance, given how he’d backtracked so quickly. A more pessimistic side of her still believed that he may just be waiting for a better time to get what he wants.
He'd weaved them through numerous people mulling about carrying various props, papers, and technical items she had no idea the name of. She felt bad when he’d almost steamrolled right into a young intern who’d looked like a deer in the headlights. Slightly winded from Lou’s brisk pace and erratic bobbing around she took several deep breaths before he suddenly clapped both hands onto her shoulders and spun her to be face to face with a man in his early forties. His face had deep lines, making his already somber expression look downright depressing.
“Ray! Don’t say I don’t look out for you, my friend, I’ve found you a new runner! You’ll never find anyone better for the job, I can promise you.” Lou rambled on, grinning at the director.
Ray, the man in question, did not look to be in the mood to argue with him. In fact, he looked like he needed a nap. The man pushed his hand over his thinning brown hair and rolling his eyes looked to Renae. In a monotone voice he asked a laundry list of questions.
“Can you lift 50 pounds? Can you handle fragile equipment? Do you have any medical conditions? And lastly do you have identification?”
“Uhm… Yes, yes, no and two forms. Uh, sir.” She’d had trouble keeping track of his questions when he shot them off one right after the other like that, but she hoped Lou was right. If she’d wasted an entire day of job searching, she was going to be incredibly disappointed.
The director sighed again, opened his palm, and gestured. Hand em’ over.
She dove her hand into her bag and pulled out a plastic card and a small paper. She handed them over to him, and he ducked into his office, leaving a confused Renae. The whole interaction was fast, almost fast enough to give her whiplash.
“So… what does that mean?” She turned to Lou.
“It means you’re hired. He’s in there scanning copies of your papers for his file.” Lou chirped. He’d gently removed his hands from her shoulders, backing up a few paces to give her space.
“I hope that now that you’re employed, you’ll have some free time tomorrow night?” He asked, hopefully. She gazed up at him for a minute. The eager look in his eyes tugging on something in her stomach that sent an upturned quirk to her lips.
“I suppose it’s a date, Lou.”
Renae’s day had been a whirlwind. Meeting a famous actor, becoming a stage runner on his movie, and having a planned date with said actor all in one afternoon was enough to give her a major headache. She laid on her tiny mattress back in the shelter thinking about what had happened, and though her insides swirled at all the possibilities it would be a lie to say she wasn’t excited. In just a few hours her foreseeable future had changed for the better, and she couldn’t have been more grateful. Some part of her wanted to talk to her mother, just to shove it in her face.
“She’d be jealous, as always. But man, would it be worth it to piss her off one last time.” She chuckled.
She couldn’t help but smile to herself in her darkened room, lit with the last dying light of day and the shine from others’ windows across the city. A glaring reflection bounced off her glasses, she carefully pulled them off and set them on the windowsill. Pushing herself deeper into the thin covers a contented smile sighed past her teeth.
She didn’t know what exactly would happen in the future, but she was more than ready to find out.
The next morning Renae woke to the sound of her shrill bell alarm clock, rushing to silence the thing before she woke up any other residents. A hand reached up lazily to scratch her head and pull itself out of the knots in her long red hair. She winced when she tugged a particularly large knot. For a moment of sleepiness, she’d forgotten the events of the previous day, suddenly sitting up when she remembered she had a job! It was a surprise to her that she was so amped to work a minimum wage job, or really work at all if she were more honest with herself. Bouncing to her feet with enthusiasm she rushed to dress herself. Just like the day before it was cold, and the hardwood floor was nowhere NEAR warm, the iciness chilling her toes, she tripped over her feet while pulling on her socks and shoes.
Renae glanced over herself in the cracked vanity mirror sitting against the wall. The jitters in her stomach were becoming hard to ignore, the anxiousness making her want to look as presentable as possible for her first day on set. She grabbed a scrunchie from the drawer, tying her hair into a half ponytail, causing the waves in it to settle over her forehead. Satisfied with her appearance, save for the darkened skin beneath her eyes, Renae pulled her coat off its hanger and left the room.
The bus ride to Mr. Thomas’ office was a tense one. No matter how hard she tried to focus on the book in her lap her worry overwhelmed her, her mind wandering to every possibility. What if Ray changed his mind and doesn’t need me? What if I can’t do what they need? What if I mess up and get fired on my first day? What happens when Lou tires of having me around?
Lou. That’s right. He’s asked me on a date tonight.
The reminder only served to make her more uneasy. She knew that he’d asked her to a club, and she wasn’t too fond of dancing. Especially in front of others, there was something about not knowing what you looked like while doing it that made her feel embarrassed. But if it were for a date with someone as pretty as Lou was, she could suck it up. She inwardly smirked. Despite having some reservations about his character, she couldn’t deny that the martial artist was, indeed, very nice to look at.
Soon enough her station was called, and she walked off the bus squinting slightly in the bright unfiltered daylight. For a moment she looked up, the cloud cover was complete, and yet it did nothing to dim the sun behind them, simply being a blanket of nearly blinding grey-white. In a way it was beautiful the way the sky changed with each passing season. She should have still been nervous, but seeing Mr. Thomas’ office for what it was, (really just a rented-out storage unit where various people could be seen carting papers and racks around), she felt more at ease.
However, she did feel that her choice of fashion stood out like a sore thumb.
Renae had picked an outfit that she felt was professional, and that she could easily afford. Consisting of a peter pan collared blouse in a shade of green that matched her eyes tucked into a black skirt that ended just above her ankles, topped off with her navy-blue cardigan and black winter coat. She only had two pairs of shoes, so the choice to wear penny loafers was an easy one.
Observing her colleagues, she felt underdressed. All the other women were wearing smart, freshy dry cleaned outfits, their hair done perfectly and seemingly unmoved by their brisk pace.
I feel like a schoolgirl whose been caught in the teacher’s lounge. She grimaced.
Though she momentarily forgot her dismay when she caught sight of Mr. Thomas coming her way. He looked much better than the day before, the dark rings under his eyes gone, replaced with a friendly smile and freshly trimmed mustache. Part of her already liked him, he reminded her a little of her grandad.
“Hello there Ms. Jones! Welcome to our production. I’m glad to see you here so early this morning, lots to show ya’ before we get going.” Mr. Thomas greeted her in a warm tone, one you would use to address an old friend.
Renae smiled politely. “Thank you. I’ve never done this before, I’m sure there’ll be much to learn.”
“I’m sure you’ll be glad I took care of all that paperwork last night, don’t want to waste any valuable time.” He chuckled softly.
Mr. Thomas then cleared his throat. “Before we start, I wanted to apologize for being so out of it yesterday, you’ll soon learn that Lou’s boundless energy can really take it out of a person. Let’s just hope you can keep up with it.”
“No no, that’s alright. I understand how tiring work can be. And uhh… I could glean that much from our encounter last night. I’ll be honest, I don’t know what to make of him yet.” She confessed. “Anyway, I’m glad to be working with you, Mr. Thomas. Thank you for the opportunity.”
“No thanks necessary little lady. I’m sure that if I hadn’t hired you our interns would have had a hell of a time getting Lou out of his trailer. Unfortunately, he’s prone to dramatics.” He sighed, then shook his head. “And don’t worry about the ‘Mr. Thomas’ stuff, they just call me Ray around here.”
Renae nodded. “Can do, Ray.”
He smiled. “That’s more like it. Now, let’s introduce you to the rest of the prop team.”
Mr. Thomas led her to a storage trailer on the other side of the lot, surrounded by two more just like it. He walked up the metal steps, stopping in front of the door. He rapped his knuckles on the trailer door twice, then turned and nodded Renae in. The two of them stepped inside and were greeted with a well-lit room with tables lining the walls. On each table were various props like fake 2x4s, collapsible ladders, and rubber fish. A plump woman and short man sat at an empty table against the back wall, one sculpting the contents of a cup of soup out of some type of clay, the other mixing various color finishes for her. At the sound of the door opening both turned their attention toward Mr. Thomas and Renae.
The first, a plump woman who appeared to be in her thirties with dark hair and a pleasant face greeted Renae. She jumped up from her seat and began to shake her hand.
“Hiya there, I’m Mrs. Baker, but you can call me Felicity. I make all of our synthetic props in house.” She grinned, still shaking Renae’s hand vigorously. “Oh my! I’ve never seen such dainty hands.” Felicity turned Renae’s hand over in her own, running a plump finger along the lines on her palm. “But don’t worry, we’ll build up those muscles in no time. Sorry to cut our convo so short, but as you can see, I’ve got some work ahead of me if they want this synthetic soup by this afternoon.” Felicity winked, then picked up her tool and began to make swirls in her clay mixture. The sight of the thing made Renae lift a brow.
The man had stood back during the entire interaction, rolling his eyes good naturedly at Felicity’s enthusiasm. He was incredibly thin and on the shorter side, and like Felicity, Renae assumed he was in his thirties. His dark eyes were magnified by his glasses, his blond hair a wild mop of curls resting on his head.
“You’ll have to excuse my wife.” He smiled. “She’s very happy to have someone new to work with, she can only stand me for so long.” The man laughed.
“Only when you’re sarcastic, sweetheart.” Felicity responded.
“Yeah, yeah. It is nice to have someone new around I will admit. My name is Clark Baker, nice to meet you.” Clark held out his hand in a timid manner, a contrast to his wife’s outgoing attitude. Still Renae grabbed it and gave a hearty shake.
“Likewise. Um… I’m Renae, but you can both call me Rainy, everyone does.” She flushed, she didn’t know why she let slip that embarrassing nickname, but it felt right to say, nevertheless. The couple made her feel much closer to her comfort zone. The two of them were similar to her in their style of dress, making her feel a little more at ease about that as well.
Mr. Thomas dropped his hand onto Renae’s shoulder. “Seems like you needed no introduction from me. Clark and Felicity are our main prop makers, if anything is either too big or outrageous for our little studio we outsource, but so far, they’re the best we’ve had work on any of our projects. Your job will be to help them complete props, take them from here to set and putting them where they direct you to. There’s not much else to it, so you’ll have a relatively easy time I hope.”
Renae nodded. “Sounds like a lovely job to have, I’ll be sure to do my best to help them out.”
Mr. Thomas blinked suddenly, then threw a hand to his head. “Oh Lord, I almost forgot. The next scene will start shooting around one this afternoon, you’ll need to help Mr. & Mrs. Baker with their creations. Setting them up, handling them, etc. I hope that doesn’t seem like too much so soon?”
“No, not at all. I think it’ll help me get used to all this sooner if I start right away.” Renae replied.
“Good. I don’t want to scare you off with too much too soon, but the more you get used to the fast pace around here the easier this job will be for you.” Mr. Thomas explained. “…Anyway, Clark here will tell you what he needs from you, and I’ll see you this afternoon! Let me know if you need anything.” With that last remark Ray had taken a few steps back and swung himself out the trailer door, closing with a swift clunk.
With Mr. Thomas gone Renae felt out of place, it was quiet, and she wasn’t quite sure what to say. Lucky for her, Felicity had that covered.
“Ahem.” She pretended to clear her throat. “Alright, well, my dear I’m going to take over from here. We both know how you are with new people.” She mumbled the last part under her breath, making eye contact with her husband. He seemingly took no offense and nodded at her remark. Clark stepped back with a smile, gesturing to Renae. His wife moved past him to stand directly in front of her, seeing Clark walk back to the desk with a content expression, beginning to rearrange his color palette.
Felicity took Renae’s hand and gently tugged, leading her to some of the prop shelves. Absently the touch reminded Renae of her mother, but she only allowed it for a moment before blinking her eyes rapidly, hoping to will away any homesickness that may have been rising in her throat. She reminded herself that her mother wasn’t like she remembered.
She hadn’t noticed that Felicity had been quietly prattling about different projects her husband and herself had been a part of until the large woman paused. Felicity’s face was slightly flushed from her brisk pace, and she looked to Renae expectantly.
“Oops, I’m getting derailed here. I hope my instructions were simple enough?”
Renae gulped. “A-actually ma’am I have to confess I wasn’t paying very good attention; would you mind repeating?”
Felicity shook her head softly. “Of course, don’t be embarrassed if you couldn’t keep track. I suppose it was a little lengthy while I went off on my tangent.” She laughed. She reached over and grabbed a latex mask that had been creased from improper storage, this she held out to Renae. “What I really want you to do is treat these pieces that have been put away for a while. This fella here wasn’t put away like he should’ve been, you see. After you clean them face pieces should have an inner filling to help keep shape, so that’s what we’ll be focusing on. Try to clean as many pieces as possible, and I’ll come check on you in a little while to help you put them away.”
She then handed the creased mask along with a large plastic tub and cleaning solution to Renae, briefly explaining how she should go about cleaning specific pieces.
“I’ll be at the table with Clark if you need any help, don’t be shy to ask me any questions!” The plump woman patted Renae’s hand, then turned back to where her husband was seated.
Renae prepared the mixture in the tub, contentedly scrubbing the stretchy material with what she thought looked similar to a toothbrush. Although it may have been too early to tell, it just might have been the easiest job she’d had yet. She felt that she could really feel satisfied having this job for longer than she may have been planning. Besides, she hadn’t really been making much progress of anything else. Even if staying in the city meant she couldn’t have the house she’d wanted, she was starting to like the idea of always having something to do.
Back home her house was a bit of a drive from town. And, while she wouldn’t say that she was entirely used to the constant noise and activity of the city just yet, she didn’t miss the boredom of the farmhouse either. Even though she wasn’t living in the most glamorous place in the city there were plenty of places she liked that were nearby, unlike when she’d have to drive 30 minutes just to look at some new books or craft supplies.
It was around this time that Renae realized that she’d been daydreaming for a while, absently washing the same piece she’d been cleaning for five minutes. She pulled the freshly cleaned from the container, placing it down on a soft cloth to dry before moving on to the large fake chest prosthetic laid on the counter. She gently scrubbed the creases in the material before leaving it to soak. She repeated this process many times before she heard Felicity walk over again. The plump woman took a few moments to look over Renae’s progress before nodding.
“They look wonderful, you catch on fast. Much cleaner than when we started. I’ll help you dry them and put them away.”
“Okay.” Renae chirped, she’d grabbed a few items that had been dried, cradling them in her arms. "I have to ask though, with all these strange pieces here… what movie were these last used in? I mean, I didn’t think Lou Jitsu films used masks, it seems a little silly to use props like that in an action movie rather than something in the fiction genre.”
Felicity took the costume chest from her, and while fitting it over a mannequin said, “You are correct, partially anyway. We haven’t used any masks in his films, but these are holdovers that the studio keeps in storage. I think we’ve gotten a few of our bins mixed up though. These were last used in ‘Lord of the Thalyans’ and were supposed to be getting shipped back to Burbank. I think we got this one instead of the bin of prosthetic muscles we’ve been missing. The costumers have had to stuff the henchmen costumes instead.”
Clark, who’d been very quiet the past few hours snickered. “But if you think they know very much about musculature you’d be mistaken. They’ve been looking like Halloween dummies to me.”
Renae hummed; she had noticed the funny looking muscles on some of the actors the other day during the fight scene. She guessed that they would’ve looked better with rubber muscles underneath instead, but she didn’t really know that much about it. She was about to ask more about the Bakers’ work when the trailer door swung open, drawing everyone’s attention. An intern, a frazzled looking boy with glasses and brown hair, took a deep breath.
“So- hah… Sorry to interrupt but Mr. Thomas would like everyone to gather props necessary for scenes 12 and 17 and meet outside.”
Mrs. Baker bounced to her feet and began breezing through the trailer, picking up bits and bobs from their various places. Taking a rubber machete here, a sheet of ‘broken glass’ here, along with many more and dropping them into Renae’s arms as she rushed past. Taking one last cursory look around the room Felicity nodded to herself, then grabbed Renae by the arm.
“That should be everything, let’s get out there and take all this to the tables, okay? Here, let me take some of that from you, I don’t want you to trip.” She lessened the load in Renae’s arms by at least half, going from excessive to something she could carry.
Shifting the items in her arms, Felicity harmlessly smacked away the intern with her free hand, opening the trailer door herself. She led Renae back outside to the construction area she’d seen the day before from the street. What she hadn’t seen before though was on the opposite side of the construction, a pop-up tent situation where much of the stage crew and immediately needed equipment was being kept out of the elements. Felicity stopped where two fold out tables were set side by side, a storage container on each with the production label: ‘Little Jacob’s Ladder’.
Renae carefully took each prop and set them down in the clear storage container, helping unload Felicity’s armload as well. When everything had been put away she took a breath and readjusted her clothing.
She smiled to herself thinking of how her day had gone so far, she was decently surprised that she’d been enjoying her time on the set. It had only been a few hours and she was already looking forward to coming back. She hadn’t noticed Lou approaching until he was right in front of her and Mrs. Baker. She immediately noticed that he was wearing a pair of overalls on top of his blue jumpsuit, the sight was more than a bit comical, and Renae coughed to cover her snort. He must’ve seen her expression however, because he smiled back at her.
“Hey, don’t laugh! Didn’t you know overalls are the height of fashion these days.” As he said this he gestured to his outfit.
“I seriously doubt it.” She laughed openly. “Who dressed you? A farmer?”
Lou choked on a chuckle, pressing a fist to his mouth.
“I did try telling Ray it didn’t make sense with my jumpsuit. But he claims it’s a part of my character in this film.” He sighed, shaking his head. “Are you busy now?”
Renae looked toward Mrs. Baker; she was embarrassed that she’d forgotten she was there. She’d hardly opened her mouth to ask when Felicity began to shoo her away.
“Don’t worry about the props, we’re all set until they’re ready to shoot.” Felicity ended with a wink, then turned to organize the box on the table in front of her.
“Not currently busy, I guess. Why do you ask?” Renae turned back to Lou.
“I seem to remember a date you’d agreed to yesterday. But I also have a little surprise before we leave. If you’re okay with that?”
She’d only just met him the day before and he continued to try so hard to impress her. He’d already gotten her a job and asked her to the most popular club in the city. If this was how he was treating her after a measly 24 hours than she could hardly imagine what he’d be like during a real date. She didn’t see any harm in letting him show off a little more.
“I suppose it couldn’t hurt…”
Looking up at him from this angle she saw him a bit differently. While the self-assured look on his face hadn’t gone anywhere there was a warmth in his gaze. It was hard for her to explain, but his patience was a breath of fresh air compared to a myriad of other men she’d met. And while it could still be said that he was persistent it was never unwanted. For a moment a wave of emotion came over her. A smug smile tugged the edges of her rosy lips. With a gentle touch her fingers traced along the shape of his jaw, stopping at his chin to tilt his face. He hadn’t expected her forwardness and found himself transfixed by her confidence.
“You’ve been nothing but sweet so far, I look forward to whatever you have in mind.” She hummed.
Her touch left his face, and he watched her hand as it fell away. His throat went dry, and his tongue felt thick in his mouth. He continued so struggle to recover, swallowing around the lump in his throat.
“S-so ah, I’ll be waiting for you. Ack! I mean-” Lou squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath. In an instant his cool demeanor returned, as if he’d never been flustered to begin with. “7:00 tonight, I’ll be outside the main office. See you then?”
From the other side of the room Mr. Ray Thomas began calling everyone onto set, Renae could hear him say he ‘wanted to get this done early’ so they could go home and rest. After his shout she turned back to Lou.
“I wouldn’t miss it. This may be the most exciting date I’ll ever go on.”