Darcy in Hollywood

“God, I hope not.”

“She has to be messing with you.”

“No way.” Charlie didn’t recognize the worshipful look in Elizabeth’s eyes, but Darcy did. He’d tried being cool and distant and professional, but she was still enamored. She didn’t even say much to him—too tongue-tied in his presence. He’d seen it before. Obviously she became so nervous about something as personal as coffee that she simply couldn’t remember his order. It would be sweet if it wasn’t so frustrating. “She wouldn’t risk her job.”

Even though Elizabeth was the producer’s daughter, risking Darcy’s ire could sink her career forever. She wasn’t that foolish. “The next time Jeff makes a coffee run, could he get something for me?” he asked Charlie, whose personal assistant got his coffee order perfect each time.

Charlie snorted. “Sure.”

His friend’s attention was focused on the scene in front of them. Lydia Bennet’s character, a waitress in the hospital’s restaurant, had been given some additional lines, much to the actress’s delight. In this scene, she gives Thorne a cup of coffee and then runs after him when he doesn’t pay. They had already filmed Darcy’s part of the shot, but Perez was having difficulty pulling any usable line readings out of Lydia. “Louder,” the director insisted. “You’re trying to get his attention.”

Lydia nodded, an expression of earnest concentration on her face. Perez retreated to stand next to the camera operator and called for action.

“You didn’t pay for your coffee,” Lydia said flirtatiously, batting her eyelashes at an unseen Eric Thorne. There was nothing loud or urgent about her delivery.

“Cut!” Perez shouted.

Darcy leaned toward his friend. “Her acting would make Ed Wood cringe.” Charlie laughed into his coffee.

Franny Bennet, her bright pink lips pursed tightly together and her bleached curls jiggling with each step, marched up to Perez.

“Oh good lord,” Charlie muttered.

“Roberta, I don’t see what was wrong with that take.” Lydia’s mother’s voice was high-pitched and screechy. “It was nuanced. It was perfect.”

“The whole family is a menace on a film set,” Darcy muttered.

“Jane isn’t,” Charlie said with a lascivious smile.

?

??Very true.” Jane Bennet’s performance was magnificent. “And neither is—” Darcy cut himself off. It was best if he didn’t say anything about Elizabeth, or Charlie might recognize he viewed her a little differently. It was only because she had that silly crush on him.

Charlie was waiting for Darcy to finish his thought. “…Tom,” he said lamely and then hurried to qualify his words. “Yeah, he’s a bit absent-minded, but he pulled the production together.”

“I guess.” Charlie shrugged.

They shot the sequence again; however, Lydia’s performance changed very little. “Cut and print!” Perez announced.

“She’s actually going to use one of those takes?” Darcy was horrified.

Charlie leaned closer to Darcy. “Roberta told me Lydia’s sequence wasn’t ‘integral’ to the flow of the narrative.”

“Ah. Straight to the director’s cut.”

“I’m not sure Roberta would even want it in the deleted scenes. Maybe the whole thing will be ‘accidentally’ erased.” They both laughed.

Charlie was soon needed on the set to shoot the next sequence. Darcy had his script in hand and was trying out different line readings but found his attention drawn to Elizabeth. She was by the craft services table with a woman from the catering company. They chatted frequently, and Darcy assumed they were friends.

Why am I so distracted by Elizabeth?

She was his personal assistant. It was her job to be aware of him. Not the other way around. Resolutely, Darcy returned his gaze to the script in his lap; if she noticed how she drew his attention, it might give her the wrong idea.

After a few minutes Darcy could sense Elizabeth walking in his direction. He tried to ignore the dangerous excitement in his stomach, refusing to lift his head until she was practically on top of him.

“Hey, Will?” she said as she approached. Her informality had been a bit of a shock at first, but now it was rather endearing. “Do you know where the prop briefcase is?”

“Doesn’t Reggie have it?”