Accidental Meeting (Accidental Hook-Up 3)
Chapter One – Tia
“No, no, no!” the director yells. He’s getting angrier by the second, I can tell by the redness of his cheeks and that angry vein popping out of his forehead. “You can’t say it like that, it needs to have emotion.”
Humiliation and shame rushes through me. A heat creeps up from my toes and a coolness trickles down my back. It feels like all eyes are upon me and everyone in this room hates me for making yet another mistake. The funny thing is this isn’t aimed at me. I’m not the star here, just another extra in the background, but it’s the first real scene that I’ve ever been involved in and I hate the fact that it isn’t going right. Yes, I’ve done other acting jobs back in my home town, that’s how I know that I do have a bit of talent, but since moving to Los Angeles, Hollywood to be exact, this is my first job. A small, teeny tiny stepping stone, to what I hope will be bigger things. I need it to make it to bigger things. This has to work for me, I honestly don’t know what I’ll do if it doesn’t.
“I am putting emotion into it,” the main star, the semi famous but a complete diva, Olivia, whines.
“No, you aren’t.” The director remains firm. “Don’t bullshit me. I can see right through you here.”
“Well then I just don’t understand what I’m doing wrong.” Olivia throws her hands up in dismay.
I do. I could easily tell her what she’s doing wrong, she isn’t becoming the character. She’s bored, distracted, probably having personal problems. It’s so obvious. But I can’t risk alienating the sort of person who I eventually want to become my equal now, can I? Actually, the dream is to overtake her. I’m not fame hungry, wanting the paparazzi following my every move, but the idea of being that successful really speaks to me.
I want to leave my mark on the world, and this is the only way I can do it.
“Stupid bitch,” the hard faced woman next to me comments in a much too loud whisper. She grabs everyone’s attention and I feel that shame washing over me again. I feel guilty, even though I didn’t say it, so I probably look like I’ve done something wrong too. If only I could defend myself, but that will probably only make it worse.
“You!” The director points right at me. “The blonde one. Come here.”
Shit, shit, shit. My eyes flicker down and hit the ground. I need to find a way to explain that wasn’t me without making things even worse. I don’t want to anger the other extra either. We might come across each other again.
“Ye… yes,” I stammer. Now all eyes are definitely on me. “Is… is everything okay?”
“I need you to shove into Chloe…” It takes me a millisecond to realize he means Olivia in her character. “And mumble something sarcastic at her. Rile her up a bit which might make her drag some emotion out.”
“Just… now?” I stare at Olivia who is giving me daggers. Great.
“No, when the cameras are rolling. We might as well film it. It might even make the cut.”
The cut? Oh my God, I might actually become part of this movie. How wild would that be? As nervous as I am, I really need to nail this. It might actually be a bigger stepping stone than I originally anticipated. I don’t know why the hell this has happened, what made him pick me, but this is good. Really good as long as I don’t blow it. I just need to stop my vision from blurring quite as violently as it is so I can turn this opportunity into something positive. I nod and try to hold myself together piece by piece while I focus. All the acting training that I have ever had in my life flies violently out of the window but I’m still going to do it.
“Stand here.” The director rests his hands on my shoulders and angles me. I’m staring at Olivia who is looking at me like she despises me. Like I’m a piece of dirt under her shoe. And I have to think of something snarky to say to her. I haven’t even been given directions. This is going to kill me, how the hell can I make it happen?
I suck in a couple of deep breaths and try to calm the ice cold anxiety darting around in my stomach. It’s churning, sickening, but deep down in there I feel anticipation too. This could be something incredible.
“Okay and… action.”
I dart my eyes towards the director, checking that he really means me and he nods firmly. There’s a determination under his gaze, I feel like he wants me to nail this so that’s what I need to do. For some reason out of all the extras, he has chosen to give me a chance and I need to make him proud.