I caught up with him, not able to control my laughter.
“It’s not funny,” he said when we were safely inside his car, the doors locked.
“It is funny. Like one hundred percent. Not even one percentage point less than completely funny.”
He turned over the ignition and drove out of the parking lot, then finally said, “I’ll give you seventy-five percent. No more.”
I laughed again.
After a few quiet minutes, Donavan said, “What would you have done?”
“What?”
“If whoever was in there had opened the door and discovered us. What would you have done?”
“Turned on my zombie mode. The hissing, the limping, the works. It would’ve confused them just enough for us to get away.”
“You really would have done that,” he said as a statement, not a question.
“Yes,” I answered anyway.
“You’re crazy.”
“Don’t forget it.” I studied his profile as he looked out the window. His jaw was tight, his lips set in a thin line. “What would you have done if we’d been discovered?”
“I have no idea. I think I might be a flight kind of guy in the fight-or-flight scenario. My only instinct was to run.”
“You sound sad about this.”
“I am. I always knew I hated conflict but this . . . I’m extremely disappointed in myself.”
“You wish you would’ve what? Went charging after him in a blind rage? Asked him if you could join him for his recreational pastime?”
“No . . . I don’t know.”
I grabbed hold of his shoulder and shook it. “Lighten up, dude. You totally pushed me through the window first. You can hang on to your man card for another day.”
“Did you just call me dude?”
“I did. Better or worse than Choir Boy?”
“Equally bad.”
“I think you mean equally charming.”
“You do think you’re pretty charming, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. And you do too, so don’t try to deny it.”
He shook his head, but the smile on his face proved I was right.
Something caught my eye out of the side window. I pointed. “All those new experiences made me hungry. Let’s go eat.”
“With you looking like that?”
“Will this embarrass you?”
He gave me a sideways glance, then shrugged. “Probably not.”
“Let’s do the drive-through.” It was better that way. I didn’t think anyone would recognize me off set, but just in case, I didn’t need more bad pictures on the internet.
Dancing Graves
INT. THE MANSION LIBRARY—DAY
SCARLETT is getting worse by the day. She has not transitioned but feels like she is dying a slow death. She wants to leave to spare her family and BENJAMIN pain, but he is worried for her safety.
BENJAMIN
Where will you go?
SCARLETT
The cemetery, I think, with that old abandoned church nearby. You can leave me supplies there.
BENJAMIN
I cannot bear it. You must stay. For just a little longer.
SCARLETT
Promise me something. If I start to worsen, if I begin to require what the others eat, you must stop me. By any means necessary.
Ten
What I’d told Donavan was true. Getting out of my daily rut was important when I was feeling uninspired. And our experience the day before had definitely fired me up. I felt ready to work. Or I would be ready if I could find my kneepads. I had to crawl over benches today, and wardrobe had given me a pair just for this purpose.
I got down on my hands and knees again and looked under the rack of clothes. I couldn’t find them. I took every hanging piece and moved it to the couch. The only thing on the floor was a pair of Converse I’d forgotten I’d brought to the trailer.
“Faith!” I called out my trailer door as if she stood waiting for me at all times. She wasn’t there. I glanced at the time on my phone; I had two minutes to be in the church building. I wasn’t going to be late again.
I hopped down the steps and halfway there noticed my favorite helper across the way. “Aaron!”
He was talking to someone from the crew and looked up when I called his name.
“Have you seen my kneepads?”
He put his hand to his ear as if he couldn’t hear me. I waved him off and kept walking. Faith stood at the doors to the church.
“Faith. Are there any extra kneepads?”
“You lost yours?”
“I thought they were in my trailer, but I couldn’t find them.”
“I’ll bring you another pair. Hurry in, they’re waiting for you.”
“Thanks.”
Grant nodded his head as I joined him by the pews at the front of the chapel. It was a gorgeous room, with dark wooden benches and steps leading up to the pulpit, which was backlit by the most amazing stained glass I’d ever seen. A large tapestry hung on the wall displaying the words: Matthew 5:44 Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.
“Hey,” I said, noticing all the people lining the walls to watch. My eyes caught on a familiar face, someone I’d seen Grant talking to before. “Who’s that guy in the flip-flops?”
“That’s my agent.”
“Wow. He’s very involved.”
He rolled his eyes. “He’s the one who talked me into this job. He thinks it’s going to redeem my reputation.”
“Does it really need that much redeeming? I see fans lining up at every location for you. And you probably get a million online mentions a day.” Like Amanda had said, we needed to get Grant out of his head. I needed to help him stop thinking he was somehow a failure.
“I used to get more, and they used to be mostly good. But it’s not just the fans we’re worried about. It’s the producers and casting directors. They need to see I have range, that I can act.”
“Right.”
Grant went from looking at his agent to turning back to me. “You ready to climb over benches?”
My knees felt bare as I said, “So ready. Are you ready to run?”
He smiled. “Yes. I got your message yesterday and tried to text you, but it was after ten. Does your dad take your phone away after ten?”
It bothered me that my dad had made a reputation for himself—one that made it seem like I was a child. I was not a child. “No, he does not. I was already sleeping. I was exhausted after the adventure I had. My tutor and I went to this abandoned old folk’s home and found a drug dealer.”
“What? Not sure that’s the answer for our chemistry issue.”
I smiled. “Yes, that sounded bad. That’s not what I meant. I don’t do drugs. What I should’ve said was that we found a drug dealer’s lair and had to escape.”
“This was the muse thing the security guard was telling me about?”
“Yes.”
“You have a tutor helping you find a muse?”
“I do now,” I said.
He smiled his hundred-watt smile and took a step closer, into my space. “You don’t need a tutor. I’m not hard to fall for if you let yourself.”
“I’m not trying to fall for you.”
“Exactly.”
We were talking about the characters, weren’t we? “Well, Scarlett has fallen for you . . . I mean Benjamin . . . obviously.”
“You need to let yourself be her.” He took my hand in his and tugged me a little closer.
I knew what he was saying. I needed to relax into the character on set. I needed to become Scarlett. At least for the next eight weeks.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Amanda watching us. She gave me a small wave. “Don’t you think Amanda is great?” I asked.
“Yes, I do. I gave Amanda the same speech yesterday about letting herself fall for me. She’s doing a better job of it.”
A light flashed on, blinding me for a moment. I squinted.
“Is that okay?” Remy asked. “Or have you become an actual zombie, afraid of the light?” He smiled.
“It’s fine,” I said. I had just been surprised. I was used to the spotlight. I turned back toward Grant and tugged my hand from his grip. “Good thing I don’t need to fall for you today, just try to kill you.”
“You ready?” Remy asked.
I looked around for Faith with my kneepads but couldn’t see her anywhere. “Let’s do it.”
“Nice zombie work,” Remy said as I passed the monitor, limping slightly. Now I understood the need for padding.
“You were channeling some serious death,” he said.
“Thanks,” I said. I’d felt that way too. He nodded, his attention already back on the footage playing on the screen in front of him.
Faith joined me with a pair of kneepads in her hands. “Sorry, I know these are a little late. It took me forever to find an extra pair.”
I took them from her. “It’s fine.”
“You can keep them for next time.”
“Okay.”
“You’ll see on your call sheet that everyone has tomorrow off. And then Tuesday we’ll be filming only Grant and Fredrick.” Fredrick was the actor who played my father, Lord Lucas, in the movie.
“Oh, okay. See you Wednesday, then.”