37. The Love Story

After being humiliated by Krislynn, Andrea stomped off the set in a huff with her manager trailing pathetically behind her. It was a rather expected princess tantrum move, but it still brought Chase a lot of anxiety having just lost his lead actress. “Great. We haven’t even started shooting and I’ve already lost an actor. I hope you two are fucking happy.” He trudged away after, shouting orders for the stage crew to change the props so he could shoot other scenes, leaving Krislynn standing angrily beside Pete.

“He says it like it’s my fault!” She crossed her arms in front of her before venting off to him. “Does he hear half the things that girl says to people? She treats everyone like dogs! I can’t just stand there when she’s acting like she owns everyone!”

“Right. Right.” Pete gave the top of her head a brotherly pat before moving on. “Chase is just frustrated because he’s extremely passionate about what he does and even more so because he penned the script this time. He’s already got a headache from his sponsors ‘recommending’ Troy as the lead when he’s obviously not an actor. Throw in Andrea?” He shook his head sympathetically. “Give him a break for not being the most sensitive person on earth right now.”

“I heard you were the one that gave Andrea the role so aren’t his troubles partially stemmed from you?” Krislynn raised her eyebrows at him which only earned her a laugh from Pete.

“Let’s talk about something else,” he chuckled.

Krislynn rolled her eyes before heaving a sigh. “So he wrote the screenplay this time?” Her heart softened as she watched Chase instruct his crew on how the next scene should be set. It was weird watching him so focused and serious about something, yet at the same time, it was rather attractive. “So, what’s the movie about then?”

“It’s an action romance, I think.”

“Romance?” Her voice was cynical as she looked to make sure Pete wasn’t joking. “Chase writes romance?”

“Well, it’s mostly action and there’re a lot of fight scenes, but the storyline has a love story as its premise.” He laughed. “What? Does it seem out of character for him to write romance?”

“Well no...” Krislynn made a face. “Okay, yes! A lot! I mean, isn’t he a manwhore? Doesn’t he have commitment issues? How can he write romance? Isn’t someone like him more suited to staging a porno?”

Pete grinned as he pulled out a rolled up paper script from his back pocket Krislynn had no idea was there. “Interested in reading the manuscript?” He waved the screenplay in her face until she swiped it out of his hands. “There’s no telling if Andrea is coming back so you’ll have to stay around just in case she comes around, but since you pretty much have nothing to do, check that out.”

He gave her another smile before he left to speak to one of the cameraman and Krislynn was left with the manuscript in her hands. Carefully, she unrolled it and trailed a finger around the cursives of the movie’s title, Fade to Black. She shivered. It sounded more like a thriller than anything else.

Sighing, she rolled the manuscript up again before heading back to where Baby and Number 4 were standing by the refreshment table. “Some morning!” He rolled his eyes. “You told me you were sleeping with Chase. I didn’t know you’ve upgraded your status!”

Krislynn shrugged reluctantly, not feeling the energy to explain their real situation. “Where’s Willow?” She asked, quickly changing the subject. “Is she going to come back soon?”

“Well, Boozy just left so Willow is probably a little nerve wrecked right now.” The girl with shoulder length caramel hair smiled at Krislynn before holding out a hand. “I don’t think we’ve introduced ourselves. I’m Jane, the hair stylist.”

Krislynn quickly shook her hand and introduced herself before the three of them had some minor chitchat. Jane was pretty much the only normal one in Andrea’s team of stylists. She was sweet, soft spoken, and a timid looking creature. Krislynn decided she liked her on the spot.

“Oh look. Here comes Troy.” Baby rolled his eyes. “I can’t stand him.”

“Really?” Her hands itching, Krislynn slyly swiped a donut from the refreshment table and took a nibble. “I’ve only met him once, but Chase says Troy is in love with him.”

“No way. Troy is very straight, isn’t he? I mean, he’s very...” Jane tilted her head to the side and thought over her words carefully. “...diverse with his women.”

“Oh bless you darling,” Baby said before turning to Krislynn. “Jane means Troy’s a whore.”

Jane’s cheeks instantly lit up. “Baby!!! Don’t say those kinds of words!”

Krislynn laughed and then inwardly gagged when she looked up and Troy openly blew a kiss her way. This seemed to send everyone on set a glance in her direction and she lowered her head in embarrassment – too much attention for one day. “Kristen, I just want you to know it was love at first sight,” he screamed at her from the distance before pointing a finger challengingly at Chase. “She may be yours now, but blink, and I’ll steal her away!”

Chase scowled. “You little fuck,” he grunted, flipping through his screenplay. “Did you just steal that out of my manuscript?!”

“Well at least he remembers his lines,” Baby whispered.

Krislynn let out a dry sob. “Kristen’s not even my name...”

For a while, Krislynn stayed and watched Chase film Troy in a couple of scenes. Fortunately, Troy turned out to be a believable actor, but it was far from superb, and Chase took seventy-nine takes of him just walking into a room. “This isn’t the catwalk Troy! Jack is supposed to be an assassin! Stop walking like a supermodel!”

“But I am a supermodel!”

“But Jack isn’t!”

“What if he’s an ex-supermodel turned assassin?”

“What if I snap your finger off the next time you say something half as stupid?”

Eventually, Krislynn grew weary of their fighting and retired to a quieter place so she could read Chase’s manuscript. The script was separated into two parts. The first was a summary of what the screenplay was about and the second was the actual screenplay itself with a list of characters and a short description for each.

Krislynn decided to read the summary first, and softly read it out to herself. “Charlotte Reagan has had a strange ability ever since she was a child. Abandoned in front of a church when she was a baby, ever since she could remember she could see black spots that morph into black butterflies that no one else could see. In time, she figured out they were a little like messengers of time who slowly gather around a person when their death draws near, first one by one, and then in swarms – as if waiting to decompose the soul.”

“Jack was kidnapped when he was young. He has no recollections of his past and only works for an underground organization as a transporter or a terminator. Their goal is Charlotte this time, though the reasons for their goals are yet to be disclosed. Jack mistakes his target for someone else, and gets close to Charlotte unaware she’s the person he must kidnap and bring back. The two inevitably fall in love and when Jack discovers the truth about Charlotte, he has to make the ultimate choice: to protect her or to follow his orders. Unable to perform the latter, Jack takes her away so he could hide her from the organization. He swears his love and his loyalty, that he’ll protect her from the organization at whatever the cost. That was when Charlotte saw the first butterfly land on Jack’s shoulder.”

Krislynn didn’t realize how long she read the screenplay for. All she knew was every line captivated her, and though she couldn’t see much of the action without the acting, the romance and development of the characters were very prominent. The struggles between the lovers were heart-breaking and before she knew it, tears welled in her eyes, but she didn’t cry. She had a rule about crying.

She was so intertwined in the script’s content that Chase gave her a little spook when he showed up looking for her. He noticed the misery on her expression immediately. “What happened?” Krislynn held up his manuscript and he sighed before taking a seat beside her on the cement staircase. “Oh. You read it.”

“Right now, I don’t like you very much.” She sniffled before blinking back her tears. “But I never knew you could write something like this. It’s all so beautifully tragic. You’re actually a romantic at heart, aren’t you?”

Chase flustered at her words before shrugging it off. She could tell he was generally embarrassed about it so she didn’t press it any further. “I was just looking for you because I’ve had enough of filming Troy for the day. Everyone’s already packing up, want to go?”

She nodded and the two of them slowly made their way back to the set where half the staff seemed to have already left, with only the clean up and the props crew behind. As Chase grabbed a couple of things, the redhead from before known as Sam, came up to him. “Hey Chase, about Andrea, do you want me to call her manager and see what’s up?”

Chase sighed. “Don’t bother. Just leave her alone.”

Sam shifted on his feet uncomfortably. “So then, do you want me to find another actress to–”

“Like I said, don’t bother. Andrea will come back.” He turned to Krislynn and motioned her to follow and the two left Sam standing in puzzlement all by himself.

Curiosity ate away at Krislynn until she finally asked Chase about his relationship with Andrea on the way home. It was unlike him, she thought, that he would want to be in a relationship with her – with anyone in fact – and frankly, Krislynn couldn’t see what was so different about Andrea compared to any other bimbo.

Chase gave her a look of surprise when she asked and then proceeded to tell her how they met. “Before I even became a big shot, I filmed Andrea for a movie. I didn’t know her back then, but she was astounding when she auditioned so I gave her the lead, and we started working together. She was beyond amazing as an actress, and I was praised as a prodigy for film making, and so it almost seemed...” He halted his car at a red light as he fumbled with his words. “...I don’t know. Like, it was meant to be or some shit like that.”

Krislynn snickered, which in turn made him blush faintly since he realized what he was implementing. “Shut up,” he growled. “I’m not a romantic at heart!”

She rolled her eyes. “So then, when you realized you guys weren’t the dream you thought you guys were, didn’t you break up with her?”

“I did break up with her,” he grunted in his defence. “She was psychotic! A week after we started dating, she pretty much moved all her shit into my house. We weren’t even official yet!” Fury filled his eyes as the memories came back to haunt him. “Plus, we never had a proper date once. You know what we did on our first date? We fucked. In the back of my car. Before the date started. I mean, shouldn’t a girl be more... you know... conservative? Is that the word?”

Krislynn nodded like she understood, but she had no idea what he was talking about. Correction. She knew what he was talking about, since it seemed to be a familiar trend among boys, but she had never been able to understand it. They all wanted girls with easy access cards, yet at the same time, they called them out on being a slut and wanted a girl who acted more modest. Wasn’t the whole thing contradictory?

“So you pretty much disliked her within the first week,” she murmured. “Why did you date her on and off for five years then?”

“It was four years and something,” he countered. “I haven’t spoken to her for a good eight months.”

“Okay. Fine. How come you were on and off with her for four years?” There was a long pause before Chase’s lips parted, but by then, explanation was unnecessary. “You went to her time and again because of sex?!”

“She was the only one that let me bring other women into our bed,” he shouted.

Krislynn stared at him in bewilderment. “I can’t believe you Chase! For sex! She lured you back to her time and again with threesomes?!” She rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms in front of her. “How come I’m not surprised?”

Chase stuttered. “It wasn’t... always one woman...”

Her mouth widened. “There were more?!” She shrieked. “I can’t believe you Chase! Sometimes, you honestly disgust me.”

He laughed as he took one hand off the steering wheel to give her a playful nudge. “So I take it as you’ve never had a threesome then.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Have you experimented with other things?”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “Like what?”

Chase shrugged. “Toys. You know, handcuffs, whips. Maybe a little girl on girl?”

Krislynn hid a smile and turned away from him. “We’re so not having this conversation,” she muttered.

His laughter filled the car intertwining with the soft music in the background. “You should try it if you ever get the chance.” He smirked at her when she turned back to look at him. “Threesomes, that is.”

“No thanks.” Krislynn put her hand out like a stop sign. “I prefer having sex with just one person, please and thank you.”

Chase made a face. “What,” he teased. “You can’t multi-task?”

“No!” Playfully, she gave him a soft swat on the arm. “I can so multi-task! Just apparently not as good as some people.”

Chase laughed. “Well, I am made out of awesome.”

Rolling her eyes, Krislynn brought the conversation back to work. “Are you really sure about leaving Andrea the way it is right now?” She asked. “I mean, won’t you run behind schedule if she pulls a no show?”

“If I begged her to come back, she’ll put on too much of a show,” he pointed out. “She’ll come back if people ignore her. It’s always that way.”

Krislynn just shrugged and didn’t say anything more about Andrea. The next day, she didn’t show up, which was expected, but by Thursday afternoon, she had reappeared explaining to everyone on set how she had graciously accepted everyone’s apology and that they should all be thankful that she’s back.

At first, Krislynn was cautious about her reappearance, but Andrea only glared at her, nothing more. Because she had delayed the movie, it seemed like she knew Chase was upset, so rather than attack mode, she was concentrating on getting back on his good side first. So instead of bickering with her, Andrea went on set and acted which – even though numerous people have been calling her talented – still blew Krislynn away. She was really something else when she was not being herself, and it wasn’t so hard to imagine why Chase had wanted someone like Andrea to be the one.

Willow also managed to get Boozy to come back on the team that day, though she was less than happy about it. Even though she was a headstrong character and at first seemed distant, she was just as nice as the next person, and Krislynn had no problems getting along with her.

During her coffee break in the late afternoon, Krislynn got a call from Michelle and the two of them talked about her new job and Andrea for a while before Michelle asked her if she was doing anything Friday. “Me and the Angels are having a sleepover so that’s why I’m asking,” she said. “Adriana is going to be there. Miranda is going to be there. It’ll be just us girls and a night of girl talk.”

“Tempting...”

“Come!!! The girls don’t bite.”

“I want to, but I um... have plans with Chase Friday night.” Krislynn bit her lower lip to stop her smile from spreading so wide across her face. “It’s sort of a date.”

There was a light pause before Michelle squealed on the other end of the phone. “Do you hear that Krissy?” She yelled.

“What?” She chuckled. “The screaming?”

“No! The wedding bells! I hear wedding bells!”

Krislynn laughed. “You’re being weird Michelle! It’s too bad though. Hanging out with the Angels would be so much better, but I still sort of want to...”

“I get what you mean,” she said, laughing softly. “I’m flying to Miami Saturday evening though. I probably won’t see you until next week then.”

Krislynn frowned. “Well, are you busy tomorrow in the daytime? Andrea has Fridays off so I’m not working tomorrow. We could do something if you want. Plus...” Krislynn pulled at her jeans which she had personally spray-painted with peace signs awhile back. “Plus, I was wondering if you would help me doll up. I want to wear a dress tomorrow.”

Michelle giggled mercilessly at her. “It’s a date then,” she snickered.