Behind the Scenes

Chapter 4

Ryan

"Seriously?" I read the label of the bottle that Matt just handed me.

"Yeah. I've been doing some research. Apparently, perfume is a good way to help up the attraction during scenes." He points to the bottle. "Smell it."

I take off the lid and wave it in front of my face. Roses. Not overpowering, though. Delicate floral and maybe a tiny bit of vanilla. Roses for Rosa.

"How much did this cost?" I hand the bottle back to him.

"Don't worry about it." He shrugs, "It's really not a big deal." He walks off, heading toward Rosa, who's eating lunch with Gavin today. I jog after him to intercept, but he's already set the perfume bottle in front of Rosa, and is sliding into the chair next to her, by the time I make it over to the table. Before I can stop him, he starts explaining his reasoning.

I catch Rosa's eye and mouth, "I'm sorry."

"Are you seriously giving a girl perfume while she has lunch with another guy?" Gavin doesn't sound angry as much as he sounds dumbfounded.

"Oh," Matt waves it off, "You don't have to worry about that. She's all yours, man."

Sometimes I wonder how on earth Matthew Avery is so popular, when he lacks so many social graces.

"Yeah?" Gavin slides an arm around Rosa, who smiles nervously.

"That's not Matthew Avery's call to make." She says.

"We should leave them alone." I say to Matt. Rosa looks at me gratefully, and I nod at her. "See you later?" I ask. She smiles a little and nods, and I drag Matt away.

"Matt!" Rosa's voice rings out in the cafeteria. We turn around to see her stomping toward us. "Hallway. Now."

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Rosa

"What the hell?" I back Matt against a locker close by, but realize how close I am and back up a few steps.

"What?" He turns on his pretty boy charm, which I'm sure works on a lot of girls, but certainly not me. His perfectly messy hair suddenly takes on a Disney prince type quality, and his blue eyes become infinitely more puppy dog-like. "Rosa, come on..."

"Matt, I don't need you to do this. You don't need you to do this. You're a great actor. Just act. Quit ambushing me in the middle of my flirting with ridiculously cute, ridiculously into me guys." It all spills out at once, and just as an extra jab, I add, "Just because you find me repulsive doesn't mean that everyone does."

He deflates a little, his brow knitting together and his hands dropping to his sides.

"Rosa. I don't think you're repulsive." He says gently. It's actually sincere. "Maybe I wasn't thrilled with the idea of the film at first. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

I begrudgingly relax a little, tuck my hair behind my ear, cross my arms in front of me.

"Forgive me? I don't think you're repulsive. I might not be attracted to you, but I respect you. There can be something between repulsion and attraction, ya know?"