It's Just Pretend ✔️

Chapter 32

"Look Rajah I'm a Lynx" I squat down to talk to my cat who was not enjoying the woods. Damien picks him up and he immediately gets comfortable purring to himself.

"Nice shoulder pads" he jokes and I roll my eyes. "It's my armor and Jadyn says it makes me look hot" I huff and he nods grabbing my chin to kiss me. "Damien I have makeup on" I grumble pulling away.

"Yeah seriously why didn't you warn me, your lips taste weird" he chuckles wiping his own lips off. "It's pretty noticeable" I laugh and he squints his eyes before shaking his head. "Nah I don't see it" he lies. I roll my eyes before grabbing his hand.

They were doing the finishing touches and I was fucking terrified. The last few days have been me going up like ten feet. Just practice runs today was the day though.

I'd pretend to jump up and they will pull something that will fling me like forty feet in the air. I somehow have to look hot doing that though and I really don't think that is possible.

Just don't scream, don't pee yourself. Don't look down. Wait- I have to look down. For that one part of course. They are going to have a drone following me and at one point they are going to leave me in the air and I'm just going to stay there. Be a ninja.

"Are you ready?" He asks and I shake my head petting my cat. "I should have agreed to a stunt double- I wasn't thinking it through" I mumble and he gives me a worried look. "Just take your time and breathe- you are going to do wonderful. If I were you I would have been out of that harness in three minutes" he laughs.

I bounced my leg anxiously as Jadyn came over, patting my shoulder. "They are almost ready for you my friend," he tells me and I let my head drop. "If I die, make sure Rajah is given to my dad and he is spoiled rotten- I should have written a will" I cry making Jadyn and Damien laugh as I try not to fall to my knees.

My legs were having a really hard time keeping me up at the moment. "I'm actually hating myself right now" I bite my cheek reaching for my cat. Damien gives Rajah up and I scratch behind his ear as he looks up to me with closed eyes.

"Daddy is going to die now, so if you would like to tell me goodbye that would be nice" I coo bouncing him like my baby. He stretched out not giving a shit.

"I don't think he cares" I sigh and Jadyn comes over petting the cat. "So this is the Rajah," he says in amazement and I nod. "Spoiled and lazy, yet also energetic and when given the chance will run on a treadmill" I laugh and he nods. "Such a fierce little tiger" he chuckles and I nod.

"Zachary we're ready for you!" Somebody shouts and my face drops as I hand my cat to Damien giving my child one last kiss. "Can I have one more gross makeup kiss before I die?" I ask with sad eyes and he nods giving me another kiss.

"Have fun darling" he teases and I glare at him as Jadyn drags me over. "So we're going to start with just jumps- we'll only film them so we have some fun bloopers but they aren't going to count for anything. Don't worry about lines" they explain and I nod into my hands.

"Now look at Anastasia" I move my hands and look to the girl helping me with poses, she's the one who uses this equipment frequently and knew what she was doing.

"So to make this look real you are going to need to start crouched down. One arm on the ground for the stereotypical superhero pose. We will count to three." She explains and gets into the pose. I mess with my hair a bit as they strap me in and double-check everything.

"On one, you want to to take a deep breath, two you bend even more, and three you jump up. You'll be flung up as soon as your feet leave the ground" she says it so causally and I cringe.

It's so fast it gives me whiplash. "Remember we aren't going for superman, don't even try, your arms should be near your sides but not completely down and legs should be bent slightly. Your core needs to be tight so you stay straight up. Just practice looking around so you'll get used to it" she continues to repeat most of what she told me the last few days and I nod along.

There's a buzz and I look to the camera crew who were all trying to stifle their laughs at my miserable look. "Are you filming right now!?" I ask and they all nod some bursting into laughter.

I look to my boyfriend and friend hoping to get some sympathy but, their phones were already out and recording. "Puts those away!" I shout and they both shake their heads as I cry out again.

"Are you ready to see a full man cry" I mumble to myself but many heard and started laughing even more.  "Are you ready?" Mylo shouts wiping his eyes. "Nope!" I yell back, squatting down.

"One..." I take a deep breath looking up and making sure my teeth weren't clenched. "Two..." I bend my legs even more really feeling it as I dug my foot into the ground. "Three..." attempting to make it believable I jump as hard as I could. My feet were hardly off the ground as I lost control of my body and was flung into the air.

"Holy fucking shit!" I scream a very unmanly scream. Once I was at the top, I stayed there for a few seconds and I attempted to pose the way I was told but couldn't as I forgot to breathe for a bit.

Suddenly I was plummeting back to earth and once again very colorful words were leaving my mouth. Until suddenly I was stopped a few feet from the ground my head where my feet should have been.

Upside down. Alive, but upside down. "Do you know why you're upside down?" She asks me as the others were losing it, must have been hysterical. "Give me five minutes to make sure I'm still actually living and let me make sure my soul is actually in my body" I whisper feeling like I wasn't all there.

I used my core to flip myself up again, starting to feel light-headed and I was slowly lowered to the ground. As soon as I was, my legs gave out and I fell to my knees. "So do you have an answer to my question?" She asks and I nod.

"I didn't tighten my core" I squeak out and she nods walking away. "How was it!?" Jadyn shouts and I plop onto my butt. "Terrifying- kind of fun though," I yell, but then fall onto my back.

"I saw a bird" I cry and this makes them all chuckle. "We're in a forest Z" somebody reminds me and I nod. "Shhh, my brain isn't working right now" I wave towards the general direction of the voice.

"Did somebody give him weed!" The director shouts and I smile just staring blankly at a tree. "I fucking wish- anything to make that less scary. Actually no that would ruin this wonderful body I've worked so hard on" I mumble to myself getting a scoff from my two friends.

"Can't go one minute without complimenting his body" Jadyn laughs and I give him a thumbs up. "I think I'm just going to take a small... nap," I tell them laying onto the ground.

"No Zacahry we still need to do it a few more times before you can take a break" Anastasia chuckles and I sit up. "Got it do it again- go high again... okay" I murmur struggling to stand.

I squat down again only to fall onto my ass scrambling to get up again as the others laugh. "My legs aren't working properly so hurry up and count" I shout about to wobble over.

"One..." I take a few short breaths this time sucking in to keep me tight. "Two..." I attempt to bend some more but it wasn't much. "Three!" I jumped, hardly, but I jumped.

For some reason, I wasn't expecting it and my brain didn't process anything till I was already going up. "Mother of Russia! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Hell! Shit! The British are coming OUT!" I scream the last part as I come back down landing with my head up.

I blink rapidly as Mylo comes over and pats my shoulder. "You can breathe now," he chokes out and I suck in a deep breath. "Are you Russian or British?" He asks, repeating what I had screamed.

"No, just stupid"