No Kissing Allowed

Chapter 8: Truth or Dare

Chapter 8: Truth or Dare

The clock above his bed ticked again, and Jamie craned his head to look up at the cursed thing.

"Shut up," he muttered to the time.

It was a round-faced analog clock. Hammered-copper. An abstract design, reminiscent of the scintillating Mexican sun outside their bungalow. He might have appreciated having something pretty to look at in his bedroom, if not for the relentless minute-hand that insisted on interrupting the stillness of the night and the gentle rhythm of the ocean surf outside.

Past midnight, the clock told him. He should be asleep if he had any hope of looking camera-ready in the morning.

A 7:00 am call every morning for a month...

Night one, the crew had followed him and Cora into their stucco-walled, thatch-roofed shanty, nosing around as they unpacked, and sussing out the sleeping arrangements for the benefit of the viewing public. Thankfully, the bungalow was more spacious than it looked from the outside. Two rooms. Two beds. Otherwise, Jamie might have had to play the gentleman and sleep on the floor. Or outside on the beach, with the rest of the local wildlife.

Cora had claimed the smaller bedroom and shut the door on him with nun-like haste, and Jamie found himself here. Alone, with no source of entertainment but his own imagination and the infernal ticking clock.

Could be worse. At least the place had air-con.

And at least they were allowed to sleep in peace.

He'd suffered a brief moment of panic yesterday that the cameras might hover all night long. But no. Things weren't quite so uncivilized. The crew members were booked into a hotel a half-kilometer down the beach. They must be union, he supposed, contractually entitled to time off. Mel had ordered the lot of them out of the bungalow at a reasonable hour, with orders to return in time to capture the 7am wake-up call in the morning.

"Tick," went the clock.

"Fuck off," Jamie replied. He rolled over onto his stomach and covered his head with a pillow. If only he wasn't bored out of his skull. Sleep was nowhere in sight, and his phone had been confiscated upon arrival, along with most of his personal effects. He wouldn't get it back till the month was up. Jamie couldn't remember the last time he'd been without it for a day, let alone a month.

This left him alone with his thoughts, unfortunately. Never a safe place for him to dwell for very long. His mind drifted back over the events of the day, and he wrinkled his nose in distaste.

The romantic storyline was progressing faster than he would have liked. There hadn't been time to brief his co-star on the details of the script. He had only given her the rough outline, shouted as they ran through the crowded airport concourse to catch their plane.

"Are you with me Miss Elizabeth? I'm pride, you're prejudice..."

To be fair, he'd only read Pride & Prejudice one time, a few years back. He'd sipped it slowly, the way he read most things, scrolling on his phone screen during the downtime between takes on some underwear campaign.

A few sentences here...
A chapter there...

He may have misjudged the pacing. Still, he felt certain that Elizabeth and Darcy didn't show any signs of warming toward each other so early in the plot. It was only night two since their arrival in Cozumel. His Elizabeth had already advanced from utter disdain to long, lingering glances in between their verbal sparring. Jamie was no Austen scholar, but he couldn't imagine Elizabeth Bennett staring outright, the way Cora had done during the game of "Truth or Dare" this afternoon.