His Last Chance

Chapter 11

I angrily slam the door as I leave my office and I mutter under my breath, cursing Ollie and cursing Jamie as I stalk towards the bathroom.

One of the interns is in here, washing her hands. Margaret, I'm pretty sure her name is.

Sure, it's a big bathroom, but I want to be alone.

"Out." I snap at her, and she jumps at my tone but quickly scurries away.

I open the window at the far end of the room as she's leaving to let some fresh air in. I'd go outside but that means I'd have to walk past everyone, and I just need a minute before I go out there.

The cold tap squeaks as I turn it on, and I shiver as I rub the cold water all over my forearms and my face.

It's refreshing.

Distracting.

When I look in the mirror, I'm met with a weak, sad smile and tired eyes.

"Ok," I say to my reflection. "Everything's fine. Martin will be busy, you can deal with him later. Mel can be easily avoided. Ollie, you can talk to later. And then...... Jamie." I sigh. "We'll get the scene filmed, edited, go through any paperwork, and then he can leave again. You can go back to your life as if nothing ever happened. Sound good? Good."

I must look crazy, but I don't care. There's no-one here to see it.

Thankfully I've got a spare hair tie on my wrist, so I wrap my hair into a messy topknot and grab the light shawl from my bag and put it on over my top. Even if I haven't done anything this time, I still don't like feeling exposed. There's still the scars, after all.

I need to make sure I'm calm before I try and get back to work. I've slightly run over the lunch break, but I'm sure they'll understand. And if they don't...... Well I don't really care at the moment.

I'm ready.

When I grab my bag and walk out of the bathroom, it's a lot calmer. A lot smoother. There's no slamming of doors, no yelling at interns, no huffing or grumbling under my breath.

Just calm. Relaxed. Not quite happy, but in a better mood.

I make my way out to the main filming area, check that none of the props or lighting have been moved at all, and then go over to hair and makeup.

"Jamie," I nod to him when I see him already in his costume, having his hair fixed by the technician. "Glad to see you're nearly ready."

He looks me in the eye through the reflection of the mirror, and he looks a bit wary. "Are you okay?"

His eyes flicker down to my arms, not at all subtle.

"Absolutely," I say firmly, giving him a discreet nod so he knows it's all okay.

Not that it's any of his business.

But this seems to make him relax a bit.

"Okay, good. Well I'm nearly done here, and I've read through the scene a couple of times already. I mean, there's not much to read through, but I've got a good feel of how the scene should go."

"Great. I'll go check on Jude, did you get a chance to meet him? Jude Law?"

"Yeah I got to speak to him briefly. Not for long, but I'm sure we'll work well together."

"I bet you will, yeah. Right, when you're ready, come over to the set and we'll give it a run through before we film it."

"Um, actually," he quickly stands up from his chair and quickly apologising to the hair technician, "can I have a quick word?"

"Jamie, I don't know if that's a great idea after earlier, do you?"

"It's kind of important."

Every muscle in my body aches. All I want right now is to sit down in my director's chair and just watch the scene.

But no.

There's no rest for the wicked I guess.

"Tracy, would you give us a minute please?"

"Of course y/n, he's done now anyway."

"Thank you, it looks perfect."

She nods modestly and picks up her small bounty of products before giving us some privacy.

I sit down in the chair next to his, and gesture for him to retake his seat.

"What's up?"

"Well," he fidgets in his chair, trying to get the words outs, "I don't know if you've got the email yet or not, but they're having a reunion."

I look at him, sitting completely still in my chair whilst he shuffles around. When did he get so nervous?

"A reunion for what?"

"Um, for the Mortal Instruments."

Frozen. Stuck in my position as I process the information.

"A reunion? Well that's good for you, but I wasn't anyone important so I won't be invited."

"Of course you are," he jumps in, then coughs slightly and covers it up. "I mean, you were. An important team member. Besides, it's for everyone who was involved in it, and I mean everyone. Which means you and Martin are both invited."

"Where is it? When is it?"

"As far as I'm aware, it's here."

"Here?"

"In the studio."

"In this studio? No, that can't be right. Because this is my studio. And I would've had to authorise it being used for anything other than my film."

"You, or......" He trails off.

"Goddamit," I mutter under my breath. "Martin gave the okay, didn't he?"

"Well I assume so, as you clearly didn't."

I sigh. "And when is it?"

"What's the date today?"

"The 14th."

"Ok, yeah it's in 6 days."

"6 days??"

"Yeah? The 20th I'm almost certain."

I'm gonna kill Martin. I was pissed before but this is something else entirely. That was personal. But he's messed with my work. Our work. Whatever.

"He should've told me," I say quietly. "I had a right to know. Whether I was invited or not, this is my workplace, where my film is being done, and I've just been told that I have to have all my set moved within the next 6 days so that someone can throw a fucking party. Which means we have to have all of the rest of the scenes filmed within the next 4 days so that we don't have to bring it back after the party, then we'll move it all on the 5th day, to then spend all day setting up for the party on the 6th day. This is ridiculous."

"Well thank god the 7th day is the day of rest, huh?" He gives me a weak smile, and i want to kick myself because I can't help but grin at that, despite how frustrated I am. "Seriously though, I really don't think you have to set up for the reunion. And I'm more than happy to stay and help with moving the set or with wherever you'll need me. If you want me to, of couse."

I think about it in my head. He's going to be staying for the next 6 days until the reunion anyway, then he'll need to sort out his paperwork, then be around for the premier of the film, and do all the meeting sessions and interviews and road trips.....

"It might be 2 weeks, it might be 3, it might be 4. I don't know how long we'll need you here, but we will need you. Up for it?"

He shrugs. "It's not like I had anything better to do."