His Last Chance

Chapter 17

"Attention everyone!" Martin raises his voice to draw everyone in. The cast, the interns, the production team.... Everyone clusters around in a huddle, with Martin and I stood at the centre. Mel is on one side, Jamie's on the other. I'm not sure where to look, so I don't look at either of them. "Right then guys, some of you may already know, some of you may have figured it out by now, but we have officially finished filming for Crimes of Grindelwald!"

There's a loud cheer and everyone starts clapping and patting each other on the back.

"I just wanted to say a massive well done to everyone here. Thank you to our camera team, the lighting team, the sound technicians, the production team for your patience with the shoots and reshoots and deleting scenes. Thank you to the interns who have survived a particularly gruelling year of learning, and a well done for that. Thank you to our costume, hair and makeup team for making these people look the way they do, it's fabulous. Massive thank you to our amazing cast, each and every one of you has put in more effort and dedication than we ever expected, and it's what makes the film look so good. And also an incredible thank you to y/n, for being my amazing co-director, and for keeping my head screwed on. Most of the time. It's been a stressful few months for all of us, but it's you guys that keep this going. Well done!"

Another round of applause spreads through the whole team.

"Game plan, guys. Everyone's gonna take the rest of today off, go chill out, take a rest day, whatever you want. Tomorrow, this set all has to come down. Carefully. Day after is the reunion party for The Mortal Instruments, so you lot can have another day off. Next week, we need to go through any final bits of paperwork. Our lovely Debbie will be editing the film for us and putting all the scenes together. End of next week...... Movie premiere. And of course you're all invited. But dress nicely! More details will come out to you all about it. But for now, go! Enjoy freedom! And thank you again, all of you."

The huddle disperses into small groups and everyone is chatting about what they'll do with their free time, or how glad or sad they are that the film's over.

It's not really over, not yet. There's still so much that we have to do here in the studio, then there's the premier, then the parties and everything that comes after.

"Y/n?" A small voice comes from behind me. It's Melaina.

"Hey Mel, what's up?"

"Well, as we've got the rest of the day, I was thinking maybe we could go see Ollie at the restaurant?"

I don't know how she's suddenly become so involved with my relationship with Ollie. She always wants to be there nowadays.

But I'm still not ready to talk to Ollie.

"Oh um, I'm actually still needed here, so I can't. I'm sorry."

"But I thought Martin said-"

"That we're done today? Well, you guys can go. But there's a few things me and him need to tie up before we can go," I see him walking past. "Isn't that right Martin?"

"You what?"

"There's still stuff for us to do here today, me and you."

When Mel turns to him, I give him a look that suggests he'd better get me out of this.

"Oh, yeah. We've got those important..... Documents. Deadlines today, gotta get them done. Soz Melaina."

He hurries away with a cardboard box in his hands.

"Well I guess if you're busy then you're busy," she sighs.

"Yeah, seems so. You can still go though? I'm sure he'd be happy to see you."

"I mean, I think he'd be happier to see you but..... Oh well. Yeah I'm still gonna go. Good luck with the paperwork."

I feel a small pang of regret as she walks away sadly, clearly not believing my story. I'm not surprised. I wouldn't believe it if I were her. Martin didn't sell it very well.

Besides, I'm sure she knows everything that's been going on with me and Ollie, so she should have expected that I wouldn't want to go.

I go over to my chair where my bag and jacket are, and look for my bottle of water.

Where is it?

It's not under any of my things in my bag, it's not wrapped up in my jacket, it's not on the floor.

"Goddamit," I say quietly and gently press my fingers to my closed eyes.

Why's nothing ever straightforward?

"Hey y/n, you okay?" A smooth and comforting voice comes from behind me.

I turn and see the kind but concerned face of Jude Law looking back at me.

"Hey Jude, what's up?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were alright. You seem a bit stressed out. And..... Sad?"

Jude's such a selfless man. He always puts other people before himself and is constantly checking on people or asking if they need anything. It's sweet.

He's also very empathetic, which makes it very easy for him to read people's emotions.

"I'm okay Jude, thanks. It's just a bit sad that this is done. The film."

"Well, it's not quite done just yet is it?"

"No, there's still the stuff that Martin said needs doing. But there's nothing more to add to the film itself."

"You know what they say, less is more. I think everyone's done an incredible job to make it what it is, and if we go too offscript and add extra scenes, well then it might be a bit of a shambles."

I laugh a little. I love him but sometimes I think his speech is older than he is.

"A shambles?"

"Yeah, you know. A bit of a mess, a shambles."

"Sounds like a shambles would be a big mess to me."

"Well I was trying to be diplomatic."

We both start laughing. It's nice to be cheered up like this.

"Thanks for coming and checking up on me Jude, but I'll be okay."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Promise?"

I grin. "Promise. Now go and rest. Gonna need your strength tomorrow with the set."

His head dips slightly in a respectful nod. "Then I'll see you tomorrow morning. Don't you forget to rest too."

"I won't. Bye Jude."

"Bye y/n."

He kisses me gently on either cheek and once on the hand before shouldering his satchel bag and leaving the film set.

There's a voice behind me.

"Can I kiss you on the cheek too?"