WOMEN |H.F|

17

ARDEN KELLY

It's dawn, the morning sun is breaking through the creamy white clouds. Birds are whistling delightfully. If I didn't know, I would believe this is a fairytale with a gorgeous, brave lady knight across from me, eating her toast. In an hour we have to be on set, Mike told me he wanted to inform me and Havan about something that'll happen in the upcoming episodes.

Our legs are entangled underneath the kitchen table but above we act like we're not having physical contact at all, our eyes don't even meet. I take a small sip of my coffee, trying to wake my brain cells. Melissa's slippers drag her into the kitchen. She opens a cabinet, not saying a word. Bags rest under her tired eyes. She closes the cupboard and places a mug next to the coffee pot, that's beside my plate, and walks to the fridge to grab milk.

"Morning, mom." Havan says in a low voice.

Melissa grumbles something that sounded close enough to a 'good morning'. I pour the empty mug with steaming coffee and look questioningly at Havan.

"She worked the night shift, remember? Probably got home at around six this morning. She always sleeps a few hours, says hi to me before I leave, then goes back to bed."

Melissa puts the milk on the table and grabs some sugar and drops in a teaspoon of the shiny white crystals. She pours milk in the hot and dark liquid. When she's about to bring the pastel green mug up to her lips, Havan takes it out of her hands.

"Mom, you can't drink coffee now. You won't get any sleep then." Havan scowls.

Melissa watches her daughter swallow a big gulp from the coffee she was so eager to drink. She slumps down on an empty chair at the end of the table, which is diagonally across from Havan and me. As the clock strikes 8h30, we gather our things and meet Luca outside. When met with the sight in front of me, my jaw falls wide open.

"He has a Mustang?!" I scream.

Luca grins and he opens the door of the vehicle. My hands glide over the leather backseat, Havan's up front. Man, I can't wait to have a car myself. I make direct eye contact with Luca through the rearview mirror.

"Alright, fasten your seatbelts." The long haired male says.

I buckle-up, made myself comfortable and was going to look out the window when his low voice interrupted.

"Dee, did you put it in the right seat belt holder? Is it put in well so it wouldn't loosen?"

"Yeah.'' I answer short.

"Double check." He says dead serious.

"Luca, I think I know how a seatbelt works." My voice is curt, getting annoyed by now. His eyebrows raise.

"Double check or I'm not starting this car."

"You've got to be kidding me. Are you serious?" Havan huffs, being quite irritated by her best friend's behaviour now too.

"Yes, I am. I don't want to get in an accident and see you fly through a window 'cause you didn't double check your seatbelt." His dark brown orbs peer into mine, I gulp, taking him more seriously now. He's just being responsible.

"Just do it, Ar." Havan forces a tight lipped smile, hiding the fact that she's thinking about getting out of the car and going on foot. She just wants to be at the studio on time.

A FIFTEEN MINUTE DRIVE LATER

Hairspray is being applied to my hair, makeup already done. In the reflection of the mirror I see Mike approaching me. He takes a seat in the empty chair next to me.

"First time in the suit! How does it feel?" The director grinned.

I chuckle and flex my hands in the new black leather gloves. Jules gave me my suit this morning, it's all black except for the harness that's attached to my chest, which is a dark shade of green.

"Feel like I'm now an actual member of the team."

Mike nods with a smile and gestures to me to follow him out of the room. We end up at the spot behind the cameras where our personalised chairs are, Havan seated in one of them. She's dressed up as Volt. She feels our presence and looks up from her phone. A smile immediately quirks on her face.

"Alright, so what I wanted to talk about with you today is that we've changed a few things in the script which includes the relation between Volt and Novis."

A lump starts forming in my throat. My cheeks begin heating up. What does he mean with 'relation between Volt and Novis'? They're supposed to be 'friends', they were scripted to be not that close to each other than to the other members of Danger Force. What has changed?

"You guys know that this show includes cute couples like Trent Overunder and Tracy426, Court and Courtney but we thought of a new couple where everyone is going to be excited about: Chapa and Eden!"

Havan and I turn our heads in one another's direction. Shock clearly written over our faces.

"Are you guys okay with that? If not, we can go back to how it was." Mike says after seeing our expressions.

Before I could answer, Havan was first; "Yeah, sure. I think we can make it work."

He walks away with an appreciative smile and goes back to set. When he's out of sight my smile disappears and I look at the girl I kissed last night.

"What was that?! Do you want everyone to know about us?!"

Havan sighs, relaxation is the only thing to see on her face.

"Hey, you know I want to keep this a secret as much as you do. But with this we get a chance to be around each other as much as we want without anyone suspecting anything. Not many have had this opportunity before. Remember when Henry's girlfriends all left to record a show named 'Kids in the Woods' ?,"

She asks, looking me directly in the eyes. I shake my head.

"That's because Jace was dating them in real life. Management found out and made them quit the show. I don't want that to happen to you too."

She isn't wrong but still it's risky.

"Okay, let's do it."

Havan gives me a short squeeze in my hand and stands up, going straight to set. All cameras and microphones are ready, Mike is talking to Dana, giving her some tips, when I notice someone unknown to me standing right beside them. Jules gives me some finishing touches before I walk on the set of the Man's Nest.

"Arden! I want you to meet someone." Cooper shouts.

He pats the young adult on his shoulder. "Meet Jace."

Jace reaches out his hand to shake mine. He gives me a bright smile. "Hi, I'm Jace, it's really nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you, Arden."

"It's great to meet you too! I'm a big fan of your work."

He bids his goodbye, wishes me good luck and goes back to standing next to Mike. Cooper notices me looking at the young man. "He's co-directing this episode. He'll also make an appearance in one of the few upcoming episodes."

"Makes sense now." I chuckle, going to my spot since they will start filming soon. Within a few minutes the set had a lack of noise, until Mike yelled 'action'. We all followed the script, sometimes there would be moments one of us forgot their lines which made us all laugh. Dana and Terrence had another scene while Luca, Havan and I went on a lunch break.

"What about me getting a new haircut? What would you think of that? A different hair color, I thought about dyeing it back to its natural color or maybe a bit darker." Havan suddenly said.

I take a bite with a plastic fork from my pasta, swallowing it quickly. "That would be nice. I haven't seen you with any other hair colour but red."

She smiles and continues eating her meal. Her legs tangled with mine just like this morning. Seeing her in her Volt suit does things with me and the perfect colour of lip gloss makes her lips look even more plump than they already were.

"This cinnamon roll tastes so good." Luca lets out a muffled groan, chewing on the bun.