Demeanour | | Joseph Quinn

Chapter 5

A soft knock was heard on the door of Annalise's hotel room just after 7 am the next morning. Beyond it was a bright-faced Nicola holding a freshly brewed cup of coffee for Annalise to enjoy on their short five-minute ride over to the filming location. Annalise was envious of how well Nicola seemed to deal with early mornings. She, on the other hand, couldn't be spoken to until after at least one cup of coffee. Something her dear friend was already very aware of.

Annalise was enthralled by the buzzing and beauty of the set as they pulled up and exited the car. There were trailers everywhere – tents, golf carts, people and more people, and not to mention the large estate house where they'd be filming for the majority of the series. She had been on sets before, but always for smaller roles and usually just in studios, normal houses, or office spaces – never anything as grand as this.

"Good morning, ladies," Alistar appeared before them, almost out of nowhere. "You are both needed in hair and make-up pronto and then they'll guide you over to Wardrobe. After that, feel free to head to your trailers and I'll come to grab you once you're needed on set. Here are your schedules for the day along with the scenes we will be covering. Have fun!"

Annalise had never felt so beautiful in her life. But then again, she'd never worn so much makeup in her life. She felt hardly recognizable as she looked in the mirror with both her face and hair finished. Her auburn hair had been pulled into a low bun, a few whisps left free to frame her face.

"I could get used to this," she mumbled, mostly to herself, as she stared at her reflection.

"Tell me about it. I feel like the world's biggest catfish right now, and I'm not even mad," Nicola agreed in a serious tone before both girls start laughing.

The girls promptly headed over to Wardrobe and were dressed to the nines as if they were going to a swinging party in the 1920s. Anna was speechless as she stepped out and looked at herself in the mirror. She was in a form-fitting, off-white, knee-length dress with monochromatic, jeweled embroidery across her stomach and off-white fringe hanging from her chest and hips. Some short, off-white heels adorned her feet along with gloves that reach her elbows.

"You look positively glamorous," Nicola said as she comes out from behind her own changing screen. She wore something fairly similar to Annalise's dress but in a deep red colour, instead.

Anna's draw dropped, "And you look like sex on a stick, Nicola. I mean, good lord!"

"Oh, behave yourself, darling," she responded in an overly posh voice as she fluffed her hair in the mirror. Nicola then turned to Anna and started giggling, "I've never felt so beautiful."

"Well, you look it. You truly, truly do."

The girls parted ways, heading off to their individual trailers to look over their schedules and scenes for the day. Annalise had never had a trailer to herself before. She'd never been in an actor's trailer, period. The moment she saw her name on the door, she felt her throat get tight and her eyes start to water. She quickly rushed in and took some deep breaths, knowing very well that her make-up would be ruined if she let her emotions get the better of her.

From where she entered, she stepped into a small lounge area dressed with a couch, TV, and coffee table. To her left, it extended into a small kitchen space with a miniature fridge, sink, dishwasher, and table. On the table was a gift basket, welcoming her on set. Just passed that, the trailer extended into a small bathroom – shower and all.

It wasn't anything overly fancy, but it was her's and that's all that mattered.

About an hour passed of Annalise running through her lines and pacing up and down the trailer when a loud knock finally sounded. Alistar greeted her outside with an excited smile before he set off. As they walked toward set, he gave her the low-down on the scene they would be filming, which happened to be the meeting scene they ran through during sight-reading day in London.