Changed

4: Make me smile

My heart skipped a beat when I heard Ricks car outside of my van. I quickly turned the show off after seeing two episodes. Jake Cahill was just a faked character compared to Rick. I wanted to go out and talk to him as planned, but Cliff was there. I peeked out of the door to see him comforting Rick before saying their byes. It was quite dark out there and I loved seeing how they interacted with each other.

My heart wanted to go knock on that door, and see if he was okay but I didn't. I got used to hear him crying which hurt, but I didn't wanna make anything worse because I cared. Even if it didn't look like that. I was squatting to put in the VHS tape in the tv. An automatic smile appears on my lips when Ricks face popped up on the screen. I studied his acting skills and played an entire episode on repeat so I could practice my acting. But then I heard knocking from outside.

"Y/n? A- Are you there?" Rick gently whispered.

"Wait a minute. Or actually, come in." I realized that I think he would appreciate seeing his face on the television screen. So I opened the door to see his watery eyes. "Do you wanna talk?"

His head nodded as he sat down on the edge of the car, me taking place next to him. We had the view of the still ruined painting of him and his car standing in front of it. "Fuck! You should've seen me on set today, I looked like a fucking baboon who was trying to speak which he couldn't because he've been drinkin' all night! I had practiced those lines but it didn't look like a goddamn practiced them. Fucking bullshit."

I put my arm around his back when he had calmed down a bit. I wanted to say something but I didn't since I knew that words wasn't the solution to this issue. Even if I told him a hundred times that he's amazing, it wouldn't make a difference. But I wanted to make a difference. "If you want, I can help you with those lines. I used to work in the acting industry."

"Really? I guess I'd like that. But no one can help a fucking miserable jerk! 8 goddamn, fucking whiskey sours." His anger turned into tears. He cried into my shoulder and apologized right after. "Sorry, I'm alright. Nothing to worry about."

"I do worry about you. Let's practice your lines, alright?" I gave him a sweet smile when I saw that he had stopped crying. Just some old tears running down his cheeks.

"Alright. Wait, do you watch B- Bounty Law?" His face lit up when he saw himself on the tv. His eyes wandered between me and the episode.

"Yeah, it's great actually."

"Thank you, honey." He grabbed a blanket from the floor to put it over my shoulder, warming me up with his hands. As he stood behind me, I looked up at him, causing us to lock our eyes together. "I'll go get my script." He ruined our eye contact by going inside.

After a while of watching Bounty Law by myself, Rick came out with a smile, some papers and a mattress that he placed against the car. I loved seeing him happy. I was starting to get used to see him cry, so seeing him happy was in some way a cozy feeling.

"I thought you needed a m- mattress to sleep on. So I got you one." He laid the papers filled with lines on the floor of the luggage. He carried a mattress with his hands, giving me a sign with his one hand to step a little bit to the right. "Could you?"

"Oh yeah, sorry." I got reminded to put away the blankets, pillows and clothes so he could fit the mattress into the van.

"No problem. Thank you, sweetie." Rick said when he placed the mattress in the corner of the van.

"For what?"

"For making me think about s- something else. You know what I mean."

"You're welcome." I sat on the mattress next to him, all of our eyes were staring at the script Rick was holding. I could feel his hand crawl into my mine to avoid the tremors. He took my smile as an answer that it was okay. "So let's practice some lines." I ruined the silence.

"Yeah, of course." He cleared his throat before answering.

"What scene do you have tomorrow? Or what scene do you wanna practice?"

"This one" He flipped through the pages to point at an amount of text. "No wait, this one." He changed his mind and found the scene on the next page. It was a long dialogue and mantra of the lines belonged to Rick's character.

"Alright, so you're Caleb?"

"That's right."

I read the other characters lines to get a clue about what happened in the scene. Memories popped up in my mind when me and my friends practicing lines together. Mostly just for fun. "Then I'll be the other guy."

"What about lil' Lancer? The little girl?" He wondered, still holding my hand tightly. I could feel a type of warmth that I couldn't deny.

"I'll play her too. You just have to focus on being Caleb. You're the bad guy, right?" I chuckled at the thought of Rick being the villain since he was completely the opposite, which is why he's such a talent.

"Right, b- but can't you give any tips?" We both read the script that was placed in Ricks one hand, the other one was connected with mine. After a while, his shaking began to get better.

"This is my tip. When you're on set, you're Caleb, right? That's why you have to memorize your lines as Caleb. Not Rick." I smiled, trying to explain my thoughts. "If you wanna try this technique. I used to do this with my friends."

"Are you an actress?"

"I was working to get there, just for fun."

"Oh right. Well, I'd love to try your technique."

It felt like a dream to teach out acting to one of the most famous actors in the world. I was honored to teach him, and to spend time with him. We stayed there for hours and this felt like the best decision I've ever made. Rick and I got closer and I got to read the script of Hollywoods new movie.

"You're not a bad actress." He told me after a few practices.

"Actress is such a nonsense word, don't you think? I prefer to say actor." I avoided his compliment, but he still did charm me.

"Yeah, maybe." Rick's hand was slowly crawling into mine. "Um, w- what time is it?"

"I don't know. Do you have to go?"

He looked around in the car, searching for an answer. It was starting to get dark outside and I knew he wouldn't stay over the night. "I- I got work tomorrow. Have to get some sleep, you know."

"Yeah." I chuckled at how disappointed I got when he left my hand. It all seemed ridiculous, but sweet.

"Good night, y/n." He stepped out of the car as he dragged his fingers through his brown hair.

"Good night, Rick." I smiled before he closed the doors for me. I've never seen him happier before and I appreciated to make him smile. I wanted to do something for him and I knew exactly what. My feet led me to the storage as I prayed for it to be open. I pulled the handle only to find out that it was locked. Luckily, my friends and I used to break into shops together, just for fun. I pulled out a hairpin from my hair, trying to figure out how to open the door. After a few attempts, it swung open.

I usually didn't enjoy cleaning up anything, especially not after other people. But I enjoyed every second of making Rick happy. I quickly tried my hardest to erase the pistol that was pointed against Ricks head. I scrubbed so hard that my hand started hurting, a small tear escaped my eye when I couldn't get it off. It looked better, but the paint was still noticeable. After a lot of hard work, it was totally worth it. It was nothing like before, but I was happy with it.

Without thinking a second, I ran over to the windows there I hoped to see Rick and I was right, he was there. I could see him in the bar wearing a red housecoat. I didn't know why I got surprised when I caught him making a drink for himself. He lit up a cigarette as he stared into thin air. A thought seemed to have changed his mind and he poured out the whole drink into the sink. He left it there before heading to bed.