And They Told Me I Couldn't Act

TAKE 11

PRIYA STANDS TOO CLOSE TO ME. Her arm wraps around mine, and her hair brushes mine as she leans over to see what I'm scribbling.

"I didn't know you could draw," her voice is amazed.

I hastily close the book and turn to glare at her. There's a downward tilt to my lip but my eyes reveal the insecurity, the fear. 

Priya's eyes are big but they're bigger now. I clear my throat, "I'm just doodling. It's nothing interesting."

"It looks pretty great to me," she sits back on her chair, smiling. "Have you tried sending it to competitions?"

I scoff, "You're an idiot if you think my doodle is worth entering competitions with."

Christopher comes in, his bag hanging off one side of his shoulder and settles on the table and chair beside Priya. "What are the two of you talking about?"

"Cut!" The director, Elliot yells.

"Your line is, who's entering a competition?" the prompter reminds Christopher.

Christopher groans, "Sorry guys," he says walking off the set.

"We'll take this scene from the top," The director says, "I don't want to lose the flow."

Priya nods, moving to stand far too close to me. It's not exactly natural. She's very close to me to be able to fit her head perfectly in the frame. I get the sketchbook out to redo the scene.

We take three more takes of that, then three more takes of another scene with Christopher and finally, another five takes of him putting his arm around Priya and looking smitten with her because his eyes weren't showing it.

Acting looks glamorous, even the bloopers, everyone looks like they're having fun. But often, those guys are professionals who've been doing it for years, that's why everyone laughs it off, but even then, when it's a tongue twister like Benedick Cumberbatch's penguin incident, it's a handful to work it. Quickly - the amusement turns to frustration.

When we're finally done, it's late. I'm packing up some of my things when Christopher knocks on the door to my trailer.

"Hey Vanessa," he says.

"Hey, what's up?" I turn around, leaning on the makeup table to look at him. He's tall, much taller than me, at around 6'3. I have to look up so high it sometimes hurts my neck and I'm not that short to begin with.

He shoves his hands in his pockets, "I just wanted to personally apologise for my performance today."

"All of us have bad days," I reply. Damn, what a way to feel guilty about every mean thought I've had about him as we recited our lines. I definitely didn't expect an apology either. I'm half inclined to apologise as though he'd been privy to every horrible thought I'd had.

Christopher smiles, then runs his left hand through his hair. "Do you mind if we run through our lines together?"

I blink, a little surprised. "Yeah, sure."

"Are you okay with tomorrow? We both don't have any shoots after lunch."

I didn't have many friends but I was hoping to catch up on some rest. Working about five to six days in a week and fake dating Harry Wolfe had been pretty intense and I'm feeling a little burnt out.

But, the last thing I want is to constantly re-take scenes because of his blunders.

"Sure," I say. "We'll do them together."

"Thanks, Vanessa, it's cool of you." He straightens up and follows me as we exit the trailer.

When tomorrow comes, he's already at my small trailer, reading through the script. I'd have been there sooner but I shoved every free doughnut I could eat - promising to work it off later.