The Beautiful Truth

// 143

"Seriously," I groaned under my breath as take 9 million of Ellie and Grant's drunk-fest love scene cut. "I think he is doing this just so he can make out with her some more."

Beside me, Julian grinned slyly. "Is somebody getting jealous?"

I rolled my eyes. "It's almost 2 a.m. I'd like to go to bed at some fucking point tonight."

"Oh go get yourself some more coffee and hush, this next one's going to be the one, I can feel it," he chided me.

"Someone get her a blanket or something," Charlie ordered any crew member with ears from his mark on Kerry's dorm room bed.

Jordan rolled her eyes and shivered. "And some Chapstick."

"Hey genius," Sal called from somewhere off stage left. "You're sitting on a pile of them."

Charlie looked down and blushed, scrambling to pull one of the blankets from the bed out from under himself for Jordan. Too late—Jenny had already come to the rescue with some hot tea and some Chapstick for our underwear-clad star.

"Does she have any idea Charlie has the hots for her?" Scarlett whispered in my ear, having snuck up beside me.

I jumped. "Jesus."

"No, but I brought you something else you probably need to get through the night," she winked, handing me a cup of coffee.

"Thanks."

"Honestly," Hadley offered from my other side where she'd been watching the scene for the last two hours. "It's awkward to begin with, but after like three or four takes it just feels gross."

I pressed my lips together, thinking about her and Charlie making out at the top of the bell tower a couple days ago. It didn't look awkward or gross.

"Did you really just say 'has the hots for her?'" I whispered back at Scarlett, distracting myself. "What are you, sixty-five?"

Scarlett shook her head and gave Hadley a knowing look before walking away.

I sighed. "Jordan, come here," I all but barked. "Let's take a break."

We walked out into the hallway without another word. I rounded the corner and leaned against the wall, taking a cautious sip of what I knew by now would be nuclear-hot coffee. "What's the problem?"

It was more of a statement than a question.

Jordan shrugged and slid down the wall into the floor. "I don't know. I've read that part of the book so many times, I just can't—"

"So the obvious is that you're drunk, and giddy, and you're finally getting what you want, because that bitch friend of yours didn't know a good thing when she had it," I plotted out for her. "But it's more than that."

"I know."

Shaking the cobwebs from my head, but otherwise ignoring the fact that she hadn't let me finish my thought, I continued. "Your best friend broke his heart, and finally, you're there to pick up the pieces. You're finally in the right place at the right time, and you can be the savior. And what you don't realize until you get started is that he can be your savior, too—all that loneliness you felt watching him with Madison? All that jealousy you felt? You're the one winning now. You're spiteful and victorious and hopeful and nervous all at the same time, but this is your big chance. It's finally your time, Ellie. While you're healing his heart, he's healing your...soul."

Jordan stared up at me.

I blinked.

"You could have done without the last line, but otherwise, yeah, I think I'm good to go."

I rolled my eyes dramatically and threw my non-coffee cup holding hand in the air as I turned to go. "Actors. Last take; let's do this."

"Let's do it," she pushed past me and back into the dorm room set. "Last take."

Charlie watched her as she crossed the room and took her mark. Julian signaled for action and she was right—the energy in the room had changed. It was the last take.

"What did you say to him?" I asked Julian after the wrap.

"That he'd better get his shit together or both you and Jordan were going to hate him forever and he'd have no chance with either of you," Julian teased.

"Fuck off," I grumbled.

"God damn I'm starved," Sal announced to everyone and no one in particular.

"When are you not starved?" Jenny laughed.

"Me too," Charlie admitted.

"Yeah, making out with Jordan Hollandsworth all night probably does work up an appetite," Trey teased from his perch on the now obliterated food table in the corner.

Jordan finally cracked a smile. "Actually, I'm kinda hungry, too."

"Kinda hungry," Julian rolled his eyes. "Anybody know where we can eat around here at—" he checked his watch, "holy shit, 2:45 am?"

I looked at Scarlett and shrugged. "I think we're out of luck."

"No," Hadley whimpered.

I laughed. "Aww, I think she's about to cry."

"I am!" she added. "I'm so hungry!"

Sal stepped forward and announced himself with a theatrical sigh. "Well kids, there is one place I happen to know that's open all night."

Julian looked up from packing his bag. Everyone else waited with palpable anticipation.

"Oh," Jenny smiled. "Sal's kitchen."

"Yessss," I exclaimed. "Let's do this!"

"Sal can cook?" Charlie asked.

Those of us that knew all looked at Charlie, wide-eyed.

"Yes, Charlie," Sal said, draping his arm over Charlie's shoulder. "Sal can cook. Oh, can Sal cook."

So we walked in the damp night air to Sal and Trey's apartment off campus, where he treated us to another of his signature Italian feasts. At some point in the night, I took it all in—finally, as my cast and crew laughed and joked with each other, I could accept this as my reality. A dream come true, still, but reality, nonetheless.

I was happy here. Sure there were a couple faces missing, but they were with me in my heart. Around 5:45 a.m., with most everyone else passed out in Sal and Trey's living room, I found myself out on the balcony as the sun was rising.

The glass door slid open behind me, but I didn't turn to see who it was. "It feels real now, doesn't it?" Julian asked, slipping up next to me.

I smiled with tired eyes. "Yeah."

"This is gonna be big, kid, I can already tell."

"Just wait 'til you see what I have planned for the credits."

"The credits?"

"Just wait."