The Actress and The Artist

Chapter 52: Valentine's Day

Max exhaled as she snuggled closer into El's warm embrace, not having to worry about waking up early since neither of them had work for the next few days. Eleven stirred a few minutes later, moving her hand away from Max as she rubbed her eyes, trying to get herself to wake up.

The older girl felt her moving and opened her eyes not soon after, leaning up and kissing her lips softly. El smiled and kissed her again, pulling away a few seconds later.

"What was that for?" She asked, her voice still sleepy.
"For being beautiful." Max smiled, closing her eyes again as she pushed El down onto her back and rested her head down on her chest, hearing her steady heartbeat.
"Tomorrow's Valentine's Day, right?"
"Right."
"So I was thinking... we should go out to dinner somewhere nice." Jane spoke.
"Mm, good idea." Max approved, feeling El's hand move up to her hair, her fingertips massaging her scalp. "Where would this nice place be?"

Eleven thought for a moment, "Um... what about that place we drove past like 3 months ago and you said it looked good."
Max looked up at her, amused. "How am I supposed to remember that Ellie?"
"Wait, lemme try find it." El replied, using her powers to get her phone. Max lay back down as she tried to find it, letting out a soft exhale. "Found it." She smiled, showing her the phone.

"How'd you remember that so quick?" Max asked.
"I'm not dory." She said, making the older girl roll her eyes playfully, "Plus it has a memorable name."
"The Pier, really? That is not memorable."
"Sure it is." El said, putting her phone away. "Like what other pier is there?"
"Uh, the one at lover's lake, the one near pretty much any lake." Max answered instantly.
"Okay pier expert, I meant as in restaurants." Jane spoke sarcastically, "Anyway, go back to sleep. I'm still tired."
Max chuckled at her remark, "Yes ma'am." She yawned, not about to reject any sleep.

———

The next day, El was at a hotel Billie had booked since Max had been suddenly been called onto set to shoot a couple extra scenes. It was only gonna take a couple hours so El didn't mind her going. Plus Billie had invited her over to meet Quen and Odessa, so this was the perfect time to do it.

They had warmed up to each other immediately and El was laughing with Quen as Billie spoke to Odessa, occasionally giggling after overhearing some of their conversation.

"Come do a video with me." Quen offered, "Feeding starving influencers."
"I can barely toast bread." El replied, a smile still on her face. "But, it would be funny."
"Yeah it would! And we could even get Billie on there." She suggested as Billie gave her a look.
"Good try." Jane chuckled as the girl nudged her away, laughing.

———

"Cut!" The director yelled, "We've got the shot!" He finished, making Max sigh in relief. Filming had taken a bit longer due to having to quickly redo the set after every failed take, but in the end they had managed to finally finish it.

Her cast mates high-fived her and she smiled, talking to them a bit before deciding to leave and go home to get ready before just meeting her girlfriend at the restaurant.

———

After having a relaxing shower and getting dressed to go, she finally reached the restaurant and sat down at a booth, preferring them to normal tables. She ordered a glass of water and just before she was about to tell El she was there, she saw Jamie walk inside.

She didn't want Eleven to get upset seeing her there, even though she had no idea she was going to be, and put her phone on the table. Jamie immediately caught sight of her and walked over, seeming more dressed up than usual.

"Jamie! What are you doing here?" Max asked her, giving her a quick hug as she sat beside her on the booth, making matters even worse if Jane had walked in. Their reservation was at 8, and right now it was 7:45, cutting it close. "Who are you all dressed up for, you've got a date?" She wondered in a teasing voice.