Red Carpet Romance

The Greatness of Green

Chapter 9: The Greatness of Green

"Hi-ya!" Vivian yelled. She had two short wooden swords in her hands as she sliced through invisible enemies, ducking and rolling.

Melissa watched behind the glass window. There was a trainer standing at the edge of the mats but he just mostly watched as Vivian ran through her fighting choreography. She was definitely as good as any stunt double. Her eyes were full of fire, teeth bared as she hacked down an invisible enemy.

It was comical to think Melissa had almost read for the role of Cypress Lunar. Everything about Vivian just screamed Cypress, plus she could never pull off all those moves.

Vivian finished her session and walked out of the gym, sipping her water and wiping her face with a towel.

"How was I?" she asked, breathless.

Melissa gave her a thumbs up. "Amazing..."

Vivian laughed. "You'll do fine. Matt is a sweetie."

Melissa nodded and headed in. She set her towel and water bottle on a bench and introduced herself to the trainer.

"Melissa Temple, right?" he said.

Melissa nodded.

"Matt Wolfe. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too."

Matt was very muscular. His black T-shirt hugged him like a male model's would.

"Marina Cleo..." he said, looking on his iPad. "Yours is a lot easier than the Cypress one."

"I'm glad," Melissa said. "I could never look like that."

"You're on horseback for most of the battle scenes. How's that horseback riding coming?"

A pause. "It's getting there..."

"Well, you'll be on a still mount for this practice," Matt said, dragging over a wooden mount. There was a saddle on it but other than that, it was just a block of wood.

"Everyone is practicing with wooden weapons first," Matt said, tossing her a sturdy wooden sword. "Since you're on a horse, most of your fighting will be one handed."

Matt gave her a quick intro about how to use her entire arm so she wouldn't hurt her wrist. He then demonstrated some moves for Melissa and had her mimic them in slow motion. Melissa realized that it was easier to pick up a second style of fighting when she already knew one.

"You're a fast learner," Matt complimented.

"I learned how to fence in my other movie."

"Ah...wait. You were in Sparrow!"

Melissa nodded.

"That's awesome," Matt said. "Yeah, fencing is flashier. This is cleaner and sharper."

Half of Melissa's lesson was solo. The other was with Ryan. In the movie, Derek teaches Marina how to wield a sword and they give lessons."

"Ah, this scene," Matt said, checking his IPad for the moves again. "Benedict was so picky about this scene. He even had people create a simulation so I could get what he was thinking.