I Love You No Matter What

Chapter 9: Ben

"And cut," I say. "That's the last scene we are shooting today. Great job everyone."

The actors leave the area. They have no idea how excited I am to say that. I'm officially a director now. I can only go up from here. Sure I'm doing a genre I don't like, but at least I'm directing. The actors actually listen to me too. I feel like I'm on cloud nine.

"Great job today Ben," Dad says. He pats me on the back.

"Thanks, Dad," I say.

"Look, I think that I'm going to let you finish up these next two weeks," he says.

"Without you?" I ask fearfully.

"Yes. I think you can handle it. Besides, the producers will be here every day to make sure everything is okay before we shut down the whole thing," he explains. "They should have just arrived."

"Let's go talk to them," I say almost confidently.

Dad smiles before leading me off the set. We take his car to the producers' office. We wait patiently for the producers to arrive in the conference room. They are all dressed formally unlike my father and me.

"Thank you for coming," Daniel says. He has long, black hair with brown eyes.

"Did we have a choice?" Dad asks lightheartedly.

Some give fake laughs. "So how is everything running on set?" Harry asks. He's bald with small blue eyes.

"Everything is running smoothly," I answer.

"Good. We have a few things to adjust in the script," Lance says. Lance is the oldest in the group. His gray hair is short and his eyes are brown.

"What adjustments?" Dad asks calmly.

"We think that Faith Andrews should sing a little," Harry says.

"Why?" I ask.

"She is the daughter of Harmony Andrews. We feel she should show her talents. Faith can sing right?" Daniel says.

"Um, yeah she can, but she is trying to break away from that area," Dad insists.

"People might not approve of her in this type role. Let's give her something the people expect from her," Lance explains to us.

"Fine. We'll fit it in the movie," Dad says. The producers nod and leave the room.

"I can't believe you did that to Faith," I tell Dad.

He sighs. "I know. Faith will have to just deal with it until producers trust that she is capable of more. We need to tell Faith and figure out how we will fit the singing into the movie. C'mon."

We find Faith and Nick talking in the actors' lounge room. Those two have gotten a little too close over the past four months.  I don't know if it's for the movie or if they are together. They are awfully close to each other on the couch. Their shoulders are touching and Faith has her hand on Nick's thigh. No one is in the room, thankfully.

Dad clears his throat. Faith quickly takes her hand away and Nick sits up. "Hey Scott," Faith says.

"Hi. We need to talk to you," Dad says very bluntly.