"That's a wrap. See every single one of you beautiful humans in the morning!" Kerry Ehrin says as the actors make their way to their dressing rooms. The first thing Vera does is take the itchy blonde wig off of her head followed by the wig cap, letting her natural brown curls fall down onto her shoulders. She reaches back to unzip her dress but fumbles with the zipper, not having quite mastered the unzipping of all of her dresses by herself yet. Thankfully, there was a knock on her door. When she opens it, Nestor greets her with a soft smile.
"Hey I was just-"
"Oh good, you can help." she says, pulling him inside of her dressing room and locking the door behind him.
"Unzip me?" she asks, pulling her hair aside.
"You still haven't gotten the hang of it?" he asks, unzipping her dress. She sets her phone on the counter and grabs her clothes.
"You wear a dress and try unzipping it by yourself and then we can talk." she says, walking behind a changing board that only covers up to her collar bone.
"What did you need?" she asks, letting her dress fall to the ground.
"I was wondering if you wanted to catch a bite to eat. I'm starving so I assumed you are too." he says, watching her bend down and disappear behind the board every once in a while before popping back up.
"Yeah. I could eat. I'll meet you somewhere." she says, pulling her shirt over her head.
"The usual place?" he asks, referring to the old diner up the hill from the lot that is usually empty.
"Yeah. I just gotta run and get some gas and then i'll see you there." she says, walking out, wearing faded skinny jeans and a tank top with an open plaid flannel. She slips her feet into her black converse and grabs her keys. They walk outside and stop when they see the downpour of rain hitting the ground.
"Great." Vera mumbles, preparing herself for the sprint to her car.
"Here." Nestor says, removing his jacket and holding it over their heads. Vera scoots closer to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and together, they ran to her car.
He waits, making sure she got in safely before running to his own car. The drive to the gas station wasn't long. It was just a little bit up the hill. Unfortunately, Vera had overestimated how much gas she had in her tank and ran out just before she could get to the station.
"Of course." she says, turning on her hazards. She reaches for her phone in the pocket of her pants but finds it empty. She reaches frantically into her other pockets and finds them all empty. Her mind searches to the last time she had her phone.
"Shit." she says, banging on the steering wheel. She never grabbed it after she changed so it's probably still on the counter of her dressing room.
"That's perfect." she mumbles, looking around. She isn't too far from the gas station and surely someone there would have a phone she could use to call Nestor. She unbuckles her seat belt and turns off her car, stuffing her keys into her pocket. She opens the door and steps out into the rain, not bothering to try to hide from it. She would get wet, it's inevitable.
She begins her long walk up the hill, her arms crossed tightly across her chest to preserve as much heat as she can. The sound of a car engine catches her attention and she turns around to see headlights coming up the hill. She holds her hand out, waving it, trying to catch the attention of the driver. The expensive looking car slows down to a stop beside her and the window rolls down to reveal a middle aged man. His brown hair is slicked back and he is wearing an expensive looking suit. Beneath the cleanly cut beard and mustache, he smiles softly.
"Excuse me, could you let me borrow your phone?" Vera asks, walking up to his car. He smiles with sympathy.
"I'm sorry, my phone died. I'm on my way home though. I could take you with and you can call someone." he offers.
"Actually you could just drop me off at the gas station around the corner." she says.
"Sounds good." he says, unlocking the door and rolling the window up. She opens the door and steps in, buckling herself inside. The smell of expensive cologne fills her nose as well as the faint scent of cigars.
"I'm Vera." she says as he drives up the hill. He looks over at her with dark brown eyes and smiles with a nod.
"I'm Nick." he says.
"Thank you so much. You saved me a long cold walk up the hill." she says, seeing the gas station come into view. He looks over at her again, his face still smiling softly. She watches as the car passes by the gas station.
"Oh. I think you missed it." she says, pointing to the window. He looks in his rearview mirror at the store.
"Shoot. I'm sorry. I was just so distracted because you're so pretty. It's okay. I know another gas station up here somewhere." he says, pulling off of the main road and onto a dirt path. Vera can feel her gut telling her to get out but she doesn't want to seem crazy.
"Oh that's alright. You could just let me out and I can walk back." she offers, wanting to leave.
"Oh nonsense. We can't have a beautiful woman like yourself walking alone. Someone might take you." he says with a smile. She forces a smile and looks out the window.
"I don't think i've been out here before." she says.
"Yeah not a lot of people know of it." he says. She chuckles awkwardly, glancing at him.
"Actually, I would really like to get out and walk, please." she says. He looks at her with worry.
"Are you sure? It's just right down the hill." he says, slowing down the car.
"Yeah. Thank you." she says, filled with relief when the car stops. The man steps out and runs around to open her door for her.
"Thank you. For everything." she says.
"I wish you would've been more trusting." he says. She smiles, not knowing what to say.
"I really didn't want to do this." he whispers, pouring some liquid onto a rag. She watches with confusion as he turns and looks at her.
"I'm not going to hurt you. Don't struggle." he says, grabbing her arm. She tries to back away but he has already pinned her against his van, covering her mouth and nose with the rag. She tries to scream and fight but her eyes become heavy. She can feel one of her shoes fall onto the ground as she falls against him, loosing consciousness.
Nestor checks his watch for the sixth time, his knee shaking up and down with impatience. His eyes stay focused on the door, waiting for her to walk in with a silly excuse as to why she is late. Probably something cute like she had trouble with the payment or she forgot where the gas station was. But instead, the door remains closed. The waitress walks up to him for the fourth time with a notepad.
"Still waiting?" she asks.
"Yeah. She's always late. It's fine. I'll wait." he says. She nods and walks away while he continues to wait. After another two hours of waiting, Nestor accepts the fact that she stood him up. He places a wad of cash onto the table and leaves, feeling embarrassed and mad at her for not even answering her calls.
Her voicemail fills his ear again and he waits for the beep.
"Ver, it's Nestor. Again. You could've at least called and cancelled so I wouldn't have to wait for hours..." he trails off, not wanting her to hear an angry voicemail.
"I'm worried. Call me back please."
