Lights, Camera, Kiss Me

Chapter 5: Out of Time

❤️Mac❤️

I hold my breath. This is it, isn't it? Ryan is going to tell me that we shouldn't spend time together outside the studio anymore—just like in my dream last night. I had one chance to prove it to him that I can handle this thing between us, but I've blown it. Hot humiliation sweeps through me.

"Brianna and Stone," Ryan says. "They're getting involved next season."

"What?" My heart drops.

"They're writing us together; stepping up our romance."

"No. It's too soon."

"I know it is, but it's the direction they're taking," Ryan doesn't look at me.

"I thought...I thought they'd want to draw it out."

He shakes his head. "They don't."

Ryan's hand is still wrapped around my wrist. I feel his touch, a heat rising through my arm. I would pull free if I could stand upright. My co-star is used to dealing with cool, calm and professional actors, but cool and calm is the last thing I feel right now. I'm panicked and terrified. I need more time to sort out my feelings towards him, to overcome my attraction to him.

"Are you sure?" I ask him. "How do you know?"

"Claire told me."

Why does he sound so calm? Is it possible Ryan has it wrong? Maybe he's only speculating.

"But we haven't been in the studio this year."

"I know," Ryan says. "I found out last year."

"Last year?"

"On our last day of shooting."

"But...you never said anything. You didn't tell me."

"I was looking for the right time to tell you."

"And that's now, is it?"

"We're back in the studio, so...I'm out of time," Ryan says.

I can't believe he's waited this long to tell me. Does he think I'm going to lose it and crack under the pressure? Even if things have been strained between us lately, he's known since the end of shooting last year – before everything became weird between us. So why hasn't he told me? Why hasn't he talked to me about it? Does he consider me so inexperienced and incompetent that I can't handle it?

Kissing my leading men is part of my job description. This shouldn't be a big deal. God knows Ryan has kissed his share of leading ladies, but his eyes are filled with worry. He's probably waiting for me to have the inevitable meltdown he believes is coming, especially after what I said to him at Jazz's party. My co-star has always looked out for me, and I've always appreciated it, but today I find it insulting.

Yes, I'm attracted to him, and yes, I'm more than a little nervous about Brianna and Stone becoming involved, but I'm not so pathetic that I'm going to fall apart and forget how to do my job. He's shown he's not going to let the attraction he feels towards me affect his life in any way, hopping from one bed to another since our dance. I have to prove to him that I'm not going to let what I feel for him get the better of me. I can still do my job.

"Mac?" he asks.

"It's sooner than I would have expected this to come," I say coolly. "But it should be...fun."

❤️✨❤️✨❤️

✯Ryan✯

I stare at her, unable to believe what I'm hearing. Fun? I've been freaking out over how to tell her for the last two months, and she coolly dismisses it as if it's going to be nothing but a frolicking good time. She just doesn't get it. Brianna and Stone are going to hook up. That means the two of us will be exploring some of our intense chemistry while trying to remember we're being filmed.