The Crew | On Hold

Chapter 7

Anna puts her arm around my shoulders and leads me outside the shooting studio. We walk in silence, listening to Alex and Matilda banter about the best way they should shoot a graveyard scene, making me wonder, who dies in the movie, but I am still feeling a bit shocked and humbled by the fact that Anna doesn't look down at me just because I'm poor.

After approximately three minutes, we are reach a fancy-looking cafe that is named "Roar". I don't get a lot of time to reflect or even think about the weird name, as Anna and the rest of the crew is already going inside the cafe, which looks quite spacious to be able to hold all of our working force, securing a warm meal for everybody. Hopefully, even me. 

I am terribly afraid that something is gonna go wrong soon. This can't be real. Why would they be so kind to me? To me - a person they barely know and have worked together with. I am nobody to them, yet they still accept me as part of the crew.

Inside, I am seated at a big table alongside Anna, Alex and Matilda, my back turned to the door. The cafe is beautiful. The walls are painted in bright pastel colours and decorated with various fake flowers that look mighty real. The whole style of the cafe seems to be pastel summer, because literally everywhere you turn, you see the sun painted on the walls or fake grass cover the floor. It is truly beautiful here and I can only sit and stare in awe at the beautiful design of this cosy place. 

However, I still don't get why it is named "Roar". There is nothing here that would represent bears or wildlife, or even someone roaring. The name "Summer Cafe" would fit this cafe the best, but I guess I am not the owner, so who am I to judge someone's choice of name?

The stunning and talented director, who introduces herself as Davina James to me, sits down right next to Anna, so they can discuss the ideas and corrections Anna has thought of during the shoot. 

"Emma, do you have the notebook with you?" Anna asks me, after the waiter places menus on the table and silently disappears.

Thankfully, I always carry around my worn backpack that I got at a flea shop when mom dragged me with her to find cheap furniture, so the notebook is with me. Happiness surges through me, making me realise that I've done something right. I didn't let down my boss on the first day of my job. I did something right.

I nod and Anna tries to suppress her approving smile. Quickly pulling it out of the backpack, I hand it to Anna. They start to discuss scenes and the actors. A lot of it isn't my business, so I decide to be polite and ignore their conversation. Opening the menu, I barely contain my gasp at the prices there. Even a bottle of water costs 2 dollars. It is simple water. How can you be made to pay 2 whole dollars for a small bottle of water? 

Trying to decide if I even deserve to order anything more expensive than plain pancakes, I hear a group of people enter and the door close with a softened thud. They are talking loudly and giggling, so I don't really give them much attention, but, when the sound moves closer to us and finally appears in my field of vision, I immediately spot Andrew, who is looking at the gorgeous girl with the hot pink hair, while the other one looks like she's tagging along them, bored of them giggling. 

The group come to our table and Andrew's eyes meet mine, forcing me to immediately look away and remind myself my mantra: No romance allowed, do it for mom, don't let her down. Over and over I chant it as the trio sits down at our table, Andrew sitting in the middle and right across me, pink haired girl on his right and the other one on his left. 

Anna finally stops talking to Davina and turns to them with a wide smile. "Hey, guys! You almost missed the waiter." She teases them, and then quickly glances at me. "I don't think I've introduced you to my darling girls, Emma."

The girls eyes find me and only the black haired girl smiles at me. "Nice to meet you, Emma. I'm Alice." Her eye colour is matching her hair colour and for a few second my mind wanders off to thoughts about the similarities in both colours, but I quickly regain control over my thoughts and awkwardly wave at her.

The other girl doesn't bother to introduce herself. She pulls out her phone and starts scrolling through what looks to be Instagram. I look at Anna, unsure what to say or do, but she gives me an apologetic and reassuring smile before introducing her anyways. "That's Mila. She is an amazing actress and she's incredibly sweet, when she's in the mood." 

Mila's head snaps up and she gives Anna a brilliant smile, but doesn't look at me, giving me the feeling that she's not really fond of me. I wonder what I did to make her dislike me, but then my eyes accidentally jump from Mila to Andrew and those thoughts vanish as I stare into his grey eyes, this time not glancing away, challenging him to look away first. 

He doesn't, so we just stare at each other subtly, while others resume to chat around us. For a second, the whole world stops spinning and I only see Andrew and his perfectly defined features, but the world resumes spinning as Mila's voice rings over the chatter, forcing Andrew to reluctantly look at her.

"Hey, Andrew, did you see the photo Gerald posted?"

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