When We Collided

The Gang

"Lunch break guys. Be back at one!" Felix, the director, hollered.

We headed for the tent where our hot, steaming food was waiting for us. Dee, who played my character's best friend, pretended to look around in consternation. "Hang on, Shan. Where's your mom?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "You don't have to rub it in, Miss Independent." I threw my towel at her for good measure.

She let out a hysterical laugh and ducked. "Just kidding Shan! Chrissakes!" She narrowly missed the sweaty towel by a few inches.

I giggled with her. My mom was what one would call a 'Stage Mom'. You'd probably heard of the type. The one who brings lunch to the set, brushes your hair in front of your friends, makes sure your back isn't dripping with sweat to prevent you from becoming ill. Yes, that kind of mom. It was great in gradeschool, but not too much in high school and uni. I used to try to stop her because it was too embarrassing.

Lately she had been doing the same stuff but to a lesser degree. I had come to accept it as her way of showing her love and didn't fight it anymore. Besides, I was feeling more grown up and was a bit scared by it, and I seemed to miss the feeling of being a carefree child with someone else to see to my needs. In a few years' time I might have my own family, and Mom won't be there to braid my hair or make sure I'd taken my vitamins.

"Seriously though, Shan. Where's Rina?" Dee asked me.

Dee's parents were separated, and her mom wasn't always around. My mom had decided to adopt her and started bringing her food, too. I think Dee was getting spoiled because of all the attention.

"At my sister's PTA meeting." I shrugged, getting in line for the buffet spread.

"Oh, ok. Aren't you worried that your mom's always around, scaring the poor boys away?" Dee placed a hand on her heart melodramatically.

I laughed. "Mom's not that bad. She's fine with me dating as long as she and Dad get to meet the guy."

"Fair enough. Dad's old-fashioned that way about dating too," Dee agreed.

"What's this I hear about you girls dating? Shouldn't I be the first to know? How could you?" Finn, Dee's love interest in the movie, sauntered up to us and placed an arm on each of our shoulders.

I worked with crazies. LOL.

"Who are they? Do I know them? Come on, talk to me," he said in his best dad impersonation.

He easily dwarfed us with his towering athlete's build, like my father. But personality-wise, he was like my youngest brother, so playful and boyish. He was like a giant ten-year-old.

"Go away Finn. I'm not talking to you until you learn some manners. You do not just join in Girl Talk." Dee pretended to be very offended.

"They're not spilling the beans, mate? You think we should employ our Level Two Interrogation Technique?" Onyx appeared behind me, looking at Finn gravely.

Dee and I tried hard not to laugh.

"Beans?" the lady in charge of lunch asked us loudly.

We all turned and saw that we were holding up the line of hungry people waiting to be served.

"Sorry," we said in unison and took our trays.

The four of us ate at one table. Felix didn't really say anything, but it was kind of implied that we four had to bond in the short time that we were doing the movie. Onyx, Finn, Dee, and I played the main characters around whom the story revolved.

Bonding was easier than I anticipated, though. We were lucky that we meshed well despite our differences. Onyx was the silent, serious type. Finn was the opposite, as he was goofy and childlike. Dee had her own brand of humor that was sassy and snarky but not abrasive. I, on the other hand, cannot say outright what I contributed to the group, but I seemed to fit right in.

"What's your impression of me?" I suddenly blurted out.

They all looked at me in surprise.

"Why?" Dee asked.

"Just wondering. Self-discovery is the key to great acting," I told her.

"Really? Who said that?" Finn looked at me curiously.

"Me." I raised my palms. "I just made it up."

They laughed.

"Ooh, I'm game!" Dee cried out. "Okay Shan, I think that you are a very pleasant girl. You make friends easily. You often are the life of the group."

"Aside from being pretty, talented, and naturally funny," Finn joined in with a wink, "you are also one of the boys. You're sort of boyish and just so easy to hang with."

We all looked at Onyx. He seemed to be thinking over his answer carefully.

"Why so serious, Bro? Just say what's on your mind. You're not going to get arrested if you give the wrong answer," Finn joked.

Onyx looked at me. "In the four weeks that I've known you, I think you're a great friend. You know how to listen. You're trustworthy. You always show how much you care about others, and you never expect anything in return. You're never pretentious. You are so easy to talk to, it's like I'm talking to myself when I'm talking to you; I don't need to hold anything back. I think you're one of my best friends in the world right now. You too, guys," he added, flashing Dee and Finn his white smile.

I was speechless. I was expecting something along the lines of, "You're cute and funny." Nothing like that straight-from-the-heart speech. It was amazing how four weeks of working with him everyday could put us both so much at ease with each other that we'd become each other's closest friend without even realizing it. He was a complicated person; there were so many facets to his personality that I'd once wondered what kind of experiences he went through to make him into the person he was now. He was initially a shy, introverted person. Then he started opening up and showing his funny, playful side. The wall I felt that first day? Gone. When he got more comfortable with us he proved to be talkative and expressive, with so many interesting ideas in his pretty head.

I guess I had Rule Number 1 down pat. Now to master Rule Number 2...

Photo credits: http://fc02.deviantart.net/fs8/i/2005/322/5/6/0511chibis_by_celesse.jpg