And Playing the Role of Herself (Frankiana)

CHAPTER EIGHT

"Are you nervous?" Kiara's voice was casual, but I sensed an underlying curiosity and smiled at her.

Today was the day. In less than two hours, I'd be kissing Franki.

"Of course I am," I replied honestly, seeing no reason to lie. I was nervous any time I was required to kiss someone on camera; so was Kiara, we had talked about it before. She didn't need to know exactly how nervous, or why.

"Well," she said thoughtfully, "I guess if you're going to kiss a woman, Franki isn't a bad place to start."

We were in Kiara's trailer, finishing off a lunch of vegetarian lasagna I'd picked up from the catering truck. I was thankful to have finished swallowing, because that comment would have surely made me choke otherwise.

She waved her fork in the air. "She's got that whole sexy-goddess thing going on, you know?"

Sexy-Goddess? God lord, what had Kiara been reading?

"I bet she's a handful," she said knowingly, nodding to herself.

I put my fork down and pushed the plate away. There was no way I was going to eat through this conversation. I raised a bottle of water to my lips, pausing just in time when Kiara looked over at me and asked, "Don't you think so? I bet she's a screamer."

"Jesus..." I choked, but then bunched up my napkin and threw it at her when I saw that she was grinning. "Asshole."

"Just trying to take your mind off it, dzaii," she laughed. "That face was priceless." She turned serious, and reached out a hand to squeeze my arm. "It's just another scene. Stop worrying about it so much. And it's Franki. Y'all are friends, right?"

I nodded, although at this point, I wasn't sure what was going on between Franki and me. I'd called a few times to try and reschedule dinner, but she hadn't returned my calls or texts, and I'd only seen her once since Monday night, at a cast meeting on Wednesday morning. We exchanged pleasantries like virtual strangers and afterward she hurried off without saying goodbye. I didn't know what in the hell was going on, but whatever it was, it was pissing me off.

"Well, then," Kiara said, as though that made everything better.

"Yeah," I muttered, unable to keep the sarcasm from my voice.

Kiara looked at me sharply, but I stood up and tossed my plate into the trash. "I'd better head over."

The scene was to be shot in Hannah Robles's office, so the crew was borrowing the set of In Their Defense for a few hours, which was on a different lot a few miles away. The crew and various members of the cast were also using the ITD sets to shoot courtroom footage for an upcoming episode, so almost the entire cast and crew would be present for the scene.

Oh goody.

"Do you want to ride over with me and Ate Hasna?" Kiara employed a full-time car and driver, and it would be easier for me to just ride over with her, but the thought of having my own transportation was comforting, and at this point, I needed all the comfort I could get.

"No, thanks. I'll just see you over there."

She nodded and gave my leg a pat as I walked by. "Okay, we'll see you in a little while."

I drove myself over to the ITD lot and checked in with the crew, getting an updated shooting schedule and instructions to meet with the director sometime before the shooting started. I'd be doing two scenes; one with Franki, and another with Kiara on the courtroom set. The one with Franki was scheduled first, and I couldn't decide if I was happy to get it over with or if I'd rather postpone it as long as possible.