Then There Was You

XI

Henry doesn't notice my entrance.
He's conversing with Jonathan- the actor who plays the sordid King Henry VIII.
While his attention is captivated, I take the opportunity to look at him shamelessly. He's standing side on, so I can only see him in profile; his nose long and sharp. His strong jaw dusted with dark stubble. His absurdly long eyelashes. One cheek lifts as he smiles at his friend. How is it even possible for someone to be that handsome?

It's Jonathan who notices me first, artfully digging his elbow into Henry's side, motioning with his head in my direction. Henry frowns at him, clutching his abdomen and turns to face me. He looks at me briefly, politely, as if looking at a stranger. Then his eyes widen in disbelief and his mouth opens slightly, admiration clear in his face. He only looks at me this way for half a second, before he regains his cool composure. But I seen it.
My veins burned hot with pleasure, but I keep my face strictly polite and just as cool, as I incline my head towards him. From the corner of my eye, I see Jonathan beam and clap Henry heartily on the back.
Henry doesn't flinch. He just keeps looking at me, and I don't want to look away.

"Lara?" A familiar voice and face suddenly appear in my line of vision. Forcing me to look away from him. It's Erica.
"Didn't you hear me call on you?" She asks concerned, taking me by the elbow and leading me to the other side of the room.
"Uhm no, I'm sorry," I say apologetically. I peek a look at him over my shoulder. His eyes are still intently on me. I don't know why, but the thought delights me, and I have to bite my lip to stop myself from smiling.
I'm shocked at the emotions that are pulsing through my body. I'm suddenly grateful for Erica's presence. I always get so muddled when I'm around him, like I'm not really in control of my body. It frightens me.

Excusing myself from Erica's posse, I make my way towards the refreshment table and grab a bottle of water. I realise my hands are shaking as I try to unscrew the cap.
Get a grip, I tell myself.
I'm almost convinced this bottle cap has been superglued on, as I try with all my might to unscrew the thing.
"Need a hand?" His voice deep, smooth and inviting, but it startles me all the same and I almost drop the bottle. I sigh defeatedly, and hand him the bottle without looking at him. He twists the cap off easily with his fingers and passes it back to me. I still don't look at him.
I take a long deep drink, closing my eyes. I'm out of breath by the time I'm satisfied. I keep my eyes closed until I settle my ragged breathing. Damn this corset!

Finally, I look at him. He's standing beside me, at a safe and polite distance, but if I reached out my arm, I would have been able to touch him. It takes all my will power not to stare at his beautiful face. "Thank you," I say politely, looking at him briefly, my eyes falling back to inspect the bottle in my hands. But I can still feel his eyes on me. He looks at me for a long time, as if he's trying to make his mind up about something. I shift awkwardly, my face starting to heat under his gaze.
"You look mesmerising," he says intensely.
It shocks me enough to look up at him. It's a mistake. As soon as I look into his eyes, my thoughts scramble. I'm fully aware that I'm gaping up at him, my face beetroot but I can't look away. His eyes holding me prisoner.
I don't know if it's the corset, but it's suddenly extremely hard to breathe. I'm getting dizzy.
Thankfully, he looks away, releasing me. And I can breathe again.

Wow.
It's absolutely absurd that I should be dizzy.
He only looked at me.
"You know... It's polite if you say thank you, or even responding would do," he says teasingly.
"Thank you," I say cordially. He laughs and shakes his head.
"Are you ready for our scene?" He asks politely.
If he had asked me that yesterday, the answer would have been yes. But now I'm not sure.
"Yeah," I lie.
"Good. Because it's time." He holds out an arm for me. I carefully slip my hand under the crook of his elbow and let him guide me.

Miraculously, I don't mess up any of my lines.
The scenes with Henry go surprisingly well. Naturally, I follow his lead. Just like before, my acting and real reaction to him seem to merge. Thankfully, no one but me seems to notice.
Our chemistry on set is almost terrifying. The whole time I feel so acutely aware of him, the urge to touch him is almost overwhelming. The directors lap it up, they can't get enough of it.
I'm just glad I made it through without fainting.

As I shakily walk off set, one of the camera men fans himself and winks it me. I don't know why but it makes me feel uneasy, but I force myself to smile at him.
"You were incredible!" Erica squeals, as she rushes to my side. "I am SO jealous. I know it's just acting but the way Henry looks at you on set makes my spine tingle." She says dreamily.
"And then the way you look at him. Ugh! It makes me believe that passion like that could be possible in the real world."
I try my best to hide my blush at that last part.
Maybe I've not gone entirely unnoticed after all.

My scenes are done for the day, so I head back to the dressing room to change. Much to my relief, it's a much quicker process getting the dress off, and only Alanna needs to peel me out of it. I leave my hair and make up untouched, not wanting to revert back to my natural form quite yet.
I change quickly into black leggings and a tight white Miami Heat T-shirt that I had been wearing this morning. I look at myself in the mirror, debating wether I should go back to my room to get a bra. But I don't really need one. I shrug and head out of the dressing room and back to the filming set.

I spend most of the afternoon watching scene after scene. I absolutely love it.
I'm totally absorbed by the constant action, changing of scenes, the laughter that erupts when the actors mess up their lines, the camera crew that will do almost anything for the perfect shot and of course, there's Henry.
It takes him a while to notice me hanging back, almost out of sight. But in between scenes and pauses he looks right at me, and each time he does, my tummy flutters happily.

Erica joins me after her scene, and we chat and watch together. Due to no fault of her own, more people end up joining us. It's like she's a magnet. People literally can't help but draw themselves to her. I watch Erica with admiration and a tiny part jealously as she converses easily with the small group of people that's joined us.
I find out the name of the camera man that winked at me, it was Craig- and he was one of the people taken up in conversation with Erica. But every now and then, he would look at me and I'd feel unnecessarily disquieted. There wasn't anything particularly scary about him. He was roughly about five foot nine, lanky and his hair was ginger- not red like mine but a sickly, yellowish colour. He looked young but he was definitely older than me.
Something about him creeped me out.

"Oh please Lara! Please come, it'll be fun!" Erica begged me for the second time. The rest of her gang throwing in their own pleads.
They were trying to convince me to go out clubbing with them tonight. It's not that I didn't want to go, but I was on set early again the next day. I didn't trust myself not to get too drunk and stumble on set a hungover mess. But I could feel my resolve starting to break.
I am so weak.
"Fine!" I say with resignation, "but only for a few!"
Erica and the group whoop and cheer and I can't help the smile that spreads over my face, then I laugh heartily at them. I happen to glance over at Henry, and I find that he's watching me. I'm still laughing and I watch his mouth turn up in a ghost of a smile and then he turns away.
I smile happily to myself, enjoying the brief joy of being with friends gave. In that moment, all my troubles and worries felt miles away.