KISS ME

CHAPTER 10 - RISK

Shawn looked down at Camila, remembering the conversation they had on the way back to set, about how to get in the mood for the argument scene.

"Remember at the recording studio when I was being a bitch to you? Use that."

"What will you be using?"

"When I thought you'd skipped out on me with a blonde bimbo."

He smiled at the thought of making her jealous.

The scene began and he fluffed his line and they had to restart. He closed his eyes and tried to imagine how angry he'd be if he thought she'd skipped town with some guy. He just knew she wouldn't do that to him. He tried to think of something that made him angry. When Kay called 'Action', he let all the frustration at not being able to have a public relationship with her fill his words. She responded to his anger with some of her own and the argument was at once passionate and heartbreaking. When Kay called 'Cut', everyone let out a whoop, they knew that was the take, and they did a few more for different camera angles, and to try different emotive approaches, but there was really no point, they'd really got it in that one.

The next scene was the song. Like a music video, they played the song and they had learned choreography. The first part of the song was in the same tone as the scene, they were passionately angry with each other, they were in love and frustrated that the world was coming between them. This was how he felt, the energy he'd used for the scene and he saw her eyes widen as he began to lipsync his opening lines. It was their story, they were in love, unable to tell each other, unable to be together.

"On a fucking ROLL guys!" Kay yelled after the first take. They did a number of takes, and they had to do quite a few for different camera angles, including close ups, and some for the choreography. The next scene was the post-kiss song, this was the part of the song they were most proud of, the lyrics and the arrangement were all theirs and they put everything they had into it as they sang face to face, their arms around each other.

Kay just shook her head, she was on cloud nine with her stars' performances today, and so was he. It was his first film, but he had been in recording studios when magic happened, and he recognised it when he felt it.

"We might get through the final scene today!" she crowed. Hair and make up rushed in to make them close-up ready but Shawn kept eye contact with Camila the whole time. He didn't want to lose the emotion the song had raised in them, nor the fire the frenzied sex in his dressing room had ignited. Everyone knew something special was being created today and they couldn't wait for this last scene, and neither could he.

They listen as the last bit of the song before the kiss was played back. The soaring instrumental bridge would play during this scene, linking the two halves of the song.

Shawn had memorised the direction on this scene and they had practiced it over and over during the rehearsal period, so the movements came naturally now, but the look he gave her, the look she gave him back, owed far more to what was going on between them than the story of Robert and Ella. He used his hands to cup her face and searched her eyes, feeling the camera zooming in as close as it could. He moved his arms down as she moved hers up, letting her spine go limp as she raised her face to his. As if it was the first time he had ever kissed her, he placed his lips on hers. He had to restrain from opening her mouth, remembering the instruction they had received on how to make the kiss work on screen. This scene would be slowed down a little and shown in a three-sixty degree arc so they kept the kiss going, which was no great feat. At the end he wanted to keep kissing, he wanted to add little kisses to her lips and her jaw, but the script called for one amazing kiss, just the one, so he finished the kiss as they had been instructed. There was one small piece of dialogue added to the end of the song, after a second, smaller kiss. They filmed the second kiss and when they pulled back, he voiced Robert's lines.