Foreign

Chapter 45

When my alarm goes off at six am I'm still very tired. The past few weeks I have flown to different time zones and now I'm dealing with the consequences. I need to get up though, I have an early breakfast meeting with Greg. I take a quick shower and get dressed. When I arrive I order an espresso and an americano. You can never have too much coffee.

"Good morning, Charlotte," Greg yawns. "How was your break?"

I tell him all about both my trips and he's very interested in my visit to the Home and Away set. He also tells me about his trip back home.

"Okay, did you have the time to work on the schedules for the final weeks?" he asks when they bring our eggs.

"Yes, I think I managed to find a schedule that works for everyone. We have some long days ahead of us but they are necessary if we want to bring down the delay from three weeks to only one."

"Are you sure this will work?" Greg asks and takes my tablet.

"Yes, if we all commit to it then I'm confident we will be able to make that deadline."

Greg takes some time to review the schedule.

"I also worked around some of the requests. Hero and I have some friends visiting in a couple of days and Melany has some things to do as well."

"You delivered a miracle!" Greg says. "I mean, I have some remarks because I need more time for some scenes than you have planned but we can make this work. This is a great start, Charlotte!"

I'm happy that Greg notices my hard work and I'm kind of proud, if I say so myself. Greg and I go over the schedule together and I promise to deliver the final schedule by tomorrow night. I need to find a solution for the scenes Greg pointed out but I'm sure I will. It's all about planning and efficiency!

After breakfast I text Josh to see if he's up. He isn't expected on set so we scheduled a busy day full of rehearsals. Josh has a lot of scenes tomorrow and we haven't had the change to rehearse a lot during our break. This means I won't have to see Melany or Hero all day so it suits me perfectly. I know I'm a coward. I take a walk to the lake and the weather is quite nice. It's not that warm but it's sunny so maybe we can work outside? I let Josh know where I am and I walk over to my favourite bench under the tree. I get a message from Josh saying he's on his way.

"How is the jetlag treating you?" A voice from behind me asks. I turn around and see Josh with two cups in his hand.

"Coffee! You're a life saver!" I take one of the cups.

"Didn't you have coffee during your meeting with Greg?" He takes a sip.

"I did. But I need more so thank you." I smile and he smiles back.

"Okay, so maybe we can start with this scene?" I give him my copy of the script to show him.

During the next couple of hours we rehearse multiple scenes.

"God, can we take a break?" Josh pouts.

"No! Let's do this one first and then take a break."

"Nope!" He jerks my copy out of my hand and he jumps up.

"Hey, give it back!" I say. I jump up too. I'm way shorter than he is so I can't reach it. I decide to tickle him.

"Oh, that's mean!" He says and he starts tickling me too.

Maybe not the best idea I had since he's taller and stronger. I try to run away screaming but he's faster. He grabs my waist and tickles me.

"Stop stop!" I gasp. I'm out of breath from the tickling and the running.

"Only if we can take a break!" He says.

"Okay okay! You win!" I laugh.

He stops tickling me but he doesn't let go of my waist. The intense look on his face makes me stop laughing. Uh oh. Josh looks into my eyes and I know what's about to happen. Before I've made up my mind, his soft lips touch mine for the first time. He pulls me closer and I kiss him back. It's a sweet and tender kiss. No fireworks and no electricity but it's nice. The butterflies in my stomach are stronger than ever.

"Wow, I've been wanting to do this since I first saw you," he says.

I don't say anything. I'm just not sure what to say. I do have some feelings for him but are they enough? Am I not too damaged at the moment?

"I know you don't feel what I feel yet but I really want to give this a chance," he says with a soft voice. In his bright blue eyes I see nothing but love.

"I just... I've been through so much. I don't think I'm ready."

"I know that, that's why I never kissed you before. Just give me a chance. I know you have some feelings for me," his voice is still soft but there's a begging tone underneath.

"If we do this, we must take things slow. Really slow. I mean like we're both 15 years old and this is our first relationship, that slow."

He gives me a big smile and presses his lips against mine for a short kiss.

"Is that a yes?!"

"We can try," I smile back. Maybe this is what relationships are supposed to be like. Just sweet and nice and safe.

In the corner of my eye I see some movement. When I turn my head, I see Hero walking away.