You Led Me On

Madness Is Swallowing Me Whole

I don't think I ever put a picture of Alec in any of the chapters, have I? Well, he's one. :)

Chapter 21 - Madness Is Swallowing Me Whole

Since I was now working on a movie with Dave Reed, the director had asked us to hang out a lot. He knew we were friends, but he wanted to really get to know each other, so the strong bond between our characters was easier to portray and more natural. Since Dave was a great funny guy, I didn't have any objection against that logic.

For the first three months of filming we would go out almost every single day. We would spend hours just hanging around and talking to each other. It was surprising the closeness we developed in just a matter of weeks. It was that, plus the fact that we would sometimes stay in character en keep developing our characters by ourselves, improvising back stories and specific character traits for them outside the set, even if we weren't going to use them for the movie.

The proximity of our characters soon started affecting me. It was maybe that, and the fact that Dave was such a sweet inoffensive guy that drew me closer and closer to him. Also, his character was quite similar to Dave.

Both were a warm man, with a caring big heart and filled with good intentions. When we stayed in character, he brought this kind of protective atmosphere with him. My character was a prostitute who was hiding and keeping a low profile, while Dave's character wanted to help her and keep her safe.

As for Dave, when he was Dave and I was Clara, the protective atmosphere changed to a lighter warmer sensation. That winter was indeed cold, but Dave's smile irradiated this mild pleasant sensation. It felt like a sweater.

Acting became easier for us, and the director was quite satisfied with the development of our characters.

I returned to Devon for the Christmas holidays and visited my parents. I spent a few days with them before I walked into Matt in Teignmouth. He invited me to spend New Year 's Eve with them and Muse.

We returned to London. The 30th of December, I went out to have breakfast with Dave. He asked me if I had any plans for tomorrow. I told him I was going to spend New Year's Eve with Muse. The disappointment in his eyes when I told him I already had plans made me feel this huge wave of adorableness mixed with guilt. He shrugged, telling me it was okay, but I refused to leave things like this.

I stretched my hand to hold his, over the table and squeezed it gently. He stared at our hands, and then looked to meet my stare. I smiled at him and grabbed my phone. Dialling Dom's number, and hoping for him to answer, I pressed my ear to the phone.

After the fourth ring, someone answered.

"Hello?" I frowned confused as a girl's voice answered me.

"Hi...Is...I-is this Dom's number?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, he's taking a shower...well, he just got out..."

"Could I talk to him, please?" I felt very awkward, I didn't know why.

"Who's this?" The girl's sweet voice asked enthusiastically.

"Oh, uh...Clara...Grimaldi" I mumbled, as Dave raised an eyebrow at me.

"Oh, sure!" I heard her call Dom, and Dom giggling.

"Hello, Grimaldi...You just talked with Jess, a fabulous girl that I met a bit of a month ago...You're gonna love her, Clare...She's quite excited to meet you, you know?"

"Yeah, she sounds lovely..." I said not really paying attention to Dom. "Tell her I say hi, and that I want to meet her too...Is she going to be there tomorrow?"