Dirty Break (18+)

In Which Shots Are Taken

"It's fucking freezing."

Lydia had to laugh - despite the fact that it was half six in the morning and she was shivering from the cold herself. She had known Andrea wouldn't be able to keep from complaining and that, sure enough, was the first one - five minutes after arriving at Strangeways.

"Of course it is - the sun's barely got up to warm things through yet. I told you that you wouldn't enjoy it,"

"It's not about enjoying it, Lyds. This is my baby girl's big break; I want to be here to record it for posterity and to say that I, Andrea Riley, have been here from the very beginning."

She said it all with such a serious face that Lydia didn't notice her taking her phone out and taking a picture until the flash lit the dull area around them.

"Andrea, stop! I'm here to do work not ..." she was interrupted with another flash, "not model for you!"

Her friend giggled but put her phone away and sat on one of the folding chairs that had been set out for the cast members.

Lydia quickly got caught up in giving her input for the exterior shots that they had come for - the main reason she had told Andrea not to come initially - and it was light again before she came up for air. The guards who had been tasked with overseeing and ensuring that there was no funny business had created a diversion for her best friend, who was running her hand down one of their arms and digging one of the ever present business cards for her freelance modelling and her cam girl account. It had been Lydia's idea to get the business cards, but Andrea was not backwards in coming forwards - the self-promotion was all her. Both of her new friends took a card and then looked after her with something close to adoration as she realised that Lydia was taking a break, gave them a wave and ambled over.

"Would you like a card as well?"

Lydia was confused for a moment, thinking that Andrea was talking to her, but her friends eyes were locked on something further back - and much taller, going by the way her head was tilted even at the distance. Lydia turned to see a tall, muscular man with a hood pulled down low and his eyes glued to Andrea. He raised a cigarette to his mouth, leaving it there as he reached past her for the card. Andrea stepped forward enough to pass it to him, at which point he took the cig from his mouth and blew the smoke off to the side with a grin somewhere between charming and threatening.

"You ready to get back to it, Lydia? We only have a few more shots to get now the light's changed and then we're done."

The shout distracted both Lydia and Andrea, and by the time Lydia had agreed and turned back towards where the man had been, he was gone.

"Phew, he was hot!"

"I can't believe you just gave him your card like that! You are so forward, Andrea."

"No harm, no foul. He has my business email now - just in case he wants to talk. Now go on, I want to get out of here and grab some bacon before I head back to my nice comfy bed."
            
************

Lydia finally sat down at her desk at about dinner time. As far as she was aware they had got all the exterior shots they needed; they'd been sent to editing already. Then she'd taken Andrea for breakfast - which she might have cheekily charged to her expenses  - and walked home with her for another cuppa to combat the cold weather. She'd felt strangely deflated; she knew all the preparation that needed to go into TV shows, and how much behind the scenes stuff there was to do as well as what actually appeared on the screen come the end. Still, she was restless; she usually loved being a part of all the nitty-gritty, loved knowing how much work went into something that nobody on the outside knew anything about. And she was beyond delighted that she was finally getting the chance to prove herself. She just wished that they were already at the interviewing people portion of the proceedings. In one way it was good that she could barely find anything about Leon Valentine on the internet - if everything was easily accessible it would mean less people tuning in to find out the gory details, after all. On the other hand, she felt as though she had been put onto the back foot, knowing as little as she did about someone who she was going to interview. She checked again, just to make doubly sure, resorting to the images tab on google in the absence of anything written. As per usual when looking for someone that wasn't a Kardashian or the like, there were a lot of different people showing up on the first page of his search. It wasn't until the fourth line that there was a picture of her Leon Valentine, plump lips curved in a smile as a slender blonde woman looked up at him adoringly. She knew she shouldn't be fixating on him like this, knew that she needed to keep a professional façade- but she just really wanted to meet him. She could pretend that it was because he was going to help her get her big break, boost the network ratings sky-high and get her her first award - but she wasn't sure she could convince herself.