Someone I Used to Know - By Blakney Francis Page 0,49
in present day,” she scoffed, shaking her head in bewilderment. “And you should know by now that as long as you’re around, she’s going to take full advantage. But look on the bright side. She’s granting you access beyond the velvet rope with a front row seat to see all our resident Aussie national treasure has to offer.”
I choked on air, and there was no doubt my face was scarlet. “It’s just acting though, right? People don’t actually have to have sex to make it look realistic.”
“You’d be surprised,” she said knowingly. “Another assistant on our last project told me her boss went all in for the indie film they’d just wrapped, if you know what I mean. Thankfully Madeline’s never gone to that level of extreme…though sometimes I wouldn’t put it past her.”
I wouldn’t have either.
Fran smirked at my obvious disgust, but let the subject die at that.
By the time we arrived at the closed set, I was a nervous wreck. It didn’t help that Soundstage Three was always kept at the average winter temperature of freaking Minnesota! I was a shivering, jittery mess.
Madeline strolled confidentially in ahead of me. Dressed in nothing but a floral sundress that would soon be on the floor, and flesh colored underwear that I’d caught a glimpse of earlier, she could have been headed to a local coffee shop with as much anxiety as she showed.
A closed set was even more intimate than I’d expected. Declan was already there, talking with Georgia, and I was relieved to see that he, at least, had the good sense to be a little nervous. He kept shifting his weight back and forth.
Other than the director and male lead, only the cinematographer and boom operator were present. Fran and Alfred had been stopped outside with a collected group of hair, make-up, wardrobe, and lighting people, where they were waiting to be called inside when their services were required.
At that moment, I was more than happy to let Madeline be Adley Adair. Declan was an ass, but he was still one of the most intimidatingly attractive people I’d ever seen. Maybe if I looked like Madeline I wouldn’t be worried about it either, though I doubted it. The slim girl was sticking close to my side.
Georgia called her over for a quick, private powwow between just the three of them to go over some blocking notes before they got started, and Madeline made sure I understood her very pointed stare in my direction as she walked away. It was a look that visibly stated, ‘don’t even think about it.’
The time we’d spent together definitely hadn’t been in vain. It was clear she had a pretty solid grasp on what was going through my head at that moment. All I wanted to do was bolt.
Heeding her warning, I tore my wistful gaze from the exit and turned to the set. I’d already seen several sequences shot in the backdrop of Cam’s apartment. It was far from accurate, but the art director had done a really nice job of capturing an urban vibe that implied struggle while remaining stylish.
With the lack of cast and crew milling about, I had my pick of chairs, and I took the opportunity to be strategic about the spot I would potentially be spending the next six hours in.
“Quiet on set!” Georgia announced, but I assumed it was purely out of habit, since the three of us hadn’t uttered a word since arriving. “Everyone to your marks.”
Having been dragged line-by-line through the script, I knew the scene well. It was supposed to be the day I’d shown up on Cam’s doorstep in North Carolina after leaving home with no explanation.
Madeline looked appropriately troubled as a surprised Declan urged her inside the three dimensional set.
“What are you doing here?” he asked, in character. “You’re supposed to be at school…Hasn’t anyone ever told you it’s in bad taste to start skipping class before the syllabus has even been handed out?”
She returned a watery smile that I objected to. Sure, I’d been in a bad place in my life. I’d just flown across the country, knowing I’d probably never see my family again, and I was five months pregnant with a child I’d been in denial of for the better part of a month. But that didn’t mean I had cried about it! I wasn’t some weak heroine who broke down the second I had a shoulder to cry on.
“I just…” she struggled for words as the screenplay