Take Three Read online

  “No, there’s usually so much fuss over just one set and one scene,” I revealed. “It’s like, they’re jumping all around to rush it to editing, I guess.”

  “Hmm, maybe they’re trying to make up for all the lost weeks with Claire,” she suggested.

  “I guess, but it’s making it a lot harder to act,” I said. “Plus, there’s the issue of my co-stars.”

  “Are they bad actors?” Layla said carefully.

  “Well, no, it’s not that. I think they’re good actors. It’s just that they’re all really handsome,” I admitted. “I’m kind of attracted to all three of them.”

  “What?” laughed Layla. “Look at you. Talk about first world problems.”

  “I know, right?”

  “What are you going to do? Are you going to date one? I mean, have any of them expressed interest in you?” she asked.

  “It’s hard to tell,” I said. “We’re mainly working the lines with each other, but I think there’s more, ya know?”

  “You’re working the lines, huh?” said Harlow, walking out of her bedroom.

  She did a couple of pelvic thrusts.

  “You working the lines in that new trailer of yours? I totally would,” she said, with a snarky grin spreading across her face.

  “Jesus, Harlow, what do you think I am?” I laughed.

  “Hey, I’m not judging,” she said, going back into her room. “It’ll give time for me and Layla to host that orgy we’ve always talked about.”

  “What? I never said that!” said Layla. “Honestly, I never said that.”

  “I know,” I said. “Harlow is just messing with you.”

  “Oh, that’s not funny!” she called back to Harlow. She turned back to me. “So, have you picked a guy or…”

  “No, and I probably shouldn’t,” I said. “You know, no dipping your pen in the company ink. That old saying.”

  “What’s that mean?” asked Layla.

  “It means she shouldn’t bang her co-workers!” shouted Harlow, from her room.

  Layla rolled her eyes.

  “Are you going to sleep at the trailer?” asked Layla.

  “I might,” I said, unsure. “It is really nice and quiet there. Plus, I really should be learning my lines. I was lucky to get through today with improv.”

  “Totally get it. If you stay, I’ll miss you!” she said, hugging me.

  “Bye. And bye, Harlow!” I called, before exiting.

  “What? Oh, yeah, bye,” called Harlow from the other room.

  Driving back to the set felt a little weird. It felt like I was going to work in the middle of the night. But to be honest, staying at the trailer would just save me an exhausting drive.

  This way, I could sleep an extra hour or really take my time getting ready. After a grueling day, I just wanted to relax.

  As I pulled into the lot, I wondered if I could order a pizza or something and have it delivered to the trailer. I mean, I assumed I could. It wasn’t really an address, but the guard would send people over, right?

  If I did sleep over, what time did the commissary close? Hmm. And I could I leave in the middle of the night or would the guards be gone? They probably worked all night, right?

  Oh, who am I kidding? I thought to myself. I’ll probably just eat something, go over the script and fall asleep in front of the TV.

  Going back into the trailer, I started searching for my phone for pizza places that delivered. Hmm, carbs. Maybe I shouldn’t get pizza. I wouldn’t have much time to work out. Hell, I was already tired.

  While I was debating that, there was a knock at the trailer door. I figured it was Hex and that maybe he could answer all my questions. When I opened the door, I was a little surprised to see that it was Christian.

  And he was looking as hot as ever.

  “Oh. Hey,” I said, trying to act casual and not show how surprised I was. “What’s up?”

  “Nothing much,” he said. “I’m glad I caught you here. You busy?”

  “Um, not really. I’m just trying to figure out dinner,” I said. “Come on in.”

  Christian walked inside and we sat in the kitchen area.

  “Listen, I have to apologize for my behavior back there on set,” he began. “It was totally unprofessional. I’m sorry. I really should’ve gone over the lines with you, but Jim—”

  “Hey, say no more,” I dismissed. “Directors like to screw with your head. Am I right?”

  “Yeah,” he said, laughing a little. His smile could light up a room. “Still, I felt bad. I thought we could go over some of the lines for tomorrow. If you’re up for it.”

  “Yeah, sure,” I said. “Let me see if Hex put anything in my fridge.”

  I opened the door. Someone had put a wrapped case of bottled water inside.

  “Well, that’s something,” I said. “You want one?”

  “Please, thanks,” he said.

  I tore open the plastic and pulled out two bottles. We sat down and then I remembered that my script was in the bedroom.

  “Oh, shit,” I said. “Hold on.”

  I walked into the other room. Then there was another knock at the door.

  “Who is that?” I called to Christian.

  “I’ll check,” he said.

  Zack was at the door. I could hear him talking to Christian. It almost sounded like an argument, but when I walked into the kitchen, they seemed to be smiling.

  “What’s going on, guys? Hey, Zack,” I greeted him.

  “Hey,” he said. “I just came by to go over lines. Don’t get me wrong, the scene felt great today, but – you know, Jim keeps rushing things.”

  “Yeah, Christian was saying the same thing,” I agreed. “I guess we all could go over all our lines. I think you guys have some scenes together too.”

  “I think Zack and I are good on that,” said Christian. “We worked together for so many years, it’s not really an issue. Right? I mean, you’re new to me, Blythe, so…”

  “Well, I should still practice with Blythe, too,” argued Zack.

  “No, you guys are already on the same wavelength,” Christian dismissed. “I’m the one that needs tons more practice.”

  “I think we both do,” insisted Zack.

  I was getting the sneaking suspicion that there was a competition going on here. I wasn’t sure what it was for, but it definitely involved me.

  Were these guys both just here to get my attention? If so, that was nice. If not, well, it was still nice to have handsome guys trying to work with me. If that’s what they were doing.

  Then there was another knock at the door. This time, I got up to answer it, but Zack and Christian walked behind me. It was Monk.

  “Hey Blythe, I – oh, what are you guys doing here?” he asked.

  “We’re going over our lines with Blythe,” said Christian.

  “Yeah, that’s what I was going to suggest,” said Monk. “Guess I have to get in line.”

  “Yeah, sorry,” I said.

  “No, no,” said Monk. “I appreciate you doing the extra work. Uh, maybe we could get a pizza or something? Did anyone eat dinner yet?”

  “Actually, I’m kind of starving,” said Christian. “All I had today was a salad. Guess I could do some carbs.”

  “Or we could get something else,” I suggested, flipping through my phone. “What about tacos? The thin shell kind don’t have too many carbs, right? Or we could ditch the shells altogether and just eat the meat, taco salad style.”

  “And we could get beer with it,” suggested Zack with a grin. “Those are good carbs.”

  “How is beer ‘good carbs’?” asked Christian.

  “I like beer,” said Zack simply.

  “Okay, there’re four of us so I’m going to order – um, they have a package deal of twelve tacos. Is three each enough for you guys?” I asked.

  “Yeah, sure,” said Monk. “I’m eating the shells. Fuck this low carb stuff. Pulled pork for me, if they have it.”

  “Fish for me,”
said Christian.

  “Chicken here,” said Zack.

  “And I like the beef so that’s three of each and I’ll get a case of Coors?” I suggested.

  The group nodded in agreement. I ordered over the phone and punched in the studio lot as the delivery point.

  “You have to call the guard tower,” explained Christian. “Then you have to go there and pick it up. They don’t let the delivery guys inside anymore.”

  “Well, that kind of defeats the purpose of delivery,” I said.

  “I’ll go get it,” volunteered Monk.

  “Or you can pay one of the guards,” said Zack. “I’ll go to the guard booth now and give him the money. Then give him an extra ten to bring it.”

  “That totally defeats the purpose,” said Christian. “You might as well just wait for the delivery guy to arrive then.”

  “Fair enough,” said Zack, realizing the truth.

  With the order placed and the plan set, we sat down and started to read through some lines. I had to be honest, I couldn’t really act with all three guys in the room. It was tough.

  I was attracted to all three of them and there was some tension. Not just sexual tension, but tension between them from competition.

  “Uh, I had to say it,” said Christian. “Doesn’t seem like your heart’s really into this reading.”

  “I’m sorry, I feel a little burned out by work,” I said. “You guys are kind of intense and I haven’t eaten.”

  “You’re probably right,” said Zack. “We should just relax and kick back for a while. I’ll go get the tacos. The guy should be here.”

  “No, let me go,” said Christian. “The walk would do me good. I’m all amped up.”

  “I’ll go with you,” said Monk.

  “No, you stay,” insisted Christian, then he shrugged. “Or come. I don’t care.”

  “I’m coming,” he said.

  Monk and Christian left.

  I looked over at Zack across the table and he gave me a sexy smile. I felt my heart start beating faster.

  “Sorry,” said Zack, waving towards the door. “Those guys are both under a lot of pressure. Especially Christian. His brother’s stardom – well, he wants to get out from under his shadow.”

  “I can see that,” I agreed. “Must be tough.”

  “This town,” laughed Zack. He rolled his eyes. “I grew up here, so it doesn’t bother me. Fame is very fleeting, even when you’re a movie star. You wake up one day and – poof! It’s all gone!”

  “That’s kind of scary,” I said.

  “But it’s the truth,” he said. “Let’s say this movie is a mega hit. Like the next Titantic or something. It’ll last. We’ll all get work, but eventually, well, we all get old. Things change. New actors come along and take the spotlight. People make one wrong move and your career kind of goes down the tubes.”

  “You’re kind of bumming me out,” I said, with an awkward laugh.

  “But the opposite is also true,” he said. “You’re in the weeds for a while, but then they bring you back. Look at all the stars the bring back. Remember Paul Reiser on Stranger Things? Nothing for years and then boom! Big hit show.”

  “He’s not one of the regulars on that show,” I said.

  “For season two he was,” pointed out Zack. “I mean, that’s the pattern. They bring back an 80’s guy for the villain. He was like a nice guy villain and he didn’t die. So, he might be back for season three.”

  “Eighties shows are so weird to me,” I said. “It’s like the producers are older and they’re making shows from when they were young. They should be making shows about today, I think.”

  “Yeah but why wouldn’t they stick to the hits?” asked Zack. “They know there are so many people nostalgic for the eighties. It’s hard to go wrong.”

  “True,” I said. “Hollywood studios aren’t exactly known for taking risks. Unless it’s on Twitter.”

  “I can’t even go on Twitter anymore,” said Zack. “I’m afraid I’ll say something wrong and then the Twitter mobs will attack me.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah, I killed my account once I got this gig,” he admitted, leaning forward on the table. “It’s just not worth risking your career over. And I can’t even think of any viewpoints of mine that would go against the grain, but some of these people are just nuts!”

  “Social media is a cesspool now,” I said. “Facebook is just the worst.”

  “I know, right?” said Zack. “Who keeps trying to discuss current events there? It’s like stepping on a landmine!”

  “I think it’s like a sport to some people,” I said. “They get so caught up in it.”

  “Hey, you know, as long as the other two guys are out,” said Zack. “You want to go over our lines. Just the two of us?”

  I sat back in my chair.

  “Sure, I guess we can try.”

  “I mean, it might be more relaxing if it’s just us,” he suggested.

  “Good point,” I agreed.

  We went through the scene and it played much better. I guess it was all the tension in the room that had been holding us back before. Monk and Christian were both pretty intense. We had just finished the lines when they came back with the tacos and beer.

  “Okay, who’s hungry?” said Christian, more cheerfully.

  “Wow, you sound much better,” I said. “Walking agrees with you.”

  “He just saw the new movie poster they hung out at the front of the lot,” said Monk. “He’s all over it and so are you.”

  “Me?” I asked, jumping out of my seat. “But I didn’t even pose for any stills.”

  “I think they cropped them off of some of the stuff we shot today,” explained Christian.

  “Man, these guys are really pushing for this movie to come out on time,” I said. “I’ve never seen such fast turnaround on anything!”

  “I know,” said Monk. “But when this town wants something done, they get it done somehow. Spend any amount of money.”

  We ate our beer and tacos. It definitely helped mellow us out. Things were starting to become more relaxed and I was glad. While I respected Jim’s creative decision for the bar scene, I was thinking just improv was a mistake for the rest of the movie.

  “Does anyone else feel like this movie is being rushed for some reason?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” said Zack. “But I’ve seen it before. It probably has nothing to do with us. Just something they’ve decided on, so now they have to do it. It’s hard to get a read on what the studios want sometimes.”

  “I worked on a movie where the studio execs sat in every day and looked at the dailies,” said Monk. “And then, in other movies, the same execs won’t look at a damn thing, and then get mad when the production is falling apart!”

  “Well, I think we’re good, right?” I said, a little worried. “We all nailed the three scenes today, right?”

  “Sure,” said Christian. “Hopefully all the technical stuff worked. That can sometimes be a hassle. I was on this shoot for a foot cream commercial – after two days of shooting, no one looked at the footage, and there was no sound. We all had to go back and loop the whole thing. Ending up blowing the budget and getting me an extra pay day.”

  “And at the same time, look at this trailer,” I said, gesturing. “They must’ve spent a fortune on it.”

  “Keep in mind, this was originally for Claire,” reminded Zack, with a wink.

  “Yeah, if it was just you, you’d probably have one of our trailers, which are smaller,” said Monk. “Not that I’m complaining, it’s nice. I’d sleep in it.”

  “Yeah, I’m thinking of crashing out here tonight,” I said. “I wanna hit the ground running tomorrow. It’ll give me an extra hour, ya know.”

  “I’m with ya,” said Christian. “I’m doing the same thing all this week. Plus, who wants to drive in L.A.?”

  “I took the ten down here,” said Zack. “It wasn’t so bad.”

  “Please,” said Monk
. “You hit that highway at the wrong time you’re fucked. You have to drive up into the hills and come all the way down.”

  “No way,” said Christian. “That takes just as long.”

  “Yeah, but at least you’re moving,” said Monk. “At least, if there’s an accident, you’ll be fine. Not stuck forever.”

  Once we were all done eating our tacos, we went over our lines again. It was a lot more relaxed. We went over some of the cues from the scripts and talked about what kind of facial expressions and pauses we might put in. We all agreed the script was decent but could be loosened up a little bit with some improv.

  “You have to watch doing the improv with Jim,” warned Monk. “He has a tendency to go too far off the reservation. I did a TV show with him and he ended up having to do a reshoot because of it.”

  “What are we supposed to do?” I said. “He’s the director. He’s in charge.”

  “You don’t have to be disrespectful,” said Monk. “Just pull him aside and remind him of your character or whatever. Sometimes, he gets caught up in stuff. I’ve seen it before with other directors.”

  “Listen to the old pro here,” kidded Zack. He slapped Monk on the back. “What, did you learn that by the time you were twelve?”

  “Hey, I’ve been in stuff since I was six,” Monk reminded him. “I had that shit figured out at ten. Back then, it was easy not to listen to the director. They expect that from little kids. Plus, they sometimes would have to go with a take. They can’t make you work very long as a kid. Labor laws.”

  “Yeah, but not us, right?” I said. “I feel like I’m getting really worked on this one. Plus, I have to do my own stunts.”

  “Well, you’re a stunt woman,” pointed out Christian. “Is that really a big deal?”

  “If I want to concentrate on stunts or acting, yeah, kinda,” I said. “It’s a lot to keep in your head. All the safety checks and then all the acting. It’s a lot to remember.”

  “Speaking of which, thanks for the tacos,” said Monk getting up. “I’m gonna jet. I wanna hit the sack early so I can get up to work out.”

  “Yeah, I’m right behind ya,” said Zack.

  “Well, I appreciate you guys coming over,” I said.

  “I’m just gonna use your bathroom real quick,” said Christian. “Later, guys.”