Catch A Falling Superstar: A New Adult Erotic Romance (7 page)

Remarkably, that whole speech gave me time to work out a response. I knew I was done here and that I had lost this encounter. But famous actress or not, I would not meekly accept her verbal assault without even firing a shot.

I got in front of the bathroom door so she couldn't leave, but had to hear me out. I angrily wiped some water from my cheeks with the frazzled sleeve of my dirty yellow LuckyStop uniform. I hoped my voice would carry.

“You know, you're probably right. I have no place here. I
was
invited, but maybe I should have left sooner. But Lisa Scalia, world famous actress,
Oscar nominee
, here is something for you to think about: A little
convenience store clerk
just acted huge circles around you, leaving you in the dust at your own game, fucking
wowing
your own director! It's true, maybe I shouldn't be here. But are you sure
you
should?”

Yeah, it wasn't that good. But it was
something
. My voice only cracked once. And I think I slammed the door pretty hard behind me.

I
slunk along the wall of the sound stage, much less happy now than before. It made sense to me that Archer was only pretending to be friendly to avoid getting himself and the studio entangled in a legal battle. Well, they needn't have worried. Frivolous lawsuits was not my style. At least it would get him out of the lunch he promised. I'd just sneak out and go home.

Well
, I thought,
at least I got the day off
. And I had a good story, about celebrities and everything. And a real altercation with Lisa Scalia! Could have been worse. Even so, I still had to wipe a little around my eyes with the sleeve of the uniform. Damn, I didn't need that now.

As I got to the door out of the sound stage and passed the member of the crew who was standing guard there, of course Archer was on the way in. He smirked, as always.

“There you are. I was just looking for you. Let's get some lunch, finally. Did you think of a place?”

“You don't have to take me out to lunch. I know you're busy. Thanks for everything.”

I tried to act upbeat, but I'm sure my disappointment shone through.

He looked at me, puzzled.

“But... I thought... don't you want to?”

“I
did
. It was very generous of you to offer. But I have to go. Seriously, thanks for showing me this, the set and everything. I had a great time. Good luck with the scene tomorrow!”

He filled the doorway with his muscular frame, and he'd have to get out of my way if I was to physically leave.

Maybe seven or eight seconds went by while he looked past me into the huge sound stage, processing this turn of events.

Then he did something I did not expect: He completely overruled me, friendly but firmly.

He fixed his gaze on me, pinning me in place with those green twin laser beams. Did I see some fire in there, too?

“No, you're not getting out of this. I need lunch, and after weeks of catering company stuff, I want something different this time. We have a deal, and I won't let you back down on it. You're a local, you know the places to go.”

He gently took my arm and pulled me firmly with him. His certainty and the physical contact calmed me right down. And it made me a little relieved, for some reason. He seemed sincere. I reminded myself that as a world class actor, he could probably fake sincerity as easy and naturally as chewing gum. But all in all, I felt that I wouldn't mind spending more time with him. It would make this an even better story to tell later. And I
was
leaving the set, just like Lisa had wanted.

I came with him, not knowing what to say.

“Where do we go?” he asked.

I pulled myself together. Might as well go with the flow.

“I was thinking of Deliah's. They have good wraps and a decent chocolate fondant. If you like that sort of thing.”

“I'm sure I will. We have to get one of these.” He pointed to a row of black SUVs.

“And for a public and non-disguised outing like this, we have to have a threesome.”

He waved at a little groups of men chatting by the cars. One of them separated from the group and walked towards the closest SUV, then got in and drove it over to us. Archer gentlemanly opened the door for me, smiling reassuringly.

“Entré”, he said. I took some French in high school, so I could have replied in the same language. But I just said “thanks” and got in.

Archer got in beside me from the other side.

“Blue, meet Magnus, my bodyguard.”

The driver half turned and said “hi.” He was wearing a sport coat, a shirt and jeans, and he was plainly very muscular. From behind him it looked like his shoulders went all the way up to his ears. And he had that classic, white wire from one ear down to inside his coat. And, it struck me, he was probably carrying a gun, too.

“Where to?” he asked, and Archer looked at me. Well, I knew the way.

“Go left, and then right at the second intersection,” I said.

We drove in silence for a while. I was surprised by how weird it felt to drive down this street, which I'd driven down and walked along thousands of times, sitting just a foot away from a super-famous actor. I glanced at him. Yes, it was still Archer Stratton. He was a little different now. His jaw was firmly set, and he was less talkative. I wondered if I had hurt his feelings when I tried to leave without going to lunch. Or maybe he was annoyed that he had to go through with this after all. Well, I'd just ride it out.

We got to Deliah's, and Magnus let the engine run while he got out, looked quickly around and opened the door so Archer could get out. I tried to open the door on my side, but it wouldn't open.

Archer stuck his head back in.

“You can't get out that way. Slide over here.”

I did, and he chivalrously took my hand to help me out.

“That other door won't open in a setting like this, outside a secure area. It's a security thing. Prevents unwanted elements from gaining entry to the car,” he explained while Magnus walked ahead of us into the restaurant, scoped it out quickly, then returned to park the car in a better place.

Archer offered his arm for me to put mine through, and we walked into the restaurant. It was a pretty upscale place, and lots of people from the businesses close by came there for lunch. No one looked that hard at us, which was probably mainly because Archer was dressed in jeans and a checkered shirt, none of them too fancy. And he was still wearing his baseball cap and sunglasses.

“They're usually two people, a driver and a bodyguard. Now there's only Magnus. He doesn't like to leave either us or the car alone. But since he has to choose, he will stay with the car, while keeping an eye out for people coming into the restaurant. What sometimes happens is that word will get around that someone famous is inside, and people may come here to get a look. If the place starts to fill up, unnaturally, we'll have to leave.”

We got our menus, and the waitress asked us if we wanted to start with drinks. Archer looked at me, and I ordered a bottle of water. Then he said “the same, please,” in a voice that he made a little more gruff and hoarse than usual. I noticed that the waitress did look at him a little weird. Or maybe it was my imagination.

“So this is where you hang out?” he asked me, looking around. It was a modern building with many large windows along one side and a round gas fireplace in the middle. It was very bright and airy.

“Not really. This is a little out of my price range. I've been here a couple of times with my parents, that's all. That was years ago.”

“Mhm. It's very nice. So you actually grew up in this town?”

“Yes. Is there something wrong with it?”

Hey, no one criticizes my home town. Except me, of course.

“I don't know. Didn't see anything bad yet. Just nice things so far. Well, I've hardly left the sound stage while I've been here. So it's very nice of you to show me something more. Although you were hard to convince to come through on our agreement.” He looked at me and lifted his eyebrows a little, as if wanting an explanation.

“Well... I got the feeling that you might have better things to do with your time,” I lied.

He was not falling for it. Man, he sure could make his face look sarcastic.

“Riiight. Did someone give you some strange ideas about the whole thing? Like, say, a certain co-star?”

I looked out the window. That whole encounter with Lisa still created a stinging sensation in my eyes.

“Maybe.”

“Uh huh. I saw her staring in our direction when you wanted to leave without going to lunch. And I thought that maybe she had said something to you. Did she?”

I sighed, still looking out the window.

“She said... a couple of things. Including that you only invited me to the shoot because you were afraid I'd sue. After Alfredo scratched me.”

He nodded thoughtfully.

“Right. That makes sense. I'm sure some people would think that way. Lisa probably would, since that idea even occurred to her.”

“You don't think like that?”

“I suppose I would have to, in some circumstances. But not because of what happened this morning. I was briefed by the legal team from the studio before I even met Alfredo. Lisa was too, by the way. They made sure everyone was very well covered legally. The studio is not legally responsible for Alfredo, and neither am I. It's a complicated structure that pretty much takes away all the problems of walking an ocelot through public areas. They would never had let me loose with a wild animal if they hadn't covered every angle. Actually, they told me that if Alfredo
did
bite or maul someone, the one thing I must
not
do was bring that person to the lot. That could be seen as an admission of guilt, they said, and could really start some trouble. Whatever. I'm not really that into law. But I highly doubt you had any intention of suing anyway. You don't seem to be the type.”

“I guess not. Never crossed my mind before Lisa... well, she was wrong about that, at least.”

“That has an ominous ring to it. What else did she say?”

“Only that I was obscuring the view for everyone. You know, the monitor.”

“Obscuring the view? A girl about five and a half feet tall? From a screen that's mounted seven feet off the ground? While sitting down? Hah! That Lisa has some imagination. And also, all the people who actually need to see the action to do their jobs right either have their own monitors or are sitting much closer to the set and don't have to rely on any common monitors to see what's being shot. Video village is pretty much just a courtesy service so the crew don't get too bored.”

We got our drinks and ordered. I went for the chicken wrap, while Archer chose the tomato soup. This time, the waitress definitely looked at him as if she was trying to think of where she knew him from.

I was pretty relieved by that point. Lisa was full of crap, it seemed. Well, about most things, anyway.

I must have perked up so much it was noticeable, because it seemed Archer relaxed a little more. Well, I was  never good at hiding my emotions.

“Why would she tell me those things if they're not true? So weird.”

“It's pretty weird,” he agreed. “She probably has her reasons. You know what? Let's not talk about her anymore.”

He leaned back in his chair, smirking happily.

“Yeah, so Hector liked our little scene. None of it is on film, of course. But he wanted to change the script to accommodate your interpretation of Ophelia. It makes more sense now. Just a few words, you know. And... there's a chance you may get co-writer credit.”

I could feel my jaw hinging open. I just stared at him, lost for words. He just laid back and smirked behind his dark sunglasses.

“I... but... that... it was...” I managed.

“It's only fair,” he said. “If they use any of your words, you should get credit. I'll see if they won't pay you a little, too. I imagine it won't be that much, but a little is better than nothing. I can't promise any of this, because it's not up to me. But I just thought you'd probably like to know that it's a possibility.”

“Okay. Thanks. That's... spectacular.”

“Yeah, it's fun. And I have a suggestion for you, too. You can obviously act, even if you don't think so. And you have the looks, like, in spades. Get some head shots taken and put together a little portfolio. If you want, I can get my agent to look at it. All you need to have a career in this business is some talent, some experience and the looks. You've got two of those filled, no problem.”

“But I've never acted. Never saw that as a career for me.”

“Oh yeah? Never dreamed of being a famous actress?”

“Well, sure I did. Doesn't everyone? It's the kind of dream that I knew would always be just a dream. That was just fine with me, like, I know I'll never play professional tennis, and that's okay too. Now you mention it, I remember putting on little shows for my family sometimes. You know the thing, I was pretty much forcing them to look at my friends and me while we'd act out scenes from movies or TV shows we'd just seen. It was fun, but we grew out of it, I suppose. Never pursued it.”

“Not tempted by the fame, the endless riches?”

“Yeah, I don't need endless riches. Just a couple of riches would do just fine. Say, about five riches for good measure.”

“And the fame?”

“I don't know. Is it that great? Seems to me you can't even have a nice dinner at a restaurant in a small town without a babysitter or without wearing sunglasses indoors.”

He leaned lazily back in his chair.

“I'm not going to push this too hard about you taking up acting. It's just that I'm still reeling from that scene we had together. I haven't felt that connected with a scene in a long time. It's a little frustrating seeing someone so obviously talented walking around in a uniform like that and not being paid to be on a stage.” He nodded to my silly LuckyStop hat.

Damn, I was still wearing it. I pulled it off and stuffed it in a pocket.

“So what would I do? If I wanted to try?”

“Get some experience. Try to get a part in some local productions. Go on auditions. Write some jokes and go to a comedy club and do a stand-up routine. See if you like the limelight. Just saying. Or make a YouTube channel with sketches or famous scenes or whatever. I see people doing that and slowly and surely building a name for themselves. Everything counts. Some things count more than others.”