The Journalist and Her Actor

Chapter 39

"I need more tears... or tears in general. Are you capable of those?" Dustin asked, taking me in with a narrowed eyed expression. "You should be. You are an expert at deception."

I stood on a small stage on the fake bar set on the studio lot, trying to keep my irritation at bay.

Dustin had been emotionally poking at me since I arrived on set, making it very clear how much he now hated working with me.

I get it, I suck. Calm down and let me shoot the dang scene, I nearly snapped.

But I refused to be baited. Especially since I recently and by dramatic means, learned that every move I made was being recorded for behind the scenes content— most likely for the DVD version of the movie.

Awesome...

So instead of being the drama queen monster he was trying to force me to be, I nodded, face neutral, voice calm and shook myself out, ready to tackle the song for the... TENTH TIME.

"I want the entire thing in a single take. No cuts, no mistakes. I want this scene to be one, long emotionally driven shot. Think you can handle that?" he asked.

I swallowed. "Yes."

Then he stepped off the stage as the music started again.

I was getting tired of the song. One I had sung over and over for the last several hours. But if Dustin wanted perfect, fine, I'd give him perfect. Anything to get me off the lot. This was my final scene and I was determined to leave him with nothing he could complain about.

Gripping the microphone, I looked towards the back of the room, where Luke would be in the scene, but wasn't needed for this shot, and nearly froze when I saw him actually standing there. He hadn't been there for the previous takes.

WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?!?

A bolt of lightning seemed to hit me, making every part of me come alive like a wire. I felt exposed, standing under the spotlight like an ant under a magnifying glass. I didn't want to sing with Luke watching. I didn't want to feel more exposed than I already was.

He had kept his distance since my attempt to talk to him after our duet in the arena, so seeing him again left me momentarily startled, soaking in details that I had sworn I had over exaggerated in my mind. But nope, he was still the most handsome man I had ever seen.

More and more articles about me were spilling across the internet, exposing every part of my life— from my many side jobs that I could no longer keep due to how quickly I was recognized, every past relationship I ever had, my parents standing on a soap box wining about how I had always been a terrible, ungrateful daughter, to people I had only vaguely known in high school claiming that I was always a selfish person. Each story was more outlandish than the last, until #GossipBiotch was trending all over the internet with my face as the top search result.

I had been judged and deemed unworthy. And now the very person I wanted most, the person who had the ability to make or break me with a look or word was watching and it left me wanting to turn and run.

But this was my final scene. My final moment to look into Luke's eyes and if this was my last chance to prove to everyone that I was good at my job, even if I had gotten it under somewhat sketchy circumstances, I was going to sing my heart out.

So as my character's song about heartbreak began, I opened my mouth and sang, my eyes focused solely on Luke Walker.

He looked back at me, those infuriatingly perfect brown eyes unreadable. His posture tense, seeming ready to bolt at any moment. But I refused to look away. He could leave if he wanted to, but the fact that he didn't gave my already battered heart a sliver of hope. A spark that wanted to consume me and drive me to leap off that stage and try to talk to him again. To reach out and hope he wouldn't turn away.