On Set

15

Chris parked the car alongside the curb. This was good bye. My stomach felt empty, and my heart felt shallow and weak. It felt like it was paper thin, barely hanging on. I didn't know what to say. I'll see you, soon? Couldn't promise that. Good-bye? That was too little, it wasn't enough. Until next time? How old was I? Hasta Luego? Does he speak Spanish?

This time the silence was sickening. It wasn't comfortable at all. I sat frozen in the car, staring straight ahead, while he stared at me.

"We'll figure this out okay?" He promised taking my hand.

"I know." I sighed turning to him. Either way we'll figure out what we're supposed to be.

I leaned forward and set a hand on his cheek. "Bye Chris," was all I could say. It wasn't enough, but that's all I could give. He leaned foreword and gave me the sweetest kiss, which I happily returned.

"I'll see you soon." Chris said.

"Yeah, of course." I replied hopping out of the car. I grabbed my stuff and waved goodbye. He didn't drive away until I was inside the airport.

It had been about a month since I last saw Chris. No, I hadn't told Whitney, or Crystal. I don't know why, part of me wanted to spill it all. I wanted to tell them, how good it felt to be kissed by him, and to kiss him. I wanted to talk about his favorite show, his weird favorite foods, and all his weird, funny quirks. I wanted to talk about how much I missed him, and how scared I was. I guess I just wanted to keep this a secret a little longer, to enjoy the sweetness and beauty of it all just a little longer.

I had been putting in hours, after hours, on my latest projects with Sony. I had meetings, and training sessions I had attended and ran though out the last couple weeks. Since I had gotten back, I worked everyday. I talked to Chris when I could, sometimes it was late at night and I was up all night, or sometimes we just talked to each other on the car ride to work.

"You look like you haven't slept in over thirty years." Whitney commented as I dragged my sorry ass to work.

"At least the bags under my eyes, match my shirt."

"You need to take a vacation."

"Next week," I promised her that last week too.

"How about this weekend."

"Don't tempt me, the big Sony meeting is on Monday anyway."

"Leave today and come back on Sunday!"

"Yeah, that'll be a hell no."

"Come on you know you want to go, you know you do" Whitney teased bringing a smile to my face.

"Yeah, I do want to go. But I can't just go and do whatever I want, whenever I want. That is not how the world works."

"Can I take the next few days off, and be back on Monday?"

"What? Sure, I guess...why did you ask that now?"

"To show you how easy it was to leave work."

"I'm the boss though, I need to be here!"

"Do you Lucy? Do you really need to be here?"

"Yes! Whitney! You're killing me!"

"I know, but I was serious about those days off, you think you could survive?"

"I'll be fine, have fun doing whatever you're up to."

"I usually bring the fun along with me." Whitney said, and don't I know it.

The week went by slowly and stressfully . I had three sets to build and design. The designs were due Monday with concept art. Needless to say, I was pushing my design team. My name was set as the head designer since I started all the rough drafts, and over saw each change. Sunday rolled around and I sat in my office preparing the presentation.