On Set

19

I was back in the U.S for good now. The sets in Spain were a huge success, and Sony already wanted to sign for another movie. I had to go back to Boston for the meeting soon.

I immediately flew to LA when I was finished in Spain. I needed a long weekend. And I was itching to spend some stress free time with Chris. I didn't care that he was working on the movie still. I'd catch up on sleep while he was busy.

The jet lag was brutal when I arrived in LA. I quickly went to my hotel room to shower. By the time I made it to set, I was on my third double espresso coffee that day. My hands were shaking. I waited around for Chris on his set. We were going to lunch, with Mackie, and Seb.

"Ms. Jones, can I speak with you?" The soft voice made me turn around. It was Kevin Feige, the big man in Marvel. I swallowed rather harshly and smoothed down my outfit. I tried to hide my shaking hands but I couldn't really do much.

"Of course." I replied putting on a brave face and voice. I kept my head high as I followed him into an office.

"Ms. Jones, it has come to the attention of Marvel that you are romantically involved with Mr. Evans. And that is fine, but we need to know that your contract with us comes first."

"What do you mean?"

"We want to make sure you're still going to be professional. Some aren't too happy with the idea of you and Chris."

"I'm always professional, sir. I have no intention of letting that go. I will of course keep doing my job." Then I got why this conversation made no sense. I shifted back in my seat a little.

My work was still the same quality. My company was still meeting the scheduled deadlines. There was no hint of my work back sliding or being a product Marvel wasn't interested in anymore. Maybe I shouldn't have taken the comment on my relationship so personal. As if I'd let some man side-track my work. As if I'd let some man get in the way of the quality of work I put out on behalf of my own company. Maybe it was the jet lag, but the question felt quite inappropriate to me.

"Mr. Feige, I have to say I'm disappointed that you don't believe in me. My company has continued creating sets that you seem to still find satisfactory. We have continued to meet our deadlines and have continued performance under our contract. I find it offending that you think I would ever do anything less than my best."

"Ms. Jones, I'm very sorry that this conversation came across this way. We just want to make sure we are all on the same page."

"Well I'll keep doing my job, and you do yours, which doesn't consist of checking on my love life." And I'll blame the jet lag on my response. I stood up ready to leave the meeting.

"Marvel has an appearance to keep up."

"Yes it does, one that I've designed myself." With that, the meeting ended with a tight handshake.

Chris was waiting for me when I came back.

"Where were you?"

"Having a nice little chat with Kevin Feige." Chris rose his eyebrow in question. He could tell I was upset, the big frown on my face was the big indicator.

"Oh wow, the big man. Was everything okay?"

"No! It was a silly little meeting. They're worried that because I'm dating you my work product will slip!"