You and Me (Plus Everyone In Between Us)

Monotone

Paige gestured for some women scurrying on set to come over. She lightly pushed me into their view. "We have our new girl. Put her into hair and makeup, okay?"

They both nodded and huddled close to me in our walk. Closer to the edges of the set, were various trailers all set up together. They motioned me to a smaller one, where an entire team of hair and makeup lay there.

I plopped down on the chair, bracing for the second makeover whirlwind of that day alone. I sat as they just about reapplied everything the other makeup artists did back there. They re-slicked my hair back aggressively. When that was done, I was stripped of all my other clothes, and put into a red sundress, and non ankle-tortuous shoes.

When I emerged and was brought to the set, to my surprise, but not surprisingly, all four members of Dilemma were waiting for me.

I made eye contact with Andre first whose eyes widened at first, but then softened into a mischievous smirk. Of course, it did. What did he have to be mischievous about? I quickly looked away, shaking the weird sensation that began to occur.

All four of them were wearing regular clothes, I guess to blend in with the kind of music. It was a far cry from their attempting to be edgy rockstar attire.

We all waited as the final touches were made to the street set. I stood right across from all four of them, wondering if I should do something.

"You're the girl from Finding Solstice, right?" Dorian wondered. I humbly nodded.

He wasn't too tall, but he had this commanding presence of someone who knew what they were doing. He had an afro picked to a perfect spherical shape and a perfectly shaped beard.

Soon a man rose from the 'Director' chair and approached us, headphones around his neck and a smile on his face.

He clasped his hands together. "Are you guys ready? Here we have—

He gestured to me in confusion, trying to muster up my name.

"Ezra," I finished.

"Ezra!" he repeated. "Will be the subject of your music video. She is the love interest. All four of you will try to flirt with her, but in the end, she'll choose one man."

They all ooh at the process as I stand there awkwardly.

It was that kind of music video? I mean, I should have known. What else would they need a girl for if not to drop their jaws at? Was I jaw-droppable? Nah. All of their songs were about love, partying, or being or something. I wondered if this would be realistic.

Before I knew it, someone's voice pierced into my thoughts, telling us it was time to start filming.

"Choose Me" was okay, but it was incredibly generic. I know that this would go triple platinum at every single retail store.

The first section they shot was of me walking down the street. The boys were all placed in individual locations like an apartment, a city bench, a restaurant, and down the street as well. I held a rose in my hand and was instructed to keep on smelling it periodically.

They took shots of me walking past each and every single member as they all ogled at me. It was so strange. They took so many shots and every time, trying to get the perfect moment, the perfect example of authenticity. It became less of a novelty and more tedious every single time.

Andre took it upon himself to wink at every cut, and I wanted to die a little more inside every time.

In between cuts, stylists would run to the scene and nitpick me just before the next shot. But by the time they had started, it had taken two hours to film just one.