Page 34 of Sizzle Reel

The sound recordist sets up. “Speeding.”

My heart soars in my chest. This is real. Jesus, this is real.

“Roll camera.”

Brendan stands next to the camera. “Rolling.”

My heart’s soaring, but now it’s speeding up. I seek out Valeria automatically, but she’s in acting mode. “Scene twenty, take one.”

“Action!” the first A.D. says.

And Valeria does her take. Bursts into the bar set and acts a full repressed panic moment. Panic moment shifting into a sense of calm.

“Cut!” the first A.D. calls.

Valeria jumps up on the fake bar. “How’s it looking? I feel like we need another take.”

The A.D. exchanges a glance with Brendan. “Yeah, let’s go again.”

I pick up the slate and write TAKE TWO, only for someone to tap me on the back.

It’s the girl I met before. I can now see her name is Ivy. “Hey, can you do a coffee run? I’ll take over.”

Right. That was why I didn’t do the Production Route before.

But who said this would be easy?

By the end of the shoot, it’s past eleven, and I’ve spent a majority of my hours doing general menial tasks. Which is fine. I’m not saying that it’s not fine, but it’s like someone opened Pandora’s box for me, showed me what I could be doing, then yanked me back ten feet away to where I could only look at it longingly. The sole impression I made on Brendan was that I can give him thecorrect coffee order.

I don’t even see Valeria until the very end of the day as she emerges from a makeup trailer, now decked out in a black hoodie, cutoff shorts, and sneakers. Hood up. The yellow-orange-red-blue rainbow design on the hoodie sleeves pops out immediately. Half my brain says it’s just some designer loungewear riffing off ’70s peace motifs, and the other half is like, Rainbow?? Gay??

Valeria jogs up to me and throws the hood down. “Hey, is there any leftover food from craft services?”

I glance in the general direction of catering. “Uh…”

“It’s all good.”

She digs her hands into her hoodie pockets. She’s got this soft beauty about her. She has no makeup on, so I can see the previously covered shadows around her eyes, her moles, and the fade of her eyebrows as they thin out near the edges. It all adds texture to her whole look. She looks younger too. With the hoodie, she looks like someone my age, someone set to blend into the background as much as possible.

“So there’s a Burger King right off the lot, and I’m guessing it’s the only thing open. Wanna walk with me so we don’t get murdered?”

Did Hoodie Valeria just ask me to go somewhere outside of work one-on-one? On day one? Shit, I don’t think even Wyatt thought it’d go this fast.

“Really?” is my response.

“Yes.” She pauses. “Granted, if you had a car, we could reduce the murder likelihood. And yes, I can drive. My car’s just in the shop.”

“I…wasn’t going to assume.” I exhale. “I actually Ubered, but there’s no one else I’d rather be murdered with.”

She throws me a cheesing smile, the seconds passing, me not getting it. The smile shifts into a smirk, an eyebrow raise.

And I get it. My face goes hot.

“I said that wrong…”

“Come on. Before they close too.”

Valeria grabs my hand.

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