Page 104 of Method Acting

We passed Jimmy in the living room. I waved over my shoulder. “Thanks!”

Chase, still being dragged out by his hand, yelled, “You’re to blame for all of this.”

Jimmy laughed. “You’re welcome!”

And we walked outside to find none other than Daniel waiting on the sidewalk. “Hey guys,” he said, holding his camera up. “Ready to roll.”

I shook my head at him. “Not now, Daniel. No filming. Just give us a break for half an hour, please.”

I kept walking, kept dragging Chase, until he pulled his hand free, only to put his arm around my waist. “Slow down.”

“It’s almost one. Deirdre already thinks you quit. She’s probably spent the last hour or so in emergency meetings making contingency plans.”

“It’ll be good practice for her,” he said. “And anyway, we’re not doing the godawful breakup thing she wanted us to do on camera, so what does she even need us for today anyway?”

“No, we almost did the godawful breakup thing for real.”

“Lucky one of us was the grown up and tracked the other one down.”

I stopped walking and stared at him. I was about to rip into him but he was doing that pouty thing. I sighed and shook my head. “Remind me again why I bothered?”

“Because you caught feelings for me. You already told me you did so you can’t take it back. I have a strict no-return policy.”

“Christ, you’re insufferable.”

He laughed and took my hand, now pulling me toward the rehearsal hall. “Come on, or we’ll be late. And I’m hungry. Did I nap through lunch?”

Fuck my life.

We walked into the rehearsal hall where everyone—cast, camera crews, and production—was gathered near the stage. They stopped and turned to face us, clearly seeing us holding hands.

“Oh, thank god,” Jess said. “Please tell me we’re still good to go.”

“We were about to kill off Dominic’s character and give Elijah the role of the grieving lover left behind,” Deirdre said with the hint of a smile.

“Awesome,” Chase said. “Days of our Lives meets kill your queers. Love that for me.”

Didi greeted me with a gentle hand on my arm, looking between us. “Everything okay?”

“It is now,” I replied. “Just had to go mow down a melodramatic bisexual and talk some sense into him.”

“Melodramatic bisexual,” Chase repeated flatly with a slow nod. “Better than generic Hollywood, I guess.”

“Are we good to continue filming?” Deirdre asked gently.

I gave a nod, and Chase did too, but then Deirdre nodded to the corner of the hall. “Chase? A word?”

She took him for a quiet, private conversation, no doubt asking him if he was happy to keep filming, if he felt up to it, and if he was okay, basically.

“You all good?” Tucker asked me.

“Yeah. We just need to get this filming done.”

“Tell me about it,” Max mumbled. I don’t know if he meant for Holly to hear, but she did.

I hated this for them too.

It didn’t help that most of the viewer comments about Max and Holly’s relationship weren’t good. Some people were rooting for them. Some were saying they should split; they had no chemistry.

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