Page 58 of Method Acting

I rolled my eyes. “Jesus Christ.”

I wasn’t about to tell them they had that wrong. I wasn’t even entertaining any idea of it.

Chase ran over and crashed onto the ground beside me, taking my drink and draining it, slurping the ice in the bottom. “Thanks. I’m parched.”

“Are you allergic to shirts?”

He laughed and lay on his back, swatting me with the offending shirt. Then he ran his hand over his pec. “You love it.”

“Oh yes, your emotional support tiddies. How could I forget?”

The others laughed, and he swatted me again with his shirt, only to then shuffle over enough to use my hip as a pillow. He covered his face with his shirt. “Wake me up when it’s time to leave. Or whenever you’ve all had enough of checking me out. Whichever comes first.”

The fact that he was ripped and tanned only served to annoy me. The fact he’d starred in my fantasies last night annoyed me too. And the fact that the waistband of his shorts outlined the planes and valleys of his V muscles and the bulge in his crotch...

It annoyed me that I noticed these things.

That I wanted them.

“We should do dinner tonight,” Tucker suggested. He gave Max a nod. “Bring Jenna.”

“Good idea,” Holly agreed. “So she can see us as a work team.”

Everyone kinda nodded, but it wasn’t something I could do. “Gotta work tonight, sorry.”

Chase put his hand up, his shirt still over his face. “I’m with him. If he’s a no-go, then I’m out too.”

He totally could still go . . .

“We could meet at the coffee shop?” Jess suggested. “It’s probably gonna feature a bit anyway, in the filming and whatever, so it might be a good test run. Amos will already be there and that way Chase could come too.”

Chase pulled his shirt from his face, his big blue eyes looking up at me. “Will there be iced coffee?”

I sighed and put his shirt back over his face.

Chase held my hand when we walked back to the rehearsal hall. He kept his arm around my shoulder while we did some filming at the lockers. He kept his chin on my shoulder, his hand slung on my waist as we filmed in the dining hall.

I knew people around campus were watching us and watching Chase and me especially.

And as an actor, for all the plays and stage productions I’d done, I was used to having an audience.

But this one felt different.

Personal, somehow. As if Chase and I were having our privacy invaded, even though we weren’t.

But if we were going for the Friends/90210 reality feel, we needed to be in familiar sets around campus, so filming at the Bean Necessities made sense. And Jerry, the owner, was fine with it. It was all publicity, he’d said, as long as his logo was showing, his customers weren’t inconvenienced, and the business was perceived in a positive light.

Which I’m sure it would be.

But it was also my work. No one else had film crews at their work, and I tried not to let it bother me.

And, admittedly, as the other cast members all crammed into one booth, including Max’s girlfriend, it was fun to watch.

It did have a Friends/90210 vibe, and the cameras took some footage and some photos, and it was great for the production... but I wasn’t sure how it would work if the café was super busy.

Not well, probably.

“Hey,” Chase said, leaning against the end of the service counter.

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