Page 67 of Happy Trails & Honey Pots

This timeline in the movie was psychologically challenging, to say the least. Having to fall in love with Zoe as Austin, saying the things he’d said to her, living out their story was fucking with my head.

Next week, we were filming young Austin and Zoe with AJ and Kendall, and then we were doing some pickups with Austin and his friends as teenagers for two days, then some talking heads from people in town who knew Austin that we were going to run during the credits of the film. After that, we would be done with principal photography. Our film would be picture-wrapped, and I would be heading back to Los Angeles.

The question was, what would I be doing after that?

“Where did you go last night?” Braxton handed me a water as we walked.

“What?” I took the bottle from her.

“I saw you coming home after two in the morning.”

Braxton was staying in the back house on the Montgomery estate.

“Oh, I went on a drive to clear my head.”

Her left brow arched. “Did it work?”

“No.” If anything, it only made matters worse. Never in a million years would I have thought that Zoe would be up at that spot at the exact time I’d gone up there. She’d been so upset, so mad at me, I wasn’t sure how to fix what I’d broken.

We walked up to the house, and I stepped over cables that were taped down to the floor. Shania was in the bathroom speaking to ‘Zoe,’ who was seated on the toilet. The two were in a huddle. I waited outside as Rachel got into character.

Since we’d already camera-blocked before lunch, the plan was to start shooting right away. Dylan, the sound guy, came and turned my mic pack on. He checked the tape on my chest to make sure it would still stay in place since he’d put it on at six this morning and then checked the levels.

“You’re good,” he said with a nod.

Shania stood and walked out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

As she passed me, she spoke quietly, gently reminding me, “You just got home from baseball practice. Zoe is at your house, locked in the bathroom, crying. You don’t know what’s wrong.”

“Yep. Got it.”

Shania continued down the hall.

“Roll sound,” Sylvia shouted.

“Sound is speeding,” Dylan responded.

“Scene one fifty-six, take one,” Jessica, the 2nd AD, slated as she shut the clapperboard in front of the camera.

“Action,” Shania called out.

I walk down the hall to my room and pause with a curious look on my face when I hear a strange sound coming from the hall bathroom.

I knock on the door. “Zoe?”

There is no answer.

“Zoe?” I knock again. “Is that you?”

“Yea. I’m fine.”

I hear her crying. Urgency builds in me.

“Zoe? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

“Zoe, let me in.”

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