Page 38 of One Life to Loathe

He chuckled.

“Are you guys even listening to me?” Miles complained. “I don’t think you are.”

“Actually, we are,” Leo replied. He grabbed my waist and positioned me on the path I was supposed to use to walk through the extras. “Sam is here. My back is to her.” He turned to demonstrate. “I get my drink.” He bobbed his head and acted as if he was enjoying small talk with the bartender. “She hands me my drink. You count off to three. I turn and Sam and I come face to face.”

Miles nodded. “That’s basically it in a nutshell,” he agreed. “How are you going to react to one another, though?”

“I thought I would do theTwilightthing and pretend she stinks,” Leo replied without missing a beat.

I slapped his arm and gave him an incredulous look. “I don’t stink.”

“Hey, that reaction worked for millions of teenage girls.”

“I do so appreciate it when men flare their nostrils at me,” I deadpanned. “He’ll be a bull about to charge.”

“You’ll be the big pink flag instead of the red one,” Leo agreed.

“I’m being serious,” Miles complained. “This is a big deal. It’s the first time your characters are seeing one another. You have to sell the chemistry.”

Chemistry was clearly not a problem between Leo and me. All I’d been feeling was chemistry with this man since we first met. Sure, it wasn’t always good chemistry. It was chemistry, nonetheless. Unfortunately, real-world chemistry didn’t always transfer to the big screen. Some real-world couples fell flat together.

Not that we were a real-world couple or anything.

We were friends. Nothing more.

So why did my heart start pitter-pattering like a middle school girl talking to her crush for the first time when we said our goodbyes the previous evening? I swear I was one dimpled smile away from dragging him into my room and letting the liquor do the talking. I hadn’t even been that drunk. Just tipsy enough that I could’ve used it as an excuse. Thankfully, that didn’t happen.

I was thankful for that, right? I honestly couldn’t decide.

“We’re not going to know how we’re going to play it until we go through it a few times,” Leo said. “You can’t force us to give you chemistry until we get into the groove. It’s not as if you’re going to take the first take.”

“No.” Miles cocked his head. “You’re right. I just … this is a very important scene.”

“You telling us that over and over again doesn’t make us relax into our roles,” Leo argued. “Just … let us get a couple of bad takes out first. You’ll feel better when you actually see us working through it, won’t you?”

“I guess.” Miles didn’t look convinced. Ultimately, he started shaking his head. “Actually, I’m looking for magic.”

“Geez,” Leo muttered under his breath.

“He’s just excited,” I argued. “Let him be excited.”

“He’s being ridiculous. It’s a vampire show. We’re not exactly going to win awards for it.”

All of the good will Leo had worked up over the past day and a half disappeared in an instant. It was clear he was doing his best not to disparage the production. When he let his guard down, however, little comments continued to escape. I hated it.

“Stop being an ass,” I snapped before realizing I was going to lose my cool. “Just … stop it and commit.”

He slid his eyes to me. “I am committing.”

We glared at each other. If the room had been a little cooler, steam would’ve started rising. As far as Leo and I were concerned, we were the only two people in the room as we murdered each other with the sort of glares that would be reserved for enemies, not friends.

“There!” Miles snapped his finger. “That right there. That’s exactly how I want you two to look at each other.”

I didn’t take my stare away from Leo. “Something tells me we can make it work,” I replied.

“Oh, definitely,” Leo agreed. The softness he’d been showing me for the past thirty-six hours was nowhere to be found. “We can definitely make this work. You have nothing to fear.”

“Great.” Miles hopped from one foot to the other. “You guys need to hit your marks before you give each other the stare, though.” He was nervous again.

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