Page 51 of Between the Lines

I did typically enjoy seeing myself on screen, looking over my performances, seeing what I could do differently or better. This time though, I got so quickly swept up in the character of Luna, who was one of the first ones we met, that I…kinda forgot to pick myself apart.

I was enthralled with her, and her interactions with Shannon, the young protagonist at the center of the story. There were other threads explored for each character, getting to their roots and all, but the main thread was the little girl.

The way it was all introduced, Shannon was always bright and happy, one of Luna’s favorite students—and then, suddenly, she was struggling. Luna spoke to coworkers to see if anyone had an inkling of what might have changed since Shannon herself wouldn’t talk about it.

And then she finally got her answer—Shannon had lost both of her parents in a violent scene she’d actually been the first to discover. The little girl was traumatized, and it didn’t make it any better that the remaining family she had was apparently embroiled in some Capulets-and-Montagues type of feud.

Which was where Silas came on to the scene.

“Man, your family is trash—you know that, right?” I teased Shaw, who couldn’t do anything but shrug as he pulled his gaze away from the screen to look at me.

“I unfortunately can’t argue with you there,” he admitted. “They get better as it goes along though.”

“Only because Luna is on their ass!” I laughed. “She is really in Shannon’s corner. I know I was filming with her a lot, but seeing it like this really highlights it.”

“Yeah, the families were way too caught up in the feud bullshit,” Shaw agreed. “But everybody’s favorite teacher had her back.”

I nodded. “You know what it low-key reminds me of? Do you rememberMatilda?”

“That old-ass movie?”

“It wasn’t just a movie, it was a book too.” I giggled. “But you remember? It makes me think of Ms. Honey, the one kind of decent adult she had in her life while everybody else was just a fucking mess.”

“Doesn’t she end up getting adopted or something at the end?”

“Yeah, I think. By Ms. Honey. So they became family.”

Shaw tipped his head back. “Which…if you think about it…the way Silas starts busting Luna down is pretty similar. That’s another parallel.”

I sucked my teeth. “Luna doesn’t become family though—you must not have read the script all the way to the end?” I asked. “They end up breaking up, and they donotget back together.”

“Man, I saw that shit.” He waved it off. “That love they had though? You can’t pay me to believe that’s really the end. Probably next season that’ll be a storyline—them getting back together.”

“You sound very confident about a next season, but the show was not written to have a second season,” I argued. “You know that’s how Charlotte likes to do—she writes her seasons to have a true completion.”

“Yeah, but there’s so much story still there—too much other shit that can still happen,” he countered. “There’s going to be another season. Just wait ‘til the premiere, then after we get all these streams and everybody is talking about it. As soon as the studio sees they have a hit on their hands—money to be made? They’ll be putting new contracts in our faces. Watch.”

My eyebrows perked up. “Oooh, you’d sign a contract to work with me again?” I asked, and he looked at me like I was crazy from his draped position beside me on the couch.

I didn’t realize until then how much closer he was than he’d been before. Except…I don’t thinkhehad actually moved.

Had I moved?

Probably.

In any case, he said, “Now why would you even play like that? Of course I’d work with you again. Why not?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know, we’ve…had some awkward moments here and there, you know?”

“You think so?”

“Uhhh, the sex scenes?” I reminded him. “It’s weird.”

“You didn’t used to think it was weird to be up close and personal with me,” he teased, actually leaning closer this time.

“Well yeah,wewere intimate. Of course it wasn’t weird.”

“That means we should be used to it.”

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