Page 55 of Take It Till You Make It
Zena shows off several other celestial things, moving the huge scope, opening new sections of the roof and closing the other sections. When she’s exhausted her repertoire, I find I’m pretty exhausted too. I turn away as I stifle a yawn, but I suspect Crispin sees me.
“We have an early shoot, we should get going,” he says. He gives Zena a hug. “Thank you so much for doing this. It was fantastic.”
“Oh my gosh, my favorite thing about California so far,” Sally says.
“I’ve stared up at the night sky countless times, marveling at the vastness,” Brook says. “I’m almost glad I didn’t understand just how vast it was at the time.”
River nods. “Talk about feeling insignificant. We already felt miniscule in comparison to the never-ending ocean. Now, seeing how deep the universe extends.” He shakes his head. “Mind-blowing.”
Crispin is suddenly next to me. When he speaks, his voice is pitched low. Only for me. “Did you enjoy yourself, Ari?”
A shiver runs through me at his voice. I nod enthusiastically. “I completely agree with all those assessments. That was mind-blowing.”
He nods, looking pleased. “I’m glad.”
Zena escorts us to the front doors and bids us farewell. As we walk across the parking lot toward our cars, Sally slides up next to me and whispers. “I can’t believe my fake boyfriend has a crush on my fake little sister. Whatever will I do?”
I narrow my eyes at her. “That’s not…what are you even talking about?”
She grins and waggles her brows before skipping over to her real boyfriend and grabbing his hand.
Chapter Twenty
I havethe strangest dream that night that involves me in a space suit, floating through the vast darkness. Space snakes slither around me, trying to bite me through my suit. Crispin is inside the spaceship, manning the controls that keep me tethered to the ship. Something other than snakes catches my attention, and I look up to see my dad outside the ship, without a suit, and without a tether. I try to scream his name as he begins to tumble head over heels away from the ship, but sound doesn’t carry in space, so he can’t hear me. His mouth is open, but I hear nothing coming from him either. He tumbles and tumbles while I try to shout at Crispin to give me more tether. I can’t reach him in time and watch as the distance makes him appear smaller and smaller until he disappears completely.
Jerking awake, I rub my face. Usually, I dream about Dad’s car accident. How I imagined it to be, though I never saw the scene or the cars or even Dad, for that matter. I hate that I keep killing Dad over and over again in my dreams. He’s rarely the bright, happy person he was in real life, because he’s so busy dying in one tragic way or another. I just want to remember Dad for who he was, not reimagine how his life ended.
Climbing out of bed, I hop into the shower. I might not have time, but my head feels thick, and a cool rinse might wake me up.
“Note to self. Don’t stay up so late on a work night.” I tip my head back under the stream of chilly water, loving how the shock of it jolts some of the fog from my brain.
I call Glory on my way to work and tell her about our outing the night before. She sounds appropriately jealous. Then it’s my turn to sound that way as she describes a visit to the pond with friends. Such a mundane thing we used to do, but it was always fun, and I ache for the simple pleasure of hanging out with everyone.
At the set, I pull up the app to see if they’ve changed the schedule at all. They haven’t. I’ll be filming with Chandra and Trent this morning. We are expected to wrap by lunch, and then I get to see the publicity photos they took of Crispin, Sally, and me ages ago. I guess they’ll be starting the publicity campaign, so they want me to answer a standard questionnaire that they’ll include with the press packets when they send them out.
I stop short when I find Crispin sitting in my makeup chair.
“What are you doing?”
He grins as he scans me from head to toe. “Whoa, you look adorable. I love the fuzzy slippers.”
I look down at my feet in confusion. Sure enough, I’m wearing my slippers. I groan. “Yeah, I haven’t stayed out that late in…well…maybe ever. My mind is not firing on all cylinders today.”
Other than the slippers, I’m wearing a pair of booty shorts and an oversized sweatshirt. Though the shirt is so long, it probably looks like it’s the only thing I have on. Suddenly, I want to cover my very bare legs. I never see anyone besides Remi and Grimilda and assorted extras. But he did say I look adorable. Maybe the expanse of skin isn’t sexy on a girl who looks young enough to play a thirteen-year-old.
He cocks his head. “Am I to understand you avoid the nightlife scene like I do?”
My head really is stuffed with cotton this morning, so I give him a funny look. “I’m not so sure I believe you avoid it. But I’m not a party girl if that’s what you’re asking.” I blink at him. “Was that what you were asking?”
He chuckles and stands, indicating the chair. “Here, I think you need this more than I do.”
“What are you even doing here? You don’t film this morning, do you?”
“Nope. Not until this afternoon. My publicist and I have a meeting with marketing.”
“Oh, la di da. You get to have a publicist with you. I just get to go fill in a form by my lonesome.”
“The perks of being a huge star.” Crispin smiles innocently at me as he leans his tall frame against the makeup mirror. The bright lights, which I think are on twenty-four hours a day, glow against his golden skin and brighten his chocolate eyes.
