“I assume you’re all professionals and know your jobs. I want to work with all of you to make sure we create the best possible result,” she said, now talking to everyone.
That little speech was the turning point. Laurent may have been a better director technically, but everyone would do whatever it took to help Kitty. She’d won us over.
We saw that she was open to suggestions. Laurent had a vision, and he would never have strayed from that, but Kitty was more willing to listen. She wasn’t a pushover, though. Kitty seemed to know which ideas to try and which ones not to. I think part of it was she’d been an assistant director for several years. This was Kitty’s chance to be the lead. Her prior experience allowed her to do what was right for the movie and not second-guess herself.
The cast and crew did give me a hard time about my sex scene in The Secret Circle. I volunteered to demonstrate how you did it but didn’t get any takers.
◊◊◊
They let me go shortly after lunch since I wasn’t in any of the afternoon’s scenes. I’d been slacking off on lifting, so I went to the hotel’s gym and used what equipment they had. I talked Paul into spotting for me. Day in, day out, training hard, doing my cardio. Six days on/one off, five days on/two off … Consistency was the key to my exercise program.
I’d learned that your body needed to take a break every now and again. If I planned to work out the rest of my life, I couldn’t let it take over my life. It was the same way with my diet. I knew what I was supposed to eat. If I didn’t give myself a break every now and again, I would be fixated on each meal. That was how you failed.
You also needed to give your body a break every so often to heal completely. Anything that caused pain … well, the pain was your body’s way of saying that you should stop. I realized that running and lifting did damage, but in a good way. The pain led to gaining muscle, stamina, flexibility, and many other benefits.
The physical side wasn’t the only part of it; there was also the mental aspect. Even though I took regular days off from the gym, the week after week pounding that my body took required more time off sometimes.
Baseball was coming up, and I knew easing myself back into lifting was necessary.
After I was done, I had Cassidy go out and run me through my drills. In my mind, I’d started the transition from acting to sports.
This was the last week I would be in Cuba. To be honest, Laurent’s accident had taken the fun out of it. I was ready to go home, see my boys, and focus on football and baseball.
◊◊◊
Bianca showed up after her show. I’d done some thinking and decided that what she and I were doing had to stop. I realize I’m a ‘stupid boy,’ but while I liked her, it just didn’t feel right. My experiences with Sarita and Kimberly had made me examine what had happened since my arrival in Cuba.
Kimberly had traded her body to get a role. It sounded like she’d done it before, but I still couldn’t get past the fact that a fifty-year-old man would go there. Like an onion, I peeled it back and thought about a teenage almost-man. Was I any better? My only defense was that I’d no idea Kimberly was that young. I somehow felt partly responsible for allowing Laurent to send her to my bed.
Logically, I understood that I’d done everything right once I found out, but that didn’t mean I felt good about what had happened before then. I kept wondering who else Kimberly had been sent to spend the night with. But to be honest, I really didn’t want to know the answer. I liked the other actors and crew on this movie, and I didn’t want to think about any of them spending time with an underage girl.
Sarita had turned into a straight ‘pay for play’ deal. I felt silly for falling for it. I’d been warned multiple times to be careful of Cuban women. Not that they were bad people; I understood the realities of living here. When you were paid nothing, and only given rations for half a month, you had to be creative in how you made up the difference. I still thought if she’d been honest with me, I wouldn’t have felt so put out. Then again, how do you tell someone that you’re with them to make money?
In the end, giving her money was my best option. A thousand dollars would go a long way for her if she managed it properly. I worried about the rift this had caused with her dad, but Uncle John always told me that actions have consequences. He also said not to take on other people’s burdens.
My time with Bianca, on the other hand, was amazing. Dancers had unreal body control, which can make sex creative, to say the least. Even though I enjoyed that aspect of her life, the age difference was a problem. I know that I’m not an average teen; I have responsibilities that most people don’t take on until they’re in their thirties. Her being a dancer at the top of her game wasn’t the issue. It was just that we were at different places in our lives.
Bianca had just gotten out of a relationship she expected to lead to marriage, a family, the whole shebang. Heck, I couldn’t even go as far as to have a girlfriend. I understood the need for meaningless sex to get over someone; I’d done it myself. The fact was I was her rebound guy, and there was never going to be a future for us. I liked her and hoped we would be friends, but I didn’t like her enough to be more than that.
What made me decide that it had to end had to do with my change of focus towards getting ready for football and baseball. That reminded me of the girls I had at home. I liked Halle, Brook, Pam, and Zoe just fine, and I realized that I’d rather wait a week to see them than continue to spend time with Bianca.
I felt a shudder go through my body. Was this the first step towards a commitment?
I needed to beat that idea right out of my head.
◊◊◊ Friday June 10
Over the past week, I’d gotten serious about training. My security team had gotten smart and rented a cab to follow me around in while I did my morning run. At six-four, my stride was too long for any of them to keep up when I ran. I was unwilling to slow down to accommodate their pace.
I settled into a good speed and fell into the zone that allowed me to think.
Coach Conde and his team had worked hard with me. He used me as an example of the dedication it took to make it to the top. They even started doing sixty minutes of hell with me. I have to hand it to the Marine Corps; they knew how to get men into shape in a hurry. Cassidy had borrowed many of their exercise routines to put our almost daily exercise regime in place. The baseball players didn’t realize how out of shape they were.
Coach Conde told me that the Cubs had contacted him about the pitcher I’d sent them video on. Their biggest issue would be getting him to the States. In the meantime, Coach Conde reevaluated him and agreed to get him the coaching and training he needed.
Luis pulled me aside and told me that his sister had moved in with Paz. Sarita wanted me to know that she was sorry for what she’d done. She had no idea I spoke Spanish. She’d been shocked when my interview appeared on local TV. Sarita realized the jig was up because she’d talked to her friends in front of me. I told him I harbored no ill will and that I only wished her the best.
As a treat for the team, I gave Coach Conde some money and asked that he take them to Paz’s restaurant for dinner. It was one of the best places I’d eaten at while I was here.
The movie was doing great, now that Kitty was directing. The plan was for my part to wrap up either today or tomorrow. It all depended on whether they needed to reshoot anything. Our flight left bright and early Sunday morning. I was already planning what I would eat as soon as we landed in Miami. Whatever it was would have hot sauce on it.