I heard someone yell “quiet on the set.” I tried not to breathe.
I watched a man hold the clapper board out in front of the camera.
Ryan took his position in the fake room. I could see his image on three small video screens near the director.
“Rolling,” someone else yelled.
“Action,” the director called out.
Ryan took a few steps and then was attacked by a man in a cloak. Ryan threw a right hook and a cord pulled the man he punched back onto a
pile of foam.
Was that it? Everyone was mingling around on the set again. I looked at his father. “Did they just film that?”
Bill smiled at me. “I think so.”
Ryan had to get back into position and then he fought the same man again. It took them almost an hour to film this one particular scene. They
shot it from so many different angles.
The only time I knew when they weren’t filming was when the makeup artist was touching up his face. I was constantly wondering how everyone
knew what was going on. Either you had a job where you had to run around and scramble or your job was to stand around and look important.
“Hey girl! I heard you were here.” Kat gave me a hug.
“Hey Kat! Oh, it’s good to see you!” I was relieved to see another familiar face in this chaos.
“Hi Ellen, Bill! Here to see your boy in action, huh? What’s he doing now?” Kat looked around to see where Ryan was. “Oh, great. Make way for
the queen.”
I saw Suzanne walk through another entrance. Of course she glanced over to see that I was standing there. Her eyes opened wider once she
saw me.
“You’re going to be cool with this, right?” Kat bumped my arm. “He has to, um, kiss her now. Yuk! You don’t have to look if you think it might
bother you.”
In reality I wanted to see this. I needed to have this experience of seeing him… act. “I’ll be all right,” I murmured.
Suzanne seemed unfazed that I was there; actually she seemed to be in a good mood. She was laughing and sort of carrying on with Ryan. He
laughed too at whatever she said. It was a relief to know that their relationship wasn’t totally ruined because of me.
After what seemed to be an extraordinary long time they finally got into their positions to film the scene. Ryan’s eyes locked on mine for a
moment; it was like he was trying to send me a message telepathically. I knew what was coming next.
I was too far away to hear the dialogue that they exchanged, but the scene involved Ryan to still appear bruised and bloodied. He grabbed the
upper part of her arms and they seemed to fight each other. She wasn’t supposed to like the grip he had on her. She reached up to slap him in the
face and he grabbed her by the wrist. I remembered when we played pool that very first day; how I tried to teasingly nudge him and he caught me
the same way in mid air around my wrist.
With his other hand he grabbed her around the back of her neck and forcefully pulled her in for a kiss. After a brief second of her fighting it, she
surrendered to his lips.
I took a deep breath through my nose while he kissed her. It was harder than I thought it would be to see the man I was in love with kiss another
woman. I knew it was pretend but the burn of jealousy still pulsed through me. I unconsciously curled my fingers into fists by my sides; my fingernails
dug into my palms. His mother placed her hand on my shoulder as reassurance that it was going to be all right.
When I couldn’t take it anymore, I looked down to the ground then turned my gaze to the opposite wall. Something struck me as odd – why is that
man over there taking pictures of Ryan kissing Suzanne? He didn’t use a flash on his camera.
“How are you doing?” Kat whispered to me. I could hear the tension and concern in her tone.
Suzanne really played it up; my presence was encouraging her Oscar-worthy performance for sure.
“I want to peel her off of him and set her on fire, but I’ll get through it.”
The director yelled, “Cut.”
Kat laughed, amused by my comment. “It will get easier with time. You at least have the satisfaction of knowing that he’s hating this part of his
job.”“
Is he really?” I wasn’t so sure by the looks of it.
“See, Ellen! Taryn wants to crack Suzanne in half. This girl is definitely in love with your son.” Kat wistfully danced in place.
“I don’t want to crack anyone,” I quickly replied. I didn’t want his parents to think I was obsessive or controlling.
Their kissing scene had halted and the director was talking to both of them. They nodded at him as he gave his direction. Apparently they had to
do it again. I watched as they ran through their dialogue again, he had her by the arms again, and once again he grabbed her by the back of the
neck. This time she fought him a little longer before surrendering.
The second time wasn’t as bad as the first, although it still bothered me to see him kissing someone else. My mind scanned over all the various
movies I had seen in my lifetime and all the kisses that were exchanged on film. All those kisses had to look believable to sell the feel of the movie. I
thought about one of my favorite actors and how he had to kiss the actress in one of his movies. But yet at night he went home to his lovely wife and
their children.
I can do this, I told myself. His lips belong to me – he even told me so. It’s just pretend; I’m his – he’s mine.
I was in mid discussion with Kat and his parents about some of the background story to this movie when Ryan slipped his hands around my
waist. I wasn’t expecting it, so I jumped slightly from his touch.
“What did you think?” he whispered in my ear.
“I think you looked pretty tough fighting that guy. I thought you actually punched him! It looked real from this angle.” I giggled as he held his hands
to my stomach.
“That’s movie magic!” he snickered.
“I think you have a cool job,” I murmured back to him.
“And what about the other part?” Ryan asked tentatively. He whispered his words on my neck.
I knew what he was referring to – kissing the… Suzanne.
“First time was very difficult but the second, um, take? That was slightly easier. She seemed to put more effort into it though, probably because
I’m here.”
“I have to agree. Her performance was definitely for your benefit,” he said. “Maybe you should be here every day? Did you see how nice she
was to me?”
We took a walk around the area and Ryan showed us his trailer. It was really nice inside; like a mini apartment on wheels. He made sure to
show me the large bed in the back where he naps sometimes when he isn’t needed on set. The bedroom in his trailer had a large television built
into the wall and his refrigerator was stocked with his favorite soda.
I was in Ryan’s trailer when Tammy called.
“Taryn, my brother called me. He has some information on that girl. You may want to go to the police. Taryn, she’s not well.”
Ryan was watching me; his eyebrows were pulled together in confusion, trying to figure out my conversation.
“Can you be more specific,” I asked her.
“You have to realize that Tony isn’t supposed to do this kind of stuff. You can’t tell anyone, especially when you talk to the police, okay?”
I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask her, but since I had an audience I had to be cryptic. I was instantly concerned when she said that.
“I understand. Please… go on.”
“I’m going to read you the report he gave me. Angelica Staunton, age 31, former addresses are Bridgeport, NJ, Brooklyn, NY, and there’s one
address on her in Los Angeles. She’s been arrested three times; once for prostitution in New York and twice for other offenses in California. Taryn,
ten years ago she had a restraining order put out on her. When she was in L.A. she was accused of stalking another celebrity. Her second was for