“AAAhhhh!” I bellowed, reaching nirvana.
When I finally caught my breath, I came back to my surroundings. The girl I had just had sex with was curled up and looked to be falling asleep. I slid off the bed and put my clothes back on. I found Jessup, Bree and Elizabeth, and joined them.
“I need some water,” I announced.
Elizabeth was off like a shot, and Jessup and Bree both chuckled.
“I think you have a new fan,” Bree told me.
Elizabeth came back with a big bottle of water. I almost drained it in one go. I then caught a whiff of myself. I had a strong smell of sweat and sex on me. I also needed to get up early tomorrow, so I suggested we leave. We saw Kent as we walked out, and he told Jessup he’d get Craig home soon so he’d be ready for work in the morning.
We took the girls home and then went back to the hotel. Jessup was on the same floor I was, and he wished me a good night. I went in and found Kendal asleep on the couch, so I took a shower and put on a pair of boxers. I pulled the covers back on the bed, went into the living room and picked up Kendal. She stirred.
“Uhmm, what’re you doing?” she asked, still half asleep.
“Putting you to bed,” I said as I laid her down.
“’Kay,” she said.
I got into the other side of the bed and went to sleep.
Friday January 2
I WOKE UP TO FIND KENDAL sleeping on me. Not next to me, on me. I have no idea how she managed it without waking me. I must have been sleeping the sleep of the truly satisfied. I gently rolled her off me and got up to relieve myself.
I put on my running clothes and headed out. It was perfect weather for a run, and I found my stride lengthening until I had a nice rhythm. I paid attention to where I was going since I wasn’t familiar with the area and didn’t need to get lost. On the way back, I found a ’50s-style diner and popped in. I asked the server if I was okay and she handed me a towel and pointed to a table. I ordered a large steak and half a dozen scrambled eggs. The cook had seasoned the steak with something peppery, giving it a good flavor. I made a mental note to come back here again.
When I got back, Kendal was dressed and wearing a sheepish smile. I just winked at her, went and showered, and got ready for today. We went down and found they had a full breakfast buffet set up in the conference room: greasy bacon and watery eggs that looked old. I was glad I’d eaten earlier. I grabbed a tea and a glass of cranberry juice.
I found Lori and Ben. We were talking when Elizabeth came up with a big smile on her face.
“Lori, Ben, this is Elizabeth,” I said by way of introduction.
“How was the party?” Ben asked.
“It was a lot of fun,” Elizabeth said. “David, you had a good time, didn’t you?”
The little minx was going to get her bottom paddled.
“Yes, yes I did. I think you would’ve enjoyed it.”
Ben was green with envy, and I think Lori knew what the party was probably like because she raised an eyebrow. I blushed; I didn’t want to disappoint her and was embarrassed at what she might be thinking.
Karen, the production assistant, got us all to find our seats. They had it organized so we had little table tents with our names on them. I put my tea next to my place card. I was originally seated next to Craig and Bree. I found I was now sitting between Bree and Elizabeth. I bet I could guess who had changed the seating arrangements. The cast was all seated at the main table. Our assistants sat against the walls. I noticed everyone had a thick script. I’d brought my original one with the notes we made in my acting class in the margins.
“We’re going to read straight through the script the first time. Then we’ll break the scenes up and we’ll give you our notes on the scenes. Sometime this week, each of you will go down to the animation studio and get into one of their suits so they can record how you move. We need to get started, so turn to page one, act one, scene one,” Jessup said.
We spent the morning and early afternoon reading through the script. It was obvious some of the cast members hadn’t read it before. Craig gave me shit about already knowing most of my lines. I didn’t know if what he said was good or bad, but I wanted to be prepared and was glad I was. I felt much more comfortable and could tell my acting class had been a great investment.
After lunch, Jessup grabbed Craig, Bree, Elizabeth and me and took us to another conference room along with our agents/assistants. The four of us had quite a few scenes together, so Jessup wanted us to stand up and walk through them. He saw my marked-up script and took it from me to see the notes.
The other three had their scripts to refer to, but I fell into it like I had in acting class. They’d helped me learn most of my lines. I could at least keep the scene going even if I forgot a line. I was really enjoying this. Craig hadn’t worked as hard to get ready and it showed. He constantly took notes, and Kent did the same. Kendal took her cues from Kent and made notes on her copy of the script. Jessup would mark out my notes if he didn’t agree with how we’d done a scene. I was surprised when he accepted quite a few of my class’s suggestions.
When we were finally done, I was exhausted and starved. We had blown right through dinner. To save time, we all went to one of the restaurants in the hotel. After dinner, Jessup pulled me aside.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought you were an old hand at this. Good job today. Where did you get all the notes?” he asked.
“That was from my acting class. They were a big help. Thank you for setting that up.”
“Let me give you a tip for the next movie you’re in. I’d suggest you just learn the lines. How you stand, what emotions you show and how you say your lines will be up to the director on set. I think that you being in an acting class may have been a little over-the-top. What you really needed was a dialogue coach,” he said.
“Sorry, I didn’t know.”
“David, you didn’t do anything wrong. We set all this up and provided you a script with way more information than we normally would. Normally you don’t see much other than dialog in a script. All the detail is saved for the storyboard. That’s where you’ll see the details like camera angles and how far the bad guy is from you. I just wasn’t aware they had you doing so much extra.
“We may have overdone it with what we sent, but you’ve never acted before. My fear is you’ll come into a scene with preconceived ideas and we’ll waste time changing it. I want you to live in the scene, and react to the environment and the other actors as the shot unfolds. You just need to have the words already in your mouth, so that you can say your line in a natural way for your character when the moment arrives.
“I know it seemed like several of the more seasoned actors didn’t do very well today. They know how we work, and once you’re comfortable learning lines and following direction, you’ll be fine coming in and doing what they did. I’m confident Craig will learn his lines and deliver a good performance. After seeing you today, I’m much more at ease with you. You’re a smart guy. Do you think you can take what you learned and channel it into what we tell you on set?” he asked.
“If I know what you want, I’ll do everything I can to deliver.”
“Dylan tells me you’re ready for your fight scenes as well. That part we wanted you to learn in detail because it’s critical you have everything down. I’m sending you to the studio in the morning. Dylan and Tish will be there, and we’ll get everyone in the sensor suits and have you run through the routines. We want to make sure it looks good before we film them for real,” he explained.
I WAS READY TO GO BACK to my room and just zone out. Kendal found me and explained I had to go to a club tonight with my other main cast members. We were starting the press thing where we’d be seen around town and get interviewed by shows like Hollywood Central.