I found I was falling for this girl. She was so different from anyone else I’d ever gone out with. She had a quiet confidence and sophistication. I kept waiting to wake up from this dream. In many ways, she reminded me of the things I found attractive in women. I loved women like Tami and Kara who knew what they wanted and went after it. I think in many ways that was what attracted me to Nancy. I didn’t need a woman who made me the center of her universe. Halle would be a famous movie star in her own right. She had taken her first tentative steps out from her mother’s limelight.
I found it refreshing that she was moneyed, but handled it with grace, unlike Teddy Wesleyan, who felt everyone was on the make. She just accepted she had money. She reminded me of Missy Stone. Her interaction with Chuck showed me a lot. She hadn’t been condescending or bossy. You could tell a lot about a girl by how she treated others who gave service to her.
Something I appreciated about Halle was her sense of style. From modeling, I had come to appreciate well-done makeup. Halle had on just the right amount for her age and the occasion. As well, I noticed she dressed like a young woman. So many girls think if they’re going to dress up, they have to look like an adult. I think it’s why prom dresses usually look awful. Could Halle pass for older? You bet, but she didn’t look like a soccer mom going to a New Year’s Eve party, either. She looked like a young woman who was on the cusp of being an adult. She was a young woman who was outgoing, fun, vibrant and sexy.
The final thing I’d liked about her was that she was very bright and perceptive. You wouldn’t get any bullshit past her. I liked that she challenged me, but wasn’t argumentative. She made me think. Our dinner conversation was varied and interesting. As I commented before, dinner was perfect. Yeah, I was rambling or babbling.
After dinner, we went to the club. When we pulled up, we could see there was a line to get in. Chuck jumped out and checked our surroundings. When he was satisfied everyone was okay, he opened the door and let us out. The doorman saw us and motioned us in. When we entered, we could feel the bass from the music, like a physical wave had hit us. We checked our coats and a hostess escorted us to the section of the club reserved for our group.
Halle held my hand as I talked to everyone and called them by name. That seemed to impress her. When we finally sat down, she leaned in to talk to me over the pulse of the music.
“I’m fascinated,” she told me.
“With what?”
“How did you learn everyone’s name? How did you know what to say to each of them?” she asked.
“I’ve gotten to know them. Plus, these are the people who make me look good. I want them to like me so they look out for me,” I explained.
“But you even knew the caterers.”
“I’m trying to stay on a high-protein diet. Did you know Tia is also a dietitian? She makes sure I have a good balance of foods to meet my needs. When she found out what Kendal was giving me during slow times on the set, she started putting together healthy snacks for me. If you asked her, she’d do the same for you,” I explained.
“Here I just thought you’d made some weird demands in your contract, and that was why you were getting steak while we all ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” she confessed.
I blushed.
“Sorry, I had no idea people thought that. No, I didn’t ask for M&Ms with all the green ones taken out,” I teased her.
“What are those pills and shakes she brings you?”
“Protein shakes and my supplements,” I explained. “I thought everyone talked to her and told them their dietary needs. I really feel like I’ve taken advantage of her now.”
“No, I’m sure if she was put out by it she wouldn’t have been so friendly with you. I think I need to stay close to you so some of this extra stuff trickles down to me.”
“They all know you’re my girlfriend,” I teased her.
“Good, I don’t want any of them thinking they can steal you away.”
“Don’t worry about it. Craig taught me about the private massages with the happy endings. I find it amusing they send a new girl each time.”
“What?!?”
I couldn’t help myself; I started laughing. She grabbed my hand and made me dance with her. I hoped all her punishments are as severe. Watching her athletic hips sway and her shirt-puppies jiggle and shimmy as she moved was pure torture—that I’d willingly volunteer to undergo any time, any place.
Halle begged off after the fifth dance. I’d have to work on her stamina. I went over and grabbed Tia and made her dance with me. I think she quite enjoyed the attention. I made a point to dance with any of the support people who wanted to dance with me. I was proud of Halle when she danced with Julio, our makeup artist. Now that boy had some moves!
It wasn’t just the production crew who was dancing. I quickly found my fellow actors had some serious dance skills. I tried some of my best stuff, but Ben and Craig had moves that put me to shame. I wanted to have them teach me their moves. The girls in my dance class would be jealous. Bree and Elizabeth were no slouches either.
I was glad everyone deferred to Halle for all the slow songs. She was quick to find me and we would come together into an embrace. That was true for all except for one slow dance. Lori found me.
“You’re making me look good,” she told me.
“How so?”
“I’m getting credited with discovering you,” she said with a smirk. “I saw the outtakes of the spaceship scene. You were very believable.”
“If you mean it looked like I shit my pants, you’d be right. They didn’t tell me the place was going to move and fire was going to shoot into my face,” I complained.
She thought I was pretty funny. She then told me she had to leave to go finish working on the sequel to Disparate. They had some work to do to get it ready for an end-of-March release. She was excited because even though her character had died in the first movie, they’d worked her into the second one.
WHEN THE EVENING WAS over, I walked Halle to her room. I gave her a nice kiss goodnight that held a lot of promise. Apparently, I’d done the right thing by the look she gave me. I respected the fact that she wasn’t ready for more.
Saturday January 24
KENDAL WOKE ME UP AND made me study. She ordered room service and wouldn’t let me leave the room until I was caught up. In English, we were reading Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. I’d spent half my time looking up words like ‘argosies,’ ‘seigniors,’ and ‘ague.’ The rest of the time I tried to figure out the meaning behind many of the lines.
Then I cheated: I pulled out my iPad and found a site which explained each section of the play. I found out why we were reading Shakespeare: he used language in ways that made you think. There could be several meanings to what was said. I had to force myself to put it down so I could finish up my other classes.
I was a little put out when Kendal checked my work and I discovered she had the teacher’s answer sheets. I thought she worked for me.
Saturday January 31
I WAS BEAT WHEN KENDAL and I finally headed to the airport to go home. It had been a trying two weeks. I had learned how hard they actually worked on a film. Towards the end, everyone had gotten a little touchy, but Jessup was good at what he did. He seemed to know what we all felt and always had the right words to say to keep us going. I felt sorry for most of the cast because they still had several weeks of work to do.