by Kasie West
“I’m not sure all is right in the world.”
A jolt of panic went through me. “Why? Is everything okay?”
He cracked a smile and nodded toward my packet. “You actually started homework without someone forcing you to.”
I let out a breath. “I know. I was just thinking earlier that you were rubbing off on me. The world must be ending.”
He laughed. “Oh, Mrs. Case asked me to give you this test.” He pulled some stapled pages from his bag. “She said you couldn’t use the computer, but she didn’t think that would be a problem, since she wasn’t sure you knew how to anyway.”
“Ah, Mrs. Case. Who knew she was a comedian.”
“Comedian slash volleyball coach.”
“So she is a volleyball coach? I thought she might be.”
“My sister plays on the team.”
“Nice. I don’t know that I’ve ever actually watched a volleyball game.”
“They’re fun to watch.”
“My sister does dance and my brother does T-ball. But they’re both so young that most of the time it’s just kids chasing each other around. It’s also fun to watch, but in a different way, I’m assuming.”
“Probably.” He picked up my packet and looked over the few questions I’d done. “Looks like you don’t need my help after all.”
“No, I totally need your help,” I said too fast.
Donavan looked up from the packet and was about to say something when my trailer door flew open and Grant stepped in. His eyes went back and forth between Donavan and me.
“Geez, Grant, you scared me. Don’t you know how to knock?” I said.
“Knocking? What’s that?” He gave me his schoolboy smile. “Do you really want me to knock? I can knock.” He stepped out of the room, deliberately shut the door, and gave three slow knocks.
“Who is it?” I called.
He cracked open the door. “It’s your biggest fan, here to have you sign my forehead.”
“I didn’t bring my Sharpie today. Maybe you can borrow one from your fan club outside. Tell them how awesome I am while you’re at it.”
He came into the room, and this time Amanda followed. I hadn’t realized she was with him before.
“Hi,” Amanda said. “Oh, hi, Donavan.”
“Hey.”
“We wanted to see if you wanted to hang out.” She gave me the eyes that said now was the time for our plan.
“Oh, um . . .” My eyes went to Donavan, who was looking at his palms—his nervous habit, I was learning. “I’m doing homework. This is Donavan, my tutor. Donavan, this is Grant, and you already met Amanda.”
Donavan nodded.
Grant turned his wide smile on Donavan. “Ah. The infamous tutor. Nice to meet you.” Dancing Graves sat on the coffee table in front of Donavan, and Grant picked it up. “If you have a writing instrument, I can give you an autograph. I love my fans.”
I held in a laugh at the irony of that statement. “That’s my book, dork. And I don’t want your autograph.”
“Well, I want yours,” Grant said.
I rolled my eyes because I knew he was trying to be funny.
“So you’re busy, then?” Amanda asked, her mind apparently on only one thing.
“Just for a little while longer. I was thinking, Grant . . .” When Amanda and I had talked about me suggesting this, Donavan wasn’t supposed to be present. I don’t know why it made a difference, but it made me uncomfortable. I forced it out anyway. “Maybe we can practice our kissing scene after I’m done with homework?” I knew Grant wouldn’t find this suggestion odd. He’d understand why I was giving it. We had been told repeatedly we needed to work on our chemistry and that was without adding kissing to the mix.
Grant flipped the book in his hand and set it back down on the coffee table. “Sure thing.”
“Amanda? Maybe you can give us feedback?” I said.
“Of course. We’ll meet you in Grant’s trailer in a little bit?” she said.
I nodded.
They headed for the door. “Nice to meet you, Jonathan,” Grant said, then just like that his bigger-than-life presence was gone.
Amanda leaned back through the door. “Thank you,” she mouthed, and pulled the door shut behind her.
Everything was perfectly still for three beats, then I said, “About that. It’s just . . .”
Donavan reached forward and picked up the packet. “I’m just here to tutor. You don’t have to explain anything to me.”
“Okay.” I was going to tell him I’d done that for Amanda, but, apparently, he didn’t care. Which was good. I didn’t need him to care. I didn’t need anything from him except homework help.
“I can come back tomorrow if you need to go,” he said.
“No, stay. I have a little time.”
“Thanks for not outing me,” he said, placing the packet in my hand.
“Why would I do that?”
“You were right,” he said. “I didn’t want to tell Grant who I was.”
“He was acting overly confident anyway. He didn’t deserve to know who you are. Maybe he needed those bad reviews. People need to hear hard things sometimes to push them to be better.”
“You think so?” he asked.
I met his eyes. “I think so.”
Dancing Graves
EXT. FOREST SURROUNDING MANSION—NIGHT.
BENJAMIN clutches a vial of bright green liquid, hoping it’s finally the cure they’ve all prayed for, and searches desperately for SCARLETT. A noise in the trees makes him whirl around. He sees a zombie, but it’s not her. The zombie advances on him quickly. He pulls his sword. The zombie is undeterred. After a scuffle, Benjamin kills him. Scarlett appears from the left, surprising Benjamin. He turns and swings his sword at her, narrowly missing. When he sees who it is, he drops his sword to the ground immediately and rushes toward her.
BENJAMIN
Scarlett! Did I hurt you?
SCARLETT
(eyes on the dead zombie)
What have you done?
BENJAMIN
Forgive me. I had no choice.
SCARLETT
Soon you will have no choice with me either.
BENJAMIN
That’s not true. I have the cure. Drink this.
Nineteen
I knocked on Grant’s trailer door after Donavan left. Amanda answered, pushing it open farther for me and stepping back to let me in. “Hey.”
Grant was sitting on his couch. “Is it time to make out?” he asked.
Amanda’s hopeful face deflated a bit. Grant was so clueless.
“I’ve been studying your videos, Amanda. I need some serious advice.”
“What videos?” Grant said. “Do you have kissing tutorials online?”
“She should,” I responded. “But, no, I mean her actual scenes with fellow actors.”
“Oh, cool,” he said.
“Kissing on camera is different than just making out with a boyfriend,” Amanda said. “Come here, Grant. Stand right here.” She pointed to the spot right in front of me.
He stood, pulled down the leg on his sweatpants that had ridden up, and moved until he was in front of me.
“I’ll keep this professional,” he said.
I laughed. “Because sticking your tongue in someone else’s mouth is very professional.”
“You know what I mean,” he said.
“Yes, I do.”
“There will be very little tongue,” Amanda said. She was so calm. Probably because she knew that in seconds she’d be standing where I was.
He took my hand in his and looked into my eyes. Then he paused and looked up. “What’s my line right here? Before we kiss?”
“‘I don’t want to have to live without you,’” I said.
“I’m so passionate,” he responded with a smile.
“I know. You’re really invested in this.”
“Money, huh? You think I’m doing it for the money?”
At fir
st I thought he was talking about himself, and I said, “No, I never thought that, I didn’t think you were getting as much as . . .” I realized quite suddenly that he was talking about Benjamin, his character, and what I’d said the other day on set about him being after my father’s money. “I mean, yes, I do. You’d know that if you’d actually read the book.”
“So you don’t think I love you, then? Truly love you? True love requires sacrifice sometimes.”
“I think maybe you’re trying to make yourself believe that so you don’t feel guilty. You are a kindhearted man. But if my father doesn’t come up with an actual cure, it will be hard for you to stomach my looks and not fall for my best friend. She’s already helped you through a lot.”
“Yes, I have,” Amanda said. “Including this. Now say your line.”
Despite what Donavan thought of Grant’s acting, I was always amazed at how easily he could fall into character. Like now, he stopped the questions, held my gaze with soft eyes, and said, “I don’t want to have to live without you.”
“I don’t want to make you live with what I will become,” I said back.
He moved toward me ever so slowly, and just before his lips reached mine, I said, “Wait. This feels awkward.”
“It does?” he asked.
“Amanda. Can you play me for a minute so I can watch? Maybe if I see what you do, then I can replicate it.”
Grant looked between the two of us, and for a second I thought he was going to call us out, say he knew what we were up to. But he didn’t. He just released me and let Amanda step into my place.
“So remember the first tip I gave you the other day?” Amanda said. “To imagine Grant as someone you actually like.”
“Hey,” he said.
She patted his cheek. “Don’t worry, babe, I’m imagining you.” The way she said it made it sound like a joke, even though I knew it was true. “But maybe you can imagine that cute tutor of yours,” Amanda said to me.
I smiled. She was relentless.
She shrugged. “It’s obvious.”
“What cute tutor?” Grant asked.
“The one we just saw,” Amanda said.
“Really? I didn’t think he was that good-looking.”
“He’s good-looking,” I said.
Amanda raised her eyebrows at me as though I’d just proved her point.
“It means nothing,” I said. “I was just stating a fact.”
“Whatever. Imagine someone you’re attracted to.”
“Are you implying she’s not attracted to me?” Grant held his hands out to the sides, putting himself on full display. “I’m good-looking too.”
“Life lesson, Grant,” I said. “Just because someone says another person is attractive doesn’t mean they’re saying you’re not. And just because you’re good-looking doesn’t mean everyone is attracted to you.”
“This is a great life lesson,” Amanda said. “Now put your arms down.” She put one hand on Grant’s shoulder and the other she ran along his jawline. “Next, do something intimate before actually locking lips. Something that will clue the viewer into the fact that you are about to kiss so that they can prepare themselves. If you rush into a lip-lock, it can seem too sudden, which can lead to discomfort for the viewer. I’m not saying a kiss can’t be fast or look desperate. But something, even if only a beat of something, needs to precede it—connecting eyes, a sip of a breath, a touch.”
He wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her up against his chest. “Just kissing has always worked for me.”
“Then you haven’t been kissed by an expert.” She reached up and pushed his hair back, then she pressed her lips against his. And then they were kissing. I wasn’t sure if both of them were still acting or if neither of them were. But what I saw was a very convincing kiss. Maybe Amanda was right, maybe it helped to know what it felt like to kiss someone you actually cared about. If I’d never done that, could I really convince an audience I was in love?
The kiss continued, and I now felt like I was intruding on a private moment. Was I supposed to leave now? Wouldn’t that make it even more obvious that this was a setup? “Um . . . I thought you said there would be very little tongue.”
They pulled away from each other, and Grant laughed. “Sorry,” he said, though I wasn’t sure to who.
“That was good,” Amanda said, her breath quick and shallow.
“Should we try now?” he asked, holding out his hand to me.
That wasn’t exactly how this was supposed to go. I wasn’t sure how I imagined this playing out, but it wasn’t with Grant James scoring a kiss from both of us in one sitting.
“Actually, I think I got it,” I said. “That was really good info. Kissing for the first time on camera might give us an edge.”
“But, Scarlett,” Grant said, slipping into his accent. “I love you so deeply. I’m not after your father’s money.”
I plopped into a chair at his kitchen table.
Grant sat across from me, and I watched as he processed something. “Wait. You thought I was talking about me a minute ago.”
“What?” I was lost.
“When I asked if you thought I was doing this for money? You don’t think I’m getting paid well?”
“I didn’t think you were getting paid as well as you normally do.”
“I’m getting paid enough,” he said.
“But you’re really doing this for a reputation boost,” I said.
“Do you actually think this movie is going to help with that?” Amanda asked.
“People like horror. I’ve gotten out of touch with the average fan while playing Heath Hall and pumping out my multimillion-dollar movies. I’m trying to regain my core audience with an indie film. Plus, there is less running and shooting and more . . .”
“Eating brains?” I suggested.
“Cutting off heads?” Amanda offered.
He rolled his eyes. “There’s more chances for me to show heart.”
I held up a fake glass. “Here’s to hoping it works.”
Amanda joined me. “Here’s to hoping you don’t get any more bad reviews that go viral.” Her tone was light, but it immediately altered the mood.
I cringed. “I don’t think the review swayed anyone,” I said. “They either felt that way on their own or they didn’t.” I felt a need to try to save Donavan from Grant and Amanda.
It didn’t work. “You’re kidding, right?” Grant said. “If that review didn’t exist I’d be in a much better position now.”
“You’ll bounce back.”
“I wouldn’t have had to.”
I sighed.
“So really,” Grant said. “We should kiss.”
“Not happening.” I stood. “Amanda can be my stand-in tonight if you need more practice though.” I made my way to the door.
“Bye, lover,” Grant said.
Amanda walked me outside. “Thank you.”
“How was it?” I asked.
“Amazing, and I’m going to go pretend he needs more work now.” She winked at me. “See you tomorrow.”
“You’re not going to kill me when I have to kiss him tomorrow, right?”
“Of course not, because I’ll make sure he’s imagining me.”
Twenty
It was only eight, but I decided to head home. I was so used to staying at the studio as long as possible, but I hadn’t talked to my dad since Donavan told me about the classified ad he’d almost taken out. I had been avoiding him, but we needed to talk.
Our apartment complex was quiet when I parked and walked through the courtyard to our front door. Rather than dig through my bag for the key, I knocked on the door. “Dad, it’s me,” I called, my mouth close to the line where the door met the frame. He didn’t answer. Was he already asleep? It wasn’t even nine o’clock.
I swung my bag off my shoulder and to the porch, where I squatted and dug through the contents in search of the keys. There were mints and pens and hair clips and old receipts, bu
t no house keys. I searched a second and third time, only to come up empty. I didn’t have them.
I took my cell phone out of my pocket and called my dad. He picked up on the third ring. “Hello?”
“Hey, I’m on the porch. Come rescue me.”
“I would, but I’m not home. You’ll have to use your key.”
“You aren’t? Where are you?”
“I’m at Anchor.”
“The restaurant?” I paused for a moment. The fancy restaurant? “Wait. Are you on a date?”
“Perhaps. I’ll see you later, okay?”
“But wait, I don’t have my keys. I think I left them on my dresser. Yes, I’m replaying this morning step-by-step, and I see myself walking by my keys and out the door, which has led me to this terrifying moment of being stranded on the porch alone in a strange town in the dark.”
“So dramatic, Lacey.”
“Thank you.”
I could hear the smile in his voice when he said, “It wasn’t supposed to be a compliment.”
“It’s the very best compliment I can receive. So are you going to save me? Bring your date so I can meet her.”
“Do you see that potted plant by the front door?”
“Yes.”
“On the back side, just below the soil, there is a key hidden in a fake rock.”
I held my phone against my ear with my shoulder and rooted past leaves and soil until I found a rock that twisted open, dropping out a key. “You hid a key to our house right by our front door? It’s like you’re asking strangers to come and rob us or abduct me. You want me to get abducted?”
“I think you meant thank you. I’ll see you later.”
“Bye, Dad.”
The phone line went dead.
I let myself in the front door and tugged my bag in behind me. I locked the door, then put the now-empty rock and key on the counter in the kitchen. The only light came from a small bulb above the stovetop. I flipped on a few more lights, then turned a full circle, which revealed nothing new in the apartment world.
I pursed my lips to the side, scratched my forehead, and slowly made my way back to my room.
Why had I left my homework in my trailer? I’d finished the math portion with Donavan earlier but that was it. I could’ve finished history or English right now because I wasn’t tired at all. Maybe it was the nerves I was feeling about the kissing scene that was finally happening the next day. As funny as it was, I wished Amanda didn’t like Grant, because I actually could’ve used the practice. I lay back on my bed and clicked on my constellation lamp. I stayed like that for several minutes before I pulled out my phone and sent off a text to Donavan.: Can you send me a pic of my packet pages? I left them in my trailer.
