He took several deep breaths and swallowed hard. He slowly made his way to the front of the room and stood in front of the projection screen.
He looked around the room. He didn’t recognize anyone in the first two rows. He didn’t know what to say. But all those eyes were staring at him as they waited for him to speak. Seth swallowed hard again.
“Good evening, everyone. My name is Seth Zimmer. Thank you all for coming.”
Seth scanned the room again, and his eyes fell upon the most beautiful, jaw-droppingly gorgeous woman he had ever seen in his life. He didn’t know who she was, but in a split second of laying eyes upon her, something inside him told him to get to know her.
He finally remembered he was in the middle of a speech. “Tonight we’re going to have a double film premiere. I figured since we were already showing the sequel, I might as well show the first film as well. There will be a five-minute intermission between the first and second films, and if you’re not already aware, there will be a reception with drinks and baked goodies after the premiere. So on behalf of myself and my fellow cast-mates, enjoy!”
Seth walked over to the wall, flicked off the lights, walked over to the cabinet beside the screen and pressed play on the DVD player and then took a seat beside Randi.
To Seth’s relief, people seemed to really enjoy the first film. All the jokes and wittiness worked well. It was as though a weight had been lifted.
When the first film ended, Seth stood to a room full of clapping people. “That’s a five minute intermission, everyone!”
The room slowly cleared out except for a few people.
Brianna came running up to Seth. “Congratulations! Well done.”
“Thank you!” Seth turned to look at Brianna, and to his surprise, there was that gorgeous woman standing beside her. He suddenly became nervous again. At this point his inner idiot had a stroke. He couldn’t talk or think straight. Seth really didn’t know what was wrong with him.
He saw beautiful women all the time, and none of them intimidated him or made him feel this way.
“Seth, this is my friend Molly. Molly Featherlite, meet Seth Zimmer.”
Molly smiled gracefully and reached out her hand. Seth couldn’t help but stare at her. Her eyes had to be the most beautiful colour he had ever seen. They were amber and mesmerizing and suited her extraordinarily well.
Finally, Brianna reached out and moved Seth’s hand into Molly’s.
Seth realized he was shaking hands with her. “Uh, hi, hello!”
“Hi, Seth. Great film, by the way. Funny.”
“Thank you.” There was a moment of silence. “So you’re friends with Brianna? Where did you two meet?”
“At college.”
The room slowly started filling back up.
“I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but will you excuse me? I should start setting up the other film.”
“Sure, absolutely. We can talk at the reception.”
“I would love that!”
All through the last film, Seth couldn’t help but think about Molly. He didn’t know why, he even thought it was a bit strange.
And in with keeping her word, Molly took a seat beside Seth at the reception.
“I’ll be honest. I find when people set out to make a comedy, it often sucks. Even though it may have a decent storyline, the comedy usually gets lost in translation due to the actors’ interpretation and delivery. But your films were awesome! You sure know your stuff.”
“What do you do?” he asked her.
“At the beginning of my college career, I dabbled in journalism. But for right now I have steady work at the body shop in the mall. And you?”
“I own Digital Studios Media House.”
Molly was really surprised by this. “You own your own business?”
“Sure do. You didn’t know that?”
“No, I had no idea. That makes sense. So how many films have you done?”
“I’ve worked on a total of 16 films thus far, four of which I wrote and directed. The remaining 12 I co-wrote, produced and edited.”
“Wow, impressive! You must be really good at what you do.”
“I don’t like to toot my own horn …”
“Ah, please. Don’t be so modest.” Molly was quiet. “If someone was interested, how would one join a production of yours?”
“Are you interested?”
“If the right screenplay came along I would be.”
Seth and Molly spent the remainder of the evening deep in meaningful conversation. That was so weird to Seth. Truth be told, when Keri broke up with him, the good-natured, kind and decent man Seth was died.
Seth became hard and mean toward women, and his heart became as cold as ice. For the past four years Seth considered himself a woman-hating zombie. Yet something about Molly started to defrost his cold heart. He didn’t want to be this way anymore. Molly was starting to bring up feelings in Seth he had long forgotten.
At ten-thirty Molly looked at her cell phone and gracefully excused herself, as she had to go to work the next day. As Seth watched Molly exit the room he started feeling sad. For some reason he had the feeling he was never going to see her again, unless he did something about it.
When Seth got home, he started developing his next film, one that was going to star Molly Featherlite.
The only trouble was, what kind of film? He didn’t know Molly that well and didn’t know her preferred genre. He hopped onto his computer, opened YouTube and began looking at amateur films and genres. He came across a few great amateur films, but the subject matter was about drugs. Seth thought for a moment. A film about drugs? That would take him way out of his comfort zone.
He had never made a serious film like that before, with such a sensitive subject matter. He was used to making screwball comedies. He knew if he did a film like that, there would be swearing, drinking, hardcore drug abuse and nudity. He didn’t even know if Molly would be interested. But then, he thought, maybe she would do it for the right cause. Maybe he could convince Molly that he was making a film like this for an anti-drug campaign film festival the city was hosting.
Seth then started feeling bad. He didn’t want to lie to this gorgeous woman. He just wanted to see her again.
Seth figured the only way such a beautiful woman like Molly would be interested in hanging out with someone like him would be for filmmaking. He seriously doubted he could land a woman as sexy as Molly on his own merit. The decision was made. Seth would write a film about drugs in hopes of getting closer to Molly.
After researching and planning, on September 23, 2013, Seth began writing what he knew would be his greatest film. And by October 11, Seth completed a 50-page screenplay.
All he had to do now was contact Brianna.
The two met the next day.
“You sounded excited over the phone, Seth. What’s up?”
He reached into a large cloth bag, pulled out the screenplay and placed it on the table. “This is my new film.”
Brianna opened the script and began reading. “Do you want me in it?”
“Well, I was thinking you could be the casting director.”
Brianna thought for a moment. “Casting director? What does that consist of?”
“You’d be the person who finds people for the film.”
“Really? How many people do you need?”
Seth counted. “The lead female and male, the sister of the lead female, the drug lord and the bodyguard. Five people total.”
“I’ll play the sister of the lead female, if that’s okay.”
“Fine.”
Brianna read the last few lines of the first page and said, “Hey, I know the perfect woman to play the lead female! Do you remember Molly from your premiere? I’m sure she’d love to do this film.”
Seth smiled wickedly as
his plan slowly started to come together.
On October 18, Seth, Brianna and Molly planned to meet at seven-thirty at Will’s Fresh Café to discuss the film. Seth arrived at six-thirty.
When he arrived, he was nervous. He started thinking how much of an idiot he was. All this lying and deception just to see a woman he only met once. What if she didn’t like the script? What if she turned down this opportunity?
While deep in thought, Seth received a text from Brianna.
Hey, Seth, Molly is still meeting you for seven-thirty, and I’ll be there at eight. See you then.
Seven-thirty rolled around, and Molly was nowhere in sight. Seth figured she’d try to be there early, but then he figured, as long as she actually showed up, he didn’t really care when she got there.
At eight o’clock Molly and Brianna still weren’t there yet. At this point Seth thought he’d been stood up by both women, but then he looked around and saw Molly across the room, and their eyes locked. Seth smiled.
“Hey, Seth!” Molly shouted from across the room. “Want me to move over there?”
“Sure!” Seth shouted back.
Molly gathered her things and made her way to Seth’s table.
“You weren’t waiting long I hope.”
“I’ve been here since seven,” she said.
“Oh God. I’m so sorry.”
“Please don’t worry about it.”
Seth and Molly exchanged a look.
“Would you like a coffee or tea?” he asked.
“A chai tea latte would be nice.”
“Great, be back in a flash. But in the meantime.” Seth reached across the table and slid the screenplay in front of her. “Why don’t you take a look at the screenplay until I get back.”
Molly opened the script and began reading as Seth went off to get her beverage.
A few minutes later Seth returned and placed Molly’s tea in front of her.
“So, tell me about this film.”
“Well, let me just come right out and say that a film about drugs isn’t my usual cup of tea. I’m only doing it because I believe in the cause.”
“Cause?”
Seth sipped his coffee and then took a deep breath in the hope that Molly would fall into the web he was about to weave.
“You see, as I own my own business in the multimedia industry, the city keeps me up to date with local film festivals. So when I got home from my premiere that night, I checked my e-mails, and sure enough, I received an e-mail from the city about a film festival on the subject of an anti-drug campaign.”
There was a pause as Molly continued to read the script. Finally, she looked up at Seth and smiled. “Wow, this is pretty intense.”
“Again, it’s not my usual type of film. But being a progressive filmmaker, I’m willing to step out of my comfort zone.”
Just then Brianna sat down beside Molly. “Sorry I’m late, but I had some personal business to attend to first.”
Molly was deeply fixated with the screenplay.
“I see you can’t put that down, Molly. What do you think?”
Molly forcefully drew her eyes away from the script and looked at Brianna. “I like it, I really like it.”
Molly turned to Seth. “You know what? Yes, I’m in. I’ll do it.”
Seth smiled. “Really, you’re in? You’ll do it?”
“I’m definitely in, and I’m looking forward to it.”
“Yes! Thank you!”
Molly continued to read the screenplay for another few moments and then looked up at Seth. “Do you have any idea who you want to play the main male lead, or is it still too early in the game?”
“No, it’s not too early. It’s never too early. But on this film, casting is not my department. I elected Brianna as the casting director.”
Molly turned to Brianna. “Do you know who I think would be a great male lead? Do you remember that guy from college, Mort? Mort Singerman?”
Brianna thought for a moment. “Oh, oh yeah. Yeah, I think Mort would be perfect.” Brianna chuckled and then said, “You know who would be the perfect drug lord? A guy from college as well, Brian Levinson.”
“Ah, perfect! And for the drug lord’s bodyguard, Josh Heatherbaulm.”
Molly gracefully turned to Seth. “Well, it looks like your film is potentially cast. All we have to do now is approach these people and ask them. So assuming everything goes to plan, how long do we have to cast them? And what’s the next step after that?”
Seth said, “Well, because we are on a tight schedule, I’d say, if possible, have these people cast no later than October 25. And at the extreme latest, October 31. Then the next step after that is to have you guys sign your contracts and then move onto our table read and preproduction. Then finally we move into production.”
The contracts were signed and casting was completed on October 31. Seth couldn’t believe how smoothly things were going.
He knew this was going to be his greatest film. At this point it wasn’t enough for Seth just to see Molly as friends. Seeing her as often as he had over the course of the month was nice, very nice, but it started transforming into something deeper, something Seth could hardly contain.
For the first time in four years, Seth Zimmer was falling in love.
After the second table read at Will’s Fresh Café in the second week of November, everyone except for Seth, Mort and Molly had left. They were getting to know one another. They enjoyed each other’s company.
Molly received a text message. “Hey, Seth, when does this place close?”
“Ten o’clock. Why?”
“Just wondering, Thomas wants to come over and see me for a bit, is that okay?”
Who the hell was Thomas? And why after knowing Molly for almost a month was his name just coming up? “Sure.”
Molly excused herself from the table, and Seth turned to Mort. “Who the hell is Thomas?”
Mort gave Seth a strange look, a look as though Seth should already know the answer. “Are you kidding me? You don’t know who Thomas is?”
“No—should I?”
Mort chuckled. “Thomas Demur is Molly Featherlite’s boyfriend.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Yeah, a real asshole too.”
Seth sighed with disappointment. He feared for the future of his film at this point. He didn’t want to continue if there was no chance at potentially getting into a relationship with Molly. Now he felt as though the past two months had been a complete and utter waste of time.
Mort continued. “He treats Molly horribly. He’s in my accounting class at school and nobody likes him. We all call him the psycho killer.”
“Why?
“Because he always has a look of hatred on his face and has outbursts of anger and rage at school—mind you, that’s due to his Asperger’s.”
“He has Asperger’s? Why would a normal, decent woman like Molly date a person like that?”
“You mean a jerk? Molly can date whomever she wants. He’s not treating her like crap because he has aspergers, he’s treating her like that because he’s a creep. I don’t know, man, to each their own, I guess. But I’ll tell you, a few other of her friends and I are quite seriously worried for Molly’s well-being.”
“Oh?”
“Thomas has never smacked her around but has given her nasty bruises from grabbing her too hard. We’re afraid that one day he’s going to kill someone, if not Molly. Hence the nickname psycho killer.”
Molly returned to the table. “Anything interesting happen while I was gone?”
Mort and Seth shared a look.
Mort cleared his throat. “No, not particularly. Just talking about the film.”
Seth stared at Molly. He was obsessed now and wanted to know why she was dating someone like Thomas. Did she have some sort of syndro
me too? If Thomas treated her that poorly, why didn’t she just leave him?
Molly seemed smarter than that. But now it all made sense. Now Seth knew why Molly was keeping her relationship behind locked doors, and why her relationship status on Facebook was marked as single. Molly was ashamed of her relationship with Thomas. It was a relationship that didn’t work. Seth figured he still had a chance with her, so the film could proceed as planned.
When Thomas arrived, Molly’s personality quickly changed. The fun and wild woman dried up. She reminded Seth of a deer frozen in headlights, and he didn’t like that.
Thomas sat down and stared at everyone for a moment. The look of hatred on his face made everyone uncomfortable.
Seth turned to Mort, and Mort gave Seth an “I told you so” look.
“So,” Thomas said. “You’re Seth?”
It took Seth a couple of moments to realize Thomas was talking to him. “Uh, yes, that’s me.”
“A filmmaker, eh? Man, filmmaking is a dead art; move on.”
Seth’s eyes became narrow slits and he filled with an anger like never before.
Molly quickly interrupted. “Uh, Thomas, was there something important you wanted to see me about? Or did you just come by to insult my friends?”
“I have a job interview tomorrow morning, and I wanted to stop by and get a good luck squeeze from my number one. But since we’re in public, a kiss will suffice, unless you want to sneak off to the bathrooms?”
Molly reached out and pulled Thomas forward and gave him a kiss.
Seth’s blood pressure rose higher and higher, and anger raced through his body as he watched Molly kiss this disgusting creature.
What is this feeling? Seth thought. It had to be jealousy, and if it was, that just confirmed Seth’s love for Molly.
Molly finally released her grip on Thomas. “There you go—good luck tomorrow.”
Thomas chuckled. “Nah, it ain’t me who needs the luck. It’s you guys who need it more.” Thomas got up and left.
Molly looked embarrassed. “I’m so sorry about that.”
“My God. What do you see in that man?” Seth asked.
Growing Pains Page 15
