Just Friends?

by K E Osborn

  “Well, give me ten and then I’ll make love to you the old fashioned way. See which way we like better,” I tease with a smirk.

  “Well, it’s better to be sure and the only way is to test all possible positions. It’s a tough job, but we’ve got to do it, for the sake of mankind and all,” she says sarcastically making me laugh.

  “Well, if it’s for the sake of mankind, then we’d better get to it,” I approve and lean over to kiss her strongly.

  ~ KAT ~

  I eventually come down from the high of making love to Will again today. It’s like we can’t get enough of each other. I rest my head on his chest while he tenderly kisses my head. Slowly, I pull away and roll onto my side next to him. He places his arm around me and pulls me tightly to him.

  “Fuck! I fucking love you,” he says and then kisses my forehead.

  “How romantic,” I say with a giggle.

  “Sorry, I have trouble expressing myself around you. I love you! Is that better?”

  “Much.”

  “And that strip tease you did… ” He exhales. “You can do that anytime you like.”

  “I don’t know how, but you make me feel much better. It’s probably all the sex,” I say through a smirk.

  He smiles. “Anytime.”

  “We’d better get some sleep because we have to be filming again in… ” He checks his watch, “six hours.”

  I nod and pull the covers over us and he pulls me to him. My head hits his chest and I fall into a deep sleep.

  Bang. Bang.

  “Mr. Sanders, Miss Barrett! Are you in there?”

  I’m ripped awake with the sounds of someone at our door. I shake Will.

  Jeez, we slept in again.

  “Thanks, Tanya. We’ll be right out,” I call out.

  “You’re late; they’re waiting for you in hair and makeup.”

  We hurriedly get out of bed and throw on our clothes.

  “Thanks, Tanya.” He yawns and stretches.

  “What time is it?”

  “Five in the morning. It’s stupid o’clock,” he says while pulling on his track pants.

  “I’ll never get used to these early starts.”

  We make our way to the studio and then go our separate ways for makeup and costume. He winks at me as we walk away from each other. Last night was kind of a revelation to me; I didn’t know how much he truly loved me until I saw the panic in his eyes when he thought that I couldn’t be with him anymore. I’m thankful he talked some sense into me about the paparazzi. Maybe I need to grow a thicker skin and ignore them.

  I sit in the makeup chair and get plastered with Spakfilla all over my face. It’s amazing how my reflection is me, but I look like someone completely different. Once finished, I walk on set where I’m about to have a fight scene with the vampire who’s bitten Zaylie’s brother. It’s a pretty full on scene and it’s my first attempt at a fight sequence. I’ve been doing lots of practice with Jed, the actor who plays the vampire, but I’m still nervous that it won’t look realistic enough.

  “Action,” Wildon calls out and I run forward stake in hand towards Vladimir. He grabs hold and throws me. I fly through the air on a cable suspension.

  “Cut,” Wildon calls out.

  Wow, that was actually really fun, flying through the air like that.

  “Well done, Kat. Jed, that looked great,” Wildon says, walking off to set up for the next scene.

  We get to the end of the day and there’s one scene left to film. It’s the finale of the first Nightwalker’s movie where Zaylie and Cohen confess their love for each other. I walk up to Will and smile; I haven’t seen him all day, and it’s nice to see him. He takes my hand and squeezes it tightly, then lets it fall. A simple gesture to show me he cares. I get into position to film the scene I practiced so long ago, first with Olsen and then with Will. He moves into position in front of me and stares straight into my eyes. I feel, as always, completely overwhelmed with lust for him.

  “I’ve missed you today,” he whispers in my ear and then stands on the marker.

  “Action.”

  “I don’t even know who you are anymore Cohen. He was my brother! How could you?” I ask while tears flow uncontrollably.

  “Zaylie, don’t you understand, once he was bitten, he’s no longer one of us? He turned and nothing, not even your love could save him.” Will pulls me into his arms so I am firmly against his chest. I pound on it frantically pretending he’s just told me he’s cheating on me so I can draw inspiration from it. Even I think my acting in this moment is real, but he won’t let me go.

  “Zaylie, I know how it feels to lose the only family you have left. Remember, that’s why I became a hunter in the first place? Zaylie, don’t fight me. I… I love you.”

  I stop pounding my fists against his chest and my tears dry up. I look into Will’s eyes and he places one hand on either side of my face while we continue to stare at each other. I know he can feel it too, that lustful surge between us, that panty dropping feeling that’s always there, while we stare at each other for what seems like an eternity.

  He leans down and we kiss passionately. The kiss feels like we haven’t seen each other for months and we’ve just come back together. My tongue entwines with his and his passion is evident as his hand moves from my face to my ass. He pulls me so close to him that my whole body is touching his, there’s absolutely no space between us. I’m completely lost in the moment, my hands fist in his hair and I kiss him back with so much passion, making sure I let everyone know he’s mine and I truly am his.

  “Cut.” I hear but don’t pay any attention to it and neither does Will as we continue to kiss. Eventually we realize that we have an audience. Everyone has stopped and is watching while we continue to be lost in each other. I open my eyes because I feel people staring at me, only to see the entire cast and crew gawking at us. I take my lips away from Will and can’t help but look down to the ground.

  “Oops,” Will says making me laugh. He lets me go and looks around at the people who are staring at us, smirking like they’ve just witnessed a shocking secret.

  Wildon walks over clapping and laughing. I gulp as I take a step away from Will. If I keep up the close proximity to him, I won’t be able to control myself.

  “Amazing! You two are amazing! The chemistry between you is electrifying. I was so sure if I didn’t yell cut you two would be on the floor, fucking,” he says making us both laugh as an element of what he said is true.

  I wonder if he’s figured out that we are together as a couple?

  I look at Will and he smiles as Wildon walks over and pulls us both in for a group hug.

  “You two are going to make this movie a smash at the box office,” he says.

  We both laugh as I think we may have gotten away with it. The rest of the production crew is still watching us as we both try not to give ourselves away.

  “So now, I’m going to talk seriously to you both,” Wildon says making me instantly tense up. I look at Will who shrugs as Wildon walks with Will under one arm and me under the other.

  “So we know,” he says abruptly.

  My heart stops, I’m sure of it. “You know?”

  “Oh, of course we know. You two share a trailer and both sleep there. Of course, we know,” he says with a smile. “We can’t stipulate who you can and can’t see, but the chemistry you guys showed in that scene, well, we need to keep that up. So, if something happens and you two fall out, we need to keep that intensity going throughout the next three films. Do you get what I’m saying?” Wildon asks when we stop at the coffee machine.

  All of a sudden I feel like I’m being told off by my parents.

  “Also, we’d like you to keep this ‘thing’ you two have on the down low. As you know, Will, you’ll be looked at as the hot, young guy in this movie and the fans will want to think you’re single and available. If you know what I mean?”

  “Yes, I know what you mean. We’ve spoken with Patty about this and she said
the same thing. We’re trying our best to keep our relationship under wraps,” Will says, looking at me to make sure he’s saying the right thing.

  I nod and exhale.

  Why do I suddenly feel like my relationship with Will is a bad thing?

  I hate feeling this way…

  “Good. At least we’re on the same page with this then. That’s what good actors are made of. To be honest, we don’t care what you two get up to on your down time, just don’t get caught. Okay?”

  We both nod.

  “Excellent, that’s a wrap for today. Only another week and we’ll be finished filming,” he says walking off.

  Phew, thank God he’s gone. I’ve never felt more awkward about anything in my life.

  Will comes over and wraps his arm around my shoulders and plants a kiss on my temple.

  “Well, at least we don’t have to hide it on set anymore,” he says making me smile.

  “Yeah, that will make being able to see you a little easier.” I lean into him and wrap my arms around his waist.

  ~*~

  A week later filming has wrapped on the first Nightwalker movie. Now, all we have to do is wait until they’ve edited and added the special effects, and then we’ll be able to watch it in its entirety. I honestly can’t wait to see it. Previews and fan-made clips are surfacing all over the internet and it looks like it’s going to be big... very big. We sit in our trailer for the last time, on our bed, just holding each other.

  “Everything will change now, won’t it?”

  He smiles at me and kisses my head. “Yeah, it probably will, but I know one thing that will never change,” he says.

  “Oh, and what’s that?”

  “My love for you, Kat. Things are going to get hectic when this movie is released and we’ll be doing publicity for the film, which will include interviews and appearances and we’ll have to work really hard at keeping our relationship a secret. Are you ready for all of that?” he asks almost hesitantly.

  “I think so. I’ve been working on the idea of being known to the public and I guess it still scares me, but knowing that I have you there by my side helps, even though you won’t be able to touch me or anything when we’re in public.” I’ve been working with Patty to try and combat my fear of publicity and I guess it isn’t as bad as I thought it’d be. Well, so far anyway.

  We take a last look around our trailer and then gather our things to move back to his house to see our friends before we have to leave for the press junkets. I stand up and walk toward the door, taking my bags with me. Will turns to look around the trailer one last time. This place felt like we were living together and we both loved it. I stop and Will walks over to me and kisses me hard on the lips.

  “I’ll miss this place. It has some great memories,” he reminisces taking my hand.

  “I know. I’ll miss it too, but just think in a few months, we’ll be back filming again so we’ll have another trailer to make our little home away from home,” I say making him smile.

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  We exit the trailer and walk over to the car, placing our belongings into the trunk. We start our short drive back to Dan’s house. Pulling out of the gates of Universal Studios, we see a few black vans parked on the other side of the road. I watch in the rear view mirror and see them pulling out into the traffic and following us down the freeway to Dan’s house.

  “We’re being followed,” I say as nonchalantly as possible.

  Will looks in the rear view mirror. “Great,” he huffs and he starts to drive a little faster.

  We pull up at the house and Will quickly races to get our luggage from the trunk. A van skids to a halt in front of us and paparazzi jump out. Will makes his way to me and places one hand at the small of my back and with his other he carries our luggage toward the house. The flashes go off and the yelling starts.

  “So you’ve finished filming. Can you tell us; is this the start of your romance?”

  “Are you guys living together now?”

  “Kat, is it true that you are pregnant?”

  What?

  I laugh at the last question while Will leads me to the door. He puts his keys in the lock and the flashes continue. He ushers me inside and then follows behind.

  “Have a good day guys,” Will calls out and then shuts the door.

  Olsen and Charlie are on the sofa, watching as we enter.

  “More paps?” Olsen asks.

  “Yep,” Will says while he places our bags on the floor.

  Charlie comes running over and almost jumps on me as she hugs me so tightly. “I missed you, Kat,” she says swinging me from side to side in an embrace. “I’ve been stuck with Olsen and football with no girlie time at all.” She lets go of me and holds me at arm's length.

  “What about Brooke?” I ask a little confused.

  Have they fallen out?

  “Hmm, she’s a little preoccupied,” she says, looking toward Dan’s bedroom door. And as if on cue, we hear a squeal and a laugh coming from that general direction.

  “Oh, I see,” I snicker.

  “When did that happen?” Will asks.

  “Not long after you guys started filming. They’ve practically been in that bedroom for the last three months, only coming out to eat or go to the bathroom,” Charlie says. I instantly feel bad that I wasn’t there for her. I know Olsen isn’t much fun to be around.

  Speaking of Olsen, why is he staring at me again, the frickin’ freak?

  “Will, you were saying you might need to hire security for when you do your publicity events?” Olsen asks finally removing his eyes from me and looking firmly at Will.

  “I was thinking about it, for me and for Kat,” Will says looking toward me.

  “Right, well, I was thinking, what about me? You know I did that stint as a bouncer at that bar across town and, obviously I’d be heaps cheaper than an actual security guard. What do you think?”

  I look at Will with a don’t-you-dare stare, but being male he doesn’t understand.

  “Okay, cool, and will you protect both Kat and I?” Will asks while I huff.

  “Yep, both of ya,” he says, puffing out his chest.

  Whatever!

  “Okay, deal. No, wait, how much do you want for it?” Will asks.

  “I don’t know, say free booze, food and accommodation paid for, and I’m all yours,” Olsen says.

  I look at Charlie, who’s staring at Olsen with raised eyebrows. Obviously he doesn’t care about what she thinks, because he’ll be away on these press junkets for months and he clearly hasn’t asked her if she’s okay with him leaving. She looks mortified and I can’t help but feel sorry for her.

  “Deal! Yes! That’s one thing I can get off my mind about this publicity tour, but I’ll pay for some security training, just so you’re right up there with the latest methods. I need Kat to be completely safe,” Will says as he walks to our one-seater chair. I smile at him knowingly and he pats his lap when he sits. I sit in his lap and cradle myself into his chest. I can’t help but notice that the blinds are drawn and it’s very dark in here, obviously to keep out the prying eyes of the paparazzi.

  After we order in pizza and the poor delivery driver is stunned by the massive crowd of photographers outside, Will and I head to bed.

  Yes, it’s probably bad that I’m staying over, but I’m so tired and I can’t be bothered fighting with the paparazzi to get back to the bungalow. I flop down onto Will’s bed and he lies next to me. We’re both so tired we pull the covers up, cuddle and go to sleep without our usual lovemaking.

  ~ WILL ~

  It’s time for us to leave for our press junket. The movie has wrapped up and the publicity surrounding us is ridiculous.

  First stop is to watch the movie in its entirety. I know Kat is majorly excited, but I think it’ll be weird watching ourselves. Kat, Olsen and I say our farewells to Charlie, Brooke and Dan as we leave the house. We’ve stayed there the entire two months since we got back from filming, so
rumors of our relationship are rife. It was a bad move, but I couldn’t bare to be away from her. She is my life and means everything to me.

  Charlie starts crying and Brooke consoles her. I actually feel a little sorry for her because her best friend and her boyfriend, if that’s what you call Olsen, are leaving for God knows how long and she’s left here to be a third wheel with Dan and Brooke. I walk over and give her a hug.

  “Charlie, I’m sorry for stealing them from you, I promise they’ll both come back to you.”

  Kat hugs Charlie once more and then we open the door to bright lights and flashes and very loud yelling and screaming.

  Crap! Fucking hell, this is shit!

  Olsen walks in bodyguard mode with his arms outstretched so we can easily walk to the car. “Move along, there’s nothing to see here,” Olsen calls out.

  We both laugh, he looks fucking ridiculous. He gets into the driver’s side of the car and I sit in the front and Kat takes her place in the back. We need to try to keep up the façade that we are not together. Olsen starts the car and the flashes are blinding, but worse than that is the mob around the car.

  All I can think is that I hope Kat is alright in the back seat and not frightened, I hate that I can’t comfort her.

  We head over to the Studio to watch the movie. Kat is beyond excited as we walk into the small screening room. The other cast members and crew are already there. We walk toward the front and sit next to Wildon, the Director, and Skipp, the Producer.

  “So, kids how are you feeling?” Skipp asks.

  First thing I think is… I’m not a kid, but I restrain myself.

  “I’m very excited,” Kat blurts out; she jumps a little in her seat making me laugh.

  She’s so fucking adorable.

  The lights dim and the screen rolls into life. Kat rests her hand on the armrest between us and I gently rest my hand on top of hers lacing our fingers. I watch a smile light her face while she stares at the screen. I keep watching her; I’m more interested in her reactions than in the actual movie.

  I’m fucked; I’m so totally fucked when it comes to her.