Love Scene, Take Two

by Alex Evansley

  “Well,” Bennett says quietly. “We’re here.”

  Teddy shoves his phone back in his pocket and glances through the windshield. He hadn’t realized they’d stopped moving—they’re parked behind a couple of other cars toward the bottom of a roundabout driveway.

  “Oh, wow,” he says, letting his eyes adjust. “This is beautiful.”

  The Caldwells’ house looks like it’s straight out of one of those home and garden magazines Teddy’s mom keeps around his parents’ house. It’s all white brick and dark shutters, with stairs on the right side leading up to what Teddy assumes is a back deck with a great view, seeing as the lake they live on comes right up into their backyard.

  Bennett shoulders open her car door and hops out; Teddy follows, meeting her at the trunk to grab their bags. She has the liftgate open and is reaching for her rolling suitcase by the time he gets there, and regardless of the unsettled feeling lingering in his stomach over Chelsea, Teddy at least remembers his manners.

  “Here, I’ll get those,” he says, reaching for her luggage. He accidentally bumps into her as he leans in, and he pretends not to notice the way she jumps and steps sideways to give him more room.

  “Thanks,” Bennett says to the driveway, hiding behind her hat.

  “No problem.” Teddy straightens up and sets both of their rolling bags on the ground.

  “I can get mine,” she offers. Teddy’s still fumbling with both telescoping handles, but he manages to steer hers out of reach.

  “Hey—what kind of houseguest would I be if I made you carry your own luggage?” he asks, wanting to pump some of the easiness between them earlier into whatever’s settled around them now. Bennett smiles but seems distracted, which in turn distracts Teddy.

  She shuts the liftgate and locks her car, then falls into step next to him on their way up the driveway. They walk to the deck stairs off the side of the house instead of the front door.

  “Just a heads-up, my family might be surprised to see you,” she says quietly. “You’re probably going to get bombarded with questions.”

  Teddy glances over and shrugs. He can handle questions. Occupational hazard.

  “Hello?” Bennett calls out when they reach the top of the steps. It takes more effort to carry both rolling bags up than Teddy cares to admit, and he tries to be nonchalant about how winded he is when he sets them down to catch his breath.

  “She’s here!” someone yells back from the other side of the porch—right as a ginormous animal comes barreling around the corner.

  “Hey, Buddy!” Bennett drawls, intercepting what Teddy thinks is a dog. She grabs the wiggling mass of brown-and-black fur by the collar before he can get to Teddy and says, “This—is Buddy.”

  “Is that a dog or a horse?” Teddy asks. Buddy’s head comes up to Teddy’s hip.

  “He’s a Saint Bernard–German shepherd mix,” Bennett explains, letting go of his collar. The dog surges forward and smushes his face in between Teddy’s leg and his duffel bag.

  “So, a horse.”

  Bennett laughs and grabs the handle of her rolling bag before Teddy can protest, so Teddy resolves himself to scratching Buddy behind the ears with his free hand while he follows Bennett around a bend in the deck. They come to a covered porch area where a chorus of greetings ring out. Bennett’s mom is sitting in one of the four rocking chairs lined up, while her dad and her brother stand at a high table in the corner.

  “Hey, guys!” Bennett says happily. She points back to Teddy as she hugs her mom. “I brought a stowaway.”

  All eyes shift to Teddy.

  “Yeah? Who’s this?” someone asks.

  “I’m Teddy,” he says, putting on his best smile and waving. His duffel slips off his shoulder by accident and drops to the ground before he can catch it.

  Bennett sets her own bags by the deck doors and moves toward the middle of the porch. “This is Teddy,” she repeats, then gestures to the blond woman sitting in the rocking chair. “Teddy, this is my mom, Libby.”

  Mrs. Caldwell smiles warmly at him when they shake hands and says, “It’s very nice to meet you, Teddy.”

  Bennett points across the deck to her brother. “That’s Tanner.”

  “How’s it goin’, man?” Tanner asks. Teddy isn’t sure if Tanner looks older or younger than he is, but he does look a lot like Bennett. Just with a darker shade of blond hair, and scruff.

  After Teddy shakes Tanner’s hand, he looks to his right to find Bennett pulling back from hugging her dad.

  “Mr. Caldwell,” Teddy says, stepping forward. “Thanks so much for having me.”

  He claps Teddy on the shoulder when they shake hands. “Of course—the more the merrier.”

  “Are y’all hungry?” Mrs. Caldwell asks. “We’ve got pizza, or I can make you something if you want?”

  “Oh no. Pizza’s great with me,” Teddy says quickly. “Where is it? I can grab it—” But Mrs. Caldwell is already up and crossing the deck and Bennett’s telling him to sit down. Teddy takes the rocking chair next to her and Buddy plops down on Teddy’s feet. Literally. On his feet.

  It’s unsurprising that Bennett’s family is just as welcoming and hilarious as she is. Between heated-up pizza and rapid-fire conversations, Teddy learns that Tanner is a year older than him and plays on his college’s golf team. That Mrs. Caldwell has a slightly thicker variation of Bennett’s accent, giving her a kind of Steel Magnolias vibe, and likes to brag about her kids as much as they’ll let her (which is not a lot, in Bennett’s case). And that Mr. Caldwell is definitely the person Bennett gets her sense of humor from—sarcasm and all. It’s pretty similar to Teddy’s own family dynamic, now that he’s thinking about it. Minus the accents.

  “Your house is beautiful, by the way, Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell,” Teddy says between his second and third slice of pizza. Mrs. Caldwell keeps putting them on his plate, so Teddy keeps eating them. “You don’t see a lot of houses like this out in California. I’m pumped to see what the lake looks like tomorrow.”

  “We appreciate that, Teddy,” Mrs. Caldwell says. “Is that where you’re from, then?”

  Teddy nods. “Originally from Pittsburgh. My family moved out to LA right before I started junior high.”

  The cool thing about the Caldwells, Teddy finds, is that they ask plenty of questions, but only based on information Teddy volunteers first. He’s been at their house for an hour now and it’s sort of refreshing that he hasn’t been asked about his career yet. Granted, they probably don’t know who he is, but usually it’s the first thing out of people’s mouths when they meet him.

  “The Braves got swept last week again. It’s going to be a problem in October,” Mr. Caldwell says to Tanner at some point, and Teddy can’t be expected to not invite himself into a conversation about baseball.

  “Oh no,” he says, “don’t tell me I’m surrounded by Atlanta fans here.”

  Tanner comes back at him with, “Let me guess—Pirates fan?”

  “Die-hard Pirates fan,” Teddy says. He joins them at the high table and they launch into baseball, which turns out to be a great conversation despite Teddy getting distracted half the time by Bennett.

  She and her mom are in the middle of their own chat, and Teddy’s already heard Parachutes dropped at least twice. Now he’s trying to pick up bits and pieces of what they’re saying, which makes him a terrible person, yeah, but can you blame him?

  The only problem is Bennett keeps making eye contact with him from across the porch like she knows he’s trying to listen. Every time it happens, Teddy ducks his head and looks away, and then has to find his way back into the baseball conversation without making it obvious that he’s only halfway paying attention.

  “So, Teddy,” Tanner says after the second or third time Teddy misses a question because he’s looking over at Bennett. “How do you and Bennett know each other again?”

  It’s an inevitable question. Teddy should have been more prepared.

  “I, uh—auditioned for the Parach
utes movie earlier today, actually,” he says, scratching the back of his neck. “We started talking on the flight to Charlotte, and when I found out my connecting flight got canceled, she helped me out a bit.”

  There’s a pause, then Tanner’s eyes widen. “What?”

  “What?” Teddy repeats, combing back through his sentence and finding nothing that would make Tanner look this alarmed. What?

  “Mary Bennett Caldwell,” Tanner calls out, leaning around Teddy to look at his sister. “What did he just say?”

  “I didn’t hear him,” Bennett says, looking to Teddy. “What’d you say?”

  But it appears Tanner already has the answer to whatever’s going on inside his head, because a massive smile breaks out across his face. “Your movie had auditions? Does that mean it’s, like, officially happening?”

  Bennett hesitates, eyes darting between Teddy and Tanner. Then she gives her brother a rueful smile and says, “Surprise?”

  Tanner jumps out of his chair and almost sends it toppling over. “WHAT?! Are you serious? This is fucking amazing, Bennett!”

  “Language,” Mr. Caldwell snaps.

  “When were auditions? Wait, that’s why you were in LA? You told me it was for a book signing!” Tanner says, practically talking over himself. “When were you going to tell us? Wait—why aren’t you guys freaking out about this, too?” Tanner glances back and forth between his parents, looking suddenly wounded. “Mom and Dad already knew? Not fair, Bennett—you promised you were gonna tell me first if it happened!”

  Teddy’s stomach is in his throat the entire time Bennett gets bombarded with questions. He has no idea why she hadn’t told her brother yet, but he’s absolutely mortified he blew her cover.

  “I didn’t want to say anything until a budget was set and first-round auditions were over,” Bennett calmly explains. “Didn’t want to jinx it.”

  To his credit, Tanner gets over it pretty quickly and goes straight back to interrogation mode. Question after question, and Teddy desperately tries to catch Bennett’s eye to convey some kind of apology. When is it coming out? (In 2019, but they haven’t set a date yet.) Are they doing movies for the whole series? (They need to get through this one first before they start thinking about that.) Does this mean she’s moving to LA? (Nope.) Is Spielberg directing? (Again, nope.)

  And when Bennett finally does take a second to glance Teddy’s way, she throws him a subtle smirk and shakes her head at all the I’m so sorry!’s he mouths at her.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Everyone decides to turn in around midnight (once Tanner calms down about Teddy’s little revelation).

  They all file through the deck doors and walk into a high-ceilinged, open living room that connects to the kitchen. A stone fireplace takes up most of the wall to the right, bracketed by shelves overflowing with books and picture frames. It’s a trip to look at books under the same roof as someone who’s actually written one—Teddy does a quick scan and spots Parachutes and its sequel on one of the top shelves.

  There’s a staircase leading down to the basement in the back corner and a hallway leading out of the kitchen opposite it. Mrs. Caldwell says Teddy can sleep downstairs in the guest room before she and Mr. Caldwell wave good night. Tanner follows suit, rounding out of the kitchen and disappearing down the hallway.

  “Thanks again for having me, Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell,” Teddy calls after them.

  “Your room’s down here,” Bennett says, moving past him toward the back staircase.

  Teddy follows her down the steps, careful not to bang the feet of his rolling bag against the hardwoods along the way. His brain takes this time to remind him again of what an asshole he is for blowing Bennett’s cover in front of her brother. As soon as they get to the bottom of the steps and round the banister, Teddy can’t hold it in anymore.

  “Okay, holy shit—I’m so sorry, Bennett,” he grovels. “I didn’t mean to—”

  Bennett turns around immediately, like she’d been expecting it, and holds up a hand. “It’s fine, I promise. I was going to tell Tanner this weekend anyway.”

  “But—”

  “Teddy.”

  “No, I—”

  “Seriously, it’s okay,” she says. There’s humor in her eyes, but mostly shut up and stop apologizing. “I’d tell you if I were mad.”

  Would she, though? The girl is mystifying.

  “You’re over here,” she says, waving for him to follow her around a corner.

  Teddy’s definitely not done talking about this yet, and he’s expecting to have at least a hallway’s length of time to collect his thoughts. Instead he walks straight into a bedroom with lime-green walls—a little lighter shade than what’s used on film sets for special effects scenes, actually. Teddy can’t help himself.

  “Holy Chroma key,” he laughs, looking around. “So, is this where Parachutes is gonna film special effects? Or is it gonna be more of a situational thing?”

  “Movie jokes. You’re funny,” Bennett says, twirling the tied-off end of her braid around her finger. “Cell service is bad down here—I can give you the Wi-Fi password if you want. Bathroom’s down the hall.”

  Teddy crosses the room and drops his bags at the foot of the bed, then takes a seat on the duvet cover to test it out.

  “Your family’s awesome, by the way,” he says, standing up again.

  Bennett grins. “They’re a little ridiculous sometimes.”

  “You promise you’re not mad at me for telling—okay, noted,” he says when she shoots him a dirty look. He puts up his hands in defense and switches gears. “Are you guys doing anything else this weekend? Do you have a boat?”

  “We do. We’ll probably get out on the lake and float around. No concrete plans, though.”

  “Sounds nice,” Teddy says, and he’s a little surprised by how much he means it.

  “Yeah.” Bennett eyes the ceiling and takes a half step back toward the door. “Way nicer than LA, probably.”

  “Probably,” he laughs, though there’s more truth behind it than he wants to let on. Teddy hates flying back to an empty apartment to begin with, and it’ll be even worse when he gets back and has to deal with Chelsea stuff. Maybe he’ll go see his parents, now that he has no concrete plans, either. Actually wait, no—his parents are on vacation in San Francisco this weekend. Dammit.

  “All right, I think I’m gonna call it a night,” Bennett says, taking another step back.

  The distance she keeps putting between them needles Teddy a bit. Probably because he’s already thinking about how lonely LA’s going to be when he gets back tomorrow.

  “What time should I be up?” he asks.

  Bennett shrugs. “Whenever you feel like it. My dad doesn’t work Fridays in the summer and my mom has the summers off in general. Fridays are usually laid back for us.”

  Teddy perks up at an excuse to stall for time. “What do your parents do?”

  “My dad’s a lawyer and my mom’s a teacher.” Bennett starts playing with the end of her braid again and rocks back onto her heels. “My mom said something about cooking breakfast in the morning if that interests you.”

  “Yeah, absolutely.”

  “Cool. It’ll probably be around nine or so.”

  A pause follows.

  “Hey—um. Thanks again for inviting me, by the way.” Teddy scratches the side of his face, then rubs his nose. “I probably would’ve spent the night watching SportsCenter by myself in some hepatitis-ridden hotel room if it weren’t for you.”

  Bennett laughs and looks down, the bill of her hat covering her face again. “No problem. I’m just glad you don’t think I’m some weirdo stalker for inviting you.”

  “I mean … I do think that, but I wasn’t going to say anything.”

  “Fair enough,” she says lightly. “Just do me a favor and don’t out me and my Teddy Sharpe fan blog to my family at breakfast tomorrow. They’re not ready to see that side of my life yet.”

  Teddy’s jaw drops into an openmouth
ed grin.

  “So, when are you gonna give me the URL to this fan blog? I’m pumped to see it.”

  Bennett wrinkles her nose at him. “Sorry, Buzz. I like the fourth wall too much.”

  Sounds about right.

  “For the record,” Teddy says (which is oddly difficult to do with his smile going all goofy from the nickname), “those briefs you saw in my bag were a Christmas gift.”

  She nods like she totally believes him. “Sure they were.”

  “They were! From my younger sister.”

  “This is gonna make an excellent blog post,” Bennett says. “A complete guide to Teddy Sharpe’s underwear preferences. Easily viral.”

  “Easily viral?” Teddy puts his hands on his hips and turns around, pushing his ass out a little—which no doubt looks anything but viral in his khakis. Doesn’t stop him from cocking an eyebrow at Bennett over his shoulder and asking, “You think so?”

  Bennett hums as she eyes him up and down with a less-than-impressed expression. “Maybe I’ll forgo the underwear piece for a critical analysis on why Buzz Lightyear is your childhood hero.”

  “I can tell you exactly why and spare you the research,” Teddy says. “I was a clumsy kid—I took the whole ‘falling with style’ thing to heart.”

  Bennett grins like this is the best news she’s heard all week. “Stop it. You did not.”

  “My dad was the one who came up with it,” Teddy goes on, shocked he’s actually about to tell her this. “I was a clumsy kid and was pretty hard on myself about it—especially since all I wanted to do was play baseball, and I could barely make it around the bases without face-planting. Toy Story was my favorite movie growing up, so one day my dad was like, Hey, Ted, you’re just falling with style! It made me feel better.”

  Teddy leaves out the part about how the whole “falling with style” epiphany had been a pivotal moment in his life, and that he still applies it to bad days on set and botched auditions and that one time he slipped in front of Emma Stone at a VMAs afterparty and took an entire champagne tower down with him. Luckily the glasses were plastic and Teddy’s suit was rented.