by G S Binkley
“Marva?” Lacy smiled.
Ryan continued. “Shanti recommended her. She’s…”
“Her niece. I know.” Lacy finished for the director. “Great. We can relive some old times.”
“Yeah.” Ryan wasn’t as thrilled as Lacy was about the new development. He had worked with Marva for several episodes of Lacy’s old television show. Marva was a professional to the extreme as an actor. It was the off-screen antics of the irascible and capricious woman that the director objected to. He went along with the decision to cast her after Shanti James heard about the other actor dropping out on the role and called her aunt. Using Lacy’s name to secure the part, Marva had immediately called Mark Calico. The director asked. “You ready?”
Before Lacy could reply, David Levine suddenly appeared out of nowhere and chimed in. “She’s always ready.” He hugged Lacy, whispering in her ear. “I can still remember when you were ready and …… willing for me…...”
She gently pushed him back. “That was before I knew…”
David cocked his head to the side in question.
Lacy leaned closer to him so only he could hear her words. “What real love is. Complete devotion. Faithfulness. And, oh yes, mind boggling sex.” Moving away from him, Lacy smiled.
Rumblings of heated fervor from her words vibrated through his body landing several inches below his beltline. He drew in a deep breath as Lacy took her place next to the bed on the set.
Hayston was immediately at this side. “David?” Shaking her boyfriend, she called to him again. “David!”
“Oh, yeah.” David turned to Ryan. It was clear that old antagonistic feelings still existed between the two one-time partners. “Where should Hayston go to see about costumes and such?”
As Ryan stood there like a deer caught in a car’s headlights, Gage experienced a very jealous twinge when Lacy had pulled her ex-husband closer, whispering in his ear.
Guess it’s time to face the music. “Ryan, Gage is expanding Devon’s character in the script.” Lacy gently inserted, preparing for an expected explosion from her director.
“Expanding? Yeah, that would be one way of saying it since the original script only had the other actors talking about an unseen Devon.” He glanced at Gage who shrugged and then he threw up his hands. “Fine. Whatever Lacy wants, Lacy gets.”
“I knew you would see it my way.” Lacy offered an apologetic kiss on the director’s cheek.
Green eyes widened. She’s offering sweet nothings in her ex-husband’s ear and now she’s kissing the director. My woman needs some loving…. and soon. Gage smiled. Me, too.
“Take her to costumes!” Ryan ordered Griff.
Chewing on some gum, Griff’s eyes roamed over the young beautiful woman. “Sure thing, Ryan. Come with me.” She said to Hayston as a sexy grin filled with confidence danced on the assistant’s lips.
Ryan and Lacy were ready to shoot the scene. David was pre-occupied with watching Lacy get into character. Gage was happy to see Griff’s attention diverted to someone else. And, Hayston had an idea pop into her head. Hmmmm…maybe I can make David jealous. Knowing that David hated the idea of losing Lacy to a woman, Hayston casually reached down and clasped onto Griff’s hand. As Griff and Hayston walked away smiling at each other, the assistant director, Michael unhappily watched them leave.
Boyd Dietrich who was playing Jordan’s boyfriend in the movie voiced his concern again. “Ryan, I think the scene would be more dramatic if my character kissed Jordan…. really hard and she slapped him before she walks out.”
“What is it today? Everybody wants something different.” Ryan’s frustration was showing as he ran his hand through his full head of hair. “What do you think, Lacy?”
She shrugged. “It could work.”
“NO!” Gage jumped past a cameraman. “That’s not the way I wrote it”
“So?” Boyd dismissed her, flopping down on the bed. “You’re just the writer. Nobody listens to them.”
Fuming, Gage stalked closer to the overbearing little man. As everyone else stood frozen in time on the set, Gage leaned down next to Boyd. “And, the producer.” She corrected him through gritted teeth. Squeezing a fist tightly, Gage figured it was her turn to whisper in a man’s ear. “This is the only thing you are going to kiss…. get it!” Seething, she stared into his dark and beady eyes. A warning sent and received between the two cut through the awkward silence on the set. Boyd had made suggestion after suggestion to change things in the script much to Ryan and Gage’s dismay. His recommendations were always an attempt to get closer to Lacy even at one point wanting to do a nude scene between the two in an earlier shot. He explained the film needed some eye candy for the audience. Eye candy your ass! Gage thought. They see your fuzzy butt and they’d all run.
Lacy stood near the two and felt the heat roll off her lover. Waiting for the expected eruption from Gage instead she watched as her partner offered her a quick glance then quietly walked off the set.
With pursed lips, Ryan said. “Guess the mood for this scene is set. Take your places.” The actors did as directed then Ryan yelled. “Action.”
As Lacy’s character walked out on her boyfriend after a heated verbal altercation during the scene, David watched intently. When Ryan called ‘cut’, David walked up to Lacy. “Kinda ironic, like when you walked out on me.”
“Twisting the truth again?” She ran a finger down his jaw line. “I didn’t walk out… I ran.” Turning on a dime, Lacy set out in pursuit of her lover.
“God, she’s one hell of an actress.” Lacy never heard the compliment that rolled off his trembling lips.
***********************
Marva DuLaine walked onto the set as if she owned it. Her entrance was always staged and she didn’t let her audience down on this day either. Just as Ryan yelled out ‘action’, the forty-six year old actress waltzed past the camera right up to Lacy. “Darling!” She kissed Lacy on both cheeks. “How long has it been? Forever?”
Ryan cleared his throat.
Turning around to greet the gray haired director. “Oh, did I interrupt something?” She stepped closer to him. “Ryan White. You are as handsome as ever.” She intently stared at the man before her. “If it doesn’t work out with my fourth husband, what’d you say we give it a try?” She flashed her hazel eyes at him, clearly devouring him with the sultry look.
“Marva. We weren’t expecting you until next week.” Lacy interjected.
The back of her hand brushed against her forehead. “You know me, Lacy too much of a good thing… and I get bored. Nick, my fourth, is just a little bit too possessive. I needed some…. space. So, here I am.” She floated back next to Lacy, offering her a look of disbelief. “Is it true?”
The younger woman cocked her head.
“You like women?” Marva smirked. “It can’t be true… you are so straight.” Bumping against Lacy’s shoulder, she continued. “Get over it. I remember when we used to troll the bars….”
Lacy’s blue eyes flared.
Slapping her hand across her mouth, Marva offered a veil attempt of apology. “Ooooppps!” Her hazel eyes scanned the movie set. “Is she here? Sorry.”
The mock grin on Gage’s face as Marva flung her thoughts across the stage grew harder. Gage crossed her arms in fury. This is great. Just great…. Boyd’s trying to get in Lacy’s pants… Griff in mine. Now, this! Can it get any better?
As the heavy tension in the air thickened with no relief in sight, Dani made her own entrance, slicing through the tension with ease. “Hey, everybody. Sorry, I’m late.” Shifting her blue eyes to her mother, she explained her tardiness. “Like it seems I’m Sammy’s first choice when you’re not around.” Her head bobbed around the set, taking in the cast and crew’s discomfited silence. “What are we doing….mime games or making a movie?”
Tension dissolved with the young girl’s words and the director took advantage of it. “You’re just in time Dani. Lacy’s having a hard time with that dance rou
tine you worked up for her.”
Cocking her hands on her hips, Dani nodded. “Figures… she was distracted when I was teaching her.” Dani shot Gage an evil look that pretended to be innocent of any wrongdoing. “Mom, shall we go over it again?” Her voice held only the slightest frustration with her mother.
“Dani. You remember Marva DuLaine.”
Marva stooped down in front of Dani, grabbing her cheeks between her hands. “Sure, she does. Oh, you are delicious. Like mother like daughter.”
Dani jerked back from the older woman. “Mom?”
“Remember when your mom and I dressed up like hookers? Now, that was a role I could really get into.” She glanced up at Lacy. “That spiked red hair of yours…. I liked my long dark locks better.” Marva stood up and elbowed Lacy. “That’s when we hit the bars….” The dark haired older woman let out an evil laugh then reeled in her staged dramatics. “It was for research!” She offered in a vain attempt to convince the cast and crew standing idly by.
The young girl found safety next to her mother. “What’s she doing here?” Dani never liked Marva much because when the over the top actress worked on her mother’s show, it seemed that Marva competed for Lacy’s attention. The older woman found reason after reason to demand her mother’s interest.
“Dani!” Lacy re-directed her attention to her old friend. “Perhaps we can get together…later, Marva. Right now, we have work to do.”
“Of course. Don’t let me stop you.”
Ryan rolled his eyes.
“I’ll find something to keep me occupied. Now….” She tapped her lips. “…where is that girlfriend of yours?” Marva had trouble on her mind and she elected herself to start it.
Michael grabbed Gage by the shirt. “Come on.”
Being jerked around took her by surprise. “What? Why?”
He led her away. “You’re going to need some ammunition if you expect to fight that…. thing.”
“She’s trouble, huh?”
“Ha! Look in the dictionary… you’ll find her picture under trouble, terror, tyrant…. and plenty more.” Michael spouted.
************************
After a quick debriefing from Michael about Marva, Gage mentally prepared for the inevitable encounter. She examined every situation that she might be confronted with. According to Michael, the overzealous actress may have made a play for David during the filming of Lacy’s show. It wasn’t that she was interested in David, it was more like Marva wanted what others had and she was jealous of Lacy. And, in an odd sense, Marva respected Lacy and wanted to be best friends so they could play together. It seemed she wanted Lacy to accompany her to parties upon parties where Marva would compete with an unsuspecting Lacy. If she could divert a male’s attention away from Lacy then it meant in Marva’s mind that she was the most desired. It fed her huge ego.
As Gage pondered the dilemma before her, someone tapped her on the shoulder. “Oh! It’s you.”
“Don’t sound so dejected.” Griff let spill a wicked little laugh. “You may end up being….” She paused long enough to get Gage’s full attention. “…dejected if she gets her way.”
“What do you mean?” Gage scrunched her eyebrows in concern.
“Marva wants…no, she demands and gets what she wants.” Seeing the growing concern in the green eyes she lusted after, Griff soothed the blonde somewhat. “Oh, she’s not into … women. Not like you and me. If you know what I mean…..” Griff crossed her arm across her chest and rested the other arm on it as her fingers played with her pouty lips. “Course you could get into me.”
Ignoring the redhead’s not so subtle remark, Gage insisted. “Tell me more. About Marva.”
“She likes to play so she’ll want company.”
“Lacy’s not like that.”
“Maybe.” Griff ran her tongue over her teeth. “She owes Marva. Some of her first commercials for television….Marva got for her. Loyalty runs deep for Lacy.” Seeing the look of dark gloom cross Gage’s face, Griff grinned in triumphant. Gotcha! “Don’t worry…. if things go…. astray for you. I’ll be waiting with open arms.”
Gage didn’t miss the flashing lust-filled smile that gleamed on the redhead’s face. This has got to end right here and now. “Griff…..” Borrowing a line from an old lover but amending it slightly, Gage continued. “…if we were the only two people left on earth, I still wouldn’t want to be with you. Okay? Got it? Lacy is the love of my life and if I should ever find myself without her…there would still be no one else for me. Ever!”
Her forceful words smacked the redhead squarely across her face. Griff never knew such rejection. It hit to her core causing a quake so fierce that Griff’s steadfast confidence of her abilities to bed anyone of her choosing began to crumble.
“Gage?” Michael interrupted. “Lacy’s looking for you.”
Gage spared Griff one last glance before rushing past the two.
Michael knew something had transpired between the two women and he noticed Griff shaking. When she suddenly turned, Griff fell into his arms, sobbing. “Take me away from here….now!”
*************************
Griff was on her sixth margarita. She insisted that Michael take her to their usual haunt at Heyduke’s bar.
Tony Kussler was about to leave when she walked in with Michael. Sensing something was up, he shoved his silent partner back into the booth. “Stay put. I may have something for you.” For the next few hours, he silently watched Griff get drunk. The woman pawed every available person there whether it be male or female.
***********************
With Griff and Michael nowhere in sight, Ryan called ‘action’ on the party scene where Gage’s newly rewritten scene had Devon - played by Hayston - make her grand entrance.
The party’s guests watched as Hayston walked through the double doors with handsome twin escorts on either side of her. Hayston waltzed up to Lacy in the scene and dispersed her own trouble for Lacy’s character in the story.
As Gage watched from a distance, she couldn’t help but see the parallels between this scene and what had transpired earlier in the day when Marva showed up. Her attention was diverted with another unwelcome tap on her shoulder. I don’t even want to know. So, she refused to turn around.
“She may be fooling the rest of them but she’s straight….. and, I should know.” Marva said just above a whisper.
Whirling around, Gage plastered an aggravated look on her face.
“Oh, did I say that out loud?” Marva marveled at herself.
Through gritted teeth, she asked. “Why should you know?”
The older woman opened her mouth to speak then let her mouth fall into a malicious smile. “A girls gotta have her secrets.”
Relieved to hear Ryan yell ‘cut’, Gage sucked in a deep breath and sharply turned away from the troublemaking woman directly en route to her lover for some answers.
***********************
“Come on. Dance with me?” Griff begged Michael. She rubbed her svelte body against his; stirring feelings in him he had tried desperately to stifle.
Michael swallowed hard and shook his head when the bartender asked if they wanted another drink.
Griff slid her leg between his as he sat on the high stool. Running claiming fingers through his thick hair, she purred. “You know what I want…what I need.” The redhead locked her lips on his earlobe and ran her tongue along its edge. Slipping a leg between his again, she purred. “I know you like it.”
Like a willing prisoner being tortured, Michael knew he wouldn’t last much longer. “Griff? Let me take you home.”
“Now you’re talking.” Her tongue scraped over his skin and down his neck where she happily nuzzled, inhaling a manly scent that was driving her crazy.
Michael stood up and she lounged against him, unsteady on her feet. “Come with me.” He directed.
Griff needed reassurance of her desire to be wanted and Michael would be just the one to shore up what Gag
e’s rejecting, hurtful words had begun to crumble. “We’ll both come alright, baby. You and me. Michael? You love me, don’t you?”
Michael knew what she was asking. It wasn’t romantic love she was looking for, it was only the love a friend could offer. It was a gift he would give her gladly. “Yes, I love you.”
It was going to be a long drive and a long night for the young assistant director. A night he would never forget and one that would haunt Griff for a long time.
************************
In their trailer, Gage was giving Lacy the third degree. She attempted to be gentle with her questioning, however, her voice rose on occasion one too many times.
“Gage! Just what are you asking?” Lacy was near aggravation herself with her partner’s insinuations.
“Marva? Who, what, where, why.”
“You forgot when.”
“I know when… on your TV show.”
“Then you know where. She played on the show a couple of times. We did a little research for our roles. Marva makes more of it than it really was. She likes to tease and vie for men’s attention. She gets a thrill out of it. Now, you know why.”
“And what?”
“What?” She allowed a small breath to escape. “We went to a couple of bars dressed sorta like….”
“The redheaded prostitute character you played.” Gage inserted.
“Yes…. that one. Nothing happened. It was interesting.” The blonde turned her head in question. “How men react to …. what you wear or how a person acts or better yet what they think about who you are. Had I been dressed differently or anyone recognized me, they would have reacted totally differently.”
“I heard she likes to play games with people.”
“Yes, that’s true.” Lacy admitted. The younger woman snuggled closer to her lover. “Sweetheart, I like Marva. Oh, she’s something else. I’ll admit that.” Gage rolled her eyes. “I can handle her. But, if you don’t want her here then….”
