She was kept busy running back and forth between the set and the costume and makeup department to fetch various things that were needed, and continually making coffees for actors and crew.
Eventually though, she was called over by Sally who said that Francis wanted to see her about something in the offices.
She felt her heart sink at that, and her stomach tensed up a bit. Her interaction with Francis from the other day was still playing heavy on her mind, and she was hoping to be able to avoid him for as long as humanly possible.
“Alright,” she smiled tightly at Sally and did as she was told, making her way out the studio, along the corridor and into the empty office where Francis was sitting at his desk.
He looked up as she came in and smiled, standing.
“Ahh, Ashleigh. Great to see you again.” He paused expectantly, not carrying on speaking, just looking at her, and into the awkward silence, Ashleigh quickly replied, “You too.”
At this, his eyes lit up and he seemed satisfied, continuing, “I’ve got a new musical film coming up, and I was wondering whether you’d like to audition. I’ve heard you’re a bit of a singer yourself…” He smirked. “Been asking around to find out all I can about you.”
Well, that last sentence wasn’t creepy at all, Ashleigh thought to herself sarcastically. But still, an audition for a musical film sounded amazing, and exactly the right opportunity she was looking for. She felt a little charge of excitement and smiled, nodding immediately.
“That would be great. I’d love to audition, thank you.”
“Wonderful!” He clapped his hands together then sat down again and picked up a pen. “I’ll get your name down on the list, and I’ll talk to you about it very soon.”
He scribbled something down on a piece of paper and then didn’t look up at her again, leaving her just standing there awkwardly in the doorway.
“Should I uh…”
He glanced up. “Oh, yes, yes, you may go now.” He dismissed her with a little wave of his hand.
Ashleigh shook her head slightly and turned, leaving the room with a sigh and returning to the studio. She didn’t like Francis, but she would play along with him to get the opportunities she wanted.
Later that day, she was in for another surprise encounter, this time with someone much more welcome – Rico.
He came up to her at lunchtime, just after she’d finished eating and was returning her empty plates to the van.
“Hey uh…” He placed her hand on her elbow and gently pulled her to one side away from everyone else, smiling at her lopsidedly. “I was wondering if you wanted to go out again? Maybe tomorrow?”
She definitely hadn’t been expecting that. Maybe this would be one of his longer flings, not just a one-nighter. She could totally live with that. She wouldn’t say no to another round in the sack with Rico. He was amazing in bed.
“Yeah, sounds good,” she nodded positively. “Haven’t got any plans.”
“Awesome,” he grinned and winked at her. “Catch you later then.”
And then he bounced off back to his trailer with a decided spring in his step.
Ashleigh knew she was probably playing with fire here, especially since she was starting to get attached, but she was beyond caring. The more time she got to spend with Rico, the better. He was dreamy and incredible.
Chapter Thirteen
And the third ‘date,’ or whatever it was she should call it, was just as good, if not better, than the first two.
Rico absolutely insisted on paying, which was a little annoying but Ashleigh was used to it by now. Maybe if they got around to a fourth or fifth meal out, she could persuade him to allow her to cover the whole check.
It was just as they were finishing their dessert that it happened.
There was a flash of light that seemed to come through the window, as if there was a storm brewing outside which, in a way, there was.
They both turned and looked from their comfortable window seat and realized that a small hoard of paparazzi was beginning to gather outside the restaurant.
“Oh God,” Rico groaned slightly.
Ashleigh gasped when she saw them. It was the first time she’d ever had to experience something like this.
One of them approached the window again, pressing his camera to the glass and getting another snap, the flash going off in their faces.
“Move away from the window,” Rico sighed, standing up and glancing around for another table.
“The press are going to write about this, aren’t they? Oh God, do you think they got a good picture?” She began to panic. She wasn’t used to this fame lifestyle, and wasn’t sure she wanted some blurry picture of her splashed all over the tabloids in speculation over who was Rico’s latest girl.
“Shh, don’t worry about it,” he insisted, finding them another table and then ordering the waiter to fetch their desserts over so they didn’t have to go back near the window.
The waiter apologized for the press being outside and said he would ask them to leave.
“That won’t work, but I appreciate it, thank you…” Rico smiled and shook his head to himself, sighing quietly as he picked up his spoon and carried on eating.
“If the guy tells them to leave, they’ll have to go, right?”
“Like I said…they won’t listen. This is paparazzi we’re dealing with. They’re not like normal people, they’re ruthless.” He chuckled and took out his wallet to pay. “They might step back around the corner or across the road, and make it seem like they’re leaving, but as soon as we leave that restaurant they’ll rush at us out of nowhere and we’ll be surrounded.”
“That sounds terrible…” Ashleigh’s eyes widened, her heart racing a little as she looked to the window, trying to think of what they could do to escape them.
“Yeah, it’s not great,” he sighed. “But, it’s just something you have to get used to when you live a life like mine. It comes with the territory.”
She didn’t respond. She was too busy looking around the restaurant, her brain ticking over, mind whirring.
She noticed a couple of waiters coming out of the kitchen door carrying plates of food, and then slowly smirked to herself, turning back to look at Rico.
“I’ve got an idea.”
“Mm, what?” He seemed distracted too, staring over at the window anxiously.
“I’ve got an idea for how we can escape them,” she continued. “Let’s go out the back.”
He raised his eyebrows at her. “What back?”
“Out through the kitchen.” She nodded her head discreetly over to the door and Rico followed her eyes, seeing the staff members walking in and out. “Most kitchens normally have some kind of fire exit, right? That leads into some kind of alley way? At least…they do in movies.”
“And people always run through them being chased by cops or gangsters or something, right?” Rico continued, turning to smile at her.
“Exactly!”
“And that’s what you want to do?” He raised an eyebrow and sat back, folding his arms across his chest and looking at her.
“Well, if we could get out the back, we might be able to sneak off without them noticing us, or find another street we can get onto that avoids that main road or…or something. It’ll give us more of a chance of being able to avoid them at least.”
“And it’ll be fun.”
“Exactly!” She grinned wide.
“You just want to do it cause it’s exciting, don’t you?” He smirked.
She blushed a bit and smirked back, then held up her hands. “You got me.”
Rico snickered and shook his head at her, smiling wide. “You’re fun. I like that.”
“Are you up for it then?” she asked excitedly.
“Sure. Why not?” He tossed some money down to cover the cost of the food and then stood up, putting his jacket on. “Are we going to ask the restaurant’s permission if we can do this first or–”
But before he could finish speakin
g, Ashleigh had set off, running towards the kitchen door, glad that she’d chosen to wear her flats that night. Perhaps it was fate.
“Wow, okay…” Rico laughed and ran after her.
Ashleigh took the lead, bursting in through the kitchen doors much to the surprise of the staff that were working in there.
She stopped, her eyes darting around the place until she spotted the fire exit door on the opposite side, dashing towards it.
“Hey!” she heard someone shout. “You can’t be in here!”
Well, too late. They already were.
But not for long.
Her hands slammed on the handle and it flew open, and within moments they were outside, in some kind of alleyway behind the back of the restaurant.
“See? I told you!” She shot Rico a triumphant smile. “There’s always an alley.”
Rico giggled and grabbed her by the hand. “This way.” He tugged her to the right and they both started running again, hand in hand.
At the end of the alley they took a left and it led them onto another main road.
“There they are!” someone yelled.
“They’ve spotted us!” cried Rico, his legs moving faster as they picked up speed, the two of them giggling. They raced across the busy road to the sound of cars beeping, and dashed down another side street.
Then a left, and crossing another road, turning right into yet another alley way.
They kept going and going, weaving this way and that, turning corners and stopping traffic, until they had put some sufficient distance between themselves and the restaurant, and the paps, and until their lungs were aching so much from running they could barely keep going anymore anyway.
“Stop…stop…” Rico panted, so out of breath he was unable to even laugh. He let go of her hand and they both leaned their backs up against the cool brick wall, gasping a bit and taking a moment to recover.
Eventually, Rico turned to her and pinned her to the wall with his body, leaning in and crashing his lips to hers in an eager, heated kiss that she keenly returned.
She wrapped her arms around him and ran her hands up and down his body, one of his hands reaching down and groping at her crotch.
She whimpered and pushed her hips into him, then moved her own hands around to the front, palming him through his pants as they kissed, their tongues clashing and exploring each other’s mouths while their hands fumbled and touched wherever they could.
For a moment, she thought they might have been about to have sex right then and there. She certainly felt him get hard beneath her touch, but after a few minutes of sensual, hot kissing, he broke off, grinning, and stepped back away from the wall.
“Wow…” He smirked and looked her up and down. “You really are something else. You’re gonna get me into trouble.”
“Hey, I got you out of trouble tonight, mister,” she teased.
“Huh. Yeah, you did.” He offered her his hand. “I think they’ll be gone now. We should probably get back.”
“Yeah, I guess we probably should. Early start tomorrow.”
“Yeah.”
Because of their 6am call the following morning, and the fact that it was already so late, he didn’t invite her back to his hotel, but she got the impression he would have done so under any other circumstance. They were both turned on, and couldn’t stop looking at each other and touching each other as they made their way through the streets.
When he dropped her back off at her hotel, they shared another deep, slow kiss, before he waved goodbye and drove off on his bike.
Chapter Fourteen
After that evening, things between Rico and Ashleigh changed, and for the better. There was a sort of bond between them. Three dates, sex, and a chase through the streets away from the paparazzi had definitely brought them closer, and it was obvious that they enjoyed each other’s company.
Over the next couple of days, they could be seen spending more time together on set. In between takes, Rico would often come over and chat to her by the coffee and tea stall, helping himself to biscuits while they stood to one side slightly away from everyone else, and talked and laughed, shared a joke.
Ashleigh had gotten to the point where she didn’t mind people seeing them together now, because apparently Rico didn’t either, although apparently others did.
After three very fun days on set, during which she felt she and Rico were becoming very close friends, he invited her out for another meal.
She wasn’t sure where they were going with their relationship, friendship, whatever it was, but she enjoyed hanging out with him so much that, of course, she agreed. If more sex or fumbles down a dark alley way happened then so be it.
The whole time they were talking, she felt Francis’ eyes on them both, and a few minutes later, he took her to one side and explained he felt her skills would be better put to use in the office, where she started out in her first week.
“We have plenty of assistant directors to help out on the set,” he explained. “But we could really do with that extra pair of hands in the office, especially since we have a big run of script amendments coming up this next week.”
He made it sound like there was a perfectly reasonable and acceptable explanation behind him moving her, but Ashleigh couldn’t help being paranoid.
There’d been a handful of occasions where she’d caught him looking over at the two of them while she and Rico had been talking, and she could have sworn she saw a hint of jealousy in his eyes.
“That’s fine,” she smiled, and he escorted her to the office.
She could feel his eyes on him, looking her up and down as she walked.
“We still haven’t arranged to spend some time together,” he remarked as they arrived, leaning against the door frame and giving her a predatory glance.
“No, we haven’t,” Ashleigh replied vaguely, going over to her desk to see the note Sally had left for her with the work that needed doing.
“It’s important to maintain good relations with one’s boss,” he reminded her with a small smile, staring over at her. “Especially one who’s getting you some auditions.”
He wasn’t exactly being very subtle with this, but she supposed he was right. Although he was creepy, he was helping her out.
“So uh…what did you have in mind, exactly?” she asked tentatively.
“Dinner. On me. Tonight.”
Just dinner? she thought to herself. Well, that didn’t sound so bad. She could cope with dinner. It was just two professionals getting some food together and talking. It didn’t have to be anything more than that, right? It didn’t have to be a ‘date.’ The problem was, she’d literally just arranged with Rico that she’d be going out with him that night and she didn’t want to let him down, but then she had been on lots of dates with him now and this would be the second time she’d turned down Francis if she said no.
“That’d be fine,” she mumbled somewhat reluctantly after weighing up the options.
He seemed pleased, and gave her a squeeze on the shoulder. “Perfect. Wait for me after we wrap today, and I’ll take you out immediately.”
“Straight away? I…don’t you want to go home and get changed first?”
“No, I want you exactly as you are. And I’ve waited too long to wait any further.”
His impatience and eagerness was ever so slightly off-putting, but Ashleigh just smiled and agreed, then he left her to her work.
She got on with photocopying and stapling the amendments together on different colored sheets of paper, anxious to get to see Rico over lunch so she could break the bad news to him. He was sure he wouldn’t mind. There’d be plenty of other opportunities to go for dinner over the course of the shoot.
She didn’t see him in the line for the food, nor on the dining bus because of course, he ate in his trailer, but now she wasn’t so shy of people knowing the two of them were friends, once she’d finished eating, she made her way over to this trailer and knocked on the door.
He came to a
nswer it with a mouthful of food, wiping his lips with a paper napkin. His eyebrows shot up in surprise when he saw it was her, probably expecting Sally, or maybe one of the costume and makeup people.
“Ashleigh, how’s it going?” He smiled once he’d swallowed down his food.
“You wanna come in?”
“No, I’m good, I should probably get back to work anyway, it’s just…well…” She chewed her lip anxiously, then blurted it out. “I can’t come out tonight.”
“Oh…” His smile dropped and his face fell. “How come? Are you alright?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, it’s just…Francis asked me out for dinner and last time I said no so…” She trailed off, noticing that Rico looked even more disappointed now he’d heard she was ditching him in favor of Francis. “He’s hooked me up with an audition for some new musical,” she added by way of explanation, so that he didn’t think it was a date.
“Oh right, I see,” he replied, his lips tight and his expression neutral. “Well, I hope you guys have fun.”
Did she detect a hint of jealousy in there? Bitterness.
“Ugh, I just want to get it over with,” she rolled her eyes a bit, trying to make it clear that she didn’t want to go out with Francis, it was purely a business thing.
Rico nodded. “It’s cool. Maybe we can go out tomorrow…” He looked at her hopeful, and she smiled.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m sure that’d be fine.”
“Great.”
And with that, she said her goodbyes and headed back to her office, her mind in a bit of a spin as she considered Rico’s initial reaction. He’d definitely seemed disappointed. Surely, he couldn’t be falling for her as much as she was falling for him?
Chapter Fifteen
The remainder of Ashleigh’s day was fraught with personal tension and anxiety as she anticipated the meal with Francis that evening, dreading it and just hoping everything went alright. If he started being really creepy with her, she wasn’t sure how well she’d be able to cope.
She tried to keep herself busy with her work, but she was also paranoid about why she’d been moved again. She’d enjoyed herself on the set and everyone seemed to agree it was useful having that extra pair of hands. It definitely felt like Francis trying to control the amount of time she spent with Rico.
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