by Dark Angel
Chase: And they did it in full view of the cameras, even going so far as to wave at times to the travelling pool of photographers.
Nadia: To be fair, it was only Alberta that was waving. Kane seemed to be not having as great a time. Mostly because he was probably being followed by photographers for the last several days.
Chase: Right. We all remember that jog he took shirtless on the beach for several miles that wore out the entire press corps that was following him.
Nadia: Anyways, so this is really major breaking news, folks! The network realized it was more important and more people would want to know so they interrupted the regularly scheduled coverage of the North Korean nuclear crisis to talk about Kane and Alberta.
Chase: Correct. They even roused us out of bed.
Nadia: Good thing we weren't actually in the bed.
Chase: That's right audience. We weren't actually in the bed. We were on the sofa. Fucking.
Nadia: Yup. It's a good thing Chase came when he did. Although, Chase, I gotta say, I didn't really have much time to clean up before we got on the air.
Chase: Me either. I'm lucky that I just had to put my dick back in my pants.
Nadia: Meanwhile I have your cum dripping down my legs, dear.
Chase: Would you like me to scoop it up so you can lick my finger, babe?
Nadia: Nah, let's just let it fall to the floor.
Chase: I mean, someone could slip and fall. The studio could get sued.
Nadia: True, but we have breaking news to cover. We're much too important right now. The eyes of the nation are watching us as we fulfill our journalistic duties to the public.
Chase: You heard it audience. Live breaking news that Kane and Sasha may not actually be the item that we thought they were. And that rather the romance is blooming between Kane and Alberta.
Nadia: This will surprise a lot of inside industry experts, that's for sure, Chase.
Chase: I don't doubt it. Mostly because it's been widely reported that Alberta has had an unsuccessful experience trying to seduce Kane once in the past already.
Nadia: Right. But it could be that she finally got her way with him. Do you think they're sleeping together?
Chase: No. But it is probably true that he's fucking her.
Nadia: Ah. So no sleeping?
Chase: Nope. I wonder how it will affect the ratings. Considering Sasha and Kane are the favorite pairing in a head to head matchup when viewers are asked who they would rather see Kane with.
Nadia: We'll see. Stay tuned for our continuing live coverage of this breaking news. And as always, we'll be around after the next heart-stopping moment of...
VOICEOVER: Manhattan Reign
Sasha
“Now this is what I’m talking about!”
Rubbing the palm of her hands together, Laurel marches into the kitchen and, closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath. “The smell of sushi. Glorious,” she whispers, opening her eyes and looking at the large tray of sushi I’ve set up on the granite counter of our new kitchen.
“I still can’t believe we went from microwave pizza to having sushi delivered at our door,” I tell her, running my hand over the counter and looking around. Compared to the old kitchen in our old apartment, this one feels like something out of a Manhattan Reign set. Better than it, actually, since we don’t have to use CGI to have a view.
“Not just any sushi. This is quality sushi,” Laurel corrects me, walking toward the counter and gazing at the sashimi slices lined up around the tray.
“And expensive as hell,” I whisper, looking at the bill tucked under the tray. Moving fast, she snags the bill and crumples it in her hand.
“Dinner’s on me, girl. Don’t you worry about bills today,” she tells me, and I just smile at her. Even though she doesn’t earn as much as I do (well, she doesn’t even earn a quarter of what I do, now that I’m part of the Manhattan Reign cast), she still wants to pitch in and help pay the bills.
When I told her I had my eyes set on a new apartment, her first reaction was a simple (and sad) “oh.” You see, she thought I was moving out and leaving her behind. Of course, I’d be crazy to do something like that; Laurel has been my best friend for ages, and living the single life without her is the last thing on my mind.
When I invited her to live with me, she then got pretty excited about it. But when I showed her the apartment I had in mind, her expression turned sad pretty fast. “I can’t afford this,” she only whispered, and I just squeezed her shoulder and kissed her cheek. “Where one goes, the other follows,” I told her. I also told her that she’d have to sign a contract with her own blood and sell me her soul, and that definitely helped to brighten up her mood.
So that’s us now, living in a three-bedroom apartment in downtown Manhattan. Top floor, great view over the city, and not a single creaky floorboard in the whole apartment. Sure, we’re not living at One57 or anything as crazy as that, but this is definitely a nice improvement from our ratty old apartment.
“You could've invited Kane over, you know?” She says out of the blue, looking at me with a devious expression. “You still haven’t showed him how great your new bedroom is? I think he’d definitely love that big, comfy mattress you got in there…”
“Oh, come on,” I laugh, feeling the burn of boiling blood on my cheeks. “I can’t bring him here. It’d be too much of a risk.”
“Well, the whole thing is kinda risky, isn't it? But you're having fun, I guess...I can see it by the look on your face. I guess Kane really knows how to use his big —”
“Ah, Laurel! Stop!” I laugh, taking our chopsticks out of their wrappers. Snagging a slice of sashimi out of the tray, I put it into my mouth and close my eyes, savoring it. Yeah, this definitely is an improvement over microwave pizza.
“No, I won't stop. You're a soon-to-be world famous actress, dating one of the most eligible bachelors in the word...At least allow me the courtesy of living through you,” she sighs.
“Oh, cheer up! You'll find a hot producer and —”
“Even if I do, I doubt he'll be as hot as Kane. He has that whole daddy thing going on, you know?” She continues to say, going trough the sushi tray so fast I can barely keep up. “And you definitely like that, don't you? You slut!”
“That’s really mature of you,” I frown, even though I know exactly what she means. Kane’s old enough to be my father, but he still appears as if he’s in his thirties...More than that, he’s charming enough to make any woman’s panties melt off. ‘Daddy’ might be a silly dirty word, but it definitely describes how I feel toward him. He’s my daddy, and I love him for it.
“See? You don’t even deny it!” she says, using one hand to play with her phone while, with the other, she keeps on devouring everything on the tray. “Oh, well. At least one of us is happy and successful,” she shrugs, her eyes focused on the screen on her phone.
“You’ll be successful too. It’s just a matter of time; you’ll find a producer soon enough. Who knows? Kane might even be interested in one of your scripts, and that would definitely help you out.”
“I don’t know. Every single producer I meet tells me my ideas aren’t commercial enough. Like, hello? Does anyone even care about art anymore?” She sighs, but then she looks up at me and smiles. “But, yeah...Maybe you could show Kane one of my scripts. That wouldn’t hurt.”
“I can try to —”
“Oh,” she cuts me short, shoving her phone under my nose. “Check this one. This blog is ripping Alberta a new one.” I read the headline on the screen and, completely unable to control myself, I grin.
Is it time for Manhattan Reign to let go of Alberta? the article reads, but Laurel pulls back her phone before I can keep on reading.
“C’mon, these gossip blogs are always so full of bullshit,” I laugh, even though I feel pretty satisfied about what she just showed me. I don’t consider Alberta as my enemy, but she definitely considers me hers, as such, I guess I don’t have to feel guilty about enjoying
the article Laurel just showed me.
“But they’re fun,” she shrugs, distractedly scrolling through her Facebook feed and binging on the latest gossip. “Did you know some blogs think Stefan and Jasmine are actually a couple?”
“But they’re not...It might seem like it, but —”
“Oh, shit!” Laurel suddenly breathes out, her eyes widening as her thumb hovers over the screen. She swallows hard and then, slowly, she raises her gaze.
“What is it?” I ask her, my heart skipping a beat as I see the worried expression on her face. Without saying a word, she simply turns her phone to me.
On the screen, there’s a photo of Kane having dinner with Alberta.
Sasha
“There’s gotta be some kind of mistake,” I whisper, my heart tightening up inside my chest. Reaching for Laurel’s phone, I snag it out from her hands and stare at the screen with both my eyes wide open.
“I’m sorry,” Laurel whispers, but I barely register her words. Right now, I’m only focused on the picture in her phone, one so blatant and obvious that there’s no way I can spin it: Kane and Alberta went out on a date. I mean, not only are they sitting together in a fancy restaurant, she has her hand on top of his. And the smile on her face...Oh, God, I can barely stand to look at it.
LOVE ON SET? the headline reads, these big bold letters making me feel nauseous. After everything that happened between Kane and I (and, really, between me and Alberta), there’s just no way I can stomach something like this.
Oh, Jesus, I think I’m gonna throw up.
“No way. I can’t believe he’d do this to me,” I whimper, pushing the phone back into Laurel’s hands. Jumping up to my feet, I race toward the living room and turn my purse upside down, spilling its contents all over the couch. The moment I spot my phone among all the stuff I carry inside my purse, I just reach for it and dial Kane’s number furiously, tapping my thumb against the screen so hard that I might shatter it.
“Do you think that’s a good idea?” Laurel asks from behind me, her usually confident tone a mere shadow of what it usually is. It’ the first time in a long time that Laurel doesn’t know how to act around me. I can only imagine the look I have on my face right now.
I wish I could just shrug it off, but there’s no way I can do it with something like this. What happened between Kane and I runs deeper (or so I thought) than meets the eye and, at the very least, I want to hear his own version of events. Even if he prefers Alberta over me, I want to hear it from his own mouth.
Gritting my teeth, I sit down on the couch and press the phone against my ear, biting on my nails as I hear the tone on the other side of the line. I wait and wait, but he doesn’t pick up. Laurel only watches as I dial his number over and over again, that tight feeling inside my chest growing worse with each passing second. Good God, I’m losing it in here.
“Sasha,” Laurel finally calls me with a sigh, kneeling in front of me and taking the phone out of my ear. “He’s not going to pick up,” she tells me gently, a worried smile on her lips.
“Why would he do something like this? And with Alberta, of all people…!”
“I know, I know...but you know men, they’re all uncaring assholes, and they’ll trample over your heart the minute they have the chance,” she tells me, her whole men-are-assholes speech bubbling up to her mouth.
“I thought he was different,” I whisper, holding my breath as I feel tears start to sting at my eyes. Pursing my lips, I do my best not to cry.
“I know you did. I believed that too, you know? Sure, he’s handsome, rich, and charming...But he didn’t seem to be an asshole,” she admits, reaching for me and resting her hand on my shoulder. Sitting down next to me, she looks at me with a worried expression on her face and runs one hand through her hair. “Listen, Sasha...I know it might be hard, but you can’t let this knock you down.”
“I know,” I whisper, lowering my voice so much that I can’t even hear myself. “This won’t knock me down,” I continue, even though it feels like I’m lying to myself. How the hell am I supposed to survive a season of shooting after this? I have a ton of scenes to do with Alberta and Kane, and I’m no longer sure if I can look into their eyes anymore!
I hated him for it, but I think that Ryan was right about sex between actors; it leads to nothing but ruin. But, like the stupid girl that I am, I decided to ignore Ryan’s rule and do whatever the hell I wanted to...And now look at me, sitting here on the verge of tears while Kane is living it up with Alberta! As far as I know, she’s in his place right now, having a private tour of Kane’s sex room.
“Sasha, listen,” Laurel says, grabbing me by the chin and forcing me to look at her. “I promise you...I’ll get to the bottom of this. But right now I want you to go lie down, okay? You have a lot of scenes to shoot in the morning, and I don’t want you rolling into the set like a wreck.”
“Okay,” I whimper, pursing my lips as I feel my chin quivering. Swear to God, I have no idea how I’m not crying right now. If Laurel wasn’t here with me, I bet I’d be sobbing uncontrollably.
I have no idea how it got to this but, somewhere along the way, the attraction I felt toward Kane grew into something more...tangible. Something real ...or so I thought. Apparently, there was absolutely nothing real about it.
“I’ll go to bed,” I mumble, forcing myself up to my feet. Dragging my aching body across the living room, I let Laurel grab me by the arm.
“Listen, if it makes you feel better, I’ll go buy a ninja suit and a sword, and I’ll take care of these two right now,” she tells me, her tone so serious that I’m tempted to believe what she’s saying.
“You’ve been working out, right? Training for something like this?” I ask her, a sad smile on my lips.
“Absolutely,” she replies, squeezing my arm.
Well, at least I still have Laurel.
Sasha
Acting is so much easier when you’re drawing from real emotion. And, really, that’s a statement I couldn’t agree more with.
Standing in front of Alberta, I let the anger wash over me as we look into each other’s eyes. There’s a sinister silence between the two of us, and the only thing I can hear is the steady hum of the cameras around us. We’re shooting a scene where my character is arguing with Alberta’s, the moment our characters finally clash head-on, and I have to thank the universe for giving me this chance.
“How does it feel?” Alberta growls with a sadistic grin, taking one step toward me. Defiantly, she raises one hand and lays her index finger over my heart, tapping it there twice. “I told you I wanted you gone. You didn’t listen, and now you’re paying for it.”
“Is that so?” I whisper, forcing a smile to take over my lips. Narrowing my eyes, I allow Katya, my character, to take the steering wheel. Balling both my hands into fists, I then take a deep breath and grit my teeth. “You sound really confident.”
“Please, spare me your cocky attitude,” Alberta snaps back at me, giving me one hard push. I take one step back, but I manage to hold my ground. Even though the script only called for a soft push, Alberta went beyond it and pushed me hard enough for me to stumble back and fall down on my ass; unfortunately for her, I came prepared for a confrontation like this.
I’ve never been a fan of method acting, but now I can't feel more thankful toward my acting teachers, the ones who drilled me down on these techniques. I spent the whole night tossing and turning, waking up with cold sweats as dreams of Alberta and Kane pinched at my mind, and all these sleepless hours nursing my hate toward Alberta really paid off. Now, standing in front of her, I’m giving the performance of my life.
“You think you’re better than me, don’t you?” I hiss, closing the distance between her and I.
“I don’t think anything...I know it. I’ll always be Daddy’s favorite,” she whispers angrily, and I realize that we’ve moved past all the acting. Even though she’s still spewing the words from the script, Alberta’s the one saying them, not her character. �
��You come in here with your pretty face and easy smile, thinking that you can take my place...But you’re nothing but a stupid bitch.”
“That’s Miss Stupid Bitch for you,” I growl, that picture of her and Kane together resurfacing in my mind. Before I can stop myself, I cock my arm back and open up my hand. It happens in a fraction of a second; the palm of my hand flies straight into her face, hitting it with a dry snappy sound.
Not counting on my reaction, Alberta stumbles back and tries to steady herself awkwardly. Missing the edge of the swimming pool by an inch, her heel sinks deep into the water and all of her follows in a fraction of a second.
I see it all unfold in slow motion; her eyes widen and, flailing her arms around, she starts falling back. Hitting the water like a boulder, she resurfaces with a murderous expression, her usually silky hair now plastered to her face.
“YOU FUCKING BITCH!” She growls, grabbing the edge of the pool with both her hands. I just stand there with a smug expression, grinning as she crawls out, her drenched cocktail dress glued to her skin. “I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!”
“I’m right here,” I tell her with a shrug, opening up my arms. From the corner of my eye, I can see Ryan and the director excitedly waving at the cameramen around us to position themselves better, so that they can get every angle of the scene. Even though none of this was scripted, it seems that our lovely producer is enjoying every second of it.
With a furious growl, Alberta starts rushing toward me. Her hands turn into claws and, before I can stop her, she grabs me by the hair and starts pulling it hard. “Ahh!” I cry out, instinctively grabbing her own hair and pulling with double the strength she’s using. There’s nothing like a good ol’ fashioned cat fight, is there?
“Jesus!” I hear Jasmine cry out and, even though she isn’t supposed to be on camera, she jumps onto the set and races toward us. Grabbing Alberta by the waist, she tries to pull her away from me—not an easy task, since Alberta seems hell-bent on murdering me.
