Blinded

by Maya Hughes

  “Sure, I’ve never been in a film set trailer before. Hell, I’ve never been on a film set before!”

  “I look forward to being your guide.” He showed her all the little amenities such as the stocked cabinets and fridge, then pointed out the tiny bathroom with a toilet and a shower. It was verging on luxurious.

  “Why do you even stay at the hotel when you have this thing on set?” Alex asked, plopping down on the huge leather couch that spanned half the length of the trailer. She could definitely live here.

  “The studio orders these for every set. I guess they don’t take into account how close the filming is to the hotel. This covers the bases for when you’re a bit further out. When we were doing principal photography, it was a twenty-minute ride to get to the hotel and back, so these trailers were a godsend.”

  They spent the next couple of hours relaxing in the trailer. Lesley, his romantic interest in the movie, stopped by. She was immediately jealous of the leggy blonde who had a smile that could rival the sun, but her mind was quickly put at ease with the friendly, but not sexually charged rapport the two seemed to have with one another.

  “And then there was the time when Gabe nearly boiled his dick off when we were filming that water scene in Bulgaria!” Lesley exclaimed, laughing so hard that there were tears running down her cheeks.

  “Hey! That wasn’t my fault,” he said. “The PA didn’t mix it with the cold river water. Why would you hand someone boiling water to pour down the front of their wet suit! Who does that?”

  “You seriously nearly burned your penis off?” Alex asked, horrified.

  “He had to have gauze wrapped around it for a week!” Lesley said doubled over gasping for breath. He picked up one of the pillows off the couch and threw it at her, knocking her off her chair. Lesley clutched the pillow and used it to muffle her laughter.

  “Sorry, Gabe,” she said, wiping the tears out of her eyes. “Sorry, I know it’s terrible to laugh, but it was so damned funny! You should have seen your face!”

  “Lesley, I hate you,” he said, glaring at her, though he could only hold back his smile for a few seconds.

  “I’m sorry Gabe. I’m sorry,” Lesley gasped, swallowing the last of her giggles. Alex couldn’t help but smile at their interaction. She was glad that he had a friend on set and enjoyed the half-hour or so that they spent talking about a little bit of everything.

  There was a knock at the door; a PA was there to shuttle both Lesley and Gabe off to wardrobe and make up. They all hopped in a golf cart and made their way through trailer city until they reached a much larger trailer. He held the door for Lesley and Alex, then followed them inside, where it was cool but well-lit.

  “What happened to your nose?” The makeup artist screeched the moment her eyes landed on Gabe. She pulled him into the trailer. Lesley gave her a ‘you’re in trouble’ look before climbing the steps to the trailer. They replayed the entire parking lot non-mugging mugging to Lesley while they were chowing down on popcorn and watching a random movie in the trailer. Ducking her head, she walked in to the trailer and looked anywhere but at the makeup artist while Lesley choked back a laugh.

  “I knocked myself in the nose with my carryon bag on the plane yesterday,” he said, covering for her.

  The artist tutted as she covered it up. Just as she was finishing up with Lesley, another PA with a headset came and knocked on the door. “Five minutes to set,” he called.

  He stood and clapped his hands together. “That’s my cue. Come on let’s go, you’ll get to see where the magic happens.”

  7

  Gabe, Alex, and Lesley were quickly ushered out of the trailer and into a golf cart. They whizzed past the trailers and more crew. The heavy salt air was even thicker as they wet everything down for whatever scenes they were filming. There must have been miles of cables run all over the area as they were bumping over them what seemed like every other second.

  The PA was giving Gabe some last-minute information about the scene and what he would be doing. They pulled up to the set, which was abuzz with crew members. Tons of cameras hung about from every angle, cables were running everywhere, and there were huge lights all over the place. She thought it was funny that they chose to shoot the scene at night, but ran enough lights to simulate a landing on the surface of the sun.

  There were PAs wetting even more things down with hoses and sprayers. The cold mist was hitting Alex on her face, making her shiver as she wrapped her sweatshirt tighter around herself. He hopped out and gave her a quick kiss on the lips before he was hustled off by yet another PA. Lesley slid out of her seat and turned to her.

  “It was so nice meeting you!” She said, giving her a bear hug. “Gabe’s been talking about you non-stop since we got to town. And we’re going to have to make a date for one of your pancake breakfasts sometime soon. Gabe practically had me drooling as he was talking about those things!”

  “It was nice meeting you too, Lesley, and I’ll be sure to add you to the next pancake breakfast invite.”

  “Excellent!” Lesley said before being led away by the same PA that took Gabe to who-knows-where.

  The golf cart PA showed her to the production set-up area, where she sat in a director’s chair behind a bank of monitors with feeds coming from the camera. There were so many screens and people and chairs; Alex tried to sit as still as possible, not wanting someone to call her out for being in the wrong spot. She made sure that her lanyard was clearly visible lest she get kicked out.

  Without her phone, she was reduced to people-watching, which wasn’t that much of a chore given all the activity buzzing around her. She couldn’t see Gabe anymore, but there were a bunch of extras crowded around on the set looking properly disheveled for the post-apocalyptic type of setting it looked like they were going for with the movie.

  Suddenly, tons more people that arrived. They came from all different directions and the production tent where she was sitting became standing room-only for the new arrivals. Sinking down in her chair a bit, she watched as the monitors lit up with activity and the cameras rolled.

  Watching him film the scene was like nothing she’d ever seen before. There were so many moving parts—so many angles and so many takes to get everything just right. All of this was compounded by the extras and the running scene that they were doing. It was almost an hour before the first break and, as far as she could tell, it didn’t look like they’d filmed more than a couple of minutes of the movie.

  He grasped her hand when they finally made it back to the trailer. “Come with me to LA when I leave next week,” he said, just out of the blue, while were eating some food they grabbed from the craft services table. She froze, completely unable to believe what she’d just heard.

  “What?!”

  “Come with me to LA. I think it would be a great time. I have some local press stuff to do for the movie. It’s not much because apparently, the studio absolutely hates this movie. They are rushing to cram in all of the new stuff for when the movie premieres in two months, but we have to start the press tour now.”

  “I can’t just pick up and go with you to LA,” Alex said.

  “Why not? You said the diner is closing as soon as we leave. You don’t start school until January. What were you going to do for the next couple of months?”

  “I have to …” Alex grasped for something to say. But truthfully, her plans were to hang out with Jen before she left. Do some studying and spend as little money as possible to save up for the upcoming semester.

  “Gabe, we just met. I can’t fly off to LA with you.”

  “Alex, think of it as an adventure. I feel something between us. I really do and I don’t want this to end when I leave. I think that spending some time together in LA would be fun. You don’t have to answer me now. Just think about it,” he said, holding onto her hands. She started to talk again and he placed a finger over her lips.

  “Just promise me that you’ll think about it. That’s all I ask.”

  �
�Okay, I’ll think about it, promise.”

  Gabe pulled her to him, threaded his fingers through her hair, and crushed her mouth to his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her as she deepened the kiss, tasting the traces of the peppermint candy that he’d just eaten. She grabbed onto his collar and pulled him on top of her on the leather couch. He began peppering her neck with kisses, and she moaned as she ran her fingers through his hair.

  He ran his hands under her shirt and skimmed the bottom her of her bra. She sucked in her breath as his hands pushed the cups of her bra up and over her breasts, then ran her hands under his shirt and caressed his muscled back as he continued to cup her breasts and pinch her nipples.

  “Oh, yes,” she gasped. He moved his lips back up to her mouth as he continued his ministrations on her nipples. She reached down to his belt buckle, undoing it, panting in her haste. Managing to get her hands further down between their bodies, she undid his jeans and pushed them over the curve of his butt.

  He moaned against her neck and rested his head against her shoulder.

  “I didn’t ask you to come here for this,” he said.

  “I know, but I want to,” she said, nudging his head to get him to look her in the eyes. “I want to.”

  “Okay,” Gabe said as he hopped over to the desk and pulled a condom from the drawer. He put it in his mouth as he kicked off his jeans. She wriggled out of her jeans, her core clenching in anticipation as she watched him take off his boxers. His cock was hard and ready for her. Alex’s eyes bulged at his size as she wet her lips, anticipating how it would feel when he slid inside of her. Their eyes locked as he sheathed himself and stalked toward her. He looked at her with a hunger; no man had ever looked at her like that before.

  He knelt on the edge of the couch and pulled her legs toward him. She wrapped her legs around his waist and inched herself closer to his manhood. Her core was wet and clenching in anticipation. He rubbed his cock against her opening to ease his entry. He eyes rolled back in pleasure at the delicious stretch as he parted her lips and eased himself into her. Alex groaned and the flutters in her stomach increased as she wrapped her legs higher, encouraging him to go deeper.

  “Fuck,” he groaned. She gasped and shifted her hips, encouraging him to move.

  “Gabe, please, I’m begging you,” she said. “Please, start moving.”

  “Just a second, I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Then I guess I’ll just have to take things into my own hands.” She lifted her head up and began to attack his mouth with her own. She sucked on his lower lip while she wrapped her arms around his neck so she could pump herself up and down on him.

  “Gabe, please,” she moaned. Finally relenting, he began to slowly thrust into her, which drew a moan from them both. Once she began, he finally gave in to the moment and began pumping into her relentlessly. Her entire body was on fire with lust as they both rode the frenzy of sexual tension that had been brewing between them.

  The butterflies in her stomach were full blown birds by now and she could feel her core clenching and tightening, moving toward an explosive climax. He pumped into her with total abandon, pushing her further and further across the couch until both of their heads were banging against the far wall of the trailer.

  When he put a pillow behind her head, Alex let out a combination between a laugh and a gasp until he pumped into her again, hitting just the right spot. She cried out as her muscles tightened and she reached her climax, tightening her hold on him as she rode out his last few frantic thrusts before he collapsed on top of her. Careful not to crush her, he rolled over onto the couch next to her.

  They both laid there, panting for a few minutes before he hopped up to remove the condom and dispose of it. Alex attempted to sit up, the couch sticking to her back. Damned leather!

  “I think next time we should use a blanket.” She groaned, wincing, and peeling herself off the couch. She reached for her pants and pulled them on. He grabbed a blanket from the small closet next to the bathroom and opened it up for her.

  “Here you go,” he said as he laid it out on the couch under her. He sat and then pulled her onto his lap as they both lay back to relax for a bit.

  “Are you all finished for tonight?” she asked, yawning.

  “Nope, I still have another scene to film, but they probably won’t be ready for me for another couple of hours.”

  “Really? That long?”

  “That’s part of filmmaking. A lot of hurry up and wait,” he said, snuggling into her and burrowing his face into her hair. Alex hoped that her hair didn’t smell like burgers and fries.

  “I’ll stay a little bit longer then before I go home,” she said, yawning again.

  “I’m glad.” He shifted his weight so they were on their sides facing each other.

  “Thanks for inviting me to see what you do,” Alex said, giving Gabe a gentle kiss on his lips.

  “Thanks for coming to see what I do. Promise me you’ll think about LA,” he said, giving her a kiss on her forehead and tucking her under his chin.

  “I will,” she said sleepily.

  After only a few minutes they both drifted off to sleep until a loud knock on the door woke them. It was nearly midnight and they said their goodbyes before promising to see each other the next day. She was floating to her car as she picked up her things and headed off the set.

  Maybe she should think about going to LA.

  8

  “You just signed an NDA without reading it?” Jen practically shouted at her the moment she recounted that portion of her trip to the set. Jen pounced on her the minute she walked in and wanted to know everything.

  “What’s the big deal?” Alex said shrugging before walking to her room.

  “I’m not even a lawyer yet and I know that’s a big deal. Did you at least read it?”

  “Not really,” she said, shrugging.

  “Have I taught you nothing?” Jen exclaimed.

  “I wanted to see what all of the hustle and bustle was about. It was so fun.”

  “You get to do all of the cool stuff!” Jen cried dramatically, throwing herself onto the couch.

  “Like work at the restaurant by myself for eight hours a day with Ben as my only company for most of the time? Yes, I’m living the life,” Alex said, walking into her bedroom. She opened her drawers and pulled out pajamas.

  “So, other than that totally boneheaded NDA thing, what else happened? I need to live vicariously through you,” Jen called out from the living room.

  Alex changed into her pajamas and joined Jen on the couch.

  “We hung out in his trailer and ate junk food. I met his co-star Lesley. She was super sweet is already demanding pancakes. Apparently, word travels fast,” Alex said.

  “Mmmm pancakes,” Jen said, doing her best Homer impersonation.

  “Nope! Not happening. I’m too tired.”

  “You’re no fun! The frozen ones are never as good as when you make them fresh.”

  “Anyway, then I went to the set with them and watched them film a couple of scenes. It was interesting to see how it all worked and to realize just how slow it all moves. They did the same scene so many times from so many different angles, and the whole thing was probably less than three minutes of screen time. Gabe said that it might end up getting cut out of the final thing.”

  “That sounds crazy. I can’t imagine doing that much work when no one will even see it,” Jen said, closing her eyes.

  “I know. And there was one other interesting thing that happened,” she said.

  “Hmmm,” Jen said as she started to drift off.

  “Gabe invited me to come with him to LA when he goes back next week.”

  “What?” Jen shouted, jumping up so quickly that she knocked her off the couch onto the floor.

  “Jeez, Jen,” she said, rubbing her butt as she got up off the floor. “Overreact much?”

  “You think this is overreacting,” Jen said, hitting her with one
of the couch pillows with each word. “So, are you going to go?” she asked, kneeling on the couch.

  “I don’t know yet,” Alex said, biting her bottom lip. “I’m nervous. That’s a big step. Heading to LA with him? That’s not going for a weekend trip somewhere. That’s a couple of months in LA before school starts. It feels like that time my mom left to follow Guy in the Band around the country for the summer and left me home alone with a hundred dollars.”

  “Alex, don’t even go there with that crap. You’re nothing like that woman. I don’t know how many times I need to say that. You’re young, you don’t have a child—you can be reckless and have a little fun, even with a guy. Do it now, so you won’t regret not going later.”

  “But what if it doesn’t work out?”

  “So, what? It doesn’t work out, you had some fun for once. I say go,” Jen pronounced, sitting back on the couch, picking up her ever-present sketch pad and pencil.

  “What do you mean go? How can I just pick up and go? What about Ben and the restaurant? What about you? And the apartment?”

  She started to pace back and forth across the apartment.

  “Don’t use me as an excuse. I told you from the beginning that my dad will pay for my rent if I’m studying for the LSAT. You’re the one who insisted on paying for half. And yes, you can pick up and go. Ben’s closing the restaurant once their production leaves town. So that crosses me, Ben, and the apartment off the worrywart list. What else?”

  “We just met. I don’t know him very well. I don’t know him at all!”

  “But you slept with him,” Jen said with a smirk.

  “How the hell did you know that?” Alex sputtered.

  “I didn’t, but now I do,” Jen teased. “How was it?”

  “I can’t believe I fell for that!” Alex slapped her forehead, closing her eyes.