by Naomi Niles
“No! Just come back in about an hour!”
“An hour? Hannah, come on. Please. Just open the door. If you don’t, I’m going to keep knocking and then somebody will end up calling the police, and I will have to explain myself to them. Shit, that probably won’t help because I’m sure they will find a way to take me to jail. Do you want me to go to jail?”
“No, I don’t! But still, I look a hot mess!” I turned around and looked through the peephole as he stood there with the teddy bear and chocolates in his hand. My heart melted as I saw the bear cradled in his arm like a baby. It looked soft to the touch, and I had a thing for teddy bears. It had been years since I’d gotten one, though. I turned the handle on the door knob, quickly reached out to snatch it from his arms, then slammed the door closed again.
He laughed out loud, “Really, Hannah? Come on, babe. Look. I’ll close my eyes, and you can just hold my hand and walk me into the front room. I will keep my eyes closed.”
I looked through the peephole. “Do you promise?”
“I promise.”
“Well, close them right now! I can see you! I’m looking through the peephole!” I waited until he closed his eyes tight, then opened the door and led him to the front room. I checked to make sure his eyes were still shut as we walked through the hallway. “You better keep your eyes closed, mister.”
“They are closed. You just make sure you don’t walk me into a wall or something just for shits and giggles.”
I laughed. “I thought about it, but I knew that would make you open your eyes, so I decided against it.” I helped him to his seat. “Now, just stay right there. I’ll be back in here in 15 minutes. And DON’T open your eyes until I say so!”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, chuckling.
When I was halfway to my room, I yelled down the hallway, “OK! Open them!” I went into my room, washed my face, and brushed my teeth. After that, I applied a little foundation and eyeliner just to help liven my face up a bit. I wasn’t ready for him to see me with my morning face just yet. If I had Carrie’s confidence, I wouldn’t have cared one bit, but I wasn’t there yet. I still needed a crutch to help me walk.
I came back into the living room as he scrolled through his phone. Once he looked up, he smiled. “See. Now, I saw you a little bit before you slammed the door in my face… twice… and you still look as good as you did when I first saw you. I don’t know what you did, but you didn’t need to do it.” He got up from his seat and stood in front of me, “Baby, you are gorgeous, and I mean that in every sense of the word.” He kissed me on the lips.
“Thank you, Ezra,” I said as I grabbed his hand and led him to the kitchen. “But I wasn’t expecting you to show up right now. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it is a pleasant surprise, but what if I was naked or something?”
“Then,” he said as he grabbed my ass, “I would’ve broken this door down and hopped on you like flies on shit. Because you’re the shit.”
I rolled my eyes, “Whatever, Ezra. With that tired-ass line. I know you have better things to say than that.”
“Come on, Hannah. Go easy on me. It’s early. I let you slide a little bit this morning with your funky breath.”
My mouth hung open in shock that he had spoken about my breath. “See! That’s why I didn’t,” I stopped myself. “You know what, get out! Get all the way out!”
He wrapped his arms around me as the room filled with laughter. “I’m just playing, baby,” he said as he kissed me on my neck. “I had to get you back, though. I thought it was a good line. I heard Lil’ Wayne said it in one of his songs a while ago. I figured I’d use it myself.”
“Maybe you should leave that stuff to him, OK?” I tapped him on his lips, then kissed him again. “But you can take a seat. I was just about to start cooking breakfast. Carrie was supposed to do it today, but she had to leave for a photo shoot.”
“Yeah,” he said as he sat down, “I saw her on my way up. She was the one that cleared me past the security guard.”
“Yeah,” I said, “I was wondering how you made it in. But anyway, what brings you over here this early? Were you ‘just in the neighborhood?”
“No. I wanted to take you somewhere today.”
“Where?” I poured the pancake mix into a bowl and used a fork to stir it up.
“It is a surprise.”
“Really? I love surprises! Where is it?”
“Yeah, if I told you, I don’t think it would be a surprise anymore.” He laughed. “I mean, that’s the whole purpose of calling it a surprise. You have to be, um, surprised about it.”
“OK, OK, Ezra. I get it! I can’t wait, though.”
He grabbed the Satin Sheets book off the table. Carrie had been reading it last night to get a better idea of what I would be doing in the movie. She told me what to expect when we started shooting the movie a couple weeks from now, hoping that it would ease some of my anxiety, but all it did was shoot another wave of nervous blood through my veins. “So, you’re reading the book again, huh?”
“No, Carrie was. I have the script. I know what to expect now.”
“Yeah. To be honest, I’m excited about it.”
I poured the first round of pancakes onto the skillet. “I mean, I am, but I’m not. I’m just nervous about the… you know…”
“Yeah,” he picked up what I was trying to say. “I understand. Let’s try not to focus on that right now, though. Let’s just think about how this is going to do wonders for our career. I’m thinking we are going to skyrocket into the industry after this one is done, you know? I think it is about time, though. I’ve been doing a bunch of bullshit movies for long enough, so if this is going to be my way up, I’m going to make sure I knock this performance out of the park.”
“Yeah, that is my goal, too. Without a doubt.”
After we had finished up with breakfast, I headed to my room to get dressed for my surprise date. A part of me felt like he was going to walk into my room unannounced and we would proceed to have another afternoon of fucking. In my heart, that is what I desired, but I wasn’t the one to bring that to him. I intentionally left my door unlocked in case he wanted to explore the opportunity, but that was my limit. As time passed, I knew he wasn’t going to come back to my room. I was a little disappointed, but something told me that we would have our time together in abundance, so I wasn’t worried about it.
As I was getting dressed, my phone rang on top of my dresser. The number wasn’t saved in my phone, so I was a little hesitant to answer at first, but after I had convinced myself that it could be someone from the movie, I answered.
“Hello?”
“Hannah Black?”
“Speaking.” I looked into the mirror as I tried to decipher the voice, but it wasn’t ringing a bell. “And, who is this?”
“Brian. Brian Watson. I met you at the audition a little while ago.”
I lowered my eyes until I thought about the man who escorted me down the hallway and showed me the exit after my failed audition. “Oh,” I said in a voice full of shock, “Brian? Um, hey. Hi. How did you get my number?”
“Oh, I have my ways,” he said with a chuckle. “I was just checking on you, though. I wanted to see how you were doing. Maybe catch a bite to eat or something if you have the time. I have a few inside tracks for some movies coming up, so I wanted to give you the opportunity to get cast before anybody else finds out about it. Kind of erasing the competition beforehand, you know?”
“Um,” I said, nervously, “No, I am good. I actually have a role right now, so I don’t have the time for another one. Thanks for the offer, though.”
“Oh, sure thing,” he said, trying to hide his disappointment. “For the Satin Sheets film, right?” He didn’t give me a chance to respond. “Wow, that is a sexy film! I can’t wait to see how you perform in that!”
“Yeah, um. Thank you. I’m going to have to ask you to refrain from calling me, though. I don’t know how you got my number, but um, I am a little uncomfortable
with the fact that you have it, especially since I didn’t give it to you.” There was a long pause between us. I could hear him breathing on the other end, but not a word left his lips. “Um, Brian?” Suddenly, the phone call ended. I wanted to say that that would be the end of it, but for some reason, I felt that it was just the beginning.
Chapter Twenty-One
Ezra
“Are you all right, Hannah?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just thinking about some things, I guess.”
“Good things?”
“Not really.” She looked down at her phone as I drove to the set of our movie. She didn’t know we were headed there, and when Marc told me that we had the freedom to go and check it out at our leisure, I wanted our first time on set to be together. “I don’t know. I mean, it could be nothing at all but, there is this guy…” My heart sunk deep into my chest, expecting the worst. Does she have a boyfriend, I thought, anxiously waiting for her to continue. “I met him at an audition a while ago. He seemed sweet at the time, and I ran into him twice after that.”
She paused. “Now that I think about it, it seemed kind of odd that he happened to be in those two places at the same time as me. But anyways, he found a way to get my number, and he called me when I was getting ready to leave the house. Since then, I’ve gotten two phone calls, both from blocked numbers.”
“And you’re worried?”
“I don’t know. I mean, like I said, it could be nothing at all, you know? Like, I could just be overreacting. He really did come off as harmless, but he just…” she looked at me curiously. “You think I am nuts, don’t you?”
“No.” I laughed. “No, not at all. I mean, honestly, you are an attractive woman, and you know that. And, looking at the fact that we are about to shoot a sexually driven movie… which may lead to more movies, I think you will have stalkers on a regular basis.”
“Oh, my God. That is not what I signed up for.”
“Yeah, it just comes with the territory. I guess you are just getting a taste of it a little early.”
She poked her bottom lip out and huffed. “Do you really think I have a stalker?”
“It sounds like it.” I looked in the rearview mirror and lowered my eyes. “Now that you mention it, this car has been following me for a little while now. I hadn’t noticed it until you mentioned your stalker.”
Her eyes popped open as she spun around in her seat like a top, “Shut up! Are you serious?” she asked, bug-eyed. “You are not serious! I am about to call the cops, Ezra! Are you being serious? You are not being serious. Are you being serious?!”
I tried to stifle my laugh, but I lost the battle as laughter burst out of my mouth like fireworks. “Wow,” I said as she glared at me. “You cannot be that gullible, because if you are; I am going to have so much fun yanking your chain.”
“Ezra. That was not funny! I already told you that I was kind of freaking out about it and then you float that thought in my head! Ugh! What I am going to do with you!?”
Silence sat in the car as I looked at her with a flirtatious eye. “Well, I know a few things you can do…” I licked my lips and cracked a grin as she folded her arms over her chest, trying to project her anger. She kept the façade for a few moments until a smile stretched across her face.
“You make me sick, Ezra.”
“If I had a dollar for every time somebody said that, then I wouldn’t need to be a movie star. I’d already have millions.” The more she pouted, the more I wanted to pull my car to the side of the road and suck on her bottom lip like a pacifier. She was sexy, even when she wasn’t trying to be. “Look, Hannah. How about this? If I am around whenever that stalker calls again, I’ll talk to him. I’ll set him straight.”
“What will you do?”
“Nothing. I will just tell him that if he keeps sweating my girl that I will have to break his fucking face. That’s all.”
She laughed. “Wait a minute, when did I become your girl?”
“Just now.”
“Did I miss something?”
“Yeah, the part when you said you were my girl.”
“I never said that.”
“Said what?”
“That I am your girl.”
“I know you are. Now, what were you saying?”
She rolled her eyes and laughed as we headed to our destination. “All right,” I said when we got closer. “Close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“Just close your eyes, Hannah. Stop being difficult!”
She sucked her teeth and did what I asked while I pulled into the long driveway in front of the house. The opening scene of the movie took place at a large mansion in Bel-Air. The house resembled a castle more than anything else. A tall brick wall surrounded the home like a fortress, while tall trees sprouted up just beyond the gate. The mansion was planted within a wooden area, and as I pressed the keypad for entrance, the gate opened slowly just as Hannah closed her eyes. I rolled down the winding pathway as Hannah chattered the whole way, asking question after question about where we were going.
“Just be patient, babe. You’ll see in just a second.”
“Babe?” she responded. “I kind of like how that sounds coming from your lips.”
“I would like to see something else coming from your lips.”
She blindly slapped my leg. “Calm down, mister. You have your mind completely in the gutter.”
“Hey,” I said as I parked, “I am just getting my mind ready for the movie.”
I helped her out of her seat and put my arm around her shoulder. “All right, we are coming to some steps,” I said as I had one hand on her waist. “When I tell you to lift your foot, lift your foot. I don’t want you to fall on your face.”
“OK,” she said, holding onto my arm.
“All right. Lift.”
We were at least three feet away from the stair as she lifted her foot up and sent it slamming down into the cement. She elbowed me in my chest. “Ezra! You know what? No, I am not trusting you right now.” She opened her eyes as we stood in front of the mansion. The double doors were the only thing keeping us from entering into the home. Four white pillars stood firm like soldiers on the front porch. They extended from the top of the roof to the base. The sturdy wood reflected a dull shine as we walked up the steps to the front door. “Wow,” she said. “This… this is beautiful, Ezra. Where are we at? Did you buy this for me?”
I smirked. “Yeah, I did. I was able to pay for it with my 605 credit score and a bag of chicken nuggets.”
“You are such a jerk! Anyways, where are we? Seriously.”
I winked at her and gently took her hand into mine. “Come on. You’ll see.”
We walked into the house. Two stairwells, one on each side, wound up to the second floor. Marble flooring covered each step and sparkled underneath the bright lights inside the home. Beyond the stairwells, a large, spacious front room with pearly white walls separated us from the glass doors that led to the backyard. She looked at me with her mouth hung open, then slowly walked forward into the front room. I followed closely behind her, and as we entered the room, large cameras sat on the end of sturdy poles like heads at the top of giraffe necks. A pool table was positioned in the back of the front room. The balls were scattered onto the green, and pool sticks looked as if they had been placed down in the middle of a game.
A large white couch with plush pillows sat on top of a large, expensive looking rug, and a 60-inch television was mounted on the wall just above the fireplace. “Where are we?” she asked anxiously.
“Well,” I said, smiling. “Say hello to your new home. Well, at least for the movie. This is where we will be shooting our first scenes.”
“Shut up!” she said in disbelief. “Are you kidding? I can’t take any more of your jokes, Ezra!”
“No, this is the real deal. Not only will we be shooting the movie here, but we will live here while we are shooting. The director said he wanted us to get familiar with the home and
he thought it would be a good idea if we spent a few days here while we shot the movie.”
“So,” she said, walking towards the window, “you are telling me that I get to live in this mansion? I can call this home for a little while?” Her eyes were glued to the Olympic-sized swimming pool in the backyard and the jacuzzi that sat just to the right of it. “All of this?”
“Yeah,” I said, wrapping my arm around her waist. “All of this.”
Just as my hand slid down to her backside, Leonard's voice interrupted my intention. “Aaaaaaah, there are my stars! The beautiful Hannah. The sexy Ezra. Come,” he said, ushering us closer to him, “let us greet once again.”
Hannah walked to him first as he kissed her on each cheek. “Beautiful,” he said as she walked away from him. “Come now, Ezra. Don’t be shy. I believe that we will be getting very well acquainted with each other in the coming weeks. Come.” When I got in front of him, I stood still as he greeted me the same way he greeted Hannah, with one kiss on each cheek. I stood there, motionless, my eyes swimming back and forth, not knowing what to do next.
“Excellent! Well, I am glad you two have come down here to check out the set. Yes, feel free to look around wherever you please. Check the rooms out, you know? Get a feel for what is going to happen here.” He took a step back and rested his fist underneath his chin as his eyes shifted back and forth between us. I looked at Hannah, confused, wondering what was going through his mind. “Why are you two standing like that?” he asked, his eyebrows wrinkled together.
“Like what?” I asked with a smirk.
“Like that. With… with all of that space between you to. No, no, no,” he said, stepping toward us. “That gap needs to be closed. There should be no space between you two. Ever. I want this chemistry to be strong, and for it to be strong on camera, it has to be strong off camera. You, Ezra,” he grabbed my arm, “put it right here. Make it at home on her shoulder, as if it is paying rent there. And you, Hannah, lean your body into his.” He guided her closer to me and as we stood together, a smile rushed onto his face. “Ah, now that is perfect, no? That is what I want to see. In fact,” he grabbed both of our hands and led us up the winding stairs to the master bedroom, “I want you all to spend time in here. Alone.” He looked deeper into both of our eyes. “Alone,” he said, capping it off with a wink.
