But I couldn’t miss that hint of suspicion in his eyes; she was very aware of his inevitable retaliation from the shots she fired at his ego earlier.
“It was a stunning scene. Truly, I’m honored to have you acting on the set with us,” he said with a stiff smile.
“You haven’t even shot a scene yet; I can’t wait to see how much better you do!” she said with a smile that was a little too big.
I looked from her face to Mason’s and back again. They were being a little too friendly.
Then I understood; this compliment that he was giving her, the reason he left the people he was talking with over by the spread of food, was to issue a warning shot.
The thought was erased from my mind when Mason’s icy eyes darted over to mine. There was a subtle quirk to his smile, then his eyes greedily flickered down.
All of the air left my lungs. Did… did Mason Vayne just check me out?!
But as soon as it had happened, it was gone, leaving me wondering if it was all just a figment of my imagination.
His eyes were back on Alina’s. “Well, have a good night Lady Bryn. I hope you get up early enough tomorrow to see my scene. But, if you want to sleep in, you can. It’s not required that you be there.”
Alina’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but her brilliant smile didn’t falter. “I’ll see you then.”
He nodded politely, then returned to his spot at the dessert table. I watched as soon as he showed up, he was surrounded by a herd of beautiful extras.
Later in Alina’s trailer, my suspicions were confirmed.
“He’s such a piece of shit,” Alina huffed as she brushed her stark white hair.
“Am I missing something?” I probed, loafing on my phone while lying across her bed.
“Ugh, never mind! He’s just…”
She set the brush down with a clatter and put her head in her hands.
“Honey!” I said, rushing over to her. “Alina, no, what is it?”
She looked up at me with teary eyes, looking very much like Kim Kardashian when she ugly-cries.
“He’s just so mean!” she gasped. “And no one knows it but me!”
“Oh babe, he’s just mean to you because he’s threatened!” I said, my suspicion pouring out of me to comfort her.
“Y-you think so?” She asked tearfully.
I nodded. “Absolutely.”
“So… so I’m not imagining things? You see it too?” she asked.
There was a knock on her trailer door, and both of our heads snapped towards it.
“Can you tell them to go away?” Alina asked me.
I nodded, though I couldn’t picture myself turning down Reese, or Leo, or even asshole Mason.
Luckily, I opened the door and someone I hadn’t met was standing there. He was a cute guy, young, with smooth skin and an impeccable head of dark hair with a high fade haircut. He was fidgeting and looked down. When he looked back up at me, I was almost knocked on my ass by his gorgeous, light green eyes.
“Um, sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt…” he said, trailing off awkwardly.
Because I was struck dumb for a second at how… how pretty he was, I lost my words. Then when my wits slowly came back to me, I realized what it looked like.
“Oh no, no no. You’re not interrupting anything, I’m her gay best friend,” I explained stupidly, “though I’m flattered you think I would be pretty enough to sleep with Alina.”
“Oh, you’re pretty enough,” he said quickly, then blushed and looked away.
It was the most adorable damn thing I’d ever seen, and I felt the blush rise into my cheeks.
“Is that you, Oliver?” Alina called from her vanity. “Charlie, let him in.”
“Sure,” I said, stepping back up into her magical space with this pretty boy Oliver on my heels.
“Sorry, I don’t think you two have met,” she said, gesturing to us both.
Now that he was standing next to me, I could see that he was just a little shorter than me but more broad-shouldered. Younger. Tan skin, bright green eyes that hinted at an artistic deepness full of mystery. I could tell that he thought about things in a different way than most people did. Even from this brief impression, I could tell that he looked at the world through a kaleidoscope of colors and feelings.
“Charlie, this is Oliver, our costume designer. Oliver, Charlie. He does my hair and makeup.”
Oliver’s green eyes softened as he finally looked at mine. Then he reached out to shake my hand with a smile.
“I’ve got to congratulate the magical man that did all that,” he said, gesturing to Alina’s stark white locks. “I don’t know much about hair, but I know that getting it from that color,” he pointed to Alina’s eyebrows, “to that one,” he pointed to her head, “Is pretty much impossible.”
“Well thank you,” I said with a hand to my chest, flattered. The compliment landed on my shoulder like a butterfly, and then I felt more of them multiply in my stomach.
I was stunned for a second and was very conscious of Alina watching me. A slow smile began to spread across her face when her eyes bounced from me to Oliver.
She was planning something.
“I have to compliment your clothing — that’s real genius,” I said. “I don’t know anything about fashion design, but these costumes — they’re amazing!”
He blushed and shuffled a bit. “I don’t know about that — I was raised to work hard is all…”
Alina cleared her throat, and Oliver snapped his gaze over to her.
She raised one sculpted black eyebrow.
“Oh, oh right!” Oliver stammered.
I frowned. She interrupted the magical energy that was flowing between us.
“I came in here to ask for your dress from today — there are some adjustments I need to make to it before you wear it in the bedding scene tomorrow.”
I stiffened. “Bedding scene?”
Alina was unaffected. She said, “Yeah, tomorrow when there’s daylight, we’re going into that castle up there,” she gestured to the collection of sandstone spires just barely
