I blinked, unable to believe how she was saying this so nonchalantly.
“S-sex scene?”
Alina rolled her eyes and said, “It’s par for the course.”
“Especially with a show as raunchy as The Black Castle,” Oliver added, his green eyes shifting to me.
I tried to mask my discomfort, but I guess it leaked out of me.
“Wait, aren’t you from L.A.?” Oliver asked with a raised eyebrow. “L.A. people are really liberal when it comes to sex stuff, right?”
“He’s from the midwest, originally,” Alina corrected.
“…oh,” Oliver said, shifting his posture as he was looking at me.
Something about the way the air changed between us told me that he didn’t like that revelation about me; that he had a problem with me coming from the midwest. It was as if I was getting all of these waves of energy from him that were dousing me in his interest, and then suddenly they were shut off.
“…where in the midwest?” He asked.
His words could have easily been changed out to “how bad are you, really?”
I tried to stop myself from narrowing my eyes.
“Ohio,” I said proudly, standing up a little straighter.
Oliver smiled shyly. “Um… I don’t know where Ohio is…”
“It’s under Michigan, honey!” Alina chirped. “You know, the state shaped like a mitten?” She held the back of her hand out to face him. The gesture made it seem like she could have easily flipped him off.
The air in the trailer got even more tense. It was like there was a current running through everything — I was surprised that Alina’s hair wasn’t frizzing out.
“Oh, huh… they’re all flyover states to me,” he said with a wink.
I frowned and the smile ran away from Oliver’s face.
He glanced at Alina, seemingly for help.
Her expression was unreadable.
An icy chill crept into my bones, and Oliver took a step backward.
“Do you have everything you need for tomorrow, hun?” Alina asked sweetly, in the very same voice she’d used with Mason.
Oliver glanced down at the beautiful fabric hanging off his arm.
“Y-yes, I think so,” he said quickly. Then he blinked a few times as if he just now realized that some social thing had taken place and worn out his welcome.
Hell, I still wasn’t sure what had happened.
“Thank you,” Oliver said quickly, then his eyes darted to the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow on the set!”
Like he couldn’t get away fast enough, he dashed out the trailer door and into the night.
I shared a look with Alina, and she smiled at me brightly.
“He’s totally into you,” she said, biting her bottom lip playfully.
“He’s totally weird,” I fired back with a huff. “And why was that… why was that so…”
“So weird?” She finished for me. “Because you’re hot!”
I was flattered and tried to hide the fact that I was fiercely blushing.
“Just because he was… he was maybe a little into me— if he was, mind you — that’s no excuse for being rude.”
“Oh, I know,” Alina said, brushing her hair. “I’m from Michigan, remember? He was shitting on my home state too. Flyover state… please…”
I sat back down on her bed, thinking.
“But we do know one thing about him. Well, I know three things,” she said, a smirk curling on her perfect lips.
“Oh? And what’s that Lady Bryn?” I mocked.
She fixed me with her green stare and I was almost knocked backward by the power in it. Alina held up one finger and said, “One, he desperately needs to feel important. Otherwise, he wouldn’t feel the need to talk shit about where we’re from. You saw his reaction when you said you were from the midwest!”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, that’s so unattractive though…”
She held up a second finger. “Two! He’s attracted to you — he thinks you’re gorgeous.”
“What, really?” I said, nearly squirming. “How do you know, how could you tell?!”
“Bitch, please. It was so obvious,” she said with that glint in her eye.
It made her eyes shine like emeralds.
“And three!” She held up a third finger, “I know that you think he’s gorgeous too!”
“Not true,” I lied through my teeth.
She raised a black eyebrow at me, unraveling my lie.
“…okay, I thought he was hot at first. There was obvious chemistry,” I admitted. “But if he thinks he’s better than me, what’s the point? That’s so unattractive.”
“Give it a day. He’s actually really nice — he was probably really nervous. You’re a gorgeous, talented man, and maybe he was just a little threatened,” she offered.
“I don’t know, Alina. I’m not into guys that feel threatened by me… I’ve been there, done that, and the relationship turns into some kind of weird competition.”
“Who said anything about a relationship?” She asked with a wink.
I shook my head and threw a pillow at her.
Chapter Six
The next day, I rose early to watch Mason’s scene. I knocked and knocked on Alina’s door, but there was no answer.
Maybe she was somewhere else? Maybe she slept in late?
I felt the worry curdle in my gut, hoping that she wasn’t proving Mason right when he came up and tried to intimidate her yesterday.
As I ascended the steps carved into the side of the cliff, I thought about all the people I’d met yesterday. Out of everyone, the only ones that stuck out in my mind were Reese Riley the passionate director, Leo Knight the strangely introverted actor, asshole Mason Vayne, and curiously, Oliver.
What was it about him was it that made me want to prove myself to him? To make him look at me the way he did when I first opened Alina’s trailer door?
I could close my eyes and picture his bright green ones staring back at me with wonder, and his tan skin complimenting them in the moonlight.
As I climbed the stairs, I thought more and more about how his comment made me feel. With each step I ascended, I became crankier and crankier.
Who did he think he was? Some kind of east coast boy, no doubt. What made him great?
