“What, sleeping with the cast, or being accused of it?” he asked, his eyes clear.
Even though I’d been watching the wine in his glass go down, he didn’t seem to be getting drunk at all.
“Both I guess?” I said.
The corner of Reese’s full lips twitched up.
“I mean, people are always going to talk,” I amended, attempting to smooth over this snag.
His shoulders relaxed, a detail that was imperceptible to anyone except me.
He opened his mouth to say something, and I thought something profound was going to come out. Instead, he said, “You’re probably the most sober one here, and my stage manager is taking care of that problem. Would you mind walking Oliver back to his room? He’s pretty drunk.”
My face fell. I thought I had been given the same privileges as one of the normal cast members; weren’t we all playing royalty?
I looked at Reese’s eyes again, and they were hard. He wasn’t asking me; he was telling me.
He wanted me off the scene for now.
A quick glance at his wine glass revealed to me that his hand was shaking ever so slightly.
“Yeah, I’ll take him,” I said, watching as his eyes jumped to Oliver and Leo.
They were standing a little further from the bonfire now, having a heated discussion.
Reese was looking at Leo a little more intensely than necessary.
When I approached Leo and Oliver, Leo looked up at me and his face changed.
Relief.
Before now, I was anxious about the whole thing. But now I felt a soothing calm flow through me, knowing that I’d do anything to help Leo.
I touched Oliver’s shoulder and he protested, the slurred words tumbling out of his mouth as he struggled to stand.
“Get your… get those hands off me…” Oliver said with an exaggerated shrug.
“Come on,” I said, detesting the person I was obligated to protect.
He resisted some more, saying he had to talk to Leo.
I leaned close to his ear and whispered, “Shut the fuck up and come with me, or Reese is going to fire you.”
Oliver stiffened, and I knew that out of everything else, that was the one thing that stuck.
He went all quiet, his shoulders sagged, and then he mumbled, “Okay.”
Half an hour later after I’d called a Lyft with my brand new cast member access code, we were pulling up to the two-star hotel that the production company had the lesser crew members stay in. Oliver’s room was on the third floor.
I knew because until tonight, my room was near his. Though after I’d shaken hands with Reese earlier, he told me that some crew members were going to move all of my things into my trailer for me tonight.
It was already becoming real.
For some unfathomable reason, Oliver seemed to get drunker and drunker as we got closer to his room. His arm was around my shoulder and I was helping him walk.
The only thing that was remotely comforting about doing this was thinking of Leo’s face when I removed Oliver.
This is for him, anything for Leo, I thought to myself.
Oliver was still mumbling insults at me.
“That’s no way to treat someone who’s trying to help you,” I scowled. “Now what’s your room number?”
He said it, and I made him repeat it twice.
We stumbled to the door like a four-legged monster, and he leaned up against the wall.
“Here we are. Do you have your key?” I asked, placing my hands on his shoulders.
His head was lolling around from the alcohol, and he flung his arms around, trying to bury them in his butt pocket.
I rolled my eyes and reached around his back, sliding my hand into his butt pocket. I had to lean against him to get in, feeling the warmth of his hard body against mine.
“Mmm,” he moaned, leaning into me.
“No, we’re not here for that,” I said, blushing.
I couldn’t deny that being this close to him was causing a stirring in my pants.
Thankfully, my fingers closed around his keycard and I slid it out.
“This it?” I asked, holding it in front of his face.
His eyes locked on it and he nodded.
“Good, let’s get you to bed…” I said as I swiped the key in the door.
There was a click from inside the lock, and I pushed the door open.
Inside, the room looked exactly like mine had, but there was a portable sewing machine in the corner, swatches of fabric everywhere, and buttons peppering the ground like little jewels. It was easy to imagine him frantically working in here.
I sat him down on the bed, and his head rolled again. He must have been blackout at this point. Though, it didn’t make any sense, because I had only seen him drink one White Claw.
“Alright, you good?” I asked.
He mumbled something that I couldn’t quite hear, so I asked him to repeat it.
“Stay,” he said, grabbing my hand.
“Oliver, no, you’re drunk,” I said, fighting the desire within me.
“Stay,” he pleaded. “You’re beautiful…”
“Cut the bullshit,” I said, the blush rising into my cheeks. “You’re drunk, Oliver.”
“No… you… I always thought… I always…”
“Stop,” I said, getting more and more annoyed.
Anything for Leo, my mind repeated. I gritted my teeth. All I wanted to do was to return to the bonfire to socialize with him, not babysit this drunken idiot.
“I’m gonna… I’m gonna…” he said.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re gonna puke? Come on, let’s go to the bathroom…”
“No!” he said, sitting up straight.
I was surprised by his sudden lucidity.
He pointed one of his perfectly manicured fingers at me and said, “I’m gonna suck your dick.”
“Fucking come on, Oliver,” I said, sighing. “Quit it, just fucking pass out already,” I snapped.
“No, you fucking… you listen to me, Cornfed,” he said, keeping his finger pointed at me. “I met you, and you’re like… you’re all shiny.”
I bit my lip. That’s what Hazel said about me.
Something in his eyes was clear enough that what he said intrigued me. It might have been bullshit, drunken garbling, but I had to know.
I had to.
Crossing my
