Alina was quiet for a few seconds, thinking. “You’re right,” she finally said through her teeth. “But just know, it’s going to take all of my self-control to resist slapping him in the face.”
I smiled and put my arm around her shoulder. “I’m so happy that I have a friend like you, Lady Bryn.”
She smiled too. For a moment, I felt a flash of what I’d felt last night. A real moment; a real kind of love. Only this was one of the purest kinds; the kind that lived in the bonds of friendship.
“Oh, I almost forgot to ask,” she said, her eyebrows coming together in concern. “How was Oliver last night?”
“Oh, Oliver!” I said, thinking back on his disaster of a night.
“What happened when you took him back to his room?”
“He tried to drunkenly hook up with me.”
Alina smiled and took a knowing sip of her coffee. “Of course he did. How did it go down?”
I did my best to recount the story for her, finishing with, “he said all this garbage about how he’s wanted me since he first saw me, that I’m beautiful, etcetera etcetera.”
She chuckled. “Guys always say that.”
“I know,” I said, my eyes narrowing at Mason across the beach.
“Do you think he’s going to show up today? He was pretty trashed last night…”
“I certainly hope so,” I admitted. “I need a costume before my scene…”
“I’m sure we’ve got some in your size,” Alina reassured me. “Plus, we have a few more days at this location. I’m sure we can move some scenes around.”
For a moment I felt a flash of uncertainty, thinking that I was going to mess everything up. Because of Oliver, I was going to waste this opportunity.
Without a fitted costume, I couldn’t shoot the scene.
The scene with Mason.
I took one last glance across the beach, watching him flirt with an extra. An unpleasant feeling curdled in my gut. It was like that was bringing all of my inadequacies to the forefront of my mind and putting them all on display for me to see.
I wasn’t pretty enough, or skinny enough, or charming enough, or talented enough for someone like that to want me.
Just like all of my Grinder hookups made me feel, I felt used. Disposable. Just another body.
I looked down at the sand in shame.
Then Reese’s voice appeared out of nowhere.
“Charlie!”
I turned to see him hurrying toward me in the sand. He looked disheveled; he didn’t shave this morning. Even though he was still wearing another one of his suits with a red tie flapping in the wind, there was something about him that was off.
He wasn’t in control for once.
“Yeah?” I asked, trying to match the image of him in my head with this man in front of me.
“I need you and Mason to shoot your scene now,” he said, blinking too many times.
“But— but I don’t have a costume—”
“Yes you do,” Oliver said, appearing at my side. “It’s right here.”
Chapter Sixteen
Oliver held up a hangar that was supporting a simple costume with complex beading.
From reading the new version of the script, I knew that I had to play some villager that Mason’s character was hooking up with. In the show, it would be the second time his character, the bastard Chronis, would appear on-screen.
I was surprised to see that Oliver looked completely normal. By how trashed he was last night when I put him to bed, I thought he would be barely functional today.
But he looked way more put-together than Reese.
He either had some kind of miracle cure for hangovers or… he was faking being drunk last night.
I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Hurry up and get changed,” Reese said sharply, his words slicing through me. “Go on, go on!”
Oliver and I hurried to my trailer, the costume flapping in the wind.
“Put this on, and be quick about it,” he snapped.
I was still in a daze, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Why were they all of a sudden up in my business? It seemed like everyone was irritated at me.
Was it possible that Mason was spreading rumors about me? Did he tell anyone what had happened?
…was I getting a reputation?
I took the costume from Oliver and opened the door of my trailer, trying to catch his eye.
He seemed to be purposefully avoiding mine, then said, “You only have a few minutes. Meet me back at the set, we’ll get you in a chair to try and make sure everything fits.”
I pressed my lips together, letting the insult land but pretending it didn’t bother me.
“Thanks,” I said hollowly, then rushed inside my trailer.
Everything inside had been cleaned up by someone. My bed was made, my clothes were all put away, and the condom wrapper was gone.
A lump formed in my throat. I’d been out of here for what, an hour? And now everyone was acting weird around me…
As I pulled the costume on, I couldn’t help but wonder if Mason had leaked something; spread some rumor about me that was designed to get me off the set.
Was it… was it frowned upon to hook up with costars? I was under the impression that it happened all the time.
For some reason as I finished buttoning and zipping up the costume, tears started leaking out of my eyes. I knew I only had a few minutes, but I had to take some time to myself to sit down in my chair at my vanity and feel all of these things. I had to figure out where they were coming from…
I must have been a sight — some dude dressed in medieval villager clothing, hunched over at a vanity desk, crying his eyes out.
After some thinking, I felt a creeping sensation of Deja Vu.
This was how I felt in high school. This was how I felt after I’d come home from school after being bullied all day. I felt like I wasn’t enough — I’d get picked on for my clothing
