“Excuse me.” Sam groaned as he sat up a bit and moved so there was now an empty seat between them. Euca and Clementine shimmied by and wasted no time filling the space. Amanda still refused to look at Sam’s face, but she didn’t miss the way his strong, but manicured fingers slid over Clementine’s fur. She hadn’t forgotten the way they felt on her skin, how they felt between her legs. “Please. Go on.”
“There’s one night, but if we’re moving to the massive commitment of a two-night stand, I feel like you should get to know me just a little bit.”
“Okay, so let me get to know you then. What you do? Where you from? What your mom and dem like?”
Amanda smiled despite herself. “I’m from Rhode Island. My mom is a nurse at the health center at the U Providence campus. I’m an only child.”
“And what do you do?”
“Um—I’m a writer.” Which she was, when she had the time. Which she hadn’t lately. And maybe she didn’t get paid for it either. But she did write, and if she was honest with herself, she was pretty damn good at it.
“Oh. Alright. What are you working on now?”
“I have a few top-secret things in development.”
“I understand, no need to give me details. Give me a hint though. Sci-fi? Horror? Comedy? A sweeping romantic saga? Please tell me you’re bringing back full-length feature porno.”
“I don’t know where you’ve been. The full-length feature porno is alive and well. Um, it’s a cross between Lost in Space and Pirates of the Caribbean with four hundred percent more Black people and a love story that isn’t cursed. But there is magic.” That was the elevator pitch for the script she’d been sitting on. A script that would never get made.
“Damn, that sounds amazing. Little sci-fi, fantasy action. I like it.”
Amanda suddenly didn’t feel comfortable talking about herself anymore. “How long have you known Helene? Did you two meet at Juilliard?”
“Actually, I didn’t go to acting school. I didn’t go to college.”
“Really? Not that you needed to go to college. I just—”
“I was performing on the rodeo circuit with my brother, and he and I got a chance to do stunts for that movie Rodeo Kid. Did you ever see that?”
Amanda covered her burst of laughter. “Oh my God. I ran that movie into the ground. I used to have such a huge crush on Bryan Michael Weston.”
“Okay, so I did all of Pudge’s stunts. Helene’s dad produced that and I met her on set one day. We reconnected on Inferno. I was working steady through my teens and then got called in to actually speak on camera during Patriot’s Promise.”
“Now that movie was terrible. I’m sorry,” Amanda blurted out, but Sam seemed pleasantly surprised by her honesty.
“Thank you. It was complete garbage, but they cast me right as I finished up my GED. Came to a deal with my parents that I would go back to school as soon as the work dried up and I’m very fortunate it hasn’t yet.”
“And now you’re officially Hollywood royalty. Wielder of the golden knight.”
“You know, some sex-crazed woman tried to steal my statue from me? Can you believe it?”
“Anyway.”
A strange look came over Sam’s face as he continued to run his fingers over Clementine’s shiny coat. Amanda realized she’d stopped lavishing Euca with the proper attention, but she didn’t seem to mind. The dog let out a sigh and made herself comfortable, resting her head on Amanda’s feet.
“Can I be real with you for a second?” Sam said.
“Yes, of course.”
“Whatever I’m feeling? Right now? It’s a combination of surreal and anticlimactic.”
Amanda was not expecting him to say that. She glanced up as the minister had them reset for another run-through, before giving her full attention back to Sam. This ceremony was rather involved. “What do you mean?”
“I feel this sort of... drop, like I expected something else to happen, something bigger.”
“You wanted our Lord in heaven, our savior Jesus Christ himself to descend from the heavens and present you with the award himself?”
“Okay. Okay, I know I sound a little poor little rich boy right now.”
Amanda winced, but nodded all the same. “You kinda do, yeah.”
“I can’t explain it.”
“Well, if you’re struggling with some sort of letdown, look at it this way, you accomplished something so many people dream of and you did it with a part you should be proud of. Did the movie get a little white saviory? Yes.”
“Damn. Tell me how you really feel.”
“I mean, you didn’t notice that when you read the script?”
“Amanda, listen, I’m a super-famous, very important actor. I’m not accustomed to people speaking to me in this manner.”
“Sorry, Your Highness, but I don’t know or like you enough to protect your feelings.”
Sam let out another deep laugh that made her thighs melt. She should really get up and take a lap, just to cool off, but she stayed right where she was.
“All I’m saying is, even though the movie wasn’t exactly what I would have wanted, you were amazing in it. You gave one of our ancestors a voice and the Academy actually acknowledged that. People know Josiah Williams now in a way they didn’t before thanks to you. Be proud of that. Also you and your grandmother are both Oscar winners. Your whole family should be over the moon.”
“They are. They are. And you’re right. Thank you for that blunt, but much appreciated perspective.”
“You’re welcome. Now for your next project can you please do something that requires more male nudity?”
“Listen. If you have the porn script ready just say so.”
Amanda looked over at him again and that blinding smile let her know she was in deep, deep trouble.
She was gonna have to sleep with him again. She’d be a fool not to.
* * *
Sam was still a bit in shock. He’d been thinking about two things all week: his career and finding Cha-Cha
