Hi again! I've been out of the game a long time, and I do apologize to those of you who've missed me, I've missed you as well! Between trying to graduate in June, and working, I barely have time to breathe, much less write. I'm hoping to have more free time on my hands soon though, so I thought I'd go ahead and post this. I can't promise you when I'll be able to update, or how often, but I wanted to go ahead and get this out there because I started it months ago, it's just been sitting in my documents, and I don't have the will power to hold out any longer.
PLEASE BE PATIENT WITH ME ON THIS!
That being said, I have no idea how the movie business works, and have never been behind the scenes for any of this cool stuff so I'm taking a lot of liberties here, please just go with me. Thanks! Also, for any of you who might have read 'Fifty Shades of Grey' this story might have some parallels, and while I did draw some inspiration from that book, this is not by any means modeled after it! Okay, enjoy!
Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Glee or any of the characters involved, nor do I have any affiliation with Paramount Studios.
Rachel Berry closed her tattered and worn copy of Blurred Lines, the novel that had ultimately come to change her life, for what seemed like the hundredth time and rubbed her tired eyes, leaning her head against the rest of her seat. She sighed deeply, allowing the air to fill her lungs as she looked to her left and stared out at the bright, pillow-like white clouds outside of the airplane window. It had certainly been a little unnerving at first, considering she had never ridden on an airplane in her life before now, but her enthusiasm quickly overshadowed the fear. Rachel could see her reflection in the airplane window, making it look almost as if she were floating out on the clouds themselves, a fitting image as that was exactly how she had felt the last couple of weeks.
Rachel was born and raised in the small town of Lima, Ohio where the biggest establishment was the city mall and the most exposure she could ever dream of getting was the lead in the school musical (which she always got, and always shined at, of course). She had always known that she was too big for little old Lima, her fathers had been drilling that in her mind from the time she was old enough to waddle across a stage on her own, and they had been pushing her to succeed in everything she attempted since. That is why neither Hiram nor Leroy Berry could complain when Rachel had finally received the life altering call from Paramount Studios beckoning her to Los Angeles; because by some sort of miracle she had scored the coveted role of Alana Taylor in the highly anticipated book-turned-film, Blurred Lines.
She could still remember the day she stumbled upon the book that would reinvent her future as if it had only been yesterday. A year ago, after Rachel 's graduation from high school it seemed like all she had was time on her hands. The plan had always been to graduate and go to New York for school, to get her foot in the doorway and find herself on Broadway; the place she belonged, to live out her biggest dreams. Those plans were effectively crushed when she didn't get into the school she had her heart set on, NYADA, and even more so when she realized that the deadline to apply to NYU had passed. Of course her initial reaction had been horrible and she spent days locked up in her room crying with Funny Girl and all the gummy bears her dads would buy her, but eventually she simply had to accept that it was the hand she had been dealt for the time being, pick up and move on.
It took more will power than she even realized that she possessed, but maybe that was just a part of becoming a grown up. Rachel decided to take the time to work on her applications and apply again the next year. In the meantime she used the summer to give voice lessons to younger people in the community and save up all of her earnings. However, even with the work she still had a lot more free time on her hands than she would have liked, so she decided to take up reading for the first time in months. She had been pouring through the newest titles on the 'Best Selling' List on her iPhone one night when she came across Blurred Lines. It was certainly more mature and racy than anything Rachel had read prior, but she found herself compelled by the tale of Carter Andrews, a tortured man with a dark past who chose to deal with his issues in very explicit ways, and the quiet yet undeniable hero he found in Alana Taylor.
That was the first night Rachel discovered what 'smut' was.
She wasn't a virgin, hadn't been since her junior year, but she had never actually read porn before either. She found herself becoming incredibly flustered as she read the racy novel in the privacy of her bedroom, but couldn't deny that it was all pretty erotic. She had even learned a few things from the book, more than a few things to be honest. She now knew that her relationship with Jesse had been very, what you would call 'vanilla' and a couple of times she found herself wondering what it would be like to get outside of that, to try some of the things mentioned in Blurred Lines; the book certainly made it sound fun. Just the thought brought new goosebumps to Rachel's skin and she physically shook her head, fighting the wicked smile that pulled at the corners of her mouth.
Even a few months after initially reading it Rachel was still obsessed with the novel. She found herself able to relate to Alana extremely well and claimed Carter Andrews as the man of her dreams. Eventually she started following other fan pages on Twitter and really became a clued in part of the book's fan base. She was ecstatic to find out that they were looking into making a feature film based off of the book, and that excitement only increased tenfold when she found out that they would be holding open casting calls for some of the roles, Alana included. Apparently they wanted fresh faces to bring life to the characters, and even if she, a relative nobody, didn't have her heart set on snagging the role she would have thought that a wise decision on the company's part.
Thankful that she had the sense to get a job and start saving up money, she began to see her not getting into New York for school earlier as a blessing in disguise when she drove to Philadelphia for her second audition. The original tape she had sent into Paramount had caught their attention, earning her the chance to audition the second time around. Nervous didn't even begin to describe the way Rachel felt when she auditioned live for the casting directors; she couldn't breathe, she ran back and forth to the bathroom, and she wouldn't be surprised if the receptionist thought that she was schizophrenic as much as she had talked to herself and tried to pep herself up before walking into that small, stuffy room. As it turned out, all of that nervous energy had helped fuel her character, and she secured the role of Alana easily.
Rachel was shaken from her reflective thoughts as the chirping voice of the stewardess came through the sound system, alerting the passengers that they were about to land at their destination. In spite of her fatigue from so much riding, Rachel's face lit up. She had never dreamed she would end up in Los Angeles, as New York had always been the sure option for her, but she couldn't deny how excited she was about breaking into the big city, and for such a monumental reason. She could only imagine the opportunities that this movie was going to bring her, the doors that it would open up, and she welcomed it all with open arms.
Rachel climbed out of the taxi cab, soaking in the bright lights and warm sun of California as she walked down the sidewalk, clutching the handles of her suitcases tightly in her hands. Paramount had very generously set her up with a room at the Camelot Hotel and Suites until she could find her own housing with the ample stipend provided to her. Thankful that she could deal with the headache of apartment searching later, Rachel hurried into the grand lobby. She was immediately surprised at how friendly the people seemed, offering her kind smiles in passing as she made her way to the front desk to check in; she almost wondered if any of them could possibly know who she was already, even though that was a little ridiculous.
No one knew who she was or what she was doing in town, at least not yet. The casting for Blurred Lines had been kept under tight wraps until this point, and for good reason. The fans were absolutely crazy about these two characters and had been extremely vocal about who they imagined playing them. There were numerous polls, online fan made videos and collages everywhere. There were pleas for Alana's character to be played by everyone from Rachel McAdams to Miley Cyrus. It had unnerved Rachel on many an occasion of trolling through online pages, hoping that she could live up to what the people wanted. She had always been able to see herself in Alana, she really hoped that the masses would too. Alana was supposed to be of around average height with a nice, fit physique, flowing brunette hair, and a simple, wholesome look to herself while being able to pull out the seductress side when needed. She certainly thought she fit the bill, well, the seductress part was yet to be determined, but the casting directors obviously had faith in her and she would too.
They certainly knew what they were doing when they picked their Carter Andrews.
Rachel blushed scarlet as she thought about her soon to be co-star, an actuality that still blew her mind, and the time they would be spending together shortly. She left her suitcases by the door and flopped over onto the mattress, clapping both hands over her face with a slight squeal. The biggest perceived challenges she had found since embarking on this journey were ones she still found herself struggling with, ones that had driven her daddy to taking Zantac. The raw sexual element of this movie, and the precision, intensity, and level of professionalism it would take to pull off was, understandably, going to be challenging for a new actress in itself, but what made Rachel want to chew all of her nails off was that she would be doing it all alongside, or rather underneath, Finn Hudson.
Finn was the most well known name that had been cast in the film, but he was still new enough to the industry to keep their 'fresh face' feel. She had seen Finn's first film two years ago, a comedy in which he played a typical frat boy engaging in a war with his rival fraternity. In spite of the cliche movie plot she had been impressed by his acting skills, and he definitely wasn't hard on the eyes at all. He was extremely tall with messy brown hair; perfect for the 'just fucked hair' that Carter was to maintain for a good majority of the film, flawless skin and jawbones, and very expressive brown eyes. Rachel had also seen his second and most recent film where he portrayed a a struggling business man trying to save his family business, and found that he gave a very different and believable performance. She couldn't deny that the man was a good actor.
What scared her was the man behind the character.
Finn Hudson had come to have a bit of a reputation behind the scenes of his movies; hooking up with his cast members and such. As gorgeous as the man was she couldn't truly blame him or the women involved, it was only natural, but she knew that she couldn't fall for that trap herself. She was much too new, too fragile to deal with that stigma or that drama. Of course it might not turn out to be a problem at all, who was to say that Finn would even be attracted to her? And besides that, the latest news articles were speculating that he might be quietly dating Quinn Fabray, the dazzling blonde beauty that had starred as Finn's love interest in his last movie. It made sense; the two had good chemistry on screen and they were both drop dead gorgeous; it was only fitting. Finn being taken might even make the whole situation more easy for Rachel to handle.
"I think I"ll try defying gravity!"
Rachel jumped with a high pitched squeal when her phone started to ring beside her head, startling her. She slapped a hand to her heart as she sat up on the firm hotel mattress and pressed the phone to her ear.
"Hello?"
"Rachel? This is Artie Abrams from Paramount, have you gotten settled in?" Rachel nearly choked on the air she was breathing when the voice of the movie's director came through her tiny phone.
"I have sir, thank you! It was a lovely flight and the hotel is just magnificent. Thank you so much" she rambled, losing her hold on herself until she heard the man chuckling.
"Please don't call me sir Rachel, I'm barely older than you."
"I'm sorry sir" Rachel said, cursing herself softly before correcting herself. "I mean, Mr. Abrams."
"We'll work on it" he sighed, chuckling softly. "I wanted to call you personally to make sure you were settled and ready to get to work tomorrow. This is going to be a huge project and I want us all on one accord."
"Yes, I absolutely agree sir. I'm definitely ready" she gushed, fighting to contain herself. "Call time is at eleven a.m. correct?"
"That's right. Don't forget to bring your I.D. and clearance card and we'll have everything else that you need" he informed her.
"Will do."
"Great. See you in the morning Alana" he said cheerily before hanging up the phone.
Rachel squealed and took a few minutes to tumble around on the massive bed in her suite before plopping back down onto her back to catch her breath. Tomorrow was going to be the day her dreams started to come true, and she couldn't wait.
Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed! As stated previously, I have no idea when I'll be able to update, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be patient with me!