"I want to make it bigger," Alex was saying, gesturing wildly with his hands, "much, much more impressive than 'Mon Amour Intemporel'. It has to be deep, it has to have impact that slams into you—"
"Are you sure we can pull off something like that?" Brian asks. "Mon Amour Intemporel' didn't go down too well with the girls in our class."
He looks skeptical. Alex smirks. "Of course we can! We just need to make it relatable. We could set it in a small town, a lot of people here are from fairly tiny places… Hey, I know, it could be like, the aftermath of a bad choice! Our hero decides to leave, and they come back to the small town, and everything's changed without them."
"Well, you're the one with the ideas," Seth says quietly, shrugging. "…Maybe you should write the script."
A hush falls over the three men. "Uh," Alex starts intelligently. His eyes flicker between Brian and Seth, looking for their reactions. "Do you really think I could do that well enough…?"
Brian grins, tipping back on his chair and stretching, looking like this project isn't going to cause him any problems at all. Which it probably won't, knowing Brian. "I got nothin', Alex," he says, propping his hands up behind his head. "You sound like you have everything we need, script wise. Hey, I could ask Sarah from Performing Arts if she wants to be in it!"
"That sounds good. Seth, get this down—"
Seth's way ahead of Alex. He's already scribbling down notes furiously. "We're gonna need a brooding character," he murmurs. "It worked well in the last one. You write brooding characters surprisingly well… You know, with troubled past and dark secrets and stuff."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Brian jumps in before the two start bickering (meaning, before Alex starts picking at Seth's every move). "I know someone who sounds perfect for that role. Want me to see if he's interested?"
"Yeah, sure!" Alex is feeling really good about this now. "Listen, do you guys want to meet up tomorrow to talk through this a bit more? I'll see if I can flesh out a storyline, and we'll talk about locations—"
The three make plans to see each other on the next day, chattering excitedly (Seth just smiles and stays silent, but that's pretty much the peak of excitement for him so Alex isn't too worried about his reaction). When the rest of the class begin to pack up, Brian heads off to his Performing Arts class, Seth gathers up his oddly large collection of pens and notepads, and Alex stays behind. He doesn't have anything to do for the next few hours or so - he figures he can take his time clearing away his belongings. Maybe he could visit the library to start on the first draft.
He's hauling his bag over his shoulder, and is about to make a beeline for the door, but the classroom isn't empty yet.
Jay is sitting at a desk located right at the back of the room, swinging his feet and scratching absently onto a sheet of A4. He's resting one hand against his cheek, seemingly bored, but on closer inspection appears to be deep in dreamy thought. It's… It's actually kind of adorable.
"…Uh, hey."
Alex walks over tentatively and leans on top of the adjacent desk. Jay doesn't look up, but he nods a bit.
"Excited about the new project?" he tries again.
Jay shakes his head, hair bouncing slightly. "No," he sighs. "I don't think I'll be doing it anyway, so…"
"What? Why not?" he jumps in with mild outrage. Alex can't believe that someone would pass up the chance to be part of a college film crew. It's an alien thought. Why wouldn't you want to when it's all he's ever wanted to do?
"Um…"
Jay adds a little more shading. It appears that the notes he took all lesson turned out as various cartoon caricatures of screaming classmates. "I haven't got a group," he confesses.
Alex can feel his eyebrows raising. "Everyone went in their normal groups," he states, confused. "Aren't you in L—"
"Luke kicked me out of their group," Jay mumbles. "Says I get in the way and that I'm too distracting for the actors…"
"Bullshit," Alex says abruptly. Jay meets his eyes, pen still poised over the paper: "I've seen your camera work, Jay, it's way too good for Luke's group. They don't know what they've lost. Luke's a douchebag anyway, just come and work with us."
The pen, forgotten, is bleeding ink into the paper where Jay's hands have relaxed. Jay hasn't noticed. He's too busy staring at Alex. "…Are you sure?"
"Of course I am," Alex smirks. "If you've got time now, we can go work on the first draft of our script. I'll explain the ideas we came up with on the way to the library, if you want. Seth and Brian would be really glad you're with us." I'll be really glad you're with us.
Jay carefully packs up his 'notes', carefully sliding them into his messenger bag, and Alex leads him away: "we might have to double you up with camera and script, if no-one can do supervision. It's not too hard though, I'm sure you'll do fine… Just let me make a call."
He goes to the side and grabs his phone from out of his pocket. "Brian? …Yeah, I know. But I think I found the script supervisor."