My first story! Yay! Please read... this chapter just kind of sets everything up for the next ones :)
Twenty-three year old Miley smiled at the man who was sitting in the conference room she had just walked into at the movie studio she would be working in for the next two months. She was early, but there was still one guy already sitting in the room.
She knew that he was her co-star, Ben Giordano who she had met several times, but had never worked with. This was surprising seeing as Miley had been averaging three movies a year since she had turned 18 five years ago and because Ben seemed to have a role in every romantic comedy that Hollywood had to offer.
"Hey, Ben," Miley said with her smile still on her face, "Good to see you."
"Miley," the 28-year-old said, standing up to give her a hug. At 6'1" he was taller than her, but not so much that it was awkward. "I was so happy when I found out you got the part. It's hard to believe we haven't worked together yet."
"I know!" Miley said with a giggle, giving him a light embrace back, "I can't wait to get to work on this movie. Obviously, I'm already early."
"Obviously, me too," he said teasing her a little bit. They were hardly friends, but naturally they had mutual friends and had been to the same industry parties and awards shows where they had chatted casually. As Miley laughed at his teasing, she took a minute to admire him. She definitely wouldn't mind having to play opposite this guy. His skin was dark tan and his hair was jet black and a little spiky, but in a natural messy way. He had some stubble on his strong square chin that would probably be shaved off before filming started, but for now only added to his allure. It was easy to see why American woman had fallen in love with him on screen.
Miley plopped her huge purple suede bag on the long table next to the spot where Ben had been sitting.
"Can I get you some coffee?" Ben offered gesturing to the buffet table behind them that had an assortment of pastries (that no one ever ate) and at least three large canisters of coffee.
"No thanks," Miley said shaking her head. Even after years of dragging herself out of bed early she couldn't drink the stuff. Sugary lattes? They were fine. But plain coffee? Definitely not.
"So have you met Scarlett?" Ben asked as they took their seats.
Scarlett Franklin was their other co-start who was to play Miley's best friend in the movie. She was a fairly new actress who got her big break in an indie movie that made it's way to the mainstream. She was just a year older than Miley at 24.
"I read with her at auditions," Miley said, "But I haven't really had a chance to speak with her."
"Same here, but I saw that movie she was in. She's good. And hot too."
Part of Miley could tell that Ben was joking, but part of her could tell that he was serious too. Miley rolled her eyes. Men. They could be such pigs.
Take her most recent boyfriend for instance, Chris. While she was on the set of her last movie in New York, he had been getting cozy with a new reality TV star back in LA. What a sleaze. But that had been almost two months ago and Miley wasn't exactly in love with him yet, but still, it was a pretty asshole thing to do.
"Hi!" a sweet voice came from the doorway and both Ben and Miley turned to look at the girl who was standing there. She was petite with a paler complexion and had almost-black hair. Her features were light and delicate and she had stunning green eyes.
"Scarlett!" Miley said getting up with enthusiasm as she recognized the girl. Miley went over and embraced her with a tight hug. Scarlett seemed a little taken aback, but quickly hugged Miley back.
"It's so nice to meet you," Scarlett said sincerely, greeting Ben as well, "I thought I would be the first one here."
"So did I," Miley said, "But actually Ben here was the first. Don't worry, we'll have plenty of time to prove we're better and more committed than him."
Scarlett laughed a tinkling little laugh at Miley's joke. She was so cute and Miley knew they would be good friends. Anyone who could laugh at her humor and who didn't mind hugs was good in her book.
The three co-stars began to chat and soon were joined by the rest of the actors who played more minor roles in the movie. The room was beginning to get noisy when suddenly a hush fell over the crowd and Miley noticed that the director and producer, Julie, had just walked in the room.
"Hey guys!" the blonde woman in her early fifties said enthusiastically, "We're so happy to be working with all you guys. We just wanted to gather you all here today to give you your filming schedules and then do some screen tests with makeup and hair."
Julie, with the help of two assistants who had followed her in, handed out everyone's filming schedule. Miley flipped through it casually. She knew that as one of the main characters she would have filming almost everyday anyway.
"Now," Julie said, "Even if you're not filming on a certain day or at a certain time, you're more than welcome to be on set as long as you aren't in the way. If you have any questions or concerns about your times, come talk to me and I'll try and work it out."
Miley was hardly listening to be honest, but Scarlett next to her looked like she was hanging on every word Julie said. Miley laughed to herself thinking about her first real movie, The Hannah Montana Movie, and realized that she probably looked just like that.
"Miley! Scarlett!" Julie called, making Miley snap her head to attention, "You two will be in studio five, which is down the hall to the left."
Miley nodded and gathered up her things and walked out the door with Scarlett.
"Are you excited?" Miley asked the girl as they walked down the hall.
"Um, yes!" Scarlett said with a little squeal, "I can't believe this, it's like a dream come true! Even just working with you is amazing."
"Aw, thanks," Miley said blushing and feeling kind of awkward. She was never good at handling her fame.
When the two girls got into the room, they were quickly ushered into two stylist seats. Miley's usual makeup artist, Denika, began giving her the first look for her screen test.
In the beginning of the movie, Miley's character, Erica, was supposed to be kind of plain and ordinary and best friends with Scarlett's character, Jen, who is dating Ben's character, Matt. The first scene of the movie is Matt breaking up with Jen which sends Jen to see Erica. Then the two girls cook up the idea to get back at Matt by giving Erica a makeover and making Matt fall in love with her just to break his heart.
It was a typical romantic comedy, full of humor and cheesy lines and slightly unrealistic plotlines. But at the same time, as Miley was reading the script she knew that it was the kind of movie that her and her girlfriends would go see and that she would probably buy it on DVD and watch it when she needed a good laugh.
After Miley's initial screen test, it was time for her "makeover" look. A hairstylist was pinning her hair up for the wig she would be wearing. Miley knew that this would conjure up Hannah Montana references, but she knew she could over come that. In fact, it would probably be a selling point of the movie. "Miley puts a blonde wig back on for a new Romantic Comedy"… she could write the headlines herself.
She sat back and relaxed as the people worked on her. Her nails were being done at the same time as her hair and then her makeup would be redone with a slightly more seductive look to it.
"Are you nervous to start filming tomorrow?" Miley asked Scarlett as she sat in the seat. Her makeup and hair required less work than Miley's and she didn't have to undergo a whole makeover so she was already done.
"A little," Scarlett admitted, "Especially because my boyfriend is going to be on set."
"Oooh, a boyfriend," Miley said with a wink, "Give me the details."
"Well… we've been dating for about two months now," Scarlett said, "He's really nice and super cute. I'll definitely introduce you."
"Yay!" Miley said, "I love cute couples. And don't worry, the first scene tomorrow is one with you and me so I'll make you look super good."
Scarlett laughed, "Thanks, Miley. So how about you? Do you have a boyfriend?"
Miley frowned a little thinking about Chris, but mostly about her love life in general. It wasn't that Miley was a bad person, but she could get out of control if she didn't have someone to rein her in. It seemed like all guys just wanted to push her and pressure her into partying and drinking and drugs. Then the other kind of guys were too boring and she didn't want that either. In fact, there had only been one boy who had honestly been perfect for her and her for him. But that had ended a long time ago.
"Nope, I'm happily single," Miley said with a smile and then Scarlett began to talk about her boyfriend's single friends who she could hook Miley up with and Miley just smiled and went along with it. She knew Scarlett was just trying to be friendly so she went on about the kind of guy she usually dated and so on until the day was over and Miley could go home.
Once again, Miley was on set early the next morning. She checked into hair and makeup, promised she come back later for touch-ups, and then went to explore the area that was supposed to be Erica's apartment where Jen was supposed to come over in tears over her breakup with Matt.
She walked down the hall where the crew were going back and forth and stepped into the set. It was a fully furnished apartment with cream-colored furniture and taupe colored walls. Definitely not Miley's taste, but it was definitely her conservative character's taste. Miley surveyed the area for a little bit, envisioning the scene in her head, where she would sit and stand to deliver different lines and how she would angle herself towards the cameras that were already being set up. Sure, Julie would tell her what she wanted, but a little improvising couldn't hurt and she didn't want to come off as totally clueless.
Sensing she was in the way, Miley left the room and decided to head back for her dressing room and see if anything was going on in there. At the very least she could gossip with Denika for a little bit. As she was walking through the hallway, she saw a familiar bounce of curls out of the corner of her eye. No way. Not after she was just thinking about him yesterday.
She turned her head and tried to spot them again. There they were, sitting on top of a man's head. A man she hadn't seen in a while and hadn't been planning on seeing.
There, on the set of her movie, was her old "best friend", the love of her life, and her ex-boyfriend, Nick Jonas.
Oooh cliffhanger :O review please! :)