Being on set was like being in a whole other world. She'd never been to prison before, and by the look of this place it was somewhere she never wanted to visit. She knew it wasn't even a real prison, but something about the place made her shiver and given that it used to be a children's psychiatric hospital made her feel even more creeped out.
Taylor had taken on the lead character, Piper Chapman. Her character was a bisexual living in New York City who had been sentenced to 15 months in prison, Litchfield Penitentiary after being found guilty of transporting a suitcase full of drug money to her former girlfriend Alex Vause who was an international drug smuggler. When she had received the script for the series, Taylor knew that it was something she had to be a part of. Ever since she was young, she'd been an avid supporter of the LGBT movement and she was glad that a same sex couple would finally be taking on the lead role in a TV show. Her parents had been a little worried at first, with her mother being disappointed that her daughter was playing a 'lesbian drug smuggler' as she had bluntly put it. Despite the lack of support from her parents, Taylor had gone ahead and taken the job anyways.
She was nervous, to say the least, about meeting the other members of the cast. Piper Kerman, who Taylor was taking on the role of, was already on set when she arrived, along with the writer Jenji Kohan. She had already gone through her lines during the audition which meant that the three of them had already met briefly.
"Hey!" Jenji shouted, noticing Taylor as she entered the building.
Taylor smiled. "Hey Jenji, am I too early?"
Jenji took her by the arm and led her through door into the 'prison yard'. "Of course not. Laverne, Yael, Lea and Maddie are already here. Their trailer is the first one on the right, you'll be sharing a trailer with Laura but she isn't here yet. "
Taylor was relieved to know she wasn't the only one on set. During their readings, Taylor had had the chance to meet Laverne, Yael, Natasha, Lea and Jason, all of which were lovely. She knew that there were a lot more cast, but each had been split into groups and given different reading days which meant that they hadn't all had the chance to meet yet. Shyly, she made her way over to the trailer that she'd been directed to and let herself in.
She was greeted by a bunch of excited "Hello's" as they got to meet each other.
"Drink?" Lea asked, holding a bottle of Gatorade up to Taylor's face.
"Yeah, thanks." Taylor smiled, taking the bottle and sitting down next to Natasha, who she'd already met.
"Hey, nice to see you again." Natasha grinned as she pulled Taylor in for a hug. "Hopefully the rest of the cast should be here soon so we can all get together."
Jason was the next to arrive and Taylor began to feel a little more relaxed as he sat down next to her and began conversation. When she'd read in her audition, she had been with Jason as they were acting out the scene where he takes her to prison to begin her sentence. They'd spent two full days together and had hung out for a while after their auditions so that they could get to know each other a little better.
One by one, the rest of the cast made their entrance and before long, they were all laughing and chatting in the trailer. Because each cast member would be shooting different scenes, they were told to make their way to their own trailers to pick up their scripts for the day.
When Taylor found her trailer (which was the one in the far corner and the most awkward one to get to), she opened the door and quickly dropped her heavy bag onto the table. She knew she probably wouldn't even need anything that she had brought with her, but she had packed it anyways. Excited to find out what her first scene was going to be, she wasted no time picking up her script to read her lines.
Through the excitement of getting the script, Taylor hadn't noticed that the door behind her had opened, and someone else had let themselves in. Flicking through the pages she was unaware that there was someone stood right behind her, reading the script over her shoulder.
"Sounds like a good scene, don't ya think?"
Taylor almost jumped through the ceiling as she heard the voice behind her.
"JESUS! Fuck, you scared the shit out of me." She shouted angrily, her hand pressed to her chest as her heart raced.
The woman stood in front of her was laughing at her reaction. She had long dark hair and piercing green eyes. She was dressed in a pair of black jeans, combat boots and a white shirt with a leather jacket over the top and a pair of sunglasses pushed onto the top of her head.
"Did I scare you?" She asked, a smirk plastered across her face.
"Yeah you did. Fuck.." Taylor's heart was still racing, but she no longer knew if it was because of the fear, or because there was a beautiful woman stood in front of her.
"Sorry…I'm Laura." She pulled her hand out from her jacket pocket and extended it out towards the blonde who still looked as though she'd seen a ghost.
"Y...you're Laura?" Taylor asked, realising that the two of them were going to be playing an on screen couple.
"Yeah...if you were expecting someone else then I'm sorry to disappoint…"
"NO!" Taylor cut in. "No, I'm just glad you're not someone trying to break in here and kidnap me or something." She put her script down on the couch behind her and accepted her handshake. "I'm Taylor."
"Hmm, well they did say you were pretty." Laura smiled, rubbing her thumb lightly over Taylor's as they held each other's hand.
Taylor blushed and tucked a piece of stray hair behind her ear. "Thanks." She replied quietly.
Composing herself, Taylor was finally able to regain her voice and speak normally. "Have you read your script?"
"No, I was just about to do that. You read yours?" Laura asked as she walked over and picked hers up off the table.
"A little, I mean I would've been able to read it properly if I hadn't been scared to death a few minutes ago."
Laura sat herself on the arm of the couch. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that." She said as she flicked through the pages.
Taylor picked up her script again and began reading where she'd left off. After a few minutes, a laugh came from Laura that startled Taylor once more.
"Something funny?" The blonde asked.
"No, it's just our first scene that's all."
"Our first scene? My first scene is with Jason…"
"Well then I suggest you read your second scene, because I have a feeling it's gonna be a while lot hotter than your first." Laura winked and Taylor quickly flicked through the pages to find her second scene.
Laura watched as Taylor's mouth dropped open a little and her eyebrows raised as she read through the lines. At the top of the script, it read:
'SHOWER SCENE'
*EPISODE 1 BEGINS WITH 'ALEX' AND 'PIPER' IN THE SHOWER. FOR THE SCENE TO LOOK REAL THE TWO ACTORS SHOULD BE CLOSE TOGETHER AND KISSING. THESE TWO CHARACTERS ARE IN LOVE AND THE AUDIENCE SHOULD BELIEVE THAT WHAT THEY ARE WATCHING IS REAL. BOTH ACTORS SHOULD ALSO TAKE NOTE THAT THEY WILL BE FILMING THE SCENE NAKED.*
Taylor looked up at Laura who had the same smirk plastered on her face as before.
"They want us to film our first scene naked?" She asked with a hint of confusion in her voice.
"That seems to be the case. Are you nervous?"
Taylor sat down on the middle seat of the couch whilst Laura was still perched on the arm. "Of course I'm nervous, we've only just met each other and I've never been fully naked on camera before…aren't you nervous?"
"Not really, at least I don't think so. We're gonna be working together for a long time and somehow I don't think this is going to be the only scene in which we're going to see each other naked."
"I know…I just didn't think it would be the first scene that's all. Anyways, I gotta go and get ready for my scene with Jason so I guess I'll see you later yeah."
Taylor stood up and smiled at Laura, who grinned back at her. Something about this woman made her head spin, it was like she was back in high school when she used to have a crush on her teacher. Except this wasn't high school, and she wasn't a kid anymore with a crush on a higher member of staff. Now, she was a grown woman and this was her work colleague. Her very attractive work colleague.
"See you around." Laura shouted as she left the trailer.
After hair and makeup she'd been instructed to make her way down to the prison waiting room where the scene would take place. Jason was there and he waved as she entered the room. The two of them briefly went over their lines before it was time to begin.
"Action!" Jenji shouted.
The scene ran smoothly without anyone yelling 'cut' and they made it all the way up to Piper's strip search without any errors. During Piper's strip search she was instructed to 'squat and cough' which sent all of the surrounding cast members into fits of laughter, including Taylor. It took them 2 or 3 tries before they were able to film without anyone laughing. When the scene was over, the cast who featured were able to watch the reel back. Everyone cringed as they sat and watched their acting.
"Wow, why did no one tell me that I look like a TERRIBLE kisser?" Jason laughed.
It was lunch by the time the scene was over and Taylor went back to her trailer to get changed and have something to eat. Her heart raced at the thought of the scene she would be filming in the afternoon and she wondered if Laura had been telling the truth about not being nervous. When she entered her trailer she found herself a little disappointed that she was the only one there. 'Laura must already be on set' she thought to herself.
When the time came, she was called onto the set. Just as she had thought, Laura was already there.
"Now, I know the two of you just met but in this scene I want to see you act like you're deeply in love, and I want to be able to believe it. It's only a short scene that will be used in the opening of the first episode, but it's important that the viewers see a connection between both of you. As you both probably already read your scripts, you'll know that you have to be naked for the scene. There are robes for the both of you but during the scene you won't be wearing them. I'll leave you to get ready and then we'll begin shooting when we're good to go."
When Jenji left, only Laura and Taylor were in the room. As well as their trailer, they had a separate dressing room on set that had two rooms where they were able to get dressed.
"So, guess I'll see you out there then." Laura winked as she made her way into the room to get changed.
A/N: I'm not sure what you guys will think of the story, but if you like it then i'll keep going! Please review and let me know what you think.
