Sookie
The morning after the big tabloid scandal, Eric left for work before I did. I was snuggled back into bed, smelling his pillow and thinking about the steamy fun we'd had the night before. I kept giggling thinking of the naughty things that Eric had done with the rubber ducky I had given him for his birthday as a gag gift. I'll never look at it the same way. I hoped we hadn't flooded the downstairs apartment with our bath water sloshing into the floor. And I'd had no idea that Eric could hold his breath for so long. I kept blissfully replaying the whole bathtub event in my mind when my phone rang and interrupted my thoughts. It was Eric warning me that there was some press parked in front of his building. I made sure my makeup was perfect before I emerged and then they swarmed me as I walked to my car. I just smiled sweetly and waved.
After a few days, they found some other story that was more interesting and eventually, we were no longer on the cover of the tabloids. Alcide was full of apologies and promised lots of free p.r. work for Eric's film in exchange for the Debbie Pelt mess. Honestly, I wasn't really bothered by it but I didn't let him know that. He should be more careful who he gets involved with. This turned out fairly well, but it certainly could have gone another way. Not everyone would have been so understanding. I heard rumblings at the office that Alcide's father was not pleased with Alcide's lapse in judgment. I stayed out of it.
Eric's film started shooting and I braced myself for a lot of time alone. His pre-production hours had been fairly long, but once the film was in production, he worked 16 or 17-hour days every day. There were also a lot of night shoots because the movie was about vampires, so there were entire weeks where he would shoot from late afternoon until dawn and then sleep during the day. During those weeks, I would only get to see him on the weekends and even then he was a zombie at home and then would still go into the office some. I tried to take care of his personal stuff as much as I could. I did his grocery shopping, kept his apartment clean, that sort of thing. His production assistant, Hallow, also had a key to his place and dropped off his dry cleaning and ran some errands for him. It was a tough three months, but we got through it, and he was so pleased with the result of the filming as was Felipe DeCastro and the suits at Paramount.
Finally the film was in post-production and while Eric still had to be there for the editing process, the hours were better and he was less exhausted.
Things were going well for me in my job. Alcide and I were still working together well and of course Debbie was gone. Amelia was really happy. Eric had given her a small part in the film which got her her union card, so her agent was sending her out on better auditions and she had also booked a commercial. She was still working at Merlotte's and met a cute guy there named Tray. They hit it off immediately and she had practically moved in with him so I hardly ever saw her at home. I missed her, but was so happy for her that she had found a great guy and was happy.
Eric
Some days I just had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming. My life was going better than I had ever hoped. I had my dream girl and things in that department couldn't have been any better. I also had my dream job and while it was exhausting and difficult, it was also thrilling and rewarding and more fun than I'd even imagined. The three-month shoot was tough. The hours were demanding and the pressure was extreme, but I had the best crew in the world and my cast was wonderful. Victor Madden was such a pro, and in spite of his lecherous personality, he was a great actor and now I could see why he was so in demand. DeCastro was very patient and helpful. He knew how inexperienced I was when he hired me and so he surrounded me with seasoned professionals on my crew, making my job a lot easier. He had become a great mentor to me and I was soaking up everything he taught me like a sponge. Pam was his assistant, so I got to see her a lot at work which was great because I had no time at all afterwards to do anything much except sleep. Sookie was so sweet and supportive and I made sure to tell her often how much I loved and appreciated her.
I was finally through with the long days of shooting and in the editing process. Everyone was pleased with the film's progress and I could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel on the project. Then I hit my first serious snag and knew that I'd have to deal with the problem quickly and firmly.
It started with a phone call from Hallow. It was late on a Friday afternoon and she asked to see me in my office. I was surprised because it was not exactly her place to ask me to meet her anywhere. She was my assistant, and while she had always done a good job and was very efficient, I never really liked her much. She was always very serious and there was something a little creepy about her, but the studio had hired her and I never really had any specific complaints about her work.
I found her sitting at my desk which was very odd. When I came in, she jumped up and walked around the desk and stood, waiting for me to sit in my chair. I sat and looked at her, waiting to hear what was so important that she would ask to see me. She just handed me an envelope and stepped back with her hands behind her. I opened it and was shocked at what I read. I had suspected that she might me a little off, but this letter was downright scary. In it, she declared her love for me and said she was certain that I loved her back. It went on and on about how in our hearts we both knew that we belonged together. I read it to the end and then asked her to have a seat. She was smiling broadly and that gave me the creeps.
I explained to her that she was mistaken about my feelings for her and I apologized if I had ever given her any indication that we had anything other than a professional relationship. I watched her face fall as I gently but firmly let her know that I was absolutely uninterested in any kind of personal relationship with her. I was hoping that she would accept my rejection and apologize for the inappropriate overture, but instead she just asked if I would come and stay with her for a week and give her a chance, and then I would see how much she loved me and that we belonged together. That response made my next decision easy. I told her to clean out her desk and go home, and that her employment was terminated.
I went back to work with the editor, calling Sookie as I walked across the lot. We made plans to meet at my place for dinner and I was looking forward to a fairly relaxing weekend with my beautiful and wonderful girlfriend.
At the end of the day, I stuck my head into Felipe's office and said goodnight to Pam. I signed out at the security desk as I walked through the gate. I crossed the street to the parking garage and as I entered the garage and saw my car everything went black.
