Contrary to my belief, I wouldn't expect Brant and Ian to be good friends. Ian was really nerdy and goofy and if he didn't have the life he had now, I would bet that he would spend his days creating model sculptures and failing cooking, whereas Brant was more dynamic and easily adaptive. And yet, there they were, greeting each other like they were long-lost friends when they had only seen each other barely an hour ago on set.
As soon as we settled down with our welcomes, I offered Ian the rest of my sub, which was half finished.
"No, you need to eat," he shook his head, looking over at the counter where the area to order food was located. "I'll get something for myself. That's what I came here for, anyways."
He adjusted his beanie and fleeted the booth seat right next to me without another word. I watched him order, but I couldn't hear him over the many voices chattering in the cafeteria. He pointed towards a couple items as the worker behind the thin glass snatched different items to place on the toasted, thick bread. His eyebrows were scrunched in concentration, choosing what he wanted as if it were a life choice. Did I mention how cute he looked in his beanie?
"Earth to Lucy?"
My head snapped back to Brant, who I had almost forgotten was there. I told myself I wouldn't do that after yesterday, when I did the same thing and Troian had caught me. Tons of excuses flew into my head before I could get out a word, but none too clever to be a plausible reason.
"Wh-what?" I stammered, eyeing him for any detection.
"Were you listening?" he questioned. "Or were you staring at your boyfriend?"
Dang. He saw. Who wouldn't see me practically drooling at the sight of him?
Get it together, Lucy, I told myself. You're an actor. Sell it.
"What boyfriend?" I played dumb, pulling out my phone from my pocket and typing in the code to access the contents. I pushed the remains of my sub towards the skeptical male. "Want?"
He slid it back in a deliberate manner, raising an eyebrow. He doubted it, I could tell by the quizzical look on his face.
As Ian came along, I gave Brant a stare, warning with my eyes that this conversation wouldn't continue when the topic was headed our way - or would continue, ever.
As Ian took his seat next to me, our legs clashed together.
"Sorry!" I squeaked, scooting over a little.
He looked over, his lips curving upwards. "No worries, Lucy Goosy." I wouldn't let anyone but him call me that, since it was the nickname my father used to call me when I was a young girl.
"Yeah, Lucy Goosy," said the other male with a sparkle of amusement. "No worries, okay?"
I was going to kill him.
"Shut up, Brant," I rolled my eyes, proceeding to my phone and having a serious debate on whether I should go on Twitter or Facebook first. I decided Twitter.
"What?" he said shrugging, as if he didn't do anything wrong or out of the ordinary. I looked over at the male sitting next to me from the corner of my eye. He was being more attentive to his packed sandwich rather than us. I was relieved.
"You're on set today, right?" Ian asked. I nodded in response. "Great."
Out of nowhere, two girls around the age twelve or thirteen popped up, shy smiles on their faces.
"H-hi," one of them piped. She had chestnut colored hair that went down to her stomach and a pale complexion. She had a babyface, but for some reason, she seemed older than she appeared. "Could you maybe sign an autograph on our notepads?" They held out two notebooks towards us, along with a purple pen.
"Of course!" Ian responded with a huge grin, accepting one of the notebooks while Brant took the other one. They scribbled their fan signatures on the paper and synchronously handed it for me to sign. I grabbed the one in Brant's hand first, squiggling my name, which was different from my real signature. I was told that it was safer to have two different types for safety reasons, in case someone wanted to forge my name on a credit card, a bill, or something that could corrupt anything important. I signed the notebook in Ian's hand right after and they had given it back to the young girls.
"Thank you!" they proclaimed at the same time, scurrying off to wherever they were located previously.
"Aw, I love fans," I smiled. They made my day, especially the shy ones that approached us.
"Same," Brant agreed. "Especially the tall, beautiful, ones."
I scoffed as Ian burst into fits of laughter. They did a man handshake before looking over at me and laughing once again.
"So, how was that Europe trip? You went to... what was it, Italy and France or something?" Ian asked Brant in a quieter manner after their laughs were dying down.
A smile grew on the tan guy, delighted to explain about his trip. I was somewhat interested as well, since my music producer was talking about setting up a Europe tour for my new album.
"It was amazing," he emphasized, "I went to those places, yeah, along with Germany, Spain, and... Denmark, I think."
"Germany's where I was born," Ian apprised. I knew that, but I didn't want to sound futile and blurt that out.
"Oh, so I met your people?" Brant laughed. "Germany was absolutely amazing."
Ian nodded, but due to his stuffed mouth of sub, he couldn't respond with any words. I decided to continue his inquiry.
"I really want to go to one of those places," I jumped in. "Which was your favorite?"
He considered it for a while, biting at his upper lip. "I think I'd have to say.. god, I don't know! I can't decide between any of those." He smirked.
"Hey!" Ian blurted. "What about Germany, hm? I think that's your favorite."
I laughed at his statement, covering my mouth with the back of my hand.
"Fine, fine," Brant gave in, laughing alongside the both of us. "Germany's my favorite. Happy?"
"Very."
"Good."
They continued to talk, but a different topic that I wasn't too interested in. I continued to tap at my phone, going through some comments on one of my recent tweets. A lot of positive comments, some intriguing ones, some negative ones. Nothing new, but the positive ones never failed to make me smile. I pulled out my camera and took a few photos of myself before holding it out away from my face.
"C'mon, guys! Get in the picture," I instructed, waving at them.
"Picture time," Brant said, having to lean over to get inside while Ian had easy access to the picture. I snapped a few, and each time our faces were different - serious, goofy, dramatic. There was one where Ian kissed my cheek and Brant dramatically gasped as a pose for the picture while my hand was over my hand in a shocked way.
"Perfect," I said, sliding the phone back into my personal bubble before clicking on Instagram to post one of them.
"I think we'd better head back to set," Ian suggested. "It's almost one."
And with that, we threw away our food waste and exited. Since we all had cars parked there, we decided we'd just meet each other back at work.
xXx
"Change of plans," Leslie, one of the main directors, notified Shay, Ashley, and I, who were huddled in a corner on our phones. Leslie towered over us, pointing at Shay. "Since Troian isn't here, we're going to have to switch things up."
"Wait," I interrupted. "Why isn't she here? She called me and told me she was here this morning."
Leslie shook her head. "If she was here, it wasn't to work. She didn't check her card in and we've been trying to contact her since noon."
What? That couldn't have been right. I had talked to Troian just that same morning, just a little after noon in the Subway bathroom. Was she in trouble? The way our conversation ended began to unsettle me, twisting my stomach into a knot.
"Weird," Shay mumbled, ruffling her hands into her wavy, ombre, studio curled hair.
"Very," Leslie admitted. "So, we're going to have you-" she pointed at Shay, "-decide whether you want us to call Lindsey for scene fifteen or if you want to go home."
"Call up Lindsey," she replied instantly. "I didn't drive all the way here to drive back."
"Alright. But that's only if she answers the phone and agrees to come down," Leslie cautioned.
"It's worth a shot," Shay shrugged.
Leslie nodded before turning to the blonde residing in between Shay and I. "Ash, you have a scene with Sasha, so stay put."
Ashley's eyes were glued to her cell phone, but she signaled that she heard what she said.
"You can go to makeup, Lucy," Leslie said. "You have a scene with Ian in a few minutes."
I deliberately stood up as if I wasn't too interested, but I was. I loved working with Ian. "Do you know what scene we're gonna do today?" I asked.
"Of course," she replied, and then I attained how ridiculous my question was. She was the one that was directing the scene, of course she would know what scene we were doing. She laughed, as if she knew what was going on in my thought process. "We're doing scene twenty four."
My nonchalant nods were no match for the smile that I tried to withhold. It was a kiss scene.
xXx
"I made a mistake, Aria," said Ian, or 'Ezra,' with a soft tone as he approached me. The amount of cameras, as well as the microphone dangling right above me, didn't nerve me at all. It was a normal part of shooting.
"You lied to me!" I shouted, trying to visualize the sad part of The Notebook as clear as I could. Hot tears began to swell up in my eyes, my bottom lip trembling. "Y-You don't know how much you hurt me, Ezra. You don't." I followed the blocking I was instructed to do, to take slow, cautious steps towards him. "I know, I know you were hurt by A, and I know you aren't a monster. But you have to understand why I feel like our relationship is built on a lie."
Ian shook his head, taking my small hand into his. "I do. I understand."
"Wait!" I heard Leslie's voice from behind. "Let's try that again, except more tears, Lucy. Start from.." I could hear frantic pages flipping. "Start from, 'You lied to me.'"
My line. I flipped my hair out of my face and trudged back a few steps before glancing at my friend, who was standing a few feet away, touching his hair. I was supposed to be fluctuating tears, but I couldn't help smiling. I knew that he liked the touch of his hair after it was fixed, since it was really fluffy. I diverted my attention away from him and began to well up tears. I waited for the word 'action' before proceeding.
"You lied to me!" I said, more louder and more dramatic than before. "You don't know how much you hurt me, Ezra. You don't." As before, I took the slow steps in Ian's direction, continuing my lines. "I know, I know you were hurt by A, and I know you aren't a monster. But you have to understand why I feel like our relationship is built on a lie."
"I do," Ian acknowledged, gently capturing my hands. "I understand." We were instructed to look into each others eyes, and I sniffled for extra emphasis. He brought his hands up to my face, cupping my chin in his and wiping the tears off my face. I had never noticed the grey-ombre flakes that danced around his pupils, right where the other colors clashed. His eyes were so perfect, just like him.
My lips continued to tremble, but my breath steadied as his face inched closer to mine. What did the script say again? Something about how Ezra got closer, but it took too long, so Aria closed in for the kiss. I went with my instinct and just when our faces had a proximity of two inches between, I smashed my lips against his, tasting a mix of peppermints and the sandwich he munched on barely an hour or two ago. My arms unfolded and reached out for the back of his neck, my fingers intertwining together to rest as Ian's hands slid down my body, sending shivers down my spine.
"Wait!" I heard Leslie say for the second time. "Ian, go back and trail your hands down her sides again. We want to get an upclose shot of that."
I knew this scene was going to take a long time, but I didn't mind. If I could kiss Ian all day, I would.
xXx
I stepped into my car with the biggest smile on my face. It was five in the afternoon, which meant Ian and I spent about four hours shooting that scene. My lips were swollen but it was definitely well worth the reward. Yes, I knew it was only a stage kiss. Yes, I knew that it wasn't real. But wasn't I allowed to feel that way? I could practically hear Troian's squeals from all the way over here.
Troian. The moment she popped into my head, I slipped my phone out of my pocket and dialed her number, remembering the chilling feeling I had when I was told she wasn't on set. As I did so, I turned on my car and waited for the engine to heat up, cracking open a window while I was at it. Her number took me to voicemail after a few rings. I called a few more times, each and every trial with no response. I sighed, trying to think of a logical explanation. When none entered my head, I decided I'd just call her later or visit her in the morning.
I pulled out of my spot and turned around, but hit the brakes as hard as I could when I saw a flash of blue and red. I almost hit a person! I face palmed when I saw who I was about to run over.
"Are you trying to kill me, Lucy?" Ian asked rhetorically, slightly alarmed, but with the same goofy smile he always had on. "What, you hated the makeout scene so much, you wanted to punish me for it?"
Way to go, Lucy, I thought to myself.
I stepped out of the car and placed a hand over my heart, almost shocked by how fast my heartbeat was pumping. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Ian!" I brought my hand up to my head, scratching.
"It's fine, really," he waved it away, as if I had only bumped into him or something just as small. That's why I liked him - he didn't take things too serious. Including a near-death situation. "I know a way you could pay me back, if you're up for the challenge."
What would it be? Something bad? Something good? Either way, I wouldn't refuse.
"I want to give you something. But you have to come over to my house."
The first thing that popped into my head was the ring that Troian was telling me about. Everything was coming together. This was way too big to be just a coincidence.
Ian was going to propose to me at his house.
xXx
The last time I was at Ian's house, we were hosting a video chat with some fans, which was in January. It was now April and the living room looked completely different. For one, the couch was switched from one side of the wall to the other. The carpets were switched out and the lights were more fluorescent, but that could be another reason, like the lighting outside. The place looked really... girly.
"The place looks different, huh?" He practically read my thoughts. "A friend of mine wanted to switch everything up."
"Your friend has interesting taste," I laughed.
"Yeah, I still don't think she understands she tampered with a man's house, not a woman's house," he joined in, laughing with me. "Oh, come with me. Let me give you your gift."
This was it. The guy I had adored ever since our first makeout scene was going to ask me to marry him. What was I going to say? Was I even ready to get married? What would my parents say? What would my sister say? And my castmates? And the fans? And the critics? And the world?
He placed his hand right on my back and guided me up two flights of stairs, where the attic was at. I had never entered the attic, but he probably set it up really nice, since it was where he was going to propose.
He opened the door and revealed the contents of the room. There wasn't a ring. The room wasn't decorated neatly. But in the center of the attic stood the most breathtaking item ever. I took a few steps towards it, my mouth agape.
There was a canvas being propped on a easel, and painted on the canvas was a girl, from head to waist. I knew who it was right away. Me. He captured my essence so perfectly. My straight hair with the slight waves at the bottom, the very distinct crinkles at the tips of my lips when I grinned really big, even the insignificant scar on my wrist was on. He didn't create any false figures, like my curves or my dull colored eyes. It was just... perfect.
"I- wow," was all I could say. I couldn't take my eyes off of the drawing.
"Do you like it?" he asked, stepping towards me from behind. I turned myself to face him. Like it? I loved it.
"A lot, yeah," I told him. "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
He sheepishly smiled at my response. "I drew it because I've never really had a chance to thank you for what you helped me get through last year. And I thought it would be kinda stupid to say, 'Oh, yeah, thanks for helping me out last year.' So, I decided to do this instead."
I knew what he meant by last year. His mother had passed away, and it was a very violent death too. She had an unexpected stroke and she was paralyzed, and the doctors' had said she was in severe pain, but she couldn't call out for help or explain where she was hurting the most. After she went to war with herself for several days, it was too much, and she deceased. I stayed with him, comforted him, bought him groceries and cooked food, and I even stayed with him some nights, but in a different bed. I could still remember the day I walked in Ian's house, him sobbing and clutching a picture of his mother and him, whispering, 'Why? Why did you go?' Everything he did absolutely broke my heart.
But.. he didn't have to thank me. It was something I would've done for anyone.
"You're an extraordinary person, Lucy," he breathed, holding me in his arms, his warmth just enough for me to hang onto. "I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you."
I wrapped my arms around his neck, burying my face in his chest. I don't know why — maybe the moment had caught up with me — but I felt tears start up in my eyes for the second time that day, except the second time was real.
As I leaned back to look at him, I could see his eyes were slightly watery as well, bringing memories from the year before back into my head. Without warning, I brushed my hand against Ian's chest and leaned in for a kiss. I recieved the worst response ever - he pushed me away.
"L-Lucy," he stuttered my name, his big hazel-blue eyes widened. "I'm... I'm with someone."
A/N: Hey, guys! I apologize for not posting yesterday, I know that I got a lot of reviews (which I appreciate so much, thank you!) and I promised I'd post a chapter everyday, as long as I got any kind of feedback, but I was down with a sinus and I was throwing up and I was just a total mess. So, as an apology, I will be doing everything I can to post TWO long chapters today! Which means this cliffhanger won't be too long and you'll find out how their conversation continues. Please keep in mind that my sinus is still around, so the next chapter might not be posted until way later tonight. {Reviews, favorites, and follows encourage the typing process to go faster!}
