"Stop it!" Rooney whispered.
"What?" the woman said, feigning ignorance.
"I can't concentrate when you look at me like that, it's very distracting for me and you know it, you're doing it on purpose."
"What do you need to concentrate on?"
"I need to get ready for the scene," she said in a louder voice so that Todd could hear them because he was observing them with a questioning look.
"Do you?" Cate asked with a sly smile.
"Of course I do. What do you think, that I'm actually attracted to you or something?" she said with the best look of annoyance that she could muster.
Todd had come closer to them now. Having heard Rooney's words, he was looking at them with a look of pure anxiety.
"Um... everything okay over here?"
"Yeah, Rooney's just preparing for the scene," Cate answered but that didn't calm Todd down.
"Are you sure that everything is okay between the two of you?" he asked reluctantly.
"Of course it is," Cate said and Rooney just nodded.
"Okay, I definitely hope so. Anyway, before we start with this take, I wanted to ask you something, mainly you, Cate. This is one of the last scenes that we'll be filming so we're going to be done either today or tomorrow which means that anyone who wants to leave tomorrow, can. But I was thinking that, maybe, since it's your birthday in two days, we could stay here and go out tomorrow night to celebrate and you can leave on your birthday or maybe the next day. If you don't have any plans, of course."
Rooney's eyes lit up at Todd's words. She wanted more than anything to be able to be with Cate on her birthday, but she had thought it would be selfish of her to ask her to stay. If anything, it should be Cate's choice. However, she suddenly felt very relieved and thankful that Todd had asked her instead.
"I mean, it's perfectly understandable if you don't want to, it's logical to want to spend your birthday with your kids but I thought that maybe if Andrew is there as well... I mean, given the circumstances... I know that it's none of my business but I just wanted to say that if you want to, we'll all be very happy to celebrate with you," Todd said quickly, looking increasingly nervous as he talked.
"No, this is a great idea!" Cate exclaimed, smiling at Todd.
"Really?" Todd said.
"Really, Todd, thank you for offering, it's such a lovely idea."
"Great! Rooney, you're staying, right?"
What a ridiculous question.
"Of course I am," she said with a smile but did not turn to look at Cate in fear that she might smile a lot more than she should.
"Okay then. Sorry for distracting you, let's get back to the scene," he said and rushed back behind the monitor.
"What a kind co-star you are for staying here for my birthday," Cate said, giving Rooney a radiant smile.
"How could I do otherwise? You're my favorite co-star. And not just because we're sleeping together. Even though that really helps," Rooney whispered and Cate let out a laugh.
"Okay, can we get the music playing?" Todd shouted from behind the camera.
Cate glanced at Rooney and winked.
"Cate, Rooney, you ready?"
"One sec," Cate said, reaching for the table in front of them.
She smiled at Rooney and started applying mascara to her lashes.
"I think we can start now," Cate said without looking away from Rooney.
"Okay, rolling," Todd said turning to the monitor, "and action."
'Easy Living' started playing and Rooney concentrated on Cate's face.
She always had to be careful when they were with other people to not let herself look at Cate's face for too long. But when the camera rolled, she never tried to control herself. She would look at Cate and only Cate and without her having to do anything, the world around them would go silent and Cate would be the only thing that mattered. When they were alone, she was free to express her love for Cate in any way that she wanted but when they were filming she could only love her through her eyes or through little movements that sometimes only the two of them would get. It was like they had their own secret little world that was only visible to them and no one else and that was part of the beauty of it.
"Don't blink," Cate said, almost in a commanding tone.
"Sorry," Rooney whispered.
As she said it, she realised that this was not in the script, but Cate's tone had made her say it without thinking about it.
"There," Cate said in a satisfied tone.
"I need lipstick."
Cate handed her the lipstick that was on the table and watched her as she applied it. Rooney could feel Cate's eyes on her and even though she probably should have gotten used to that by now, she felt her face grow hot. She tried not to focus on that but hearing Cate's laugh, she knew her face had probably gone red. She couldn't help but chuckle herself; Cate's laugh was always contagious, at least to Rooney.
She put the lipstick back on the table and popped her lips. Cate smiled at her just as the song was ending.
"Again," the woman said in the same almost commanding tone as before.
As she was getting up, she still had Cate's voice in her ears. In the few seconds that it took for her to cross the room, she realised that she would always do anything that Cate asked of her. Not because it was in her character, she rarely did things that she herself did not want to do, but because she loved her. She loved her more than she had ever loved anyone in her entire life. It was as simple and as complicated as that.
She moved the needle on the record and she noticed Todd gesturing at someone to play the song again. As soon as she heard the first notes of the piano, she smiled a bit before walking back and sitting next to Cate again.
The woman was watching her every move with one of the warmest smiles Rooney had ever seen. She was sitting on the floor, very relaxed, with one of her arms on the armchair behind her. She looked absolutely gorgeous. Rooney tried to imagine Cate sitting like that somewhere else, maybe in a home that would be their own for both of them to live in. She tried to picture what that would be like. Coming home after work and maybe finding Cate there, just sitting on the floor and watching her approach with that smile on her face. It seemed like nothing much but looking at that smile at that moment, Rooney realised that it was everything she could ever wish for.
"Take a look at youself," Cate said handing her a little mirror, without moving her eyes away from Rooney's face.
They both laughed as Rooney looked at her face in the mirror and Cate reached to get her glass from the table.
"Beautiful," Cate said, taking a sip.
Rooney smiled and felt her heart starting to beat faster. Scripted or not, hearing Cate compliment her always affected her in a way like that.
"Okay. Next?" Rooney said breathing out and trying to somehow control her heartbeat.
Cate handed her a little perfume bottle, holding her drink in the other hand.
"Would mademoiselle be so kind as to apply to her pulse points only?"
Rooney opened the bottle and applied some perfume to her wrists and then moved them on her neck.
"Me too," Cate said holding out her wrist and setting her glass on the table.
Rooney held her wrist with one hand and applied perfume with the other. As soon as she touched her, she had the sudden urge to close her hand around Cate's wrist and pull her close, to kiss her without thinking about all the other people in the room. She took a deep breath and fixed her eyes on Cate's wrist because she knew that if she looked at Cate's eyes even for a second, her self-control would crumble and they would have a lot of explaining to do to everyone in the room.
"Oh, that's divine," Cate said, smelling the perfume and then rubbing the inside of her wrist on her neck.
Rooney closed the perfume bottle and stared at it as if her life depended on memorizing every little detail about it. She knew what had to happen next, so she took a few deep breaths.
It's just a few seconds and then we're done. You can control yourself, it's no big deal.
"Smell that."
Rooney turned to look at her and saw that Cate was looking at her with her neck arched back a bit. She had a small smile on her face; a smile that Rooney knew was partly Carol's but she was the only one who knew that it was also a smile to let her know, in the way that she always did, that she was fully aware of the effect she had on Rooney. There was a spark in the woman's eyes, something that everyone else in the room would percieve as the way that Carol would look at Therese and that only the two of them knew that it was the way Cate looked at Rooney. However, it didn't matter that much; it was a look of undeniable love either way.
Rooney leaned in and smelled Cate's neck. She could smell the perfume but she tried to inhale deeper and moved her face a bit so that she could inhale Cate's scent. The perfume was nice, sure, but nothing could compare to her natural scent which Rooney had grown addicted to.
That's what's divine, Rooney wanted to say.
She moved back and as Cate did the same, their lips were inches apart for a second. Rooney could feel Cate's eyes on her face, staring at her so intensely as if daring her to look her in the eyes but of course, she didn't. She remembered how hard it seemed to her to act natural during filming before confessing her feelings to Cate but she could see that it was even harder now. She knew now how perfect it was, how perfect Cate was, so being in front of a dozen people, inches away from Cate's lips, the lips that she had kissed so many times but could never get enough of, and trying to pretend that it didn't take all the effort in the world not to kiss her, was pure torture. Before she could give herself time to do something she'd regret, she grabbed her glass from the table and took a sip.
"To President McKinley," Cate suddenly said holding up her glass and Rooney turned to look at her with a puzzled look.
There was something in Cate's eyes that made her understand that it was one of the woman's jokes and this, combined with the absurdity of the whole situation, made Rooney laugh and choke on her drink. Cate let out a laugh as well with her eyes never leaving Rooney's face.
"Cut," Todd said, laughing.
"Sorry about the addition Todd, but you can edit it out," Cate said, still laughing.
"No, I loved it! I'm going to watch it back but I think we're done with this scene so let's take a break and we'll continue later."
Rooney turned to Cate, who had not moved at all since Todd had said 'cut'. She was still sitting there with the glass in her hand, watching Rooney with a smile on her face.
"That went well, I think."
"Yes, except the fact that I can't even look you in the eyes in front of the camera."
"Mm, why is that?"
"Well, let's just say that your gaze is very intense. It's like you can see inside my soul."
"No, I'm just always picturing you without your clothes on."
"You're so romantic I literally have to hold back my tears."
"This is the reason why I'm not romantic. I never want to make you cry."
Rooney smiled at her lovingly, momentarily forgetting that they were still surrounded by people.
"So, what do you want for your birthday?" Rooney said, deliberately changing the subject.
Cate let out a laugh.
"Surprise me," she replied with a sly smile.
"Won't you even give me a hint?"
"About what?"
"About something that you might want."
"I want you. So as long as you're going to be with me until I fly off, I don't want anything else."
"That doesn't count as a gift," Rooney said, rolling her eyes at her.
"Don't roll your eyes at me when I'm being romantic," she said, making Rooney chuckle.
"Fine. But I am going to need a little more help."
"Baby, I'm being serious. I don't want you to get me something, there's nothing that I need. I didn't get you anything for your birthday," she whispered.
"Still, it was the best birthday of my life."
"Because we were together."
"Yeah."
"That's what I mean," Cate said with a warm smile.
"Fine," Rooney said, pouting.
"It baffles me how you can be so cute and sexy at the same time," she said laughing.
Rooney rolled her eyes again but she couldn't suppress her smile. As she looked around the room, she noticed that Todd was watching them with an anxious look and when he saw that Rooney was looking at him, he quickly turned back to the monitor.
"Todd is watching us a lot today. Do you have any idea why?"
"I believe he thinks we don't like each other."
"Really? Okay, it could be worse."
"Like what?"
"He could think that we're together," Rooney said, trying to look disgusted.
"Together? The two of us?"
"Yeah. Like that would ever happen."
"It would never happen."
Cate leaned closer to Rooney and moved her lips close to her ear.
"And yet somehow it would always be you. In a thousand cities, a thousand houses, in foreign lands where we will go together, in heaven and in hell," she whispered and gave Rooney a smile before getting up and walking away.
Notes: Hey, everyone! I know that it's been waaay too long since the last one and I'm really sorry but I had an accident and was unable to write for quite some time. I know that nothing really happens in this one, but I am a bit rusty. However, it will get better soon, I promise. Thank you very much for being so patient with me and thank you for (still) reading! Hope you're all well! Have a great day! :))