Chapter Seventeen:

Sunday saw them back at the set. Joey had, of course, let his boss know what was happening, and had his schedule rearranged. Now he worked his shifts of ten hours on Tuesdays and Saturdays starting that week, having to stay at twenty hours to keep his job, while they did the movie on every other day. This meant he was working seven days a week, which worried Yugi, but Joey didn't care.

"We only work nine to four on the movie. I'll be able to get some sleep when I get home, before we head for the set, then I have every evening off I don't work at the warehouse. I'll be fine."

Yugi, of course, had his cashier Ami, and he could do the rest of the business work whenever he wanted.

Joey and Yugi were required to check in at the hotel, where they officially signed in and out for the day, the employee records kept by a busy and unfriendly woman who they learned refused to keep "some dirty old trailer" as her base of operations. Then they were bussed en masse to the set with the other actors.

Daisy wasn't there that day. The woman who ran the office, who as far as Yugi knew hadn't even ever told them her name, merely shrugged disinterestedly at their questions.

"Erica says they did her part Saturday. Only had the small part, remember? Must have got it done in one day. I'll be mailing out her check Monday. She's done, so what's the point in having her around?"

Nadia was genuinely upset by the news, but Mark pointed out that the officer manager was right; Daisy's part was the shortest, and it wouldn't make sense to keep paying to have her keep coming out.

Yami had come, once again brought along by Tristan, who also ferried Tea. Nadia introduced them to her younger sister Delia, who had the same red hair. Mark had brought his girlfriend Sarah.

This time, they started at the gas station after being roughed up by the make up artists. Sota nailed his part with the fake blood capsule in one take and Erica praised him so much he was grinning broadly as he headed to his next mark in the diner.

Now came Yugi's scene with Rin. Everyone else was in the main diner, setting up for the part afterwards, while Yugi and Rin stood in the men's room, waiting for their queue. Yami, unseen in the diner, was consistently sending Yugi a feeling of reassurance, though their link was closed otherwise to keep Yugi from being distracted.

Yugi tried hard to tell himself to pretend he was going to be talking to Joey like they'd practiced, though that immediately made him flash on him and Joey having sex.

"I am so nervous," Rin said suddenly, catching Yugi's attention.

"M-Me, too," Yugi said.

"But I'm glad it's you my character is flirting with," she went on. "You're so nice, you really make me feel better."

Surprised, Yugi didn't know what say.

"I think I can get through this with you."

Yugi offered her a shy smile and she grinned back. Then they were called to take their marks and Yugi walked over to the yellow X in front of the sinks. Taking a deep breath, he briefly closed his eyes and repeated to himself that it was fake and he could do it.

For three takes, he couldn't. He forgot his lines entirely twice, ripped the paper towel used to dry his hands, kept looking everywhere but at Rin, and was just awful and wooden while blushing furiously throughout. They didn't even get to the part where she touched him. Eventually, Erica came over.

"Yugi-"

"I'm sorry!" Yugi burst out. "I'm really nervous, and-"

"Don't worry, it'll be okay," Rin said. "It's just like playing a game. And everyone else is out there-" She gestured towards the main diner. "-and can't see us at all. That is how *I* managed to do this, knowing that."

"That gives me an idea," Erica said. "Yugi, this is an uncomplicated scene. We'll static-mount the cameras and then leave. It'll be just you and Rin. Run through it by yourselves a time or two until you feel better. Then we'll use whatever take we like best. Would that be okay?"

Erica was so kind trying to accommodate an idiot like him, and so was Rin trying to encourage him. Though it was the fact that he was fake-flirting with Rin that was making him so awkward, the idea that no one else would see him try until it was all over seemed like it might be a good one. So the cameramen mounted the cameras, checked the sight lines to make sure they didn't overlap, then everyone else left the bathroom.

The fourth and fifth attempts, Yugi remembered all of his lines, but still sounded awful. He looked everywhere but at her when she came up towards him and was still blushing. On the sixth fail, he sighed harshly and said, "I wonder if they can write it so Sota's your boyfriend. He'd do better than me."

"Who says?" Rin asked. "Come on, Yugi, you're fine. One more time, okay? So the third time wasn't your charm. Maybe the seventh, you'll get lucky."

As he looked up at her, she grinned wickedly, and then started giggling so merrily that Yugi found himself joining in. And, amazingly, that look she had given him reminded him of Joey so fiercely that the awkwardness melted away a little, though not entirely.

Taking another deep breath, Yugi turned backed to the sinks while Rin moved out of the cameras' lines of sight. She waited patiently while he stood in front of the sinks, unmoving, fortifying himself. At last, he looked up at himself and saw his blush was gone.

The seventh time was lucky. Yugi sounded more natural, remembered all of his lines, nailed all of the actions, met Rin's gaze, and left the bathroom without tripping. Out in the little alcove where the bathrooms were kept, he said his part with Sota without missing a beat.

"You did great!" Rin said once Erica had called cut.

Of course, Erica and Kevin had to review the footage to make sure it was what they wanted, and Yugi stood and watched apprehensively while they did. Tearing the paper towel made Kevin laugh, but his laugh was as cheerful as Rin's had been, and Yugi didn't feel put out. It was kind of funny. Yugi hadn't realized just how terribly wide his eyes were. He looked like there had been a gun on him, not a camera.

Rin's pep talk made Erica smile at her and her joke made them all laugh. Then Yugi watched as he much more calmly accepted Rin's flirtation. He was amazed to see himself even grin winningly when he passed Rin on the way out of the bathroom, as if Jason was totally cool with Yuki's come on.

"Perfect!" Erica said.

"I like it," Kevin agreed. "Put that one in the can."

Yugi didn't know what that meant, but he was relieved that it had passed. And the fact that no one but the four of them had seen made him feel even better.

Out in the diner, he elbowed Joey in the gut when he waggled his eyebrows at him.

"So, Ms-Erica, the lady at the office told us that Daisy isn't coming back," Nadia said once everyone was assembled out in the main diner. "That her part's done."

"Oh, it's done," Erica agreed. "But that doesn't mean she isn't coming back. Not right now, no, not while we're so busy, but you'll see her at the after party and the premiere."

Nadia was cheered by this. "Oh, that's right, she gave me her phone number! I have it in my purse. I'll call her and ask her how-"

"Just so long as you don't give her any info on what else is happening," Erica cut across. "Remember, only those who are in the scenes know what's going on. That includes other cast mates. Now, we really need to get a move on."

The rest of the scene for that day was pretty much just moving the plot along. Jason insisted that his group take Yuki and Akira to the Cherrywood Inn so that they could get a room, since cell service was out of the question and the pay phones hadn't worked in years. He was backed up by Nicole against Adam and Akihito, and unbeknownst to them, their fate was sealed. The group got in the Camaro and headed off.

The scene was complicated, with extras playing one disinterested frumpy waitress/cashier, six rough-looking truckers, the fry cook, and one young couple who got up and left almost as soon as their group sat down. That, combined with fixing the cut on Joey's cheek that he accidentally almost washed off cleaning up, and getting fed by Candy, meant it took all of the rest of the day to get it right. By the time they had run through was probably the twelfth take, Yugi was tired of it. So this was movie-making? How did actors do this for a living?

/You're probably not even going to want to watch every day,/ Yugi said to Yami as they waited for the reset to try their thirteenth attempt. /This has to be boring./

/It is…repetitive,/ Yami agreed.

Twice more saw them get enough of it right at different times at least that Erica proclaimed they could edit it into a great scene.

"Finally!" Sota said, then covered his mouth.

Erica grinned. "I told you you'd be doing things over and over again. All right, boys and girls. See you tomorrow."

However, before they left, Erica stopped their group. "Tristan, Tea, Yami, I wanted to speak with you for a minute."

"We've been quiet," Tristan said immediately, clearly afraid she was going to boot them.

Erica smiled. "I know that. Actually, I was wanted to know if you'd be interested being signed up for some bit parts."

"YES!" Tristan said immediately.

"Uh…" Yami clearly looked uncomfortable.

"I'd like to, but I have my dance troupe," Tea said. "We start practice again Wednesday." And then, clearly trying to rescue Yami, she lied and said, "Yami promised he'd be driving me."

Yami looked grateful. Erica didn't notice, because she focused on Tristan.

"Okay. Cara back at the hotel will get you set up with the contract and everything. You won't be used until the second Act, so I expect you to just be a spectator for another two weeks or so."

"That's fine. Thank you, Ms. Lynch-"

"Erica."

"-thank you so much!"

"Copy cat," Joey said with a smile.

Erica laughed and said, "Isn't that one of your cards?" At Joey's jaw drop, she said, "Hey, since all of you have seen my work, I had to research yours. Now hurry on and get back to the hotel before Cara leaves for the day. You don't want to trouble her any, she tends to be grumpy."

That was an understatement.

Back at the hotel, Nadia was still there, rummaging around in her purse with a frown. After Yugi had signed out for the day, he turned to her. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, I just can't find the piece of paper with Daisy's phone number. Since we weren't allowed to have our cell phones, she just wrote it down for me, and I forgot to add it to my contacts. Now I can't find it!" She shoved everything back into her purse and turned to Cara. "What was Daisy's last name? I'll look her up in the phone book."

"I'd have to look up that up in her employment record," Cara said. "That's private."

"What, but it would just be-"

"Employee records are confidential."

"You don't have to tell me anything private, just her last-"

"I don't know it off the top of my head, and so if I have to pull out the file, that means it's out where someone who doesn't need to see it could see it."

"That's ridiculous," Joey said.

Cara glared at him, shoving the pen and contract over to Tristan. Nadia sighed.

"Then can you look it up when we're not here and tell me tomorrow?"

"Maybe I'll remember," Cara said. "You're out for the day."

While everyone stared at Cara in disbelief, Nadia sniffed and left after saying goodbye to everyone by name, pointedly not including Cara. Tristan, not paying attention to the drama, looked at his contract with hardly a glance before signing it.

"Employment record," Cara said, handing the packet over that she'd had everyone else fill out. "Everyone else leave while he-"

"You didn't care when Yug' and I were in the room together when we filled ours out," Joey said, clearly willing to push the matter.

"Marie told me you two are boyfriends, as if I would care. If you don't know each others' names by now, it's probably not going to work out."

Yugi was astounded by her rudeness. As Joey and Tea both geared up for a verbal fight, Yami and Yugi drew them away. There was no point and Tristan had to fill out his employment record to get signed up, something that was obviously important to him.

"What a bitch!" Joey snarled out in the hall. He didn't bother to lower his voice any, though with the heavy office door closed, there was no knowing if she could hear.

"We don't know-"

"Yug', I love that you see the best in everyone, but stop trying. Some people are just assholes."

"She was totally rude," Tea agreed.

"Should use your Puzzle, Yami," Joey grumbled.

"I'm afraid rudeness, no matter how extreme, doesn't warrant a Shadow Game, Joey," Yami said dryly.

"Hmph."

Tristan was out about ten minutes later, absolutely gleeful. He playfully told Joey that he wasn't so special anymore and that when Erica saw him act, she'd probably want to switch their roles. Joey got him in a headlock and they went down the hall, arguing and shoving each other the whole way.

/Yami, how is Kaiba?/ Yugi asked as he, Yami, and Tea followed the other two.

/Fine, Yugi. He was back to work an hour after his sneezing stopped./

/I suppose this means he'll be less interested in coming over for dinner. Since he had such fun this time./

Yami smiled. /I doubt either of our lovers will be displeased with that development./

Yugi snickered.

tbc...