Chapter 6
"You have got to be kidding me!" Jade yelled in anger, as she looked at the cast list for her newest role in a Hallmark movie.
Of course, none other than Beck Oliver had to be costarring in the movie. And who was his costar? Tori freaking Vega.
During senior year, around the same time as Beck and Jade, Tori had announced she would be going to CalArts for college. She moved to Santa Clarita about a month after graduation, and no one ever heard from her again. At least until now, in Beck and Jade's case.
Why, of all people, did Beck and Tori have to be the leads in Jade's movie?
"Hi, Jade." Beck greeted, as he sat down next to her for the first read through.
Jade didn't say anything in response. She just ignored him, and he eventually got the message. She did the same thing when Tori tried to say hi.
The read through went well. Luckily for Jade, her character only had 5 scenes and 10 lines of dialogue with Beck's character. One would think they'd have more scenes together, considering the movie was about Jade's character having an affair with Beck's character, but maybe not.
"So, how've you been?" Beck asked, as he approached Jade again after the read through.
Jade sighed. She knew he was going to stop trying to talk to her.
"I've been fine."
"That's good. Look, I'm sorry about leaving things the way we did. I hope there are no hard feelings."
"It's fine, Beck. What happened was unfortunate, but so are most things in life. I'm not holding a grudge if you aren't."
"Good. I guess I'll see you tomorrow."
"Yep." Jade mumbled, as Beck walked away.
Well, that's was awkward. How are you even supposed to talk to an ex of like 5 years? How should it not be awkward?
The next day on set was even more awkward than the first. Jade and Tori hadn't needed to talk to each other at the table read, seeing as they had no dialogue together. On the second day, though, Tori and Beck showed up to set together and walked up to Jade as a pair.
"Hey, Jade. How're you?" Tori asked, in her annoyingly sweet voice.
"I'm fine, Vega. I was doing well until you showed up." Jade replied, in her usual bitter way.
During senior year, Jade and Tori's relationship had somehow gotten worse, after Beck and Tori starred in two plays together, sharing 5 kissing scenes between the two plays. Jade's jealousy had gotten the best of her, and when Tori said something stupid about Beck's lips being soft, she decked Tori. Jade was suspended for a week, and of course, immaturely, she blamed Tori for it. Beck and Jade had a big fight about the whole ordeal, and it almost led to another break up. After a pregnancy scare, though, Beck apologized for taking Tori's side, and the couple was done with the fight.
"Please play nice, Jade. I'd hate to have either of you kicked off the movie for violence." Ah, Beck, ever the mediator.
"Don't tell me what to do, Beck. Last time I checked, you broke up with me, so you lost your right to order me around when you left me alone in the hospital."
"I thought you said you weren't holding a grudge?" Beck questioned, not all that shocked that Jade had lied.
"You told me she broke up with you. Why would you lie?" Tori asked.
"Why would he tell you anything?" Jade angrily questioned Tori.
"Because, Jade, Beck and I are dating. We have been for 4 months." Tori stated, practically gloating.
"Good for you, Tori. I'm so happy for you." Jade said, in her usual sarcastic manner.
Beck was about to break apart their verbal sparring again, when one of the PAs came over and told them Beck and Jade needed to be in hair and makeup in 5 minutes. They were starting production with the first scene of the movie, which just so happened to be a scene with both Beck and Jade.
Beck gave a kiss goodbye to Tori, and then followed Jade to the hair and makeup trailer. On their way, Beck got a couple texts.
"Does Little Miss Perfect miss you already?" Jade asked, as Beck checked his phone.
"Uh, it's not Tori." Beck answered, quickly putting his phone back in his pocket.
"Oh. Who is it?" Jade asked, casually.
"It's no one. Just a wrong number." For an actor, Beck was terrible at lying. Or maybe Jade just knew his tells too well. Either way, she knew he was lying, she just didn't know why. He'd have no reason to lie to her. Unfortunately for Jade, the issue had to be dropped, seeing as they had made it to the trailer.
The pair went inside and sat on opposite sides of the trailer. There were 4 chairs, Jade sat in the far right one and Beck sat in the far left one.
The near hour it took for them to get their hair and makeup done was spent in almost complete silence. If it weren't for the soft pop music that was playing in the trailer, it would've been completely silent. Truthfully, Beck and Jade had nothing to say to each other. They'd spent 9 months apart, and apparently that was just enough time to make things extremely tense and awkward.
Once they were done with hair and makeup, they walked to wardrobe together, this time in complete silence. Jade got dressed quicker than Beck and decided she'd wait for him to be finished, so they could walk back to set together. As she was waiting, she heard his phone ping with another text. She looked around, to make sure the coast was clear, and then picked up the phone. She knew it was wrong to snoop through his phone, and that curiosity killed the cat, but she couldn't help it. She wanted to know why he had lied.
Jade looked at the text, and swiped left to open it. Of course, the passcode screen came up. She tried a few different combinations, and then tried one that worked. Weston's birthday. She tried not to think too much about it as she continued snooping. Jade was shocked at what the text read.
Meet me tonight at my place. 9:30. Just tell your girlfriend that you're really tired after working all day, and you just want to go home to your place. I'm sure she'll be stupid enough to believe you. And trust me, you won't regret lying to her. I'll see you tonight. XOXO-Willow
Was Beck cheating on Tori? Would he do that? Did he ever cheat on me? He loved me, right? He was faithful, right? These thoughts and many more swam through Jade's head as she read the text over and over again.
Hearing footsteps, Jade dropped the phone back onto the chair and stood up. Beck gathered his things and they were on their way back to set.
"You got another text." Jade said, as they walked out of wardrobe.
"And how would you know that? Were you snooping through my phone?" Beck asked, getting slightly defensive.
"Maybe I was. That's not really the issue, though. The issue is that you are cheating on Tori."
"You have no idea what you're talking about, Jade."
"I know that someone named Willow wants you to lie to your girlfriend about being tired and go over to their place at 9:30. If that doesn't scream cheating, then I don't know what does. You know, you're really taking this method acting to the next level. Just because your character's a cheater doesn't mean you have to be."
"So what if I am cheating? Why would you care? Last time I checked, you hated Tori with a burning passion."
"You're right, I do hate Tori, but I hate cheaters and liars even more."
"So what are you gonna do? Tell Tori? I doubt she'd believe you. She'd probably just say that you're just jealous that she's with me and you're not. And maybe she'd be right."
"I'm not jealous of you and Tori, not am I jealous of you and Willow."
"Then why do you care that I may or may not be cheating on Tori?"
"Because no girl, no matter how unbearably annoying and untalented they are, deserves to be cheated on. I saw how badly it affected my mother when my father cheated on her. No one should have to go through."
"Ah, I see what this is. This is coming from your deep-rooted insecurities about being cheated on. Well, if it'll give you peace of mind, I never cheated on you."
"I'm not insecure about anything, Beck. Now it's you who doesn't know what they're talking about."
"Ok, Jade, whatever you say."
The rest of the walk was spent in yet again complete silence. Once they made it to set, the quickly set down their stuff and started rehearsing the scene. Unfortunately for everyone, the first scene just so happened to be a sex scene. The tension between Beck and Jade was so thick it could've been cut with a knife. They were supposed to be playing lovers, yet it felt like they hated each other. After the 5th time of rehearsing the scene with barely any emotion besides hatred, the director had had enough.
"Ok, I know it's the first day, but this is ridiculous. It seems like you two know each other. For the sake of this movie and everyone working on this movie, put whatever emotions you both have towards each other behind you, and act like the actors you are. If you can't do that, then we can find better actors." The director said, meaning business and leaving no room for argument.
By rehearsal number 6, the tension had dissipated, masks had been put on, and Beck and Jade were finally doing the scene justice. They quickly moved onto filming the scene, and after 4 takes, the director was happy with the finally outcome. They took a short break for lunch, and then were back to work with Tori and Beck's first scene together.
By the end of the day, they had shot nearly all of the first act and the director was very happy.
A/N: Two chapters in one day! Wow!