I got some new words for the one person who reviews this. Everyone else... meh.
Waking up was always hard for Kara, especially on Monday mornings. But that Monday when her alarm went off, the first thought to enter her mind was that the sooner she got to set the sooner she had a chance to see Lena. So, she was up and out of bed rather quickly, and was out the door much sooner than she really needed to be.
But they were filming at a restaurant downtown, and soon rush hour traffic would start, so it really didn't hurt that she was so early. By the time she arrived at set there were still scarcely any cars on the road, and Barry was able to get her parked in a sweet spot only about a block from set with no complications.
It was her first time parking the trailer downtown, and she'd been anxious about it the entire drive over. But she'd managed and was unhooking the truck in no time. Then she went inside the trailer and got the generator out so she could get power and start making coffee.
She had to take out a couple of coolers and the cart they usually put the coffee setup on to get to the coffee makers, though. It was a little difficult to do on her own, but since Barry was standing nearby and saw her struggling, he quickly came to her aid and helped her unload the heavy equipment. She was grateful for that, especially since most departments just watched the craft services team struggle.
When Sam showed up ten minutes later Kara had already brewed two pots of coffee and had more going. The brunette smiled at her boss as she walked in and put her backpack on the table.
"Good morning," Sam said cheerily, causing Kara to smile at her. "I'm happy to see you," she said, wrapping an arm around the blonde's shoulder. "I missed you."
"You missed me?" Kara asked, casting a sideways glance at Sam in amazement.
"Yeah, bitch, we're friends," Sam said with a smirk and an eyeroll as she let go of Kara and gave her a playful shove.
Kara's cheeks reddened, and she looked at the ground shyly. She'd come to consider Sam a friend, and though they had a good relationship, she hadn't realized Sam considered her one as well. Not that there was any reason for her to think otherwise. But Kara was extremely self-conscious, and there had been people in her past who she'd thought were friends who turned out not to be. Sometimes it was hard for her to believe that people actually liked her instead of just pretended to. To hear Sam say she counted her as a friend made her heart warm and a happiness bubble inside her.
"Where's Nia?" Sam asked, oblivious to how much her previous statement had touched the other woman.
"She's stopping to pick up donuts," Kara said. "We're filming inside Constantine's right down the block, so at least it's not a hike today."
"Thank god," Sam said with a groan. "Carrying boxes back and forth is annoying as shit. Why does this man use tables instead of carts?" she asked, referring to Clark, whom Sam had still yet to meet.
"What good are carts without a ramp?" Kara countered. "It's hard enough to get out the one cart we do have."
"Well he needs to build a ramp and get more carts!" Sam threw her hands up in exasperation.
"You're preaching to the choir," Kara said with a shrug.
Sam sighed and shook her head. "Want me to go down there and start putting out trashcans?" she asked, seeming to know the conversation about the functionality of the operation was useless since Kara didn't actually own any of it to make the changes.
"Yes, please."
"Alright, bet," Sam said, reaching down and grabbing trash can liners from one of the bottom shelves.
While Sam brought the trash cans to set Kara started getting the coffee cart ready to bring. It was a standard plastic utility pushcart, nothing exceptionally fancy. It worked well enough, but the wheels sucked, and trying to push it through gravel or grass was agony. Thankfully they were in the city, so the pavement would make for easy travel, and she didn't even have far to go.
The milks, creamers, and iced coffee were kept in a cooler, which Kara drained the excess water from before putting it at the bottom of the cart to travel. She was placing the urn she'd filled with coffee on the cart as Sam came back to the trailer.
"Oliver said we should set up on the sidewalk outside of the restaurant," Sam told her. "They have an establishing shot, then they move inside. Once they're inside we can push closer."
"Cool," Kara said, though it wasn't ideal.
Outside meant heat, which meant she couldn't put out anything that would melt—like candy. Also, she liked to use a tent when they had to set up outside, but the sidewalk was never an ideal place to do that. Not to mention it was open to pedestrian traffic. And some people walking by for some fucking reason saw all this food out and seemed to think it was free for the taking. A good portion of her day was chasing off random people walking by who tried to load their pockets with gum and granola bars or stopped to make themselves a coffee.
She and Sam got the coffee cart and a couple of coolers of drinks out on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, and by the time they got a table set up, Nia had appeared with multiple boxes of donuts. Kara immediately grabbed one of the chocolate-glazed with sprinkles when Nia set down the boxes.
"Can you let crew get to it before you attack?" Nia asked with a good-natured smirk.
"I'm crew too," Kara said around a mouthful of donut. "And I didn't have breakfast, so fuck off."
"Me either," Sam said, opening one of the boxes and selecting a jelly-filled donut.
"You two do know catering serves breakfast, right?" Nia asked, eyebrows raised.
"Catering sucks," Sam said, taking a bite of her donut, bits of raspberry jelly squirting out the sides.
Nia nodded and laughed. "I can't argue with you there. Half the crew doesn't even go to lunch. They just stay on set and make sandwiches. That's why we're going through so much bread and cold cuts." She looked to Kara. "Which reminds me—Doesn't one of us have to go to the store soon?"
Kara nodded as well and swallowed another bite of donut. "I just want to finish getting set up, then I'll send you. Can you guys do that while I run to base and stock their coolers and grab some ice to bring to set?"
"Sure, sis," Sam said, already turning to head back to the trailer and get more stuff to put out.
Nia stayed behind at the setup to keep making coffee, and Kara followed Sam back to the trailer so she could take the truck to basecamp a couple of blocks away. It wasn't far, but traffic was picking up, and she knew it was going to get annoying to have to keep driving back and forth for ice all day. But there was no room to park the ice trailer near set—she'd been lucky to get Clark's trailer down there.
She wasn't keen on driving the truck in busy traffic since it was so hard to maneuver, and she knew parking it in the tiny spot between the trailer and working truck it'd been parked between when she came back was going to be a royal pain in the ass. And while she could have sent Nia or Sam to fill the coolers, she wanted to do it herself because Lena was still at base—and she wanted any excuse to see her as soon as possible, even if she was going to be on set eventually. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours yet, and she was already going through major Lena withdrawals. It was as if Lena was a drug she'd become addicted to, and seeing her would be like taking another hit.
Unfortunately, though, call time had been seven. So by the time she was trying to get to basecamp traffic was at its worst. What should have been a three-minute drive took nearly ten, and Kara had long finished her donut by the time she was pulling into the parking lot production had bought out for the day to house base.
When she hopped out of the truck, she used the side mirror to check her appearance and wiped away bits of dried chocolate at the corners of her mouth. That was about all she could do to improve her appearance besides tuck a few loose strands of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ears. She'd considered putting on makeup that morning, but quickly nixed the idea when she remembered she'd probably sweat all of it off before lunch. And wearing cuter clothes was nice in theory—until she got grease or something on a shirt she really liked and effectively made it strictly a work shirt after that.
No, she was dressed in her usual basketball shorts and old t-shirt with the sleeves cut off. And the only thing that made her feel better about it was knowing that Lena already liked her, had already seen her like this and found her attractive anyway. That caused her to throw her shoulders back with slight confidence as she went into the ice trailer and grabbed a couple of bags of ice.
She carried a twenty-pound bag in each hand across the parking lot to the trailers, her muscles becoming taut with the exertion. There were two coolers at basecamp now, and thankfully the transportation drivers moved them for her each day. She was just responsible for filling them. But that also meant sometimes she didn't know where her coolers were and had to walk around base while carrying heavy bags of ice in search of them.
They were usually near the AD trailer, but she didn't know where that was because every basecamp was different. Thankfully it didn't take her long to find that morning, and her breathing hitched as she saw Jess and Winn standing outside the doors to the cast trailers directly across from the AD trailer. That meant Lena was right behind that trailer door, so close yet so far.
"Good morning, Kara," Jess said cheerily when Kara dropped the bags of ice on the ground next to the coolers.
"Morning, Jess… Winn," Kara said to them, smiling briefly before turning on her heel to run back to the ice trailer.
Getting ice to the coolers was only half the battle. She still needed to stock the drinks. So she went back and grabbed a couple of packages of water, stacking them atop each other to carry them back to the coolers. She'd gotten pretty strong carrying heavy stuff across long distances over the years, but she was still struggling under the weight as she got back to the trailers. It was a relief to set them down before tearing them open to dump them in the ice chests.
She was just finishing putting the ice on top of the drinks when Lena's trailer door swung open, and she looked up to see the brunette standing there in a tiny, red, strapless dress that pushed her breasts up and made them look even more incredible than Kara remembered. Her hair was down and straightened, hanging over her shoulders. She looked so fucking divine that Kara almost felt like taking off her ballcap and bowing to her. That was if she could remember how to move—or breathe—because she was too captivated by Lena to even flinch. And the smile that spread across Lena's face when she saw Kara standing there didn't help matters any, because her knees suddenly felt weak.
"Kara, hi," Lena said brightly as she carefully descended the steps to her trailer slowly, trying her best to be careful since costumes thought she absolutely needed to wear stilettos in this scene, even though she'd be sitting for the majority of it. "It's good to see you. How was your weekend?"
Kara stared at her for a moment, her mind drawing a blank. Of course Lena knew how her weekend was—she'd been the center of it. Yet they were in the company of others, and they had to make it seem like they hadn't spent the majority of Saturday and Sunday getting to know the most intimate parts of each other. Kara knew this was going to be a part of their relationship, but she hadn't expected to have to dig down deep and pull out the acting and improv skills she'd almost forgotten she'd once learned.
"It was amazing," Kara said honestly, because it was. That wasn't a lie. It had been one of the best weekends of her life. "How was yours?"
"Mine was incredible," Lena said in a warm voice, giving Kara a knowing smile.
Kara returned it, a happiness spreading through her chest. While the question was part of their ruse, it still meant something. Lena wasn't just putting on a front for the sake of Winn and Jess. She genuinely wanted to know if Kara enjoyed their time together, and she wanted to let Kara know in turn that she'd enjoyed it as well. To any observer it appeared to be a normal conversation, but to them it had a hidden meaning. And something about the secrecy made it all the more special and exciting.
Their brief moment was interrupted, however, when the door to Jack's trailer opened, and Jack appeared in the doorway, giving a low whistle when he saw Lena.
"I'm one lucky man to have a costar as gorgeous as you, Ms. Luthor," Jack said with a smile as he descended the steps to his trailer.
Kara's jaw tightened, an unpleasant, familiar feeling of jealousy springing to life in her chest—one that only deepened as Lena blushed and ducked her head at the compliment.
"You're looking rather sharp yourself," the brunette responded.
Jack's wardrobe for the day basically made him look like a tan James Bond. He wore a dark suit with a white shirt and black bow tie, his hair slicked back. He was dashing and handsome, and even though Kara knew Lena was a lesbian, something about seeing them standing there together, complementing each other so well, made her feel incredibly small.
"We should take a photo," Jack said, pulling his phone from his pocket. "To document how brilliant we look."
"Sure," Lena said with a small nod.
"Winn, would you do the honors?" he asked, holding out his phone to his assistant.
"Sure," the small man said, taking the phone.
Jack stood next to Lena wrapped an arm around her back, placing his hand on her waist. Kara's stomach became extremely unsettled as she watched Lena place a hand on his shoulder—even if her touch was just hovering. And the smiles they had on their faces as the camera flashed made Kara want to grab the phone from Winn's hand and throw it across the parking lot. But she felt better the moment the photo was over, and Lena noticeably took several steps away from Jack and crossed her arms over her chest before sending Kara an apologetic glance.
"Here you go," Winn said, going to hand the phone back to Jack.
"Hang on," Jack said, not taking it. "Turn it to the front camera."
"Um, okay," Winn said, doing so.
"Okay, let's take one you and me," Jack said, standing behind Winn's shoulder and getting ready to pose.
"I—What?" Winn asked, flabbergasted. "Really?"
"Yes, mate. Now smile," Jack said, grabbing Winn's hand and making him hold up the phone to take the picture.
Lena smirked as they took the photo, an idea dawning on her—an opportunity, really. "Jess, do you want a photo together?" she asked her assistant.
Jess smiled. "Sure."
Lena then turned to Kara. "Mind taking it?"
"Uh, sure…" The blonde was skeptical but held out her hand when Jess offered her phone.
Lena wrapped an arm around Jess's shoulder and smiled as Kara took the photo, stepping away once it was done. Then her pulse quickened as Kara handed back the phone to Jess.
"What about you, Kara?" Lena asked the blonde. "Would you like a photo?"
Kara was stunned for a moment, her mouth opening and closing as she stood there in shock. "I—Uh—You don't have to if you don't want to," she said when she recovered. Sure, she wanted a photo of her and Lena together, but she didn't want Lena to feel obligated to take one with her just because she was offering one to someone else.
"No, I want to," Lena said with a small laugh. "That's why I offered." She pulled her phone from her pocket and handed it to Jess. "Can you take it?"
"Of course," Jess said, taking the phone.
Kara took her hat off and attempted to smooth out her hair before placing it back on her head. She knew she was going to appear dumb next to Lena, looking like she was headed to the gym while Lena looked like she was going to an awards show or something. But she wasn't going to squander an opportunity to take a photo with Lena.
She shuffled next to the actress, unsure of what to do with her hands until Lena wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to her body. Instinctively her arm snaked around Lena's waist, and her hand found its place on her hip. She smiled at the camera briefly, allowing Jess to take a photo before she looked sideways at Lena.
Her makeup was dark and smokey-eyed for the scene, and from where Kara stood, there wasn't a single flaw on her skin. Even the small scar near Lena's right eye seemed absolutely perfect. She found it hard to believe that someone so beautiful could even exist, let alone be standing next to her and have shared her bed. Then Lena turned and caught her staring, green eyes locking with blue. Normally Lena was a couple of inches shorter than Kara, but with the heels they were even, their noses so close to brushing Kara could feel Lena's breath.
Then in an instant she remembered where they were, that there were multiple pairs of eyes on them, and Lena seemed to make that same realization just a second later. They broke apart, each eyeing the ground bashfully as their faces went red. Jess wordlessly handed Lena her phone back, who took it and cleared her throat.
"I'll text you the picture," Lena muttered to the ground. "I think I still have your number." She dared to look up in time to see Kara nod.
"Thanks," the blonde murmured, kicking at a rock on the ground as she awkwardly put her hands in the pockets of her shorts. "Well, I'll see you all at set," she said, glancing at everyone, her eyes hovering on Lena the longest.
"Kara, did you want a photo with me?" Jack asked pleasantly.
Kara smiled politely. "I do, but I really have to get back to set. Maybe later?"
"Absolutely. I'll track you down," Jack said, giving her a playful grin. "We'll get you that photo, my darling."
Lena shook her head in amazement as Kara walked back across the parking lot to the truck and ice trailer. She didn't often offer to take photos with crew members—most of the time the thought never crossed her mind. And she didn't know many of her costars to go out of their way to offer photos. Yet Jack seemed to enjoy it and was even asking Winn for his Instagram handle so he could tag him when he posted the photo. Then he was offering Jess a picture and to do the same for her, and Lena was baffled by him. Who was this guy? Why was he so nice?
"How'd your photos with Kara come out?" Jack asked when they were left alone while Winn and Jess went to grab the cars to pull around to bring them to set.
"I hadn't even checked yet," Lena said, suddenly remembering them and anxious to see.
She unlocked her phone and went to her photos, expecting to see just one of her and Kara together, but there were multiple. The first was just them standing next to each other, both smiling at the camera for show. Lena had to admit, even with the contrasting outfits, they did look good standing next to each other. There was something about the way her body fit into the side of Kara's that just seemed right to her.
She scrolled to the next picture, which was similar except for one thing—Kara was no longer looking at the camera. Instead, she was looking at Lena, with such amazement and awe on her face that Lena's heart flooded with an unfamiliar warmth. She couldn't remember anyone looking at her that way, ever. And the next photo was the moment later, when she looked back at Kara and locked eyes with her.
It was such a surprising, unexpected moment that Lena forgot to put on a mask, forgot to hide what she was feeling. And Jess had managed to capture the moment Lena looked back at Kara with just as much affection and wonder. It was so sweet, and maybe it should have bothered her that Jess had witnessed the moment and, but the photo made her too happy to care. However, she did make a mental note that they'd have to be more careful going forward, even as she sent all three photos to Kara.
"Well?" Jack asked when Lena didn't say anything. "Turn out alright?"
"Yes, they're great," Lena said, careful not to meet his eye.
"Good," Jack said, his voice cheery. "She's just lovely, isn't she?"
Lena looked at him in surprise, her eyebrows raised. "Who, Kara?" Jack nodded and gave her a small smile, causing Lena to blush and look away. "Yes, she is. She's very…" she paused to swallow, trying to pick her next word carefully, "sweet."
"Yes, very sweet," Jack said, and Lena could feel his eyes still on her.
It was as if he was fishing for something, like he was studying her for a reaction. And not even in a malicious way. It was as if he was… Genuinely interested. Yet she couldn't fathom why, and thankfully she didn't have much time to dwell on it because a moment later Jess had pulled up with the car, and she climbed in the passenger's seat as Winn pulled up alongside them with Jack's vehicle.
Okay, so maybe Jess hadn't been the only one to notice her millisecond of a moment with Kara. But from what she could tell Jack wasn't repulsed by it, so maybe there wasn't reason to be concerned. After all, he was a celebrity, too. If anything, he understood discretion. Yet maybe he hadn't noticed anything at all and was just making conversation. And even if he had and confronted her about it, she could easily deny everything. She was good at that. Yet the thing was, if faced with that moment, she didn't know if she could—didn't know if she wanted to.
Kara didn't have time to check her phone until after the first pass around was done. She'd sent Nia to the store and kept Sam on set while she scraped together something with what they had on-hand. Thankfully she was getting better at thinking on the fly, and she was able to throw together cups with fruit, granola, yogurt, and a drizzle of honey. She even found some vegan yogurt made with coconut milk and did a vegan version with agave instead of honey.
They didn't take long to make and were a huge hit, people enjoying something light and refreshing in the early morning heat. Kara was feeling pretty good about herself when she got back to the trailer to start cleaning up the mess she'd made when preparing the pass.
It wasn't until she went to hook her phone up to the radio that she remembered to check the text Lena had sent her. Upon seeing the photos, her heart fluttered erratically in her chest. Lena looked absolutely stunning, makeup and wardrobe having already gotten to her to make her look immaculate for filming. Kara, on the other hand, looked like just a random person who'd stopped her for a photo on the street. She looked so out of place next to Lena, yet something about the way Lena was looking at her in the last photo quieted her insecurities.
She loved that photo, and she sat there staring at it for a few moments, hardly believing it existed. She loved it so much she wanted to make it her lock screen, but she knew that wasn't something she could do. Even making it the background on her phone was too risky. She simply saved them into the memory of her device so she could go back and look at them later.
She was about to start the music so she could start cleaning when her phone started ringing in her hands, Clark's name flashing across the screen.
"Hey, Clark," she answered, pressing the phone to her ear and cradling it in her neck as she gathered the cutting board and knife she'd used to cut the fruit and put them in the sink in the back of the trailer.
"Hey, buddy, how's it going?" Clark asked in a cheerful voice.
"Good," Kara said, going back to the front of the trailer and grabbing a package of wet wipes so she could wipe down the prep table. "I just made some fruit and yogurt parfaits as our first pass, and people loved them."
"Nice," Clark said. "Sounds tasty."
"Yeah, well, I wanted to use what we had on-hand," Kara said, her anxiety spiking slightly. She tried to shove it down as she grabbed hold of her phone and pressed it to her other ear. "Nia's at the store getting more stuff right now, but we're spending so much on just regular supplies that there hasn't been much leftover for pass-arounds."
"What do you mean?" Clark asked, instantly sounding worried. "How much are you spending?"
Kara let out a long sigh, wiping the prep table down as she said, "Clark, honestly, I don't even know, dude. I'm just buying what we need to get by."
"Well have you been turning in receipts?"
"Yes, every day," Kara told him.
"So you should know how much you've spent, then," Clark responded. "Aren't you writing down the amounts of all the petty cash and credit card envelopes you've turned in?"
Kara hadn't been, but she'd taken a picture of everything she'd turned in, so it was just a matter of going through her phone. "I haven't added it all up yet."
"Well, take some time and add it all up. When you know how much you've spent, just text me the amount," Clark said.
"Okay," Kara said, her anxiety instantly surging again. Sure, she didn't know how much they were spending, but she knew it was bad. They were spending nearly double their daily budget on drinks and ice alone, but that was literally what it took just to make it through the day. She didn't know how much they spent yet because she didn't want to know.
"It doesn't have to be today," Clark said, sensing her unease. "Just make it a goal to sit down and figure that out by no later than Wednesday. Okay?"
Kara blew out a breath, her shoulders easing a little at the small leeway he'd given her. "Okay, I'll try."
"Good," Clark said, and then she heard the loud wail of a baby on the other end. "Uh-oh, sounds like Johnny needs a change." Then in a baby voice he said, "Huh, Johnny? Do you need a change, bud?"
"Alright, when you start the baby-talk, that's my cue to get back to work," Kara said in a joking manner.
"Ha, yeah, probably," Clark said. "Work on that when you get a chance, though."
"I got it," Kara said, fighting the urge to roll her eyes at having been told twice. She'd heard him loud and clear the first time.
When they hung up Kara expected to feel better, but she was still on edge knowing she would have to tally up every penny they'd spent so far and report back to Clark. Part of being in charge was managing the budget, and she knew in that aspect she was failing miserably. But what was she supposed to do? Let people die of thirst? Stop buying ice and give everyone hot water? No, that wasn't possible. She couldn't exactly stop buying food, either. People still needed to eat.
Yet even with all the money they'd spent thus far, when she looked around the trailer, there was hardly anything left from the week before. Nia's shopping trip was meant to restock them, but even hundreds of dollars worth of groceries only lasted a couple of days at most. They were so far in the hole that it would take not buying anything else for the rest of the week just to get back on track—Kara didn't have to crunch the numbers to know that. Yet the catch was that they always had to spend money, money they didn't have.
Kara dreaded finally sitting down and figuring out the actual number. Because it was going to be way in the red, thus proving that Kara had fucked up exponentially when it came to the budget. And that was one of the fundamental duties of being a key. Yet she'd been unable to keep that on track, and it was only the start of week three. They still had five more to go.
She was royally fucked.
thanks have a nice day