Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! Thanks to those that have favorited/followed/reviewed this story so far.
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Taking a deep breath in to calm her nerves, she begins moving across the familiar lobby, shuffling the papers in her arms a bit to make sure they're secure and won't fall.
"Hi," she says when she gets to the receptionist desk, hiking her bag up a little higher onto her shoulder and handing over her ID that she'd remembered to dig out before entering the building. "I'm here for the Secret War chemistry read."
The woman behind the desk takes a quick glance at her ID before handing it back. "Sign in here, please." The woman hands her a pen and slides a small binder toward her over the counter.
She quickly scrawls her signature on the sheet of paper and then slides it back toward the woman.
"Thank you," the woman says. "Do you know where you're going?"
Skye nods her head with a smile. "I do, yes. Thank you."
She turns away from the desk and makes her way down the indicated hallway, tucking her ID back into her bag, not really caring where it ends up. It's the same hallway she took for each of the other auditions she went to for the movie.
Once she reaches the waiting area for the chemistry read, she stops and takes a deep breath while looking around. There are hard plastic chairs lining three of the walls, a few different girls occupying some of the chairs. Skye looks at each of the girls in turn, watching for a moment as they all tediously go over the script pages in their hands.
Skye is about to step toward the nearest open chair when someone bumps into her from behind, causing her to stumble forward and drop her script onto the floor, as well as knock her coffee against her body.
"Seriously?" she hisses at the feeling of the still hot coffee starting to soak through her shirt. She pulls at the material and sucks her stomach in as best she can, trying to keep the coffee from touching her body as much as possible. "I do not need this right now."
"I am so sorry," she hears someone say from behind her. "That was totally my fault; I'm running a bit behind schedule and I really should have been looking where I was going."
"It's fine," she replies, tossing her now empty coffee cup into the nearest trash can. "You just made me spill my very hot coffee all over my shirt. And I don't have time to go home and change before my audition. This is great. Just great." Of course, something like this would happen to her now that she's finally reached a chemistry read. It's like the universe is conspiring against her.
"Oh, wow. I'm really sorry."
"Like I said, it's fine." Skye turns around to face the person who ran into her, still pulling at the fabric of her shirt. "Not really that big of a—you're Grant Ward." Her eyes go wide when she sees him, immediately recognizing him behind the dark sunglasses covering his eyes.
The man in front of her gives her a small chuckle as he nods. "Yeah, I am. And you are?"
"Skye. Skye Campbell, actually, but it's just Skye when I'm acting."
He gives her a soft smile. "Well, it's very nice to meet you, Skye Campbell. Are you here for an audition for something?"
She nods. "I am. Chemistry read for the female lead in the new Shield Studios movie."
"Oh, very cool. I've uh, I've actually been cast already as the male lead." He leans down a bit so he's near her ear. "But you have to promise me you won't tell anyone. Everyone just thinks I'm still being considered for the part. Word hasn't gotten out yet that I've been cast and I could possibly get into trouble for telling you." He stands back up straight and flashes her a soft smile.
"I promise I won't tell anyone, no matter how much my best friend bugs me." Skye gives him a small smile. "Your secret is perfectly safe with me."
It's silent for a minute before Grant speaks up, "Um, did I do that?" He gestures to her coffee stained t-shirt.
She looks down at the shirt and frowns. "Oh, yeah. But it's okay, it's not really that big of a deal."
"Still, I wish I could do something to help," he tells her. "Since it's a chemistry read, it's more intense than just a regular audition, and there are more people watching this time around, they all want to make sure you'll really suit the part. So walking into a chemistry read, or any audition really, while wearing a shirt stained all down the front with coffee is not exactly the first impression you want to make on the casting director and whoever else is in there."
Skye sighs. "Yeah, I figured as much. I'll probably just go into the bathroom and see if I can get some of it out before it's my turn, even though there is the possibility that it'll just make it look even worse. But it's the best thing I can think of to do right now. Even though I was hoping to get some more practice in working on this scene, but I guess actually looking presentable in there would be the better choice."
"Here," he says after a quick moment, unbuttoning the long-sleeved, dark blue plaid shirt he's wearing, revealing his plain white t-shirt underneath of it. He removes the button down and holds it out to her. "You can wear this."
She shakes her head, holding a hand out and taking a small step back. "Oh, no. That's your shirt. I can't wear that."
"I insist," he says, holding it out further to her.
"Oh, well uh, okay." She takes the shirt from him with a small smile on her face. "Thanks."
He smiles, sliding his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. "It's the least I can do." He takes a deep breath. "Well, I better get into the room so they can start the auditions. I guess we'll be reading together very soon, Skye Campbell."
She smiles back. "Yeah, I guess we will be."
Grant's eyes linger on her for a second longer, though not in an uncomfortable way, before he walks past her and into the audition room, the door falling closed again behind him.
She watches as he leaves, letting out a breath when he's out of sight. She turns to the chair she'd been ready to occupy and sets her things down after gathering the papers off the floor.
She quickly pulls his shirt on and takes a moment to revel in its warmth and the obvious smell of whatever cologne he's wearing. Normally she's not one to enjoy the smell of cologne, but this time it is not bothering her as much as it usually does.
Taking a deep breath, she sits down in the chair, pulling the script into her lap, and begins rehearsing.
Pulling his laptop into his lap, Grant flips open the lid and logs in before going to his web browser as soon as the desktop loads. Once the browser opens up, he clicks inside the address bar, types two words 'Skye actress' and then hits enter. There was just something about her earlier that day when they met, and now he wants to know more about her.
And yes, she gave him her full name, but there's no guarantee it'll give him anything since she said she always gets credited as just 'Skye' whenever she does a new project.
The search results load, showing a few different photos of her at the top of the screen. There aren't many, and most of them seem to be personal photos, not having the professional look to them that some of his might when you search for his name. She still looks beautiful in them, though, just like the woman he saw today.
"Who are you?" he says to himself, as he scrolls down a little on the page.
"Who is who?"
Grant jumps in his seat at the voice of his best friend. He looks up to find the man standing in the doorway to his bedroom, a bowl of cereal in his hands.
"Kebo, what the hell are you doing here?"
"I was bored at my place. Figured you'd at least have food."
Grant sighs. "Fine. How long are you going to be here?"
Kebo shrugs. "Not sure. Depends. Hannah's out of town for a few days."
"Right. Well, can you at least eat my cereal in the kitchen, please?"
"I guess. And who are you looking up?" he asks, gesturing to the laptop with his head.
"Oh, uh, just this girl I auditioned with today. She was really good."
"And so you're looking her up because…"
"Because she's very talented and I think that she and I could have a good working relationship off of this, even if she doesn't get the role in the movie."
"Right. Well, I'll leave you to your stalking, then." He shoves another spoonful of cereal into his mouth as he turns and walks away.
Grant sighs and shakes his head, turning and focusing on the computer screen, eager to know more about this woman.
Beneath the photos are a few different web links. He clicks on the first one, a Wikipedia page, and waits for it to load. Once it does, he lets his eyes scan over the paragraph at the top.
Skye Marie Campbell (born July 2, 1988), also known as Skye, is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in various independent films, such as 'Mrs. Porter', 'Angels on Earth', and 'Lucky Break'.
"So you're an indie star," he murmurs. "Interesting."
He lets his eyes move further down the page, wanting to know more about this woman that has him completely enamored like very few ever have.
Raised in Chicago, Illinois, Skye is the only daughter, and youngest child, of Megan and Joseph Campbell. She has one older brother, Lincoln, and attended the University of Southern California School of Dramatic Arts after high school, graduating at the top of her class.
"Went to college to study acting," Grant says with a smile. "A girl after my own heart."
He continues reading through the Wikipedia page on Skye, clicking on a few of the different links available as he goes. There isn't much there since she's an Indie star and isn't very well known outside that community, but obviously, someone's been keeping close enough tabs on her and her career to put all of this together.
He saves a few of the links in his bookmarks to look at later and then goes back to the Google search results page.
He clicks on the second link on the page, one for her Twitter account, opening it in a new tab, as well as the link for her Instagram account, neither of which are verified, he notices.
"Is this too creepy?" he asks himself as he switches tabs to Skye's Twitter. He glances over at Max. "I feel like stalking her Twitter and Instagram would be too creepy. What do you think, boy?"
Max lets out a few soft barks before relaxing back into his bed.
Grant sighs, leaning back in his chair. "You're right; it might be a little too creepy. I don't even know her. We just met for the first time today. But I mean, as long as I make sure not to like any of her posts or follow her on them, I should be okay, right?" He looks back over to his dog. Max just continues to lie in his bed, completely ignoring Grant.
Grant lets out a groan and runs a hand down his face. "Why am I making this into such a huge deal?" he asks himself. "She might not even get the part so I shouldn't be stressing over trying to figure her out. And even if she doesn't get the part, that doesn't mean I can't still contact her and try to be friends. And it's not like people don't stalk other people's Twitter and Instagram all the time. I just won't look too far back on either of them. That could get really weird. I'll just look at a few, that's it."
Turning his attention back to his computer screen, he sits up straight and begins scrolling through Skye's Twitter feed.
*Skye: *CallMeBobbi You better come visit me as soon as you get a break from classes. It's been ages. I miss your beautiful face.
*Skye: *CallMeBobbi Thanks, pretty lady. I love you, I miss you, I wish you were here with me.
*Skye: Actually made it to a chemistry read. A little nervous about it. But my fingers are crossed.
*Skye: Is it just me or is Tony Stark really attractive for an older guy?
Smiling to himself, Grant scrolls a little bit more through her Twitter feed, noticing many tweets to this 'Bobbi' person, before switching over to her Instagram.
He clicks on the first photo and then moves through them one by one, reading the attached captions as he goes.
He can't help the smile he gets on his face when he sees the photos of her with various people she obviously cares about, as well as photos of herself, some more serious and some more goofy, but all of them beautiful.
He finally puts a face to the name when he sees a few photos of her with Bobbi, a close friend from back home according to the captions she wrote.
"This is the one," he says quietly to himself as he leans back. "This is the girl I want in the movie. She's perfect. Absolutely perfect."
.
.
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kathrinaelisabeth posted
Anybody know when Grant Ward is gonna be in another project? I feel like it's been a while and I desperately need my fix.
#grant ward #where are you?
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