El woke up the next morning, her arms were hugging Mike's waist and her head was on his shoulder. She could feel the dried tears on her face.
He stayed with me all night!
Her stirring woke him up. He clamped his hand over his mouth. "I think I've been breathing on you all night. I'm surprised you haven't thrown up. I have awful morning breath."
She looked at him, her faces inches away. "I didn't notice." Morning breath or not, if he wanted to kiss her right now, she would have been fine with it. Up close she could see pale freckles on even paler skin. That's when the butterflies started.
"Are we training today? I believe I owe you two hours of harder training. If you are going to make me a Jedi master we should get to it."
The smile he gave her turned her knees to rubber. She didn't dare try to stand up, although she had enough butterflies she was sure she could float enough to stand on two feet.
"That's the spirit. We'll go out right now. No shower. Attackers don't wait for you to have a shower."
"I want to work harder today so I can take a break from the training tomorrow. It's my birthday. I think there may be a party planned for me."
"Was this party planned before or after I was hired?"
"After." El hung her head, she knew what was coming.
"Then. No. Attackers don't care if it's your birthday."
Prick. Her butterflies were gone now.
She stomped out of the trailer and headed to the hill they had been practicing on.
He followed silently, they set up, and immediately found the flow with their hands. El saw a little bit of a smile on his face, he was pleased that her flow had become this graceful in such a short time.
She wanted to try harder to distract him. "Will you take me out for my birthday tomorrow?" She wanted to let him know she didn't appreciate not having the day off.
"No."
He didn't even blink at the offer.
"What about any other day? Do you want to go out on a date?"
"Definitely. No."
Ouch! That sounded final. I don't think he has any interest in me at all. But he was so nice to me during the storm!
"Am I that much of a bitch?"
"I've trained worse, if it makes you feel any better you are more unpredictable. That's a good thing."
El was getting angry. He was giving her nothing, she increased the force of her movements but he countered with equal force.
"So you won't go out with me at all?" She was unable to keep the hope out of her voice.
That was the point where Mike went to the next level. His movements sped up and he touched her forehead. She couldn't say for sure she even saw his hand move.
They resumed and he did it again. And again. And again. He was doing it on purpose. She now had hard training hours for a day. Tomorrow, she knew it was punishment for tomorrow. What was worse was that he did it with his eyes closed.
"So, I'm curious," El said . "When was the last time your girlfriend let you finger her?"
"Stop." He put his hands down.
She was going to touch his forehead but it would have been for spite.
Mike packed up his gear and walked away.
El was stunned. He just walked away without saying anything. She hadn't said anything she thought was out of bounds, considering what he'd said a week ago. She felt sad. Obviously he loved a girl so much he couldn't take any insults about her. Or he was too sensitive about it. She'd never had a chance. Or she just blew any chance.
Like he did the day she walked away, she sat cross-legged facing the sun.
Waiting.
XXXXX
Mike hadn't come back the day before so this morning, El waited for him in her tracksuit outside her trailer door. When she saw the sun come up she knew he wasn't going to show.
She didn't want to let her disappointment get to her at not being able to see him. On my birthday. He's not even going to say happy birthday to me.
She went to the area where the producers and director were filming B-roll, AD's must be doing the same thing elsewhere.
The director was pointing something out in the script and looked up to see her, "Oh, hey Jane. You come by to see how the sausage is being made on your movie?" He chuckled.
"No, Mike, uh, Mr. Wheeler didn't show up today, just wondering if something came up or he was sick or something."
"He didn't tell you?
"Tell me what?"
"He quit, returned his uncashed cheque, said he could recommend someone who was good if you wanted to continue." The director shrugged, "Up to you Jane. Oh, Happy Sweet sixteen, by the way."
"Thanks." El smiled and then ran back to her trailer, crawled into the blanket fort that she'd left up, and cried.
You're acting like a schoolgirl, or a spoiled brat!
But what I said was just meant to distract him!
What if he had just recently broken up with someone he really loved? Or what if he didn't even have a girlfriend and was lonely. Some rich kid movie star makes makes fun of asking him out, and he realizes just how lonely he is? On top of that he knows you aren't even serious. Eleven, did you even think of his feelings? No. You didn't.
El felt like a piece of shit. This wasn't her. She was a better person than that. At least she liked to think so. Aren't I?
I'm going to text him and pretend I don't know.
[Jane: U R l8 for training :) ]
She waited a full hour before she got:
[Mike: No I'm not.]
[Jane: Ok, well r u coming by at all today? I opened my day for u.]
[Mike: No.]
[Jane: Can I call you? Talk to you voice?]
[Mike: No]
[Jane: Are you breaking you're promise to me?]
[Mike: That was a contract. I returned the money. Promise is null and void.]
[Jane: ::sad emoji:: You are breaking your promise to me Mike]
She received nothing back. She waited a week.
Nothing.
XXXXX
Late Friday night El was making changes to the shooting script. She knew it was going to change some of the shots that were already blocked and storyboarded, but she didn't care, she was trying to push back the shooting schedule.
She was circling sections in red when she heard a soft knock on her trailer door.
She got up and cautiously went to the door to listen.
"I always keep my promises."
El thought her smile would tear at her cheeks it was so wide. Maybe more enthusiastically than she should have, she flung the door open.
"Mike!"
"You owe me for eight hours of hard training." There was no smile on his face. He was serious.
"Starting right now."
El had been filming all day, and felt grubby. She needed a shower in the worst way. There was no way in hell she was going to tell Mike that, though. She stepped out of her trailer and said, "Let's go."
They trudged up the hill, there was a chill in the air that the breeze didn't amplified, but she knew that in a few minutes she'd be grateful for it.
"We train faster now." Mike said.
"Can I ask you a technical question?"
"Yes."
She hated to remind him of why his eyes were closed, but she asked anyway, "How were you able to do it with your eyes closed. And fast?"
"You can feel my hands and wrist right now?"
"Yes?"
"You keep constant contact. It's called sticking hands, you need to be able to touch your opponents hands so you can redirect his energy. That's all I did. If I felt you push, I just redirected your extra force to move your hands away."
"Ok." El wasn't convinced and it must have carried in her voice.
"Try it."
"I don't think I'm ready."
"Try it."
El closed her eyes, and surprised herself, she was able to do exactly what Mike had described, and their hands were flowing at a faster pace.
She opened her eyes and he was smiling at her. She was going to use this opportunity now that his attitude was less… severe.
"Can we talk about the 800 pound gorilla on the hill?"
"No."
"You don't want to be honest with me."
Mike was silent. He closed his eyes again.
Whatever it is, must really hurt. Her heart hammered in her chest. She could hear him take a big breath. This is it! He's going to tell me.
"To answer your question, yes, I'd like to take you out on a date. But I'm really better off not doing that. Sorry, that's as honest as I can be."
"So you want to take me out on a date, but you won't, is that it? Professional reasons?"
"I'm willing to waive professional reasons for personal. I shouldn't, but I'd be willing. But it's personal that prevents me."
"Can I ask why? You can be honest with me. I won't go all superstar-bitchy on you." She tried to keep her smile light, but she bit her lip, she was scared of what he might say.
"You went out with Jason for what? Seven months? That won't work."
She still kept the flow going.
"Why?" She said her voice barely above a whisper.
"Because I don't want to be with you for seven months. I want to be with you forever."
At first El thought he was trying a new tactic and her hands kept a smooth flow she would not be distracted at something that was meant to be personal, she had her eyes closed so she couldn't see the expression on his face.
"I want to be with you forever because I love you."
El's eyes snapped open as he lowered his hands, she was waiting for him to say stop . He didn't. He looked like he was waiting for her to touch his forehead.
She didn't. Instead she raised herself up on her toes to touch his face for the first time since the day they started their training.
She kissed him and sighed against his lips.
"Ok, forever then."