11 months ago:
"Can't you just… shoot it from an artsy angle?"
Blinking hopefully at Killian, Raven actively ignored the man scoffing behind her shoulder. "I don't have cooties," he muttered, which she also ignored.
Out of all the directors she'd worked with, Killian Wat ranked up in the top. He had a respect for his cast and crew that made everyone feel like they belonged, and a work ethic like none she'd ever seen. His restless enthusiasm for his craft earned him the nickname Killowat, though she could never tell how he felt about it. His dedication to his work was admirable, though in this one instance, she really wished he would budge.
"Raven," Killian started slowly. "It's just a kiss."
Her nose wrinkled. Just a kiss? If it were so unspectacular, why was it so necessary for the scene? Why couldn't they just hug?
And yes… Raven knew she was being unreasonable, but she just really didn't want to kiss Garfield Logan.
He was loud and annoying and throughout the filming of this whole movie, he pranked and prodded and pushed all of her buttons. All that said, Raven was a professional, and if that were all she could probably just suck it up and suffer through it. But somewhere along the way, amidst all the acting, she found it easier and easier to gaze at him with longing and affection when the script called for it. It was almost as if she maybe, perhaps, just slightly began to very minimally fancy him.
A theory she did not want to put to the test by kissing him. The best course of action was, of course, to avoid him like the plague.
"But-"
"Action!"
Raven rolled her eyes. "From the top of the scene?"
Killian thought about that for a moment. "No, we've got enough takes of the dialogue, start right after."
So, jumping right into it, then. No buffer. Awesome.
They stepped up to their marks, and Raven took a deep breath. A mistake, because the sultry smell of Gar's cologne tainted the air immediately around him. Which was, considering their upcoming scene, also the air immediately around her.
She wondered, very briefly, if he could smell her perfume, and if he liked it.
Their characters had just exchanged a meaningful conversation, one that vaguely touched upon their romantic feelings without saying it outright. Now they were meant to drift slowly closer, letting their silence say what their words could not.
Raven let her gaze leisurely travel up his face. Starting with his chin, across his jaw and over the sharp curve of his cheekbone. His eyes were fluttering between hers, searching, and the expression took her breath away. Her lips parted involuntarily, and she watched his attention dart down to the minute motion.
She swallowed, the attention giving her a heady satisfaction that settled low in her stomach. A soft touch tickled her hand, and she glanced down to find his fingertips trailing across the back of it. Ever so slowly his fingers trailed up, sending sparks up her arm as they went and leaving tingles in their wake. She exhaled sharply when he reached her neck, the sensation almost too much to handle, and all of a sudden the urge to make him shiver, too, consumed her.
With a touch even softer than his, she skimmed all ten of her fingertips across his abdomen, delighting in the way his stomach tensed and his eyebrows jumped in surprise. Increasing pressure, she dragged her fingers up his chest until her hands loosely locked behind his neck, pushing up on her toes, clad only in black ankle socks. The tip of her nose brushed against his.
His breath, cool with the mints he liked to suck on before each scene, puffed against her cheeks. It proved very distracting, and so it took a while to realize her stare had moved from his eyes to his lips. The very corner of his mouth looked suspiciously smirk-like, and she paused a moment to observe the smugness in his eyes. Determined to rid him of any satisfaction her reactions were giving him, she brought her hands down to grip his shirt and pulled.
There she found herself kissing Garfield Logan.
The smile on his lips disappeared, but her victory was short lived. His hands, strong and warm, cupped her face with the utmost reverence as he surged forward and parted her lips with his. In her career, Raven had kissed quite a few more people than she would have in her personal life. And no kiss, professional or otherwise, had ever given her the sensations this one did. Her heart lit on fire in her chest, nerves jumping under his every touch.
She could quickly grow addicted to Garfield Logan's kisses.
Raven pushed higher on her toes, meeting his enthusiasm with equal fervor, until they were startled apart by a loud clap right next to their faces. She stumbled back a step, hand coming up to press her fingers to her pulsing lips. How hard did he kiss her? For how long?
Garfield's eyes blinked their way from hazy to alarmed, prompting Raven to look away. She turned to the source of the clap, finding Killian staring at them like they'd morphed into aliens. "I called cut four times."
Four? Raven swallowed, gaze traveling back to Gar against her will. He studiously avoided looking at her, attention glued to the fridge behind her. "Um." She was about to defend herself with the claim that Gar's hands had been covering her ears, but by the end of the interaction, his arms had been curled around her, tugging her ever closer.
"No offense, Kill, but I wasn't really focusing on you," Gar cut in after an awkward moment of silence, tossing an easy grin her way. She blinked.
What a buttface.
Her heart halted its attempts to fly away and leave her there a trembling mess, settling with a disappointed thump in her chest cavity. She jerked her chin up, eyes narrowed. "I removed myself in order to make the scene believable, I wasn't paying attention to distractions." With a quick clearing of her throat, she gave Killian a respectful nod. "I hope you got the footage you needed, because I won't be doing that again."
Without looking at her egomaniacal, girl obsessed, simply idiotic costar, she left.
If it were anyone else, just another moron she was scripted to kiss, she wouldn't think twice about it. She wouldn't be bothered, because it would just be another part of the job. A stage kiss with fake chemistry and no tingles lingering long after his touch. But this was Garfield Mark Logan, who, while she stood stupid grasping blindly for words, gave her that cheeky grin of his that said everything was just chummy and his world, unlike hers, hadn't been turned upside down and shaken.