The Encounter
Chapter 8
Kendall's POV:
I was really tired. I didn't sleep much the other night, and I really needed some actual rest. I was scheduled to go and meet up with the director for a quick run through of the week's schedule. I had to pick up my script and go over it just to make sure everything was fresh in my head. To kill some time, I laid down on the bed while Logan unpacked his bags on the floor.
"Are you excited to film?" Asked Logan.
"Yeah," I said. "First I need to go to a meeting with the crew. You can come with if you want."
"Would that be okay with everyone?"
"Yeah." Just then I started to doze off. A little while later, I felt a tap on my foot. I opened my eyes and saw Logan standing at the foot of my bed, looking down at me. "What?" I asked.
"I said what time are you going?"
"Oh, sorry I didn't hear you. Um, probably in like ten to fifteen minutes." Time flew by fast. Before I knew it, we were heading down to the lobby of the hotel, out the front entrance, into an escalade, and to the producers offices.
We arrived at the building and met with the producer just outside his office.
"Hey, Kendall!" He said. "How are you?"
"I'm good! Is Sam ready for us?"
"Yes, he is. He's waiting in his office right now," he said after we shook hands.
"Great. Oh, by the way, this is my friend Logan." Kendall introduced the both of us to each other. "Logan, Bobby. Bobby, Logan. I know I didn't ask in advance, but is it okay if he came with to meet everyone?"
"Sure, it's not a problem whatsoever. We should really get going though."
The three of us started to walk down hallways, past other offices, and eventually made it to a door with a CONFERENCE sign on it. Bobby opened the door, and we walked in.
"Are we late?" I joked while I went over and shook Sam's hand, then greeted Jett and James after I introduced Logan.
"Okay. Now that we've got the introductions out of the way, lets get down to business." Sam was never one to waste time. That's why I was so excited to work with him on this movie. He was really going to whip my ass into shape.
Logan's POV:
After their conference, the six of us walked out of the building and departed from Sam and Bobby. I was relieved we were outside again. The room was stuffy, and all I mostly did was watch. I took out my cigarettes from my back pocket and slid one out along with my lighter.
"Can I get one?" Kendall asked as I started to light my cigarette. I held out the half empty carton and he took one out. I still had my lighter out, so I quickly lit his.
"You shouldn't be smoking before we start shooting," said James, interrupting us. He came and stood next to Kendall and I.
"Last one," Kendall said while he blew a cloud of smoke up into the air.
"That's what you said last time."
I looked over to my right and happened to notice Jett talking on his cell phone rapidly.
"Are you guys ready to start on the movie?" James said, bringing my attention back to our conversation. Kendall nodded while the cigarette dangled from his lips.
"Yeah, it's going to be really tough out there. Really hot and dry," continued James.
"Does filming actually start today?"
"Um, I think we shoot the opening parts of the movie today-"
"And the ending," said Kendall, cutting James off.
"Yeah, then later on we're moving out to the desert to start the actual fighting scenes."
"I think I have to shave my head today, right?" Kendall asked James.
"Yeah, yeah. Today you get a nice haircut," James said jokingly.
"Oh, you have to shave your head?" I said. I tried picturing him with a shaved head but just couldn't do it. James already had his head shaved, so I couldn't really picture him with hair.
"I think I'm more worried about how I'll look with a shaved head rather than how I'll look naked."
"Naked?" I thought to myself. I knew I was going to like being there. I finished my cigarette and put it in one of those big ashtrays that they have outside of buildings. The escalade came a little while later and picked Kendall and I up.
"What did you think of the guys?" Kendall asked me while we were on our way back to the hotel.
"They were cool. They seemed like a great group."
"Yeah, you'll like them."
When we arrived at the hotel, we headed straight to our room. Once inside, I realized that I hadn't called Ashley to let her know I had gotten there safely. She was probably freaking out. I picked up the phone and dialed her house phone number as fast as I could, hoping she hadn't left for work yet. The line rang three times, and luckily, she picked up.
"Hello?" She said.
"Ashley, it's me."
"Oh, hey. Did you make it okay?"
"Yeah, I'm at the hotel right now. How's Sargent doing?" I asked.
"He's good. I just gave him his breakfast, and now he's running around the house."
"Listen, I just wanted to call you to let you know I'm doing alright, and say thanks for taking care of Sargent and for letting Mr. Shingle know I'm not going to be at work for a while."
"No problem, babe. So, do I get to know where and who you are staying with?"
"Uh, not yet. I'll tell you when I get back."
"Why is this such a secret? Are you like a spy on a mission or something?"
"No," I laughed. "I'll tell you later."
I turned around and saw Kendall coming towards me. He got close and whispered: "Can I use the phone after you?" I nodded and told Ashley I'd call her later. After I had hung up, I handed the phone over to Kendall and walked to the other room to finish unpacking.
We were finally on set. The working day had officially started. Kendall was in his dresser room getting into wardrobe and hair while the crew, including myself, waited in an inside studio. Everything was set up to look like the inside of a house. There was a kitchen, a bedroom, and even a hospital set. Everything came with working appliances; it was so realistic. Kendall and the other actors finaly came out and had a small meeting with Sam. I figured he must have been telling them what to do, because he was moving his arms and pointing at different parts of the set while the actors nodded occasionally. Sam walked back behind two small camera monitors and yelled out "Action!"
At first they only did short scenes, almost as if the scenes were meant to tell a short back story. After Sam yelled "Cut," everyone was running around, moving sets and lights. Kendall went off and came back with different clothes on. The next scene they shot was of a man coming to visit Kendall's character at his home. I'm not really sure what the point of that scene was because it was so short, but I'm sure it'll fit perfectly when the movie is done. After several more set and wardrobe changes, they were about to shoot what appeared to be a funeral scene. I'm guessing this was the end of the movie. It was really amazing seeing Kendall do what he loved doing so much up close. You could really tell that he put 110% of himself into the character with every movement and facial expression.
After the scene was done, once again, Kendall and the others went to change but this time, he came out wearing only a white robe. Sam gathered everyone and told them how he'd like to see things go. I noticed a lady standing on a bed of the bedroom set. She was wearing a long, white shirt that said "U.S. Marines" on it with what appeared to be an American eagle in the background. Kendall went up to her and shook her hand, and they started a conversation.
I watched Kendall making jokes and heard him say "Alright everyone, cover your eyes!" Then that familiar smile appeared on his face. Everyone knew what was about to go down. There was a ring, like a school bell ring when class gets out, that echoed across the entire studio, the word "Action" following it. We all stood quietly while Kendall got close to his female counterpart. I tried not to look, but I couldn't help it. It was right in front of me; in front of everyone. I mean, what would you have done? Once the scene was wrapped, Kendall quickly covered up and was shipped off to wardrobe once again.
"Okay," the director said out loud. "That's a wrap on the house scenes. After Kendall shaves we are off to lunch!"
"Shave?" I thought to myself. I couldn't miss that! I walked out of the studio and out to the trailers. I found the one that said KENDALL KNIGHT on the door and stepped inside slowly.
"Are you decent?" I asked, somewhat covering my eyes and trying not catch a naked Kendall.
"Yeah," Kendall yelled back. I walked in completely and saw Kendall starting to put a shirt on. The inside of his trailer was huge. Half of it was for comfort and the other half was for make-up.
"I hear you're about to get bald," I joked.
"Yeah," he laughed. "Someone should be coming with some electric shavers here soon."
"Are you scared?"
"A little." Just then a woman knocked before coming in. She had the shears in her hand and a smile on her face.
"Hey, Jen!" Kendall said to her.
"Are you ready?" She asked.
"Yeah. Oh, this is Logan." Kendall pointed at me as Jen turned her head to get a good look.
"Heyo," I said.
"Hello. Are you phone Logan?"
"Um...?" What did she just say, I thought to myself.
"I told her you had found my phone," Kendall said before I could reply.
"Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm phone Logan."
"Nice to meet you."
After our little introduction, she walked over to Kendall and sat him down in front of a large vanity mirror. The sheers started buzzing, and the hair started falling.
Kendall's POV:
I felt strange with my newly shaved head. After a whole day of seeing myself with no hair, I started to get used to it. Everyone was telling me that it looked good, but I think they were just being nice. To be honest, I liked having no hair, because I didn't have to worry about
how I looked in the morning. It was nice.
The next day we were set to go to Camp Pendleton. It was an honor to be allowed inside that camp. Not many people get to go there unless you're training to become a marine or if you're making a movie. In my case, I was doing both. We needed to go early in the morning, because we had a long day of shooting ahead of us. As usual, Logan and I woke up, got ready, and were escorted down to the studio to meet with the cast and crew. From there, we got on a shuttle bus and were driven down to the camp. As I got on the bus, I realized I had lost Logan, and he was nowhere to be seen.
I sat besides James. I looked around and saw Logan sitting near the back, talking to a guy on the crew. They seemed to be really into their conversation, so I didn't want to bother them. It was going to be a long drive. Almost two hours of long road leading us to our destination. I slept for the most part, so did the others.
Two hours later, the bus came to a stop and everyone grabbed whatever belongings they had with them and got off the bus. I looked back and saw Logan still talking to the same guy. I'm sure he was going to be okay, so I did my own thing and met with Sam. He had asked Colonel John C. Coleman if he could take some of us for a quick tour around, and he agreed. I was looking forward to take Logan along but, again, I couldn't find him.
I saw Jett and asked if he'd seen Logan.
"Nah, man. Last time I saw him, he was on the bus talking to some dude."
The tour was about to begin, so I thanked Jett and left. Twenty minutes later, after the tour was done with, I was taken directly to wardrobe. After more than half the day of filming at the camp, it was finally time for lunch. I was so hungry. I hadn't eaten anything all day since we had to leave the hotel extremely early. I walked over to the catering tent in full Marine get-up. Everything from the boots, to the rifle we used to practice or shoot with.
The tent was full of men dressed in camouflage and war paint. It was incredible, we looked like we had been fighting an actual war. I still hadn't seen Logan anywhere, and I was starting to get a little worried. I saw James was already in line, so I walked up and stood next to him.
"Hey, Kendall!" He said.
"Hey. You haven't seen Logan by any chance, have you?"
"Yeah. He should be in here. Jett told him you were looking for him."
"He did?"
"Yeah. He's right there." James pointed to a table near the back of the large tent. I saw Logan still talking to the same guy. I was relieved to see him again. Honestly, I was a little jealous because he seemed to be hitting it off better with the other guy. I guess it was just because I was missing Jo and wanted everyone to be as miserable as me. I went and sat down at the table Logan was seated at.
"Hey, Kendall," he said after seeing me.
"Hey, what's going on?"
"Nothing. Where've you been?" He asked.
"Filming and looking for you."
"Oh, yeah. Jett told me that you were looking for me. Sorry. Dan asked if I wanted to see how the cameras and lights and stuff worked." Dan was the guy he had been talking for hours on the bus.
"That's cool."
"How were the scenes?" He asked.
"They were great. Yeah, there was one where I was getting drilled by the drill sergeant and got my head slammed into the, like, blackboard thingy."
"Yeah? Like actually slammed into it?"
"The first few takes I got hit hard, but after awhile it got easier."
"Do you have a long day tomorrow?" He asked.
"No, not really. Just some stuff, but I have most of the day off. After tomorrow we go back to the Valley. Why do you ask?"
"I don't know. I wanted to do something; hang out a little."
"Yeah. If you want to we can."
"There's a place really close by here. Like a bar or club thing." Dan cut in.
"Do you want to go tomorrow?" He asked.
"Oh, yeah? That sounds cool. Do you want to go?" Logan asked me.
"Yeah. Why not?"
"Great! I'll catch you guys later." Dan got up and left when he heard someone over his walkie-talkie asking for him.
We had a small community home reserved for the cast, so that we wouldn't have to go all the way up to Imperial and make the long trip back down the next day. I woke up early on the second day of filming at Camp Pendleton. I didn't feel like doing much besides laying in bed and sleeping. I wish I didn't have to work, but I did. I turned over in bed and started to fall asleep again when I heard the floor squeak behind me. I saw Logan walking around the room.
"Can I help you?" I said. He turned to me and smiled.
"Sorry. Did I wake you up?"
"No, I was already awake. What are you doing?"
"Looking for my phone. Have you seen it?" He asked.
"No."
"Damn. What are you still doing in bed anyways? Don't you have to be getting ready or something?"
"No, I have an hour or two before I have to get up. I just want to lay here all day."
"Aw, but then we won't have anyone to drool over in the theaters."
"Get someone else to play my part." Logan giggled.
I turned back around and sighed. Next thing I knew, I was getting my blankets ripped away from me. I whipped around as quickly as I could and saw Logan standing above me with my sheets in his hands.
"What the fuck!?"
"Get up."
"What?"
"Get up," he repeated himself.
"No, why?"
"You said you wanted to do something today."
"Yeah, but not this early." I said. "I seriously do not want to get up."
"The earlier the better."
"Fine. Let me go shower, and we'll go get breakfast or something."
"Cool."
I got out of bed, and jumped into the shower. Nothing like a nice cold shower to wake you up. I put on some clothes, grabbed my sunglasses from my bag and put them on since it was very sunny outside. Logan and I walked a bit before asking a local where there's a good place to eat in the morning. We were told to go down a block to the iHOP, and so we did. Once there, we were seated near the back of the place. While we made our way to the table, I noticed a few girls looking at me and whispering to their friends. I'm pretty sure they had recognized me and knew who I was.
The food was amazing. The closest thing I've had to a home cooked meal in such a long time. After we were done eating, I looked over at Logan, and he had a blank look in his eyes.
"Is something wrong?" I asked.
"No, I'm trying to remember where I left my phone. I remember putting it down in the room when we got there, but I went back to get it today, and it wasn't there. I don't know if I moved it or what."
"Did you call it and listen for the ring?"
"It's off, that's the thing."
"You could just use the phone in the room."
"I know, but I need someone's number and it's in my contacts."
"Are you going to call that girl?"
"Ashley? No. I want to give Carlos a call."
"Your... brother?"
He laughed. "No, friend."
"Boyfriend?" Damn, it must have been really rude of me to ask that.
"No. Friend. I don't know. Hopefully one day."
"You like him?" I asked
"Yeah, he's a cool guy, and sweet, too."
"Oh." I heard small laughter coming from behind me, so I turned and saw two girls walking up. Both had a huge grin on their face and one of them had a pen in her hand.
"Hi!" They said when they got up to us. "Are you Kendall Knight?" Asked the girl with the pen.
"Um, the last time I checked I was," I joked.
"Can we take a picture with you and maybe have your autograph?"
"Yeah, sure." The girl with the pen took her iPhone out and held it in front of us.
"Here." Logan said. "I'll take it for you."
"Okay, thanks."
He took the phone and pointed the camera at the three of us. I heard the camera shutter sound and the girls started to thank me.
"Do you want me to sign anything?" I asked them.
"Yeah, please."
I took the pen and signed two napkins with: "It was very cool meeting you. Love, Kendall Knight."
Then the two girls left.
"That was nice of you," Logan said. "You probably just made their day."
"Yeah. Lets go though before more people come over," I said.
"Okay." Logan pulled out his wallet and was about to take out money when I stopped him.
"I got it."
"What?"
"I'll pay."
"You sure? I have enough to pay for myself."
"No, don't worry about it."
We got up and left the restaurant and walked back to the community home. After several hours of filming, I finally got the chance to just hang out and relax. I got out of the uniform and met up with Logan. He was waiting for Dan since we were all set to go out.
A guys night out, I guess you could say. We got to the place Dan was talking about earlier and walked inside. It was actually really cool in here. There were three pool tables around the perimeter, and a bar at the back while chairs and tables covered the front and center. We sat down at the bar, and Dan ordered a beer while I got a water and Logan took a soda. Conversation was starting to flow lightly. Mostly small talk. For some reason it was a little awkward being there. Don't ask me why.
Logan and Dan seemed to be really comfortable with each other. I watched them while they talked. Logan would always raise the corner of his mouth when he talked, it was so funny. He had a lot of small mannerisms that made him seem real. I know that's a weird thing to say, but I felt really comfortable around him and so did everyone else. The three of us played pool for a little while, then played a round of darts. Day turned to night and we were all starting to loosen up. It started to get late, and I knew I had to wake up early to get my things ready for the ride back to the hotel.
"Hey," I said, grabbing Logan's attention. "I think I'm going to head back."
"Now?" He said. I could barely hear him over the loud jukebox music.
"Yeah. I'm really tired. I have to be up early tomorrow morning."
"Okay, well so do I. I'll get Dan and we'll go," he said.
"No, stay here. I don't think he wants to leave yet."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'll call a taxi. I handed Logan an extra card key for our room and he took it.
"I'll see you later then."
"Okay."
I got up from the stool and walked out of the building. I suddenly felt jealous again. It was so stupid of me to feel like that, but I didn't know why I was feeling the way I was. Instead of calling a taxi like I said, I decided to walk home. When I made it back to our place, I instantly crashed on my bed, fully clothed, and drifted off the sleep.
Logan's POV:
I felt really bad about letting Kendall go alone. The rest of the night I felt weird, so I went home not too long after Kendall left. Dan and I got ourselves a ride and made it back home safely.
I tried to be as quiet as possible walking into the room, but I couldn't stop the floor from creaking. I saw Kendall on the bed, sleeping on top of the sheets. He was still wearing his shoes. I walked over and looked to see if his eyes were completely shut, and to my surprise, they were still wide open and looking directly at me. I smiled at him then sat down on the edge of the bed. He slowly got up on his left arm and we stared at each other. Neither of us said anything for the short period that we sat in the dark.
Finally, he smiled that beautiful smile of his and that was it. I couldn't help myself. I leaned into him and we kissed. I honestly didn't know why I did it, but it was something I've been thinking about for a long time. Kendall moved back a little and sat upright. It was stupid of me to do that.
"Sorry," I whispered. Kendall smiled again and leaned in, only this time, he made the move. This was it, this was what it all lead up to. I sure as hell wasn't going to stop it, and I don't think he was either. We started to kiss a little harder. So hard that my lip was pressing up against my teeth and causing it to throb. Maybe it was the fact that we were both there, and it was convenient or maybe it was the way it was meant to happen. Maybe it was all a big accident, something neither of us was going to talk about or mention ever again the next day. But then again, it could be something that may move forward in a positive way.
I woke up early next morning and looked over to my right. I saw Kendall sleeping on his back a few inches beside myself. It was very weird to see this man that I had learned to connect to as a friend sleeping next to me. I carefully, and quietly as I could, got out of bed, grabbed my sweater and left the room.
Ok now we're getting to the good stuff~ I hope this chapter isn't too long. ^^;; Comments are always welcomed, I'd love to know what you think of the story so far.