Thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story. I hope that it continues to be enjoyable! I'm also working on a couple of other (shorter) stories with a lot more plot and...angst. lol so look forward to those in the future!
The crumbling stone walls of the temple created eerie shadows in the low light provided by the flickering torches lining the narrow, somewhat claustrophobic hallway. Strings of green plants, which were miraculously surviving in these conditions, were hanging from crevices in the walls and ceilings - providing the only dash of color in a sea of gray and brown.
"It has to be here somewhere…"
"What did the map say again?" she directed towards her companion, lowering her eyes to watch as a worn map was produced beside her.
"It says the entrance should be right here - right at this pyramid symbol."
Seeing the described symbol etched into the stone wall by them, she walked over and placed her hand against it lightly.
Opening her mouth to speak, she suddenly froze - mind completely blanking as she frantically searched her memory for what she was supposed to say next.
"Cut!"
"Dammit," she muttered under her breath while the sounds of activity sprang up all around them - crew members rushing to and fro while resetting the scene.
That was already her third screw up in their one and only scene for the day. She was usually much more on point than this…
"Well...you're having an off day."
Scowling at the comment, she spun on her heel and began walking back to their starting point at the other end of the fake stone hallway. She could feel Cinder's presence ghosting along beside her and didn't need to look at the girl to know she had an infuriating smirk on her face.
"Could your complete inability to act have anything to do with the guest you have today?"
"Save it, Cinder."
She had already lost patience with the girl's pestering, but Cinder merely laughed at the curt response.
"It's a pity you saved your worst day of acting for her to witness firsthand."
Stomping forcefully on the small yellow 'X' taped to the floor, she spun towards Cinder, feeling a flush unconsciously light her cheeks in embarrassment.
Cinder always had a way with words...in that it never took her very many of them to get under Yang's skin. It seemed like the girl found great amusement in it, too, from the satisfied expression on her face.
But Yang couldn't allow Cinder to get to her - she needed to focus. She'd already made too many mental errors because of how painfully aware she was of Blake's presence nearby. She was so concerned about what the author would think about her acting ability that she was forgetting her lines. It didn't help that she didn't want to be working with Cinder right now - she wanted to be flirting with Blake, instead!
Unfortunately, redoing these scenes was keeping her from spending time with her girlfriend.
Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she took a long, deep breath - clearing her mind of everything but the scene she was standing in. She was no longer Yang Xiao Long - she was Skyler Redd, adventurer extraordinaire. And Cinder was...just her sarcastic, sometimes helpful sidekick.
The thought made her grin, which only caused the girl blinked in confusion at Yang's sudden mood change.
"Alright, you ladies ready?"
After nodding in response, they waited for their cue as the movement from cameras and microphones came to a complete halt - complete silence descending upon the set.
"Annnnd...action!"
The loud snap spurred them into motion once again, treading carefully down the familiar mossy hallway together.
"It has to be here somewhere…"
"What did the map say again?" she asked a second time, again directing her attention towards the map when Cinder pulled it out of her bag and held it out in front of them.
"It says the entrance should be right here - right at this pyramid symbol."
She would have to hand it to Cinder - even though Yang was messing up often, the girl was completely on point today, nailing her part of the scene.
Locating the symbol, she walked over and pressed her hand lightly against it, studying it closely.
"You'd think they'd leave some instructions or something," she joked, turning back to Cinder with a grin. "Like, 'secret room hidden here - just press these buttons to get in!'"
Whether in character or just being her usual self, Cinder stared at her, unamused at Yang's attempt to lighten the mood. That was, until the girl's eyes widened with an idea.
"Skyler, you're a genius!" she said, brushing past Yang and focusing all of her attention on the wall behind them, tearing down several strands of plants in order to get a better view of the symbols written there.
"Nice of you to finally admit it," she replied cheekily, watching the girl work with avid curiosity. "So, did they leave instructions?"
"Not exactly…they left a riddle - the same riddle written on that pipe you stole from the museum."
"Borrowed from the museum! I totally have plans on returning that!"
Cinder didn't reply, eyes scouring the glyphs before she found the right ones. In quick succession, she pressed her hands against several nearly invisible buttons. The next second, a loud puff of air washed over them as the door unsealed.
Looking at each other excitedly, the two of them pulled open the door and stepped inside - finding themselves in a small room with an ornate marble pillar standing in the center.
"So...is this what we're looking for, or…"
Walking over to the pillar, she looked down at it closely, reaching out one hand to touch the smooth surface.
"Don't touch anything," Cinder snapped at her, slapping her hand away. "This was supposed to be the throne room...but it looks like another fake. Just give me a minute to figure this out."
Yang brushed off the comment, opting to walk over to one of the walls while Cinder studied the pillar. Passing a particular section of moss and stone, she did a double take when her eyes lit upon the same pyramid glyph from outside the room. Scraping away a clump of moss, she crouched down to examine it more closely.
There, right beneath the glyph, was a tiny round dot that looked almost like a...button.
Glancing back towards Cinder, she found that the girl was still absorbed in her work. She gave a shrug of her shoulders and reached one hand out, pressing the button gently.
A large crack suddenly appeared in the wall in front of her, causing her to leap backwards in surprise.
Cocking her head to one side, she thought she could hear something coming from the walls. Creeping forward and pressing one ear to the cold stone, she could hear it growing louder now - like the distant roar of…
Water.
"Uh...we might want to get out of here…"
Cinder looked at her in confusion, eyes widening when the distant rushing sound became a loud roar.
"Now!"
She grabbed Cinder's arm and dragged her back out the door and into the long hallway. Cinder glanced behind them and let out a groan.
"I told you not to touch anything!" she yelled, separating her arm from Yang's in favor of running on her own.
"Yeah, well...you know me!"
The two of them were now sprinting through the stone corridors, following a path they had memorized from their walkthrough earlier today. Out of the corner of her eye, she could just make out the shapes of the cameras sliding quickly beside them - matching their pace while keeping them in focus.
People sometimes wondered how they made these scenes look so realistic - when they were fleeing from danger. She got comments all the time about how it looked like she was actually running for her life.
Well, the truth was that Cinder and her were actually having an unspoken competition to be the first ones to reach the finish line. Even though the scene already dictated that Yang would reach it first, that wouldn't stop Cinder from trying to beat her and make them redo the entire scene. So, if Yang didn't want to have to run through the scene another time, she needed to make sure to out-race her co star.
If only the director knew the secret games they were playing…
Sliding around the last corner, Yang felt Cinder hit the wall directly behind her, right on her heels. The doorway was in sight now, she just needed to push her legs a little harder and -
She felt the contact just as they reached the doorway - their legs getting tangled up together in their haste, the hallway a little too narrow to allow both of them to run side by side. They both crashed to the hard stone floor in a mess of limbs and slid the last few feet into the 'safe' room.
Somehow ending up lying flat on her back with one of Cinder's legs across her ankles, she looked up at the doorway they had just passed through, watching it intently even though nothing was happening. When the film went to editing, the doorway was going to crumble to pieces - the large boulders falling into place to block the onslaught of water, but also trap them in this room.
After watching for the three counts the script called for, she laid her head back down on the ground and sighed in relief.
"Well...that was...interesting…" she said, continuing her lines even though they had just messed up the ending.
"Remind me to handcuff you the next time we're in an ancient temple," Cinder commented dryly, not bothering to move from her spot on the ground.
"Cut! Great job, ladies! That ending was ingenious."
Yang jumped to her feet and grinned - happy they didn't have to redo that scene a fourth time. And even though she had technically messed up again, the director loved it!
Reaching a hand down, she pulled Cinder to her feet.
"Are you ok?" she asked, noticing the scraps Cinder had on her elbows and knees - similar to her own. "Sorry, we got tangled up there."
"I'm fine," Cinder replied, her mouth twitching upwards in the faintest of smiles while dusting off her outfit. "You never were a very coordinated runner."
Yang laughed as assistants rushed over to them, making a fuss over the scrapes they had collected on their elbows and knees.
It always surprised her when Cinder actually displayed a sense of humor.
Waving the assistants away from her, she made her way to the edge of the set - focused on a certain brunette standing nearby. She jogged the remaining distance to where Blake had been watching, feeling a grin reappear on her face.
"So...what'd you think?"
"Very impressive - you made that fall look spectacular," the girl responded with a smile, eyes twinkling in amusement.
She laughed nervously, running one hand gently over her scraped elbow.
"Yeah...that kinda wasn't...supposed to happen…"
Blake raised her eyebrows - studying her closely before nodding her head in understanding.
"You were racing, weren't you."
"How did you know?"
Had it really been that obvious? Because no one else had seemed to be able to put that together in the past few years she and Cinder had been doing it. And there were a lot of running scenes in these movies.
"I'm a genius," Blake responded with a playful wink. "But seriously, the parts before that were all amazing. It's really cool to see you take on a whole different personality like that."
She felt her face warm at the compliment, feeling suddenly bashful.
"Ah well...it's not really that hard...Skyler and I are actually pretty similar, except she gets a lot more girls than I do."
"Oh? Is that a bad thing?" Blake broke in, expression gravely serious.
"N-no of course not!" she quickly replied, mortified by what she had just insinuated. "I was just...pointing out that I only need one girl to make me happy!"
Blake giggled at her response and she instantly relaxed, knowing that she had at least said something right.
Making her way off the set, Cinder made sure to pass directly by Yang's side - bumping into her lightly to announce her presence.
"Fourth time's the charm, right, Yang?" the girl said with a smirk, before ruining any goodwill Yang retained for her with the disdainful look she gave Blake. "I didn't realize they were letting just anyone onto set these days."
"It's nice to see you again, too. And that shade of green looks lovely on you, by the way," Blake replied without missing a beat, providing Cinder with a polite smile.
Cinder briefly looked down at her outfit, which was primarily black, gray, and covered in dust.
"What, are you colorblind? I'm not wearing any green."
Yang started giggling when she understood what Blake had been referring to. Seconds later, Cinder scowled when she also caught on.
"You think you're so clever, don't you," she said menacingly, causing Yang to cut in defensively before things could escalate any further.
"She actually is really clever," she said simply and, before Cinder could reply, she tugged on Blake's hand.
"Come on, Blake, I think we have time for a quickie in my trailer."
"Yang…"
"I know, I know - I'm sorry I just wanted to make her mad," she whispered at Blake's complaint as they began walking away. She felt a little bad for embarrassing the girl - but her apology only made Blake flush deeper.
"No, it's not that…you just don't have to announce it to the entire world…"
She felt her eyes widen in surprise while a huge grin lit up her face.
"Oh! Excuse us then, we're going to go not have a quickie in my trailer!" she called happily back to the now steaming Cinder before pulling Blake further away. "Was that better?"
Blake sighed and tightened her grip on Yang's hand while they made their way towards Yang's personal trailer.
"Yes, that made it all better," she replied deadpan, making Yang laugh once again.
They wove their way quickly amongst the crowd of people on set, making their way out of the main filming area and towards their personal spaces. Yang's trailer was just a few paces away now - marked by her name written prominently on the door.
"You know, I think she's really beginning to like me," Blake commented while Yang reached up to open the door for her.
She burst into more loud laughter while holding the door open.
"God, you're so great. I love you."
She froze the instant the words slipped out of her mouth - she couldn't have possibly just said that, right? Maybe Blake hadn't heard it!
But Blake froze too.
Still holding the door with one hand, she turned nervously back towards the author - finding Blake staring very, very intently into her eyes.
"Uh…I mean - w-well, I mean…exactly what I said. I love you, Blake."
She felt her cheeks heat up while waiting anxiously for Blake to reply to her proclamation of love- suddenly excruciatingly aware of how she'd thrown her feelings out into the open without being sure of the author's response.
And this definitely hadn't been how she'd planned on telling Blake her feelings.
This wasn't the rooftop of a high rise at sunset. Or a rose garden in full bloom. There was no string quartet playing in the background or any of the romantic things she had dreamed about.
This was the doorstep of her work trailer, covered in dust and sweat after running through a fake temple all afternoon, with bloodied elbows and knees from her fall.
But she did love Blake. More than anything. And if the author didn't feel the same way by now...well, honestly that would suck, but she could deal with it. She would just keep trying to win over the girl's heart, no matter what -
"I love you too," Blake replied with a big smile, breaking Yang instantly out of her thoughts.
"Yeah?" she asked like a fool, her cheeks aching from the huge smile that had just taken up permanent residence.
"Yes," Blake affirmed in a whisper.
Stepping closer, the author wrapped one hand behind Yang's neck and pulled her abruptly forward into a kiss. Her other hand gathered a handful of Yang's shirt and shoved her up the two stairs into the trailer - drawing a small squeak of surprise from her lips.
"You might be lucky enough to get a quickie, after all," she heard Blake murmur against her lips.
The comment hardly registered in her mind as she got lost in the author's embrace - four little words playing through her mind on repeat.
She loves me too.