The Muses Within

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Hour By Hour - Chapter One

Kyrah hugged her coat tightly against her body as the cold wind blew through the streets of New York City. The forecast called for snow that night and she prayed it wouldn't delay her flight back home. It was two days before Christmas and it had been exactly one year since she had last boarded a plane to her parents' house. Her list of things to do was etched into her brain and many of the items had yet to be crossed off. She still hadn't gotten anything for her little sister and knew that shopping for a present in JFK international would be convenient but would make her feel a little cheap.

The last thing she wanted to do was walk down bitterly cold avenue to the little French cafe with a name she had yet to figure out how to pronounce. Yet there she was, flipping the hood of her coat over her head as she walked with a crowd across the street. She walked another block and mumbled to herself about how much she really hated Kelsie at that moment. It was Kelsie's fault Kyrah was in these frigid temperatures. Kyrah knew all Kelsie would want was for her to audition for another rejected role, or perhaps she had finally come to her senses and was going to tell Kyrah what she had been waiting for her agent to tell her for the past year, that she just wasn't good enough.

She had followed the dream of so many young people. She had packed up her things and moved to the big city in search of the spotlight. The truth was that she really didn't want the spotlight, she just wanted to act. She couldn't remember a time when she wasn't daydreaming or using her imagination. Even in high school, every play and every skit had Kyrah Berkshire as the star. It wasn't an attention device, though attention never bothered her. She really felt that she was born to be an actress. She was thankful for the small part she played in three episodes of the soap opera entitled Decembers of Love, and for the prostitute role in an episode of Law and Order: SVU. She had done a handful of commercials but only two of them were aired. She was going to be the leading lady in a 3OH!3 video but she had gotten the flu the day before the shoot and apologetically had to cancel. Of course there had been modeling jobs but those were often boring and not what she was interested in.

Kelsie was sitting in the window seat of the cafe. She waved frantically and smiled through the glass. Kyrah smiled back and entered the cafe, pushing her hood off and pulling off her gloves as she went to sit with her agent.

"Ky!" Kelsie said with a smile, setting down her latte. "I'm so glad you came. I'm sorry I had to call you at last minute."

"So what's all this about, Kelsie?" She sat down with a huff and plopped her gloves on the table. She didn't mean to sound bitchy but the last thing her mind was on was work. "You know I'd love to stay but I have so much I have to do before I leave tonight."

"I know, I know. And I wouldn't have called you today if this wasn't important."

She shook her head when Kelsie didn't say anything back to her. "Well, spill it."

Kelsie opened her mouth, then shut it again. She paused and looked down at the coffee table. She wiped away the ring of liquid her mug had made on the surface with a napkin. "Remember a few months ago I had you read a script."

"Yeah, the one I told you was perfect and would probably star Leo DiCaprio and Sandra Bullock." Kyrah narrowed her eyes at her agent, hoping she hadn't gone behind her back and sent in her information for an audition. She would love to be in a movie but she knew there was no possible way she would get a part with her lack of experience, especially in a big Hollywood film.

"Right. You just said that because it was written by the same guy who did Love Actually."

She sighed. "That is the best movie."

"I know." Kelsie put her hand up in a movement that said stop, then leaned a little across the small table "But listen, Ky. You said you loved the role right?"

She felt a migraine coming on. This was the last thing she wanted to hear before the holidays. She rubbed her forehead and closed her eyes. "Kelsie, tell me you didn't. We're starting off slow, remember? No movies yet. I'd love to but hell, I haven't landed anything in months."

Kelsie slapped her hand on the table and Kyrah looked up at her agent a little shocked. Kelsie was a sweet girl and it was odd to see her so forceful. They were close to the same age and were both newbies in the entertainment business when Kyrah hired her to be her agent. Lately, she had been thinking maybe that was a mistake. "We've been going slow for the past three years, Kyrah! I'm tired of you on the verge of quitting. I wouldn't do this if I didn't think you had a lot of talent and folding jeans at Bloomingdale's is a waste of that talent."

Kyrah sighed. "Look, I know you just want the best for me. I want that too but there's no way in hell I'm gonna land a movie role. I mean, there's a possibility I'll play waitress number three or something but-"

"I already sent your information in."

"Kelsie!" She had never done that. She had never done something without having Kyrah okay it first.

"Look, I didn't think we'd have anything to lose," she said in her defense. "So I sent in your interview tape and some of your work. And-"

Kyrah tugged at her hair and frustratingly pulled it back into a ponytail. "And they hated it and you came here to tell me that I'm actually gonna be scrubbing toilets in the next Mr. Clean commercial."

"Kyrah, will you just listen to me!" Kelsie snapped at her.

She felt the tears coming. She just wanted to go home. Lately she really had been thinking about moving back there. Life would be cheaper and easier. She could go back to college and maybe get her teaching certificate or something. She had once been told that the city would eat you up if you weren't hard enough, and her hard shell was starting to break. "Kelsie, I can't do this. It's almost Christmas and I can't afford to have my hopes blown up just to have them crash down."

She looked up at her agent with tears threatening to spill. She had cried to her many times before and even though Kelsie wasn't her best friend, she certainly was a good friend. She just didn't understand why Kelsie was so happy about all this.

"But you got the part, Ky."

"What?" Kyrah replied in a hoarse whisper.

"They loved you. They said you looked exactly like the Gabrielle they had imagined. They want to take a chance on you."

She shook her head, thinking this had to be a dream. "I don't believe this."

Kelsie laughed and rolled her eyes. "I didn't either when they called me, honestly."

"Wait-" she shook her head again and leaned forward, grabbing Kelsie's wrist and squeezing it in the hopes that it would somehow squeeze out the truth. "Now are you sure they want me? I mean, maybe they just want a second interview."

"Kyrah-" Kelsie sighed and pulled up a satchel into her lap. She slid out a manilla folder and placed it on the table, opening it up for her. "Look at this."

Kyrah stared down at it but all she saw was words typed on a page. She couldn't get her eyes to focus on anything. "What is it?"

"It's a contract they faxed me this morning. They wanna fly you out right after the new year to LA for a meeting to let you know what's up."

"Is that where it'll be filmed?" She asked quietly.

"Yeah. I'm already starting to help look for a place for you to stay."

Her eyes started to focus on the logo at the top of the page, it was the Universal Studios logo. She shot her head up and stared at the woman across from her. "Kelsie, tell me again."

Kelsie laughed and smiled brightly, "You're gonna be a star in a movie, Kyrah. It's happened."

"Shut up!" Now it was Kyrah's turn to slap her hands on the table.

They both squealed at each other, causing a few odd looks in their direction. "Ahh, I know! Isn't this great?"

"This is seriously the best present I've ever gotten!" She wiped the tear away that had fallen from her watery eyes. She was so excited that she didn't know how to contain herself.

"This is it, girl." Kelsie said. "This is your big break."

Kyrah was still shaking with excitement when she blurted out the first thought in her head, "Who else is gonna be in it? I know it's gonna be directed by Richard Curtis."

Kelsie nodded. "Zooey Deschanel, who was in Elf-"

Kyrah squealed again. "That's the best movie, too!"

"I know! She's gonna be Olivia in it."

Kyrah thought back over the script remembered Olivia being the best friend in the story. She was trying her best to remember all the parts of the script. It was a simple love movie laced with wonderful humor, based around young unknown Hollywood actors. She smiled and thought perhaps that was the reason she gotten the part. Of course she had stationed herself in New York but could definitely relate to Gabrielle. Her smile dropped when it registered that this was a love story, so of course there would be a leading man. She shied away a little and asked, "Do they have a Victor yet?"

"Yeah, Tom Kaulitz," Kelsie said in an amused voice.

Kyrah laughed, "Wait, the guy from the band Tokio Hotel?"

"Apparently he acts too," she shrugged and shook her head.

"Wow," she was a little uneasy about all that. She liked Tokio Hotel's music but she had never seen him act and wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. At least she got to be romantic with a guy who was decent looking.

"So I need a yes," Kelsie exclaimed.

"There's no other option?" She tried to remain serious but couldn't help cracking a smile at her agent. She knew that this wasn't just a big break for her but for her agent as well. It was her dream to be in the movies but she never really thought it would happen. Lately she had begun to think the whole show biz thing was just a waste of her time. It was funny that two days ago she was thinking about quitting and now here she was, the leading role in a new movie.

"Shut your face!" Kelsie said, throwing a balled up napkin at her.

Kyrah couldn't help herself anymore and got up out of her seat and clobbered her friend in a hug. She smiled to herself and said, "You know my answer, Kelsie."

7 AM

It was a cloudy morning in LA. Kyrah didn't mind though. Her schedule for the day had her imprisoned indoors in a studio fifteen minutes from the apartment she'd be staying in until the end of April. She was a little uneasy about going back to the studio. The day before had consisted of fifteen hours of some random scenes with Zooey. It wasn't Zooey that she was worried about though. She loved everything about Zooey. Richard, on the other hand, hadn't clicked with her at all. She had convinced herself that he was really frustrated with her. She knew she wasn't doing her best but she was trying, she really was. She wasn't one to make excuses but Hollywood was overwhelming. A week and a half into filming, she had already had it in her mind that she was going to be fired.

The only comfort she had was that Tom was going to be there. It was their big day, as Richard had announced to the crew the day before. The first kiss, the sex scene, and some other romantic moments were going to be filmed that day. Of course, this only added to her nerves. She wasn't one to be shy and she considered herself a professional but knowing she was going to have to be topless in bed with a guy she barely knew in front of about twenty other people was not something that made her feel at ease. She sighed and thought, "At least it was Tom."

After the holidays, she had flown out for a meeting and met the director, producer, and most of the cast. She found Zooey bubbly, hilarious, and quite friendly. They quickly became friends. Tom was charming and the center of attention. It was hard to try and find something negative about him. She had been skeptical at first and expected him to be another one of those musicians with the acting bug, searching for more money and fame. That first meeting had proven to her how dedicated he was to the project. Though she hadn't really seen him act, that day had given her a good enough impression. He had a girlfriend and hadn't been on set enough hang out with her or Zooey but she and Zooey still managed to find time to sit in her trailer and gush about how hot he was. She was excited to get to know him a little better and hoped he'd keep her smiling and laughing while they had to do awkward scenes together.

The walk from her car to her trailer was cut short as Julian and Celeste ran up to her yelling, "Good morning!"

She laughed as Jules linked arms with her and Celeste brought a cup of coffee up to her lips. "You guys need to cut back on the Starbucks. It's not even good coffee."

"Boo-boo, I only drink Red Bull," the man on her arm said, waving his hand for emphasis.

"You ready for us, love?" Celeste swung her tote bag filled with makeup. Kyrah loved the pair. Julian was perhaps the most flamboyant gay man she had ever met. Celeste was a genius at makeup with a dry wit that could have a corpse laughing. They were the perfect odd couple and were her saviors for the early mornings. They were a perfect trio. They would blast Lady Gaga and Madonna with her as she got her hair and makeup done. They had grown attached to her. It was the one thing that kept her smiling and chugging through all the negative comments the director aimed her way. She could walk away with a bad attitude and with just one glance at the pair of them, she'd be smiling again. They had swept her up and shown her the perks of stardom. She was declared her their new diva in training and kept her laughing through the long days.

"Damn, y'all," she chuckled and pulled away from Julian so she could pull out her key. "Let me get into my trailer first."

She walked up the three small wooden steps and unlocked the door as Celeste laughed, "Uh oh, she's goin' diva on us."

"I'm so proud." Julian sniffed like a pleased mother. He ducked away from Kyrah's hand as she attempted to playfully swat his arm. "Okay, ladies, I'll be right back. I'm gonna go get your clothes from Nichole."

"You just wanna go look at Tom some more." Celeste laughed as she shook her head and entered Kyrah's trailer.

"Please let him be shirtless," he said with fingers crossed before he ran off.

Kyrah laughed as she entered her small home. It was cozy with a tiny kitchenette and a small table. There was a couch and a chair, a TV and stereo, and in the back was a small room with a single bed and a bathroom. The sad thing about it was that it was about as nice, if not nicer, than her apartment in New York but this place was a lot messier. There was a clothing rack with random things hanging on it, books stacked here and there to cure her boredom, and soda cans everywhere. Normally, her kitchen table had her laptop with wires and things cluttering the table but she hadn't bothered with it today. The one thing about it that made it clearly not a home was the mirror in the far corner with a chair and a counter. It was covered with makeup and brushes and clips, none which were hers. There were also four round lights above the mirror. She soon found herself perched in the chair with Celeste leaning her tiny body against the counter, a sponge in one hand and a small bottle in the other. It was funny that she was a make up girl, and a wonderful one at that, because Kyrah had never seen her wear anything more than a bit of lip gloss and some powder.

Celeste walked over, flipped on the stereo, and put in a CD. She came back smiling, "A little country music from one Southern Belle to our own little Southern Belle."

Kyrah laughed as she recognized the song. "Shiana Twain isn't from the south. She's from Canada. I do not qualify that as country."

"Whatever," Celeste shrugged. "You know, we could have probably left you alone this morning."

"What do you mean?" Kyrah looked up as Celeste put concealer under her eyes.

"Well, your first scene is in the restaurant."

She pulled away and groaned. "Oh god, I have to wear that visor, don't I?"

"Yeah. So you could have probably done your own makeup and hair."

As soon as she finished her sentence, the door burst open and Julian stumbled in. He slammed the door behind him before exclaiming, "OH EM GEE!"

Celeste cocked her head to the side and narrowed her eyes. "Did you just speak internet lingo?"

"Shut it." He hung Kyrah's outfit that was wrapped in a plastic bag on the clothing rack and gagged. "Uh, that outfit should be shot." He turned back with his hands on his hips and a bright smile. "I have gossip."

"Gossip?" Kyrah smiled.

"Did you see his penis?"

"No, Celeste!" He stomped over and turned down the volume of the stereo all the way. He made his way to the tiny refrigerator. "But," he paused for effect and pulled out a Diet Coke. Kyrah really didn't see how these people handled all the caffeine they absorbed. Sure, she liked a latte here and there and adored Diet Coke but not at seven in the morning. She was learning it was definitely 'Hollywood' to be jacked up on caffeine. "I did see him with a feisty attitude. I swear that boy is gay."

"Tom Kaulitz is not gay," Celeste laughed.

He sauntered over and stood behind Kyrah. He set his can down on the counter and started to run his hands through her hair. "He's about as grumpy as Cher when her wig won't fit right."

Celeste turned to dig in her bag before she finally got frustrated and ended up dumping half of the contents on the counter. "So what's up his ass?"

"I don't know," Julian said and reached over to grab a brush. He began to brush Kyrah's hair. It felt good and she almost fell asleep. She probably would have if his story wasn't so entertaining. "But when I walked up, Bridgette was outside smoking a cigarette and told me if I valued my disco stick, that I shouldn't go in there. Then when I knocked on the door and went in, it was dead silent. Like you could have heard a pin drop. He was sitting there, looking so damn good with a sexy little scowl. No beard. Gone. Nothing. Clean shaven. Sexy. His little shadow brother person, whatever the hell his name is, Jill or something-"

"I think it's Bill," Kyrah giggled. "But I could be wrong."

"Anyway," he continued. "Jilly Billy was asleep on the couch and Nichole looked like she was about to blow her little red headed top off."

Kyrah groaned. Just what she needed. The day that would probably be one of the toughest and she was going to have to work with an asshole. She knew Richard would somehow find a way to blame it on her. "Just great-"

"Aww, don't worry, hon," said Celeste. "If he's a dick to a beautiful girl like you, he has problems."

With a glance in the mirror, Kyrah sighed and hoped that he'd be nice to her, or at least decent.

She didn't say much while she got ready. She just listened and laughed as Celeste and Jules gossiped about the crew and listened to music. The longer she sat there, the more her stomach started to feel like little ants were eating away at her from the inside out. By the time she had gotten in her costume and Julian had pulled her hair back into a 'working ponytail' complete with visor, she was ready to throw up. Celeste had to go and work on some extras after finishing Kyrah's makeup so it was just her and Julian, who was still going on and on about Tom's attitude mixed in with comments about how good looking he was. She looked at herself in the mirror. She really did look like she worked at Mike's Grill, the fictitious restaurant where her character Gabrielle worked. It was where she and Tom's character were supposed to meet and would be scene of the first sequence they worked on. She took a deep breath, and when she let it out she panicked.

"Oh god."

"What babe?" he asked as he came over to rub her shoulders and look at her through the mirror.

She covered her face with her hands and moaned, "I just forgot my lines."

"No, you didn't." She felt his hands around her wrist and soon found herself pulled out of the chair and staring at him. "You're just freaking out," he said as he shook her arms with his hands. "Look, I'm overreacting about the Tom thing. You should know this after two weeks. Everyone has a bad attitude at seven in the morning."

She looked at him seriously, "You and Celeste don't."

He kept his seriousness, "Honey, we're not normal."

"True." She cracked a smile and it grew even more when he leaned in to affectionately kiss her forehead. She was thankful she had a friend in Julian. She hadn't known him that long but to her, that kind of thing didn't matter.

"Come on," he smiled and stuck out his arm for her. "I'll walk with ya to set." She linked her arm around his and followed him out of her trailer. She had grabbed her script on her way out and held it in her free hand as they walked through the parking lot spotted with trailers and tents. They walked to the studio door where several people were out smoking.

Studio 4A had been turned into the inside of a diner. She sighed. She was going to have to suck it up, especially when she saw Richard standing off to the side with a crease in his forehead, hand on his hip and his other griping his binder which had the script and notes and all sorts of things inside of it. She had learned that look quickly and knew that he shouldn't be messed with.

"I better go and make sure every one's looking like they should. I'll see ya in a bit, love." He kissed her cheek and started to walk away.

"Thanks, Jules," she called out and he turned to wink at her.

She turned on her heel and walked over to the few chairs that were behind the cameras. There was a long folding table behind the chairs which had a few people sitting by it with papers and other things around them. Another smaller folding table was beside the chairs with a mirror and a small lamp. Bridgette was already there with a few of her touch up supplies.

Kyrah plopped down in the folding chair that said 'Gabrielle', placed her script in her lap, and smiled at the woman whom Kyrah thought had a few too many piercing. "Hey, Bree."

"Hey, Kyrah. How's it going?"

"Pretty good." She looked around cautiously before leaning over and asking, "Word on the street is that we have one that bites this morning."

"What?" Bridgette looked confused for a moment. Kyrah nodded to the chair beside her with the name 'Victor' on it. Bridgette immediately slammed the compact in her hand down onto the table. "God, I thought I was gonna poke him in the eye with mascara."

"He wears mascara?" Kyrah laughed.

"He does today. I'm glad you seem to be in a decent mood because I really could not deal with two bitches today." She turned around and plopped in Tom's seat.

"I can be grumpy but I try not to take it out on other people, especially people I don't know very well. Even more so at work."

Bridgette rolled her eyes and turned to look at Kyrah, "Just because his dumbass little girlfriend and he broke up."

"What?"

"Yeah, they broke up and now he's gonna put his wrath on us."

Kyrah was a little shocked. From what she had heard, which was all from secondhand sources, he and Ria were pretty close. No wonder he was in a bad mood. "What happened?"

"I don't know but with that bitch, it's no telling."

"You know her?"

"Worked on a commercial with her." Bridgette picked at the bright red polish on her fingernails that had been chipped off. "One of those exotic alcoholic commercials. Man, I think it was all too right when she and Mr. Stick-up-his-ass started dating. All she would do was talk on the damn phone and get pissed when I'd try to touch up her nasty ass face."

Kyrah's eyes widened. The description of Ria she had always heard was that she was rather friendly. She couldn't believe the animosity that was coming from Bridgette's voice. "Whoa."

"Yeah, I mean, I've heard other people say she was nice," she shrugged. "I have some friends that worked with her and said she was nice but she was a royal pain in my ass. And she's not pretty at all without makeup."

Kyrah just nodded and said, "Oh, okay." She would have loved to pry more but didn't want to have people start to label her as the new gossip queen of Hollywood. She smiled to herself. The gossip queen of Hollywood? She wasn't anything yet. No one knew her name and so far, she had had no press but she knew that would change, even if the movie flopped. Most of that press would be because of Tom. He had already attracted attention to the project and she had seen a few small newspaper articles about 'his new movie'. One even had her name in it as a 'newcomer'.

"And ya know what?" Bridgette smacked her hands down on the arms of the chair and looked at Kyrah. "He has his little asshole brother that follows him around and sleeps on his damn couch, then they got mad at me and Nichole for quietly talking. I'm sorry your call time was seven in the damn morning. Go to bed the night before at a reasonable time. Don't go out drinking. I mean, have some responsibility! You aren't a child!"

Kyrah scoffed, not believing her ears. Was he really that unprofessional? She really hoped he wasn't throwing his name and fame around to get his way with things. It was already a bad sign that he was letting a night of drinking take over his day of work. "He's hung over?"

"Yeah! I mean, what a moron! Right? I don't know. Sorry, Ky." She laughed and rolled her eyes again. "I'm PMSing and I'm just not in the mood to deal with grumpy little dick who should stick to being in boybands."

"Tom!" They both jumped and looked at each other, then to the man who was walking in front of them towards the studio door. "Good morning!" They both turned and watched as the director walked over to Tom and gave him a firm handshake. The two men started talking.

"Teacher's pet," she sighed and moved her eyes away from Richard and Tom, to the set. "I've never gotten a welcome like that."

"That's because you're real. You don't kiss ass. He has to. He sucks as an actor."

Kyrah smiled in response. She knew that Bridgette was a bit of a hard ass. To hear the words "you're real" come from her mouth was a definite compliment. Kyrah glanced back over her shoulder and groaned, "Here he comes."

"Do me a favor," Bridgette said, getting up from his chair. "During the kissing scene later today," she laughed before she continued, "Bite his fucking tongue off." With that she walked away, brushing past Tom.

He was close now, looking off to the side as he came up and sat in his chair beside her. He did look good. He didn't seem to have a wardrobe that day, though she was sure someone on set had picked it out for 'Victor' to wear. He was simply wearing jeans and a blue and yellow striped polo shirt. She had to admit he looked a lot better without his facial hair. He looked younger but also sexier and not like he had been lost in the woods for a few days.

He turned to her and smiled, "Hey, Kyrah."

"Hi." She kept it short and simple, trying her best not to do anything to annoy him.

"How are you this morning?"

She was taking aback by his easy tone. She was expecting him to come in there, groan about a headache, and bitch at her for breathing. He was civil and a lot different than Bridge or Jules had made her believe. "Doing okay, you?"

"Pretty good, pretty good," he nodded and smiled.

As he was looking out on the set, she studied his jawline. For some unknown reason she started to feel a grin creep across her face. Before she had the chance to stop herself, she said, "I see they made you clean yourself up."

"Ha, yeah," he chuckled quietly and stretched in his seat. He yawned and looked around, tapping his rolled up script against his knee.

It was quiet and she turned the other way, not knowing how to continue the conversation. She wanted to get to know him, especially since she'd be half naked with him in a few hours but she didn't know how. She was never really good at meeting new friends and usually had to hope that someone would just open up to her. Being alone in New York for a few years had closed her off and sometimes she wondered if she was a little too independent. She closed her eyes and almost ripped his script out of his hand. The constant tapping was worse than nails on a chalkboard.

"Nice visor."

She jumped a little and turned to him. The tapping stopped and he was smiling at her. "Yeah, memories of high school are flooding back to me in this outfit."

"Waitress?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "My aunt and uncle have a little country restaurant back home. Well, not New York home but home home."

"Where's home home?"

"North Carolina."

His eyes widened and his smile was the most genuine she had seen in a long time. "North Carolina?" he asked surprised.

"Yeah," she returned his smile.

"I've been to North Carolina a few times," he beamed, then nudged her slightly. "But, love, what happened to your accent."

She silently wondered if they had just bonded since he referred to her as "love". She had never met anyone so excited to meet someone from her home state. She found it boring. There was nothing there but an abundance of fields and countryside but wasn't about to tell him that. "I lost it when I moved to New York. You kind of have to in this business unless you wanna be stereotyped."

"Oh, ok."

She looked out and saw that the crew was starting to vacate the set and make their way behind the cameras or out of the way. She realized they were about to start filming. "You ready for our big day?" she asked.

"I guess," he glanced at her and then back at the set. "Are you nervous?"

"Nah," she lied.

He nodded. "Me neither."

She bit her lip. After about a minute had passed, she quietly said, "Ok, I am a little." She figured he'd find out the truth sooner or later and didn't want him thinking she was a liar.

He laughed and passed her a shy smile, "I am a lot."

She felt those butterflies in her stomach scurry away. She felt calm and was ready to start working.

"Tom, Kyrah!" They both looked up at the sound of their names and saw Richard on the set, waving them over. "Let's get ready to start."

Kyrah sighed, pushing herself off of her chair. She caught her script before it slid off her lap. Tom had already stood up and was swiftly walking to the set. She followed him and muttered under her breath, trying to calm her nerves that had swelled up again when Richard had called her name, "Here goes nothing."

8 AM

Tom cursed himself for checking out her ass when she rounded the counter to the other side. He and Ria had just broken things off. It was funny. It had only hit him the day before when she had come over to get some things, but he had known for a while that they wouldn't be lasting for long. In fact, she had made it clear from the first day that it wasn't serious, then she had moved in, then she had told him she was in love with him. Women could be so stupid but they were attractive. They definitely were that. He was thankful Kyrah was as pretty as she was. She was more than pretty, she was gorgeous. Even in jeans, a stained shirt, and a visor she looked hot. She seemed down to earth which was something he had found unusual in LA. He walked over to the bar and took a seat, leaning his back against the counter. He watched as Richard talked with his hands and told all the extras where to go. He glanced over his lines for a minute and waited for Rich to come tell him what he needed to do.

"Is it real?" he craned his neck to look over his shoulder. Kyrah had already made friends with one of the extras, an older lady dressed much in the same manner as she. He noticed she was good at making friends. He had noticed a lot about her in the ten minutes they had spent together that morning. There was a plate with a sandwich and potato chips on it resting on the counter by the silverware cups on the back bar. Kyrah and the woman were looking at it.

"Can I have some?" Kyrah asked and the lady gave her a look. Kyrah just laughed, "What? I haven't had breakfast, yet."

Tom smiled and Kyrah turned to look at him. He quickly looked away, embarrassed that she had caught him staring at her. He felt like an idiot.

"Kyrah! Place!" he took one small glance and saw her roll her eyes at the director's voice. She made her way over to the register where an extra was standing in front of with a diner ticket in his hand. "Okay, everybody, let's do a run through with the script real quick, then we'll start rolling."

Tom looked around as someone yelled, "Places!" Everyone seemed to go ridged where they were and freeze. He glanced down at his script which he had pretty much memorized. There were a lot of notes on it though, notes that Richard had specifically written or told Tom to work on. He read over them until he heard the yell of the word, "Action!" He looked up and over to watch Kyrah.

Suddenly, an attitude washed over her. She kept a front of harshness and looked bored with her life. He cracked a smile, "she's really good." She picked up a few plates of food and walked around the counter to a booth in the corner, plopping the plates down. Tom did as his script told him and watched her carefully as she walked back around the counter again and sighed.

"Excuse me?"

She turned to him surprised.

"I'm ready to order."

She walked over and flipped out a pad and pen from her small apron around her waist. She didn't say anything but raised her eyebrows to him to signal him to start. Tom laughed nervously. "Um, I'll just have the club sandwich and water." He paused while she pretended to write. "Oh, no mayo."

With a sigh and a turn, she ripped the order from the tab pad and reached over to hook it into a slot on the turn rack. She yelled out, "Club! No mayo!" He tapped his fingers against the counter as she walked over, grabbed a cup from the tall stack beside the soda fountain, then turned to fill it with water. She didn't really fill it with water, little things like that you skipped in the run through. She sauntered back over and set the glass down. "There you go."

She turned and he said, "Hey," probably a little softer than his character was supposed to but they didn't stop.

"Yeah?" she turned.

He smiled. "What's your name?"

"Oh god," she rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air. "I don't have time to be hit on today."

"Cut. Good." Tom relaxed as Richard came back on set. "Good job. Right on, Kyrah, just exude that attitude more and both of you make sure you talk a tad bit louder. Good job, everyone." Tom glanced at his leading lady. He smiled at that thought. She looked cute with a smile on her face. She was pleased with herself and should be. She was quiet good. He turned back to Richard who was looking around the set, "Okay, now we are gonna start rolling. This time do all the actions. Let's try it without the scripts. Don't stop where we just stopped just keep on going, okay? Let's start this day off good. It'll be brilliant!"

"Places." Soon Mabel came scurrying around, collecting all the scripts, then running off stage. Tom caught Kyrah looking at him and smiled. She smiled back and he felt warm all over. He shook it off though. She was the first hot girl he had been around since his break up with Ria. He didn't even know if she had a boyfriend or not. "She probably does. Girls like her don't stay single long." He decided didn't need to throw all his energy into a rebound chick. He needed to pay attention to his work so he did. A few minutes later, it was quiet everywhere on the set and he heard Richard call out. "Quiet set. Mike's Diner. Scene 3. Take 1." There was a pause, then someone counted back from three and said, "Action!"

It was like déjà vu. Everything happened the same way, except this time she sighed and rolled her eyes a bit more. He waited for his cue and once again said, "Hey."

"Yeah?" she asked him impatiently.

He smiled at her genuinely and pretended she was a girl at a bar he was trying to meet, "What's your name?"

"Oh god," she laughed a little and shook her head. "I don't have time to be hit on today."

"I'm not-" Tom trailed off as she walked away. "Trying to-" he sighed and rubbed his hand against his head and glanced at his watch. "Shit!" he said, then looked up at Kyrah again. "Excuse me?"

"What?" she asked.

"Look," Now it was his turn to crank up the attitude. "I'm sorry you're having a bad day but, damn girl, cut back on the attitude. You might not be the only one having a sucky day." She just looked at him and he almost wanted to smile. She looked so serious and it was kind of a silly moment but he tried his best to stay as a pissed off Victor. "Now, can I get my sandwich to go?"

"Fine," she grumbled and turned around to yell, "Make that club to go!" to the guys in the kitchen. He watched as she was handed a white bag and she looked into it, then at him. "You want your water in a to-go cup?"

"No, I'm okay," he said. "Can I pay though?"

"Sure." she responded with a flat tone.

He slid off his stool and took the bag from her. They walked together to the cash register at the end of the bar. He set his food down as he fished for the wallet that Nichole had told him to put in his pocket earlier.

"It's $4.38." He opened the wallet and wondered if the twenty in there was real or fake. It sure looked real. "I'm sorry, okay?" she sighed. "I'm not always a bitch."

"All I wanted was your name," he smirked handing her the twenty.

She rolled her eyes with a smile. "It's Gabrielle," she said and popped open the register.

"I'm Victor," he passed her a flirting smile.

"Well ,Victor," she looked up from the open register drawer to his face and plastered on a fake and forced smile. "It's a pleasure meeting you but it looks like we have no change. Can you write a check?"

He shook his head. He couldn't remember that in the script and looked at her hard, searching for a hint or something. Finally, he slowly asked, "What?"

"Sorry, sir," she shrugged. "There's no money here and we don't take credit cards, so I'll need-"

"Cut, cut!" Richard said, interrupting her. Tom turned to see him stalking up the set with his hands out and an angry scowl on his face. "What is this? This isn't in the script."

"How the hell am I supposed to make change for a twenty out of nothing?" Her voice was defensive.

"Kyrah!" Richard groaned and ran a hand through his short blonde hair.

"What?" she laughed sarcastically and rested her hip on the counter. Tom peeked over and sure enough there was no money in the slots of the open cash register. It was a small thing, something that she probably shouldn't be making a big deal about. Then again, she should have. Richard had said from day one that he wanted this movie to be a realistic glimpse of two people falling in love. Someone paying with a twenty for a sandwich and not getting change back was not quite realistic. "My script says, 'make change and give it back to Victor', then I say 'There you go', all shy like and tell him to have a good day."

"Claire!" Rich called out and soon a shy girl that looked tiny and short, wearing all black was right by his side, "Why isn't there anything in the cash box?" he asked.

"I'm sorry. I'll get right on it. Two minutes!" she ran off the set and Tom couldn't see where she went because of all the bright lights. Everything was in a shadow off the set of the diner.

"Come over here, Kyrah. I need to talk to you two."

She hurried around the counter and approached them, messing with her visor a bit to get it situated on her head right. She looked at him, then she turned her eyes to Richard. "Did I do, okay?"

"Yes, yes. Fine," he said in a bored tone, then waved in between them and sighed, "But you two, I'm not feeling anything."

"What do you mean?" Tom asked.

Kyrah stared at him and rolled her eyes. He was starting to figure out why she had gotten the part of Gabrielle. She acted just like her. "Chemistry."

"Yes!" Richard said, trying to encourage them. "You act either too mad or not mad enough. It was flawless but I didn't feel anything. There was nothing special about it."

"Well, we don't know each other yet. In real life or in the movie. So how would we have any chemistry, yet?"

"Kyrah, little Kyrah," he bit his lip and tried to hide his laughter when Richard put his arm around her shoulders and she turned up her nose. "This is a love at first sight kind of thing."

"But it's not love at first sight," she laughed. "I thought she was supposed to be pissed at the world until the flat tire scene."

Tom felt Richard tug on his arm and pull the two of them closer together. Tom thought she really was gorgeous. "Her lips are really full and her eyes are icy light blue. He shook his head. He had to stop staring at her. "Pretend that you are in love with him but that he cheated on you or something and you are just angry at him." Richard looked at him. "You're already infatuated with her."

"But-"

Richard sighed, "I know, Kyrah. I know that's not what happens in the script but that's the emotion I need to see, okay?"

"I guess," she shrugged.

"No ‘I guess.' Just do it!" She stumbled forward and Tom saw that Richard had his hand on her upper back and was pushing her forward towards him. "Come on now, he's an attractive young man."

Before Tom realized it, she was right in front of him, looking at Richard like he was crazy. Tom was a little confused as to what was going on but didn't mind it. "She smells good too. It's light and girly and nice."

"Here. Hug, kiss, fall in love-"

"What?" she asked in disbelief, laughing uncomfortably.

Before anything else could be explained, Tom heard the horrible sound of metal screeching against metal. He got chills like nails on a chalkboard and looked up to see a large pole coming down towards them. He heard a voice say, "Watch out!"

His reflexes came into overdrive and before he knew what he was doing he had pulled Kyrah against him and stepped backwards and out of the way. He held her close against him as the pole crashed down on the counter. He didn't know where it came from but apparently was from part of the set.

It was silent for a moment and finally Richard said, "Bloody 'ell!" He let out a nervous chuckle. "What was that?"

"Oh my god!" Kyrah said in a quiet whisper against his chest.

He kept her in his arms, then realized that her hands were against his shoulders and she was clutching on to him. "Are you okay?" he looked down at her.

"I guess," she glanced up and gulped. "Are you?"

"That's the look!" Both of them jerked to see Richard beaming at them with a look that seemed to have screamed "Eureka." He felt her pull away and Richard's face fell and he whipped around and yelled, his English accent blaring out, "What the 'ell is going on! Is someone trying to kill us with a bloody pole?"

"That was weird," Tom muttered, his hand still on her elbow.

Kyrah licked her lips and nodded, staring at where the pole had dented the counter. "I know. Damn."

Someone called out, "Clear the set please, we're going to clean this up. Clear the set."

He gave her arm an affectionate squeeze. "Let's go sit down."

They walked together off the set and toward their chairs. He sat down in his and she plopped into hers. "That was interesting," he chuckled, watching people scurry around the set as Richard stood off to the side with their producer Marge, both looked unhappy.

"Yeah," she said distantly. "Do you think I blew up for no reason about the money?"

"No, it would look weird if you didn't give me anything back."

She turned to him and her light blue eyes pierced into his. "Did I do, okay?" she asked like a little girl.

He tried to read into her. She seemed naive, yet somehow very experienced too. She had common sense and was down to earth but clearly had no idea what life and people in the world were like. She also was a little closed off. She was friendly but he could tell in the few times he had been around her or seen her with other people, she didn't give much of herself away. She always seemed to be on the outside of things, listening or looking in but not participating.

"Yeah, you're really good," he smiled at her and she just sighed and looked down at her lap. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know." She looked back up and shrugged, "I'm just not feeling it today. I mean, he tells us to look in love." She turned and her eyes bore into his and he felt chill cover his arms. She moved her hands to her head to remove her visor. "How do you do that, ya know? I barely know you." She let out a deep breath while she said, "I don't know."

"I know what you mean. It's hard to do."

They were quiet for a moment, once again looking out at the set and watching them try and get the pole off the set. It had fallen from behind the kitchen area towards the cameras, bending the back wall that separated the faux kitchen from the rest of the set and denting the counter.

"God, I'm starving," she said randomly.

"Want me to go get that club sandwich?" He gave her a half grin and she chuckled.

"Ha, I wish."

"Here's your scripts." Tom watched as the cute little blonde headed girl came up and handed their takes of papers.

"Thanks, Mabel." Tom smiled and winked at the girl. She smiled and walked away.

Kyrah started to giggle and finally said, fanning herself, "She so has the hots for you."

"What?" he asked shocked, rolling up his script. "What was she talking about? Mabel? She was just handing us the scripts."

"Did you not see her? She was all blushes and smiles."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Kyrah nudged him. "You should go for it. Never know what could happen." He looked at her, curious as to whether she was serious. She started to laugh and he found it infectious and started to smile himself. When her stomach made some odd grumbling noise, they both started to laugh even harder.

"Nice dodging that pole."

Tom turned around at the familiar voice and nodded as Bill walked up to them. He still looked tired as hell and Tom felt bad for keeping the guy out so late the night before. Tom passed him an easy smile, "Hey, I see you're up."

"Barely. Want your shit?" He dug around in his pockets and pulled out a small cell phone and iPod.

"Yeah, thanks." Tom reached over and grabbed the tiny devices. He slid them into his pocket, then pointed to the woman beside him with his thumb as Bill made it around the chairs and leaned against Bridgette's little table. Tom asked, "Hey, you met Kyrah?"

"No. Hey, I'm Bill."

Tom watched as she slipped her hand into his and shook it with a smile. "Kyrah, nice to meet you."

"She has tiny hands. He likes girls with small hands." Tom shook his head and blinked at few times before looking at his brother, "How long you staying out here today?"

"Until probably about lunch," he yawned.

"Okay," Tom responded.

Marge walked up to them, sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "Sorry, guys. If you want you can take a break for an hour or so. The set's damaged and I don't know what we are going to do about it but we'll call you when we're ready to start on some more scenes."

"Thanks, Marge," Kyrah said and stretched her arms.

Tom groaned. He wanted to go ahead and get this day over with so he could go home. He didn't want them to have to add on even more days to the shooting and hoped that re-shoots wouldn't be as tedious as they had been for some other projects he worked on. "Here comes the boredom," he looked at Bill and he nodded.

"Boredom?" she asked.

He turned to look at her. "Yeah, every time we had stuff like this happen on the other movies I've worked on, it's so boring and takes forever. You pretty much get to sit around for hours. Which sucks because then you really have to force the character or whatever."

Her head cocked to the side surprisingly, "What movies?"

"Oh, they haven't been released yet."

"Oh, okay," she said and suddenly became very quiet.

He looked over at her and she was curled into herself almost looking ashamed. He wondered what it was. "What did I say to make her upset?" He hated it. Maybe he was craving for a little female attention. Maybe he should have waited a little bit but being single again sucked. It had been a week since they had gotten in their huge fight and only a day since she had told him she was moving all her stuff back into her old place, then going to Italy for a few months to shoot a movie.

He didn't want to be alone but he knew better than to pull some girl down with him only to hurt her and leave her in the end, but that didn't mean that he didn't want to get to know Kyrah and be her friend. "You wanna come back and hang out?" he asked hopefully.

She shrugged, "I probably should work on my lines a bit"

"Wanna work together?" he licked his lips and smiled at her, pouring out the charm and hoping she'd give in.

She did. "Sure." She returned his smile, then held her belly. "Can we go to my trailer though? I need breakfast."

He laughed and nodded. "Sure," he pushed himself off his chair and hit Bill in the arm with his script. He had been sleepily looking off into space. "You coming, Bill?"

"Where?"

Tom pointed to Kyrah with the roll of paper. "To her trailer to hang out."

"Nah," he smiled.

He looked at his brother a little weird. Normally Bill was all for being sociable. Tom knew he was tired but still, it had never stopped him before. "Come on, it'll be fun. You can be Richard and boss us around."

"I think I'm gonna go back to bed," he winked at Tom. Tom narrowed his eyes at his little brother. "What's up with Bill now? He's acting weird. If I didn't know any better, I'd think he was trying to encourage me to get alone with Kyrah."

"Okay," he drug out slowly.

"Come on, my tummy's achin'!" She laughed and stood up off her seat "Nice to meet you, Bill."

"You too." Bill said with a smile, then nodded to her with widened eyes at Tom as she walked pasted them. He knew what Bill was insinuating now and was a little curious as to why he was pushing it. Sure she was attractive but Bill wasn't one to encourage him to go on the rebound. After Julia, Bill had told Tom to just fly it single for a while. Tom never messed around with anyone seriously until Chantelle and even she wasn't serious. She was like a therapist and best friend that he happened to sleep with.

Kyrah wasn't like that. He didn't know her and this was work. This was serious and he couldn't afford to get messed up with a girl like her. He knew through the few times they had talked that she was the type of girl he'd fall for and he couldn't let that happen again. He had fallen too many times before and been hurt in the end. He knew the next time he wouldn't be able to get back up.

9 AM

She wanted to be alone. The day had started to go downhill and she knew she was going to have a hard time being on top of things for the afternoon. It was the day she needed to be the most focused. It was the day she needed to convince everyone around her that she was in love, but she just couldn't get there. The pole falling scared the shit out of her, then being pressed up against Tom wasn't that great either. Sure, it was nice. He smelled good and felt solid against her, but it just proved to her how miserable she was.

Why was it hitting her today? Of all the days, why was today the day she was slammed with loneliness?

It had been three years since she had been with a man and even longer since she had been in love. Now Tom wanted to practice lines. He wanted to practice falling in love. She wanted to tell him no, wanted to tell him to fuck off, leave her lonely heart alone and go call Ria or whatever. Instead she found herself walking with him to her trailer. She didn't even know why she was having annoyed thoughts with him. She wasn't mad at him and had no reason to have an attitude.

Maybe she was jealous with how everyone seemed to look up to him. Richard treated him like he was God, Mabel practically drowned in her own drool, and she couldn't help but notice how all the extras and some of the crew stared at him while they were filming, or attempting to, before the pole almost killed her. Yeah, he was attractive. Very attractive. He had a nice smile and a soothing laugh. His eyes were intense and when they were doing their scenes together, he wouldn't stop looking at her. He was giving her his full attention. That hard body, the body that she was pressed against for a few moments in time, it felt... Well, it felt safe.

She ran her hand through her smooth hair as they made their way up the few steps to her trailer door. She was getting ahead of herself and becoming almost as bad as Mabel. She opened the door and stepped inside, holding it open for him.

"Have a seat, if you can find one. I'm usually not messy," she lied. Her apartment in New York was always clean, but that was because she had time to clean it and because it was just her. Celeste and Julian had practically moved in with her on set, and neither of them were clean freaks. She set down her script and keys on a stack of books teetering on the small table littered with books and magazines and empty soda cans. Tom sat down behind the table on the couch and smiled up at her.

She was definitely going to have to stop seeing him as an attractive man. She almost hoped he'd fart and call her a bitch or something just so she could be disgusted by him, but she doubted that would happen.

"You want something to drink?"

He shook his head and smiled at her, "No, I'm okay." He then moved his eyes around her place, taking it all in. She hoped he didn't think she was a slob.

"Okay." She walked into the kitchenette area to her fridge that was nestled in a corner. There she was hidden to him by a small wall that the refrigerator and a small stove were against. She took a couple of deep breaths and promised herself she wouldn't freak out or be a silly fan or anything. She wasn't a big fan of Tom but did own at least one Tokio Hotel CD. She had gone to a Tokio Hotel concert with some of her friends a few years ago. Her sister would flip out though, and had actually done so when Kyrah told her that her co-star would be the Tom Kaulitz.

What she thought was so odd about the situation was that she was completely comfortable with him earlier and when they first met. Of course there were butterflies, but she had butterflies meeting the camera men. She just didn't want to mess anything up. This was her one chance, her big break and if she messed it up, she didn't know what she'd do with her life, with herself.

She grabbed the bowl of cherries she had in the fridge and turned to set it on the counter by the sink. She blamed it on the fact that she was going to have to kiss him and be half naked with him later on in the day. She'd still be nervous and freaking out if it were someone she knew, like her cousin or something, but that'd be wrong and utterly disturbing.

She grabbed the roll of paper towels that was sitting by her sink and the bowl and walked over towards the couch. "So."

"So."

She realized he didn't have anything to say to her so she plopped down in the chair adjacent to the couch, put the bowl in her lap, the paper towels beside her and reached for her script. "You wanna just read the lines or what? I haven't really practiced lines with someone since I was Juliet in high school."

"Really?"

"Yeah." She laughed a little, "No need to. The only lines I've had have been like for toilet bowl cleaner and oh-" She cleared her throat and plastered on a strong Bronx accent, "'I saw Pedro down by 53rd the other night.' Wait for Ice T to speak, something about what I was doing with him. 'Having fun, you wanna have fun?' And then I think there was a gong sound or something."

He stared at her through slits and finally shook his head and asked, "What?"

"Law and Order. It was shining moment. I was hooker number two or something. It was fun. I also was in a couple episodes of a soap opera as a maid that saw an affair. I ended up being shot."

"Wow." He smiled at her.

"What about you?" She picked up a cherry and eyed it carefully, "You said you had done some other stuff. I thought all you did was hot guitar riffs."

"Ha, well I guess I got bit by that little bug, ya know?"

She put her hand down and smirked at him, "Acting bug, eh?"

"Yeah. Mostly Ria's fault." His smile fell and she felt bad for him. She wondered what happened between them but wasn't about to ask. He shrugged and looked up back up at her. "Especially after I did SNL I started getting a hell of a lot of offers."

She tried to make the mood light after he seemed to get down after mentioning the dreaded "R" word. "Damn it, I wish someone told me the secret. I just needed to make a good record and be on SNL, then I would have had this shit in the bag. Here I was working at Bloomingdale's in New York, praying every night for something, anything."

He smiled at her, "But look at you now. You're gonna be hot stuff."

"Right." She rolled her eyes. "Watch the movie flop. Or better yet, do really good but all the critics say I suck."

"Nah, you're really good."

"Right," she said sarcastically and pulled up a cherry to pop it in her mouth. She bit down and widened her eyes. She forgot they had seeds in them and frantically moved the bowl and other things around so she could get up and go spit out the seed. "Sowwy, seed," she mumbled.

He smiled at her and said, "You need some more confidence. Hell, you were Juliet!"

She spit the seed in the sink and exclaimed, "In high school!"

"Still, that stuff is hard!"

She opened a cupboard and pulled out a red plastic cup. "Whatever. You wanna get to practicing?"

"I guess."

She looked at him and he looked at her. Damn. His eyes were so intense and amber as he stared straight into her. She plastered on a cheesy smile as not to blush and stepped over to her stereo. "Want some sensual music to get us in the mood," she said in an exaggerated tone.

He chuckled and shrugged, "If you want to put some on, I won't object."

"Well, maybe not sensual." She flipped open her large CD binder and it opened to a familiar spot. She slipped the familiar cd out and turned to wave it at him. "You like Death Cab?"

"Who?"

"Oh my god." She turned back around and worked on getting the CD in the player. "They're awesome. It's really Death Cab for Cutie."

"Interesting name." She waited for the music to come through the speakers and turned the volume down so it really was background noise. She went back with her cup and situated herself much like before, but this time opted to sit near him on the couch. She hoped she didn't seem too forward, but was going to ask him if he wanted to have some of her cherries. Plus, she figured the closer they were the better off they'd be able to really practice.

She propped her feet up on the edge of the table and passed the bowl of cherries to him. "Cherries?"

"Sure." He grinned and reached to pick one up. She watched carefully as his mouth plucked it from the stem. He really had a nice mouth. Hell, he had a nice everything. Before she had been thankful she had an attractive man to do intimate scenes with. Now she was thinking that might turn into a problem. He chewed for a moment and then smiled, holding a dark seed in between his teeth. She pulled the red cup from where she had planted it in between her legs and held it up to his mouth.

He spit it out and then chuckled, "We're bonding over spitting out cherry seeds." He reached again inside the bowl that she had set on the table and plucked one into his mouth, saying, "These are good."

She watched him again bite into a cherry but this time a drop of deep red juice slipped from his lips and started to run down his chin. All she could think about was how pissed people would be if they found cherry stains on his shirt and how it would be her fault for offering them to him. "Ooo, watch out!" she said and reached up with her hand to wipe off the juice. Once she touched him she realized she did something horribly wrong, embarrassing, and pretty much strange. She wasn't his mother and he wasn't a little boy who couldn't wipe up after himself. She felt her face get hot and blushed. Her hands moved to rip off a towel to hand to him and she wiped her hand off on one that she ripped for herself. "S-sorry."

He had a little bit of pink in his cheeks as well. And when he said, "It's okay," it was shy and quiet.

She released a deep breath tried to laugh it off a little, "Okay, that- that was awkward." But the next thing she knew her nervous habit had run rampant and she was rambling. "I just- I didn't want you to fuck up your shirt or anything because, ya know, Nichole or Bridgette would have a fit and get mad at you. And I know that they were a little pissed at you this morning and I just don't want them hating you because I forced you to eat the worst possible food when you're in war-"

"Kyrah," he cut her off and her eyes moved to his face. He was smiling and she had to force herself to blink. "It's okay."

"Okay," she whispered.

He took a deep breath and reached to his script beside him. "You wanna start on the scene for later today?"

She nodded.

"Okay," she worked on pushing all her stupid cherry crap away. She wasn't even that hungry anymore. It was probably a stupid idea to try to eat in a damn movie wardrobe. She heard the shuffling of paper and stretched out far to try and reach her script on the stack of books. He sighed and she rested back beside him, finally relaxing after having touched his face like a crackhead.

His voice was deep, quiet, and pretty damn seductive, "When was the last time you were with a man?"

Her relaxed posture flew out the window and she sat up on the edge and turned to him shocked. "What?!" She wasn't upset or anything like that, she just wasn't expecting him to so bluntly and randomly ask her that.

He shied away a little and gave her an innocent look, "I thought we were doing the scene."

She licked her lips and shook her head. "Wh-what?"

"Here." He leaned toward her, flipped a few pages in his script and moved his finger down the page like he was searching for something. His finger stopped on the line he had been reading. "Oh, I skipped ahead." She glanced at him and he cringed a little nervously. "The scene where we kiss." He closed his eyes and quickly corrected himself, "I mean, where ya know-"

"Oh." Yeah, that scene. He wanted to practice that scene. Of all the scenes. Of course they really were only planned to do a couple that day, the diner, the kiss and the sex, well, after sex scene. But why wouldn't they just go over the diner scenes? "Yeah."

"Yeah."

Once again she began to ramble, this time trying to convince him and herself as to why she was acting horrible. An hour ago she was fine. Something happened. Something changed. She knew what to blame it on. It was that damned pole. It was changing everything that was in store that day. "I'm sorry. I'm acting like an idiot. I guess- I guess I'm just a little nervous because today's kinda stressful with the whole love, kiss, sex thing. I mean, to be truthful it's been a while."

"Since you've done a sex scene?" He asked.

"Well, no." She felt like she was about to tell him that she was a virgin. She wasn't, but she was to the whole in front of a video camera thing. She didn't even know what the big deal was. There wasn't sex. There was a steamy kissing scene, then as far as she knew they cut to them in bed afterwards. Yeah, she'd have to be half naked, but there would be no dry humping or anything awkward like that. She felt herself being thrown into a hole deeper than she had ever been in before and tried her best to make some sort of sense. But that was a failure. "I mean. I've never done it before. I mean, sex scene wise. It's been a while since- You know, sex without the scene."

She glanced at him and he nodded slowly once and a cute little half grin appeared on his face. "Ohhhh."

"Hell, it's been the same amount of time for just a kiss so-" She laughed nervously and shrugged, "I don't know."

"Don't tell me a hot girl like you has trouble getting a date?"

He was smiling at her, comfortably, relaxed and she was glad that things were seemingly back to normal. She hated awkward moments and hated when she made herself look like an idiot. She wasn't a crazy fan, but she was having a hard time not acting like it. "No, it's not that. I just- I don't know. I had a boyfriend in high school but those things don't ever work out even though you believe so whole heartedly that they will. I work a lot in the city so I don't really have time to. I don't really know a lot of people in New York so- I don't know. Kind of a lonely place, ya know?"

"Yeah. Man, you really are for this movie, aren't you?"

She was glad he didn't say anything about the fact that she had just spilled out information he possibly couldn't care less about. "I know this movie is half reality for me."

She felt his elbow nudge her arm a little bit and he winked at her. It was one thing to be in a scene with him, but to be a few feet from him, beside him, having him give her all of his attention, well it was almost too much. She now understood her sister's infatuation but she was damn sure that this kind of feeling that he exuded could not be felt through the TV screen or iPod speakers. "Don't be so lonely. You're here now."

"I guess."

"Well," he cleared his throat a little a stretched, "I have the opposite problem. I know tons of people and meet tons of girls. I try to date them but they leave me."

"Why?" She asked, not even thinking if it was her place to do so.

"I don't know." He laughed a little but it was a sad laugh and the more she looked at him the more she could see the fatigue under his eyes, even through the light makeup he was wearing. His shoulders slumped and his smile wasn't full. It was cautious and a little afraid. "I really don't know. I mean, I'm sure you've heard everyone on set. Me and Ria broke up last week. It's so weird because like, from day one she said it wasn't serious."

"But it got serious," she whispered.

He nodded. "Yeah. At least I thought so. I mean, hell, when you tell someone you love them that's pretty damn serious, then bam," he smacked his hand down on his knee and sighed. "She just doesn't want to be with me anymore."

She watched him as he looked away. She had always been told that you never knew what you were missing until you lost it. She never thought that was true when it came to love. She had been without it for years and hated everything about being alone, but as she sat there and looked at him, looking away from her, from the world, she realized it was a different story when you're in love one minute and without it the next. She wondered if he was still in love.

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah." He let out hoarsely, then quickly turned to her and plastered on a smile. "So I mean I was fucked up after Chantelle, but I got over it, ya know? It changed a lot about me. I grew up a lot. And I thought with Ria I was being cautious but," His smile faded. "I guess not."

"Girls are insane," she said bitterly. Sometimes she despised the triteness of her sex. She never could comprehend when some of her friends, the few of them, would talk about the guys they were dating and get mad over the most miniscule things. "Really, every girl I know is just so petty when it comes to relationships. Maybe that's why I haven't dated anyone. I don't want to be that girl."

"You wouldn't be."

"How the hell do you know? You don't know me," she smiled at him and he stuck his tongue playfully out at her.

"I can tell by looking at you."

She leaned forward a little, "Probably thought the same thing by looking at Miss Sommerfeld, hmm?"

He nodded and gave in. "Okay, you have a point." He shifted on the sofa to face her so he was sitting diagonally on the sofa. He rocked forward a little with one of his legs bent and lying on the cushions and the other hanging off the edge of the couch. "But for my sanity, let's just pretend you are the most perfect woman in the world. Hell, I'm supposed to think that way about you in the scenes later today."

"Works for me. About time someone recognized how perfect I am." She laughed and he did as well.

"We probably need to go over this." He tapped his script against his leg and shrugged at her.

She pulled her script to her lap and started flipping through it, looking over to see where he was. "What scene are you at?"

"Kissing one." He flipped back to the beginning of the scene, "Uh, sixteen I think."

"Oh okay." She nodded as she looked over the words. "Yeah we probably need to go over that because it's supposed to be really intense."

It was going to be hard. She was supposed to break down in this scene. They were supposed to fall in love and kiss. It was going to be one of those kisses, the memorable Hollywood kisses. Richard had told her that this was the scene that was going to make them the money. No pressure at all. She had gotten these lines pretty much down. It was one of her most favorite parts of the script. She kept the papers in front of her though, just in case she forgot her lines, and just in case she got too into it and forgot who she was.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yeah. Wait." A thought came over her and for some reason she felt the need to tell him, to thank him. She touched his arm and his eyes looked directly at her. "Thanks for saving me earlier."

"Sure. I mean, it was just a reflex." He nudged her again and sent her a sly smile. "Couldn't have Miss Perfect being knocked out."

She smiled at him and took a deep breath. "Okay, let's start."

"Okay." She waited for him and watched him as he took a few breaths and finally let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head in a tired manner. His voice was like normal, soft and sensitive, but there was something more there. She couldn't figure it out but figured it had something to do with Victor and not Tom. "It's so weird. I never thought it'd be the same."

"What is it?" she asked.

"California." He chuckled in a sad manner and licked his lips, looking up to the ceiling. "It's just as lonely as New York. And it just eats me alive."

She smiled sympathetically. "Yeah, and it's worse here because you don't expect it. You think the sun and the beach and the laid back attitude would just soak you up and you'd be part of the crowd."

His voice was a little louder when he said, "But you're not part of the crowd." He paused and she watched him very closely. He was pretty good, a lot better than she would have ever given him credit for. And when he looked at her, really looked at her, she no longer knew she was practicing for a role. Those brown eyes weren't acting, they were real. "I can't keep doing this, Gabrielle. I can't keep putting all my faith into every chance and then not receiving anything in return. I can't keep living out here, wasting my money on auditions and clubs and living a life that I don't even know if I really like that much."

"What else would you do?" She whispered.

"I don't know. Go back home."

She swallowed hard. "Home?"

He nodded and looked off to the side, staring into nothing. "Home, Gabi."

Her lips were starting to get dry and she licked them, "But-"

"But nothing." He chuckled and ran his hand over his head, grabbing the back of his neck, then letting his arm flop down beside him on the sofa. "I can't- I can't do this anymore. I have to go back."

"But you can't."

"Why?" He asked her.

Suddenly her favorite song came on. She had almost forgotten that she had the CD player going, but when he looked at her and said, "why" in such a manner that made her really, truly believe that they were in that scene, inside the characters, her eyes began to water. It was the one song she had always wanted to be able to share with someone but never got the chance to. She wasn't one for overly romantic or cheese things like chocolates and teddy bears, but if she was in love, if she had a man, this would be their song. It was about love, about completion, about being utterly content with being in the "Passenger Seat" of someone's life, for the rest of your own. It was about the exact thing she cried about when no one else was around. It was about the one thing that she craved more than food or water. It was about love.

She looked at him. "B-b-because-"

"Gabrielle-" But it wasn't the same because he wasn't hers. This was all pretend. None of it was real.

"Because then I'll really be alone. What will I do?" He looked at her sincerely. And the words she said hit her in her stomach and fear washed over her. What if he left her? Even right then, innocently sitting on her couch and reading to each other, what if he left her? She'd be alone, in her trailer with no one. She felt her eyes start to water, "I mean-" She took in a shaky breath and didn't even realize he was leaning towards her. "I'm here. It's not so bad with me here, right?"

"Shhh." He whispered. Her eyes widened when she felt his hand on her cheek. She knew they hadn't really gone over the rules before hand but she just figured they wouldn't be practicing actual movements or actual kissing or anything like that. Yeah, she was about to cry but that was her own damned fault. She was suddenly hurled out of Gabrielle and was very, very aware of the present, of him touching her and leaning towards her with heavy eye lids.

She had to stop this. She had to break character with him and get him to pull away. She cleared her throat, "You're really good."

"So are you," he whispered.

"Tom-"

He laughed quietly, "No, I'm Victor."

"Oh, please."

He stroked her cheek with his thumb and opened his eyes a little more. "Keep going with the scene."

She couldn't say no to him and nodded slightly. She knew the next line and was terrified to say it. Gabrielle was supposed to be rather blunt. She was supposed to be shy but bold when she said the next line, but instead Kyrah found her voice shaking and felt as far away from boldness as one could get. "A-are you going to seduce me now?"

He smiled a little. It was comforting but nothing could make her relax with him scooting his body forward. "I think you've already taken care of that."

"What do you mean?"

She gulped. This was where they were supposed to kiss but he just couldn't do that. It wasn't right. He was taking this practicing thing too far. And plus, even if it was okay, she didn't know him that well and he had just ended a long term relationship. She didn't know what to do. She knew she should have pushed him away or said something, but he was close. She could smell him and feel him, and memories of that damned pole and being pressed against him, feeling safe and comforted, washed over her and kept her firmly planted in her seat.

She didn't close her eyes or pucker up or anything silly. She watched him as his forehead pressed against hers. He was so close and she knew that he was going to kiss her. His hand slid back a little to the side of her head and his other slid up her arm to her shoulder, squeezing her there, then cupping her neck.

All rationality melted away. She forgot everything she knew and felt like she could fall in love with him, right then, right there.

"Don't be nervous," he whispered. She knew for a fact that line wasn't in the script. He was almost there. She could feel him breathe against her lips and she wanted it so bad. She didn't know why but she was craving him in that moment.

She needed him.

His hands tightened against her neck and head and she heard him let out a defeated sigh. He began to pull away and her eyes popped open. She didn't even realize they were closed. By the time that it registered to her that he wasn't pulling away because he wanted to, at least she hoped not, but because of the knocking at her door, he was already lounged back on the sofa, a few feet away, looking away at his script like nothing had happened.

But something had happened. Something definitely had happened.

She shook herself off literally, and hoarsely said, "Come in."

She couldn't relax and when Julian came in and said, "Hello lovers." She was sure he was going to be able to read her face and know everything that had just gone on. "Sorry to break up the sexy romp but Richard wants to do some scenes with you."

"Did they get the set fixed?" Tom asked, cool, calm, like they hadn't almost kissed.

Julian walked over to them and waved his hand. "Oh no. They're gonna postpone the diner scene until tomorrow or something. This is for some other scene. Just you darling. He extended his hand to Kyrah and she accepted it, letting him pull her up.

"Oh. Well, I mean- Do you know what scene?" She turned back to grab her script that had somehow in the process fell to the floor. Tom still wasn't looking at her.

"No clue. All I know is that you are still in those god awful clothes. So get your visor." He found it on the table and handed it to her. She accepted it and looked down at her floor.

"Oh okay."

"I guess they won't need me for a while." She jumped when she heard Tom's voice. He was stretching and yawning. She almost felt a little hurt. Did he not feel it, too? Was it just another day for him, another girl, another kiss?

"I guess," she said quietly. Julian started to tug her away and when they were at the door she felt shivers on her skin when he called out to her.

"Good luck out there."

She turned to look at him. There was something there, a knowing look in his eyes, like he knew what had just happened. His smile was genuine and bright, though small. She felt relieved and returned his smile. "Thanks. You can just, lock up or whatever.."

He didn't move from the couch and only nodded. "Okay."

She was outside in no time, holding on to Julian's hand and trying her best to tug him along, but he wouldn't have it and pulled her back forcing her to a halt. His eyes were serious but mischievous at the same time, "What the hell happened?"

"Nothing," she said and knew she couldn't even convince herself with her tone.

"Kyrah."

She defended herself, "We were just practicing lines."

She began to walk away but was stopped in her fast pace when he called out, loud enough for anyone interested to hear, "He kissed you, didn't he?"

She turned and blinked. He walked forward towards her and she stumbled over her words. "No. I mean, no-"

"You mean what?"

She looked up and a slow smile spread on his face. Immediately, she became annoyed with him, with Tom, with herself, with the whole damn situation. How did that happen? How did she let it happen? She couldn't deal with this anymore. Was it really a kiss or just practicing? She didn't understand and couldn't wrap her self around it just yet. She knew that if she brought those thoughts into the set Richard was going to call her out and make her feel horrible. So she squared her shoulders and turned on her heel, glaring at her friend as she went.

"Just drop it Julian," she demanded.

The funny thing was, it wasn't Julian she was worried about bothering her about what had just happened. It was her own self. She was terrified of that kiss and she knew if she got the chance again, which was going to happen that afternoon, she wouldn't be able to keep sane about it.

She didn't even know him, and yet she found herself strangely attracted to him. She couldn't explain it, and didn't really want to.

10 AM

He didn't know whether to leave her door locked or unlocked. She told him he could lock up but he didn't see her take any sort of key and didn't want to lock her out of her trailer. It was just one more thing to add on to his list of confusion. He didn't know what it was that had just happened but he knew that he lost himself in the moment, something he could never remember doing before.

It was that damn song and her damn eyes and her lips and just everything about her. He hadn't been that mesmerized by a girl in a long, long time. The whole idea scared him. She was the first pretty girl since Ria and the fact that he'd later get to see her breasts and kiss her was something that only heightened this new-found desire for her. "What am I thinking? I have a job to do. The set isn't a dating service."

He looked around the trailer from where he was still perched on her couch, still in the spot where he had almost kissed her. The bowl of cherries was still in front of him. The cup of seeds and stems was there too. He smiled. She was so nervous when she touched him. He had to admit he found it a little awkward but to see her be so comfortable with him one moment was something he wouldn't mind seeing again. When she had clammed up and seemed embarrassed to be there with him, he wondered if she was a fan of his. Perhaps that was the reason she seemed kind of rigid when they were practicing. His head shook. He hadn't made it easy on her, trying to trick her into kissing him.

He didn't care about his lines, the scene, or the whole damned movie when they were there together. Something started to eat him from the inside, something he hadn't felt in a while. It had started as soon as that damned pole fell. He and Ria got rather predictable after a while but it was the same feeling he had when he met her. It was the feeling in his gut he'd get before they hung out or went out on a date.

It was that anxious, nervous, excited feeling that came with a crush. He groaned. He couldn't afford a crush right now. A talk with Bill was in order with a side of sense knocked into him. He was like this whenever he broke up with someone. As soon as he was alone again, every attractive female that walked by was suddenly potential. He wasn't a pimp or a man whore like the media portrayed him to be but he fell easily and once he allowed himself to fall, he went a long way down that pit and didn't hit the bottom for quite some time.

When he did hit the bottom, it was worse than those first few moments of loneliness from the past girl. It had been that way with every girl he had dated since he was a teenager and he didn't want that to happen to him again.

He couldn't let that happen again.

"What the hell am I talking about? She probably doesn't even like me."

He pushed himself off the sofa, eying the clutter and mess in her place. That normally would annoy him. "Why am I finding it cute?" He scratched his head and held his rolled up script in one hand as he headed toward the door. He needed to get out of there. Fresh air would be good for him and a swift kick back into reality from his brother would be good as well. The breeze had picked up outside and he held the door open for a minute, still contemplating the whole lock situation. After a second of thinking, he decided to leave it unlocked. The lot was pretty safe and security was rather tight.

His trailer was a hundred feet or so away, further away from the set than hers was. There were crewmen walking all around with walkie-talkies and parts of sets. Some of them were carrying electrical cords and other such strange things. It was a cloudy day and most people were inside the studio, he assumed. It did look like it was going to rain. He hoped not. He had just had his R8 washed the day before and it was still in the driveway. Maybe he'd send Bill home to go put it in the garage.

The walk to the trailer was pretty quick and he walked up the steps and busted through the door. Bill was laying on the couch watching an episode of Golden Girls on Lifetime.

"What the hell are you watching?" Tom laughed, walking into the small room and plopping down in one of the comfy chairs.

Bill's voice immediately got defensive. "Golden Girls. You know I like this shit."

"Oma loves this show," he chuckled

Bill moved his body in a stretch on the couch and yawned while he said, "It's funny."

After sitting there for a few minutes, watching the show but having his mind nowhere near the four old ladies, he figured he needed to do something to get his mind off of her. No matter what he did or what he thought about, she came creeping back. Her eyes were like ice. They were blue but so light and piercing. Her skin looked so smooth and soft. She was thin and short but not too short, probably came to his chin, maybe higher. Probably perfect stand up kissing height. He shook his head. This was not working.

He tried to talk to Bill about something irrelevant during a commercial, "You ever heard of this band, Death Cat of Cuteness or something?" She was connected somehow and it was starting to worry him how much he was taken with her after only a couple hours.

"Death Cab for Cutie?"

Tom looked at his brother a little shocked, "Yeah."

"Yeah." Bill yawned again and Tom had to laugh.

"How is it that you know more about music than me?" It seemed that Bill had always been the one bringing him new CDs to listen to and new artist to look up. Ever since Bill had been with Eliza things had really been rolling for him. Tom was proud of him and was happy that he had found such a great girl but to say he wasn't jealous would have been a lie and he felt pathetic that now that Eliza was around, he didn't have Bill all to himself like he use to.

Bill was at 23 years old and had found his soul mate. And there Tom was at the same age, yet completely alone and starting to think that it was all hopeless.

Bill craned his neck back so he could look at Tom from where he was sprawled on the couch, "You know that band I told you about the other day called The Postal Service?"

Tom yawned himself and nodded, "Yeah."

"One of the guys in that band is in Death Cab. I think the singer. I'm not sure."

"Oh." Tom nodded slowly. "Okay."

"Why?"

He looked over and Bill didn't seem like he was paying attention. He hadn't expected that question and didn't know how to respond. He could feel his heart beat in his head and shrugged, trying his best to play off the fact that he suddenly felt very nervous and not quite sure why. He finally said, "Oh, no reason."

The TV flicked to black and when he looked over at the couch, Bill was placing the remote on a small table beside the armrest of the couch and moving so that he was sitting upright. "Spit it out."

"It's nothing." He shrugged again and sat back against the chair, trying to relax. He felt like pouting and when he glanced over at his brother he realized he that the 'it's nothing' wasn't going to work. He still had more to say. "Just me and Kyrah listened to some of their stuff and it was pretty cool."

"How did it go?" A small smile started to form on his twin's face.

"What?"

"Practicing lines," he rolled his eyes. "Or whatever you kids call it these days."

"It was fine." Tom's looked at Bill hard and narrowed his brown eyes. Bill wasn't looking at him but he was smiling and nodding. Tom wondered if he was insinuating what he thought he was. "She had to go do a scene by herself."

"Mm-hmm."

He narrowed his eyes at Bill even further when he passed him a sly smile. "What is it?"

Bill nodded, "She's hot, you know?"

Tom took a deep breath and looked away. He knew where this was going now and started to realize that Bill was going to push him to spill something. He always did that. Whenever Tom was keeping something to himself, Bill knew and he would push and push and push without ever really asking until Tom exploded and told him everything. He didn't know why he was so uptight now. Five minutes ago he was happy to go in there, tell Bill everything and get an earful from his best friend. Now, he realized this was going to be awkward and wasn't so sure if Bill's reaction was the one he had predicted.

"She's attractive, I guess," he said trying to sound uninterested. He was uninterested. She was just a hot girl. That was all.

That was all.

He kept repeating it to himself but when Bill said, "You get to see her boobs today, don't you?" it really didn't work.

"I guess." Tom closed his eyes and stretched, still trying to play it off but damn if that image didn't burn into his head. He was not only going to get to see her half naked, he was going to feel her. They were going to in bed, pressed against each other, making out, whispering. He suddenly didn't know how he was going to keep himself from getting aroused on set. He could almost predict his most embarrassing moment happening later on that day. He tried to convince himself, "But it's not like sexual."

"I bet it will be." Bill laughed, stood up off the couch and walked towards the kitchenette. "You said last night at the club that the scene was hot and that you were happy you got to do it with a hot chick."

"Well," Tom rubbed his forehead and heard the refrigerator open from behind him. Bill soon came back into view and handed him a can of Pepsi. "It's whatever. There will be other people so it'll be too much pressure to be sexual. I mean, it's not like I care." Tom popped the can and chugged a good bit of it, knowing his twin's eyes were on him.

Bill plopped down on the couch, popped his own drink and laughed to himself. "You've changed. Now you're all defensive." He slurped the soda from the top of the can that had spewed out when he opened it.

Tom realized this wasn't going to work. He had to put on an act and nodded and sucked air through his teeth saying, "She is so fucking hot, man. It might not be really sexual but I get to kiss her and shit. It'll be so awesome."

"How the hell did you get a job doing this?" Bill chuckled. "You suck as an actor."

Tom already felt a little self-conscious about his acting and that comment stung so he tried even harder. "I'm being serious. She's doable. Nice ass, too."

"Stop being a dick," Bill said, his voice sharp. He sat down his drink, leaned forward on his knees and seriously looked at Tom. "You like her. I know it."

"No, I don't," he looked away down to the floor.

"I would if I were you."

He turned back to look at Bill. "Why do you say that?"

"She seems nice. She's hot. Go for it."

"No, Bill. Just lay off. I don't like her. She's just hot." Tom shook his head and looked down at his soda can, rolling it between his hands. "You know how I get after shit like this. Ria just-"

"Forget Ria," Bill interrupted.

"Sorry." Tom laughed, a little upset his friend would be that harsh. "Too hard to do when you were with someone for quite a few years."

"Look," Bill sighed. "I know how you get. I'm not gonna let you go crazy over this girl if you don't want to but who's to say you can't enjoy her."

At first he didn't think he had heard Bill right but when he saw Bill's small smile and wink, he knew Bill was being the ass he could be at time. He stood off the chair as he said, "And you call me the dick. She's not a damn toy, Bill."

"Ah ha! I knew you liked her," he heard as he walked over to the sink. He didn't acknowledge his brother that was still on the couch but instead slowly started to pour out the contents of the Pepsi, wasting it. He didn't know why he was doing it. Lately he didn't understand most of his actions. Like the kiss thing. "Why did I even try? What was I thinking? This shit with Ria must really be getting to me.

"I do not like her," he said softly.

"You're being protective." Bill teased, "You get protective when you like a girl."

"I'm just tired of it. I need a break." He crushed the can, turned to toss it in trash and leaned back against the sink. "A real break from all these women. They're just wearing me down, man."

"But maybe she won't."

He crossed his arms over his chest and looked over to where Bill was still seated. "But maybe she will. Plus, I don't want her to be some experiment or some rebound. She deserves better than that."

Bill eyed him for a few minutes and he looked away, uncomfortable under his brother's stare. He knew Bill could see right through him and was slowly figuring out that Tom had developed feelings for this girl. "But that's impossible. Okay, so I care about her. I care about a lot of women." He just didn't understand why and why it happened so fast. Maybe it was because of the little life story she had given him about living in New York and being lonely. And she hadn't been with a man in a long, long time.

He wasn't use to that. He was use to these LA girls who fuck a different man every other weekend or who were in a relationship and fuck the same man every weekend. Most everyone in LA was either taken or enjoying themselves to the fullest but she was an East Coaster and even though he was sure most everyone there was just as sexually active as Californians, something about her was so pure and beautiful and sweet. She seemed so reserved but he could tell she was longing for something.

"God, I want her to want me."

"You really do care about her. What the hell happened back there?"

Tom gulped and was snapped from his thoughts, "What do you mean?"

"You've changed in the past hour. What happened?"

"What?"

Bill laughed and moved to lie back on the couch, this time laying so he could still see Tom. "What else did you do with her besides practice lines?"

"Nothing."

"Bullshit!" Bill laughed.

With a sigh, Tom walked back over, flopped in the chair, leaned forward with his hands on his knees and said, "We practiced the kissing scene."

"How was it?" Bill asked seriously.

"It went fine." Tom rubbed his hands over his face.

"No, kissing her."

He breathed heavily and whispered, "I didn't kiss her."

"Riiight," Bill said sarcastically.

He pulled his hands off his face and moved them to his neck, giving himself a massage. He was tense already and it was only 10:30 in the morning. "I tried to though. That hair guy, Julian, knocked on the door and cut me off short."

"Damn."

He looked over and noticed Bill looked like his team had just lost a field goal. He narrowed his eyes and let his hands fall, saying in a pissed off tone, "God Bill, just because you're lucky as hell and are engaged and shit doesn't mean you have to pressure me into getting committed too. I mean, hell, I thought you'd put some sense into me and tell me I'm being crazy and need to back down. And here you are preaching to me that I need to go on and fuck the girl."

"Fuck who?"

Both of them jumped to see Julian peeking in with a bright smile on his face.

"Holy hell," Tom breathed out, then returned his voice back to normal, not wanting Julian to get into their business. He knew if Julian found out he wouldn't hear the end of it, and neither would anyone else on set. "No one, don't worry about it. What's going on?"

Julian sauntered in and closed the door behind him. He was carrying a few hangers with clothes in one hand and had his other on his hip. "I'm here to get you out of those clothes and into some new ones."

Tom rolled his eyes. "You just wanna get me out of clothes."

"So? I gotta get ready you for the kissing scene. Wanna practice?" Julian puckered up and Tom turned up his nose. Julian then walked over to a closet door to hang the clothes on the doorknob. As Tom turned to watch Julian hang up the clothes, he noticed that the clothes looked like nothing more than jeans and a wifebeater.

"I think he's practiced enough today." Tom whipped his head back around at Bill's voice and widened his eyes as if to say "shut up."

"Mm-hmm, so I've heard," Julian cooed.

"Did she say something?" Tom tried to act like he didn't care, drumming his fingers on the armrest and wishing to God that Bill would turn the TV back on.

"Don't you know anything?" Julian rolled his eyes and moved in front of the TV. Even if Bill had something playing, Tom wouldn't be able to pay attention. "Us girls do not share secrets."

Tom usually had a tolerance for Julian but right now the guy was annoying the shit out of him. "Why are you here anyway? Aren't you the hair dude?"

"I prefer hair specialist," he mocked. "And Bridgette and Nichole have boycotted you. Apparently someone was a little bitch this morning."

He ran his hands over his braids and blinked a few times, "Shit. Was I that bad?"

"So grumpy it turned me on." Bill laughed at Julian's comments.

"Great. Will you tell them I'm sorry? I'll have to bring them flowers tomorrow or something."

Now it was turn for Julian to laugh. "Do I look like a messenger?" He said with attitude. "You can tell them yourself. And I don't think flowers are gonna work with them. Maybe Nichole. Bridgette would just rather you let her burn you with a cigarette or something. That girl is scary."

Tired of hearing Julian ramble so much, Tom stood up and walked over to the closet to stand near Julian but not too near. He was going to get his clothes and lock himself in his bedroom for a few minutes to be alone. He need some deep breaths and a moment of quiet to clear his head. So far his head was the one that was being the loudest and he prayed his mind would just shut off and shut up. "So here's your clothes." Julian made a grand hand motion, then stuck his hand on his hip again. "You excited to get to kiss her again?"

"I didn't kiss her before, Julian." He grabbed the clothes and looked at him saying softly, "What'd she tell you?"

"Nothing. Just that you didn't follow through."

"You interrupted us!"

"He likes her." Tom followed the sound of Bill's voice. Bill was now was turning the TV back on and rolled his eyes. "If you haven't figured it out already."

"Oh my god, I get to play cupid and hook you two up!" Julian squealed, clapping his hands.

Tom grabbed the gay man's arm and pleaded with him, "What? Does she like me?"

"Hmm..." He thought. "She did blush when I mentioned you."

"Really?" Tom started to smile. He didn't know why the fact that she might return his feelings was so warming to him. He didn't want to get into a relationship again. Well he did but only if it was going to last and he was sure this probably wouldn't last. It couldn't. They had just met each other. She probably wasn't even his type so it couldn't work. But what if it did?

"I don't know her very well, but- But what if it worked?"

"But then again, Kyrah is pretty shy and was probably just embarrassed about later on," Julian shrugged him off and turned to go sit on the couch near Bill. Bill looked at him blankly, then scooted down a little bit.

"Damn." Tom sighed having a bit of reality hit back into him. He threw the clothes over one of his arms, leaning against the doorway that lead to his small bedroom. "She probably doesn't like me. I mean, she doesn't know me. We're just co-workers. It had just been the atmosphere and that song. That was all. Nothing else. No, I can't like her."

"Okay, you're admitting it now with all your little sighs and shit," Bill laughed.

But he did like her. Bill was right. "Shit, I really do like her."

"Fuck!" Tom exclaimed as realization hit him. He licked his lips nervously, "I- I do like her. But- Man, I don't- Just fuck!"

Bill looked over at Julian after settling on an episode of Ridiculousness on MTV. Julian was staring at Tom like he was crazy but Tom didn't care and Bill tried to explain. "He just broke up with Ria and thinks it's too soon. Get this," he paused for a moment and Tom looked away from them, completely and utterly annoyed. "He doesn't want to hurt her. Doesn't want her to be a rebound."

"Damn, boy! You really do like her!" Julian smiled.

Tom rubbed his forehead. "Why do you two keep saying that? It's just a stupid crush. I'll be over it tomorrow."

"Because, baby," Julian said grandly. "If you didn't care about her, if you didn't like her, you wouldn't give a rat's ass if she was a rebound or not."

"Yeah, I would! I'm a nice guy. I don't use girls like that."

"Still," Julian added. "The fact you are freaking out about it means you like her."

"No, I think the fact that I'm freaking out means that I'm really unsure."

"Of course you are unsure!" Julian waved his hand around. "Guys are usually about 80% clueless when it comes to women. That's why I'm gay. Well, that and I like dick too much."

"Okay, we don't really need to hear it." Bill put a hand up in between him and Julian, then got up to sit in the chair.

"I'm sorry, boys, I just talk to you like you're one of the girls because you both are so damn pretty."

"Julian stop harassing them."

Everyone jumped at the sound of a female voice. Julian clapped his hands once, then got up to go greet the lady that was hanging in through the doorway. "Damn, Celeste, I was just about to seduce them!" He exclaimed and brought her into a hug. Tom looked at Bill who was just shaking his head at Julian's antics.

"Were gonna be needed in about five minutes," she deadpanned.

"For what?"

"Clean up crew. Rich went off on her again."

Julian gasped dramatically, "Shit!"

"What do you mean?" Bill asked.

Celeste shook her head and said sympathetically, "Richard doesn't like Kyrah that much. Well, from what we can tell. He goes off on her a lot."

"What are you guys talking about?" Tom said, stepping forward. He didn't know what they were saying. He had never heard from Richard that Kyrah was a problem. In fact, he had heard otherwise. If he was giving her a hard time maybe he could talk to Rich. He stopped himself. "What the hell?" He wasn't her boyfriend or her protector and he definitely wasn't Richard's superior even though they got along great.

He shook his head. "What is going on with me?"

"You haven't been here the past few days but Kyrah was doing this scene with Zooey yesterday and in the middle of it she messed up the lines and started doing another scene and she didn't even realize it. And the poor thing was so into it that Richard didn't stop her but just let the camera roll and stared at her. When she finally finished, Richard gave her a round of applause, laughed at her, and told her to not to come back to set until she was capable of not wasting anyone else's time. Poor girl started crying."

"Are you serious?" Tom stared at Celeste not believing what she said. "He doesn't seem that way to me."

"I don't know." She shrugged. "He's got it out for the poor thing. She's not doing well right now. Keeps messing up lines and she spilled a cup of coffee. She's jittery as hell. You can tell her mind's on other things."

"I think we all know whose fault that is," Bill laughed.

"Shut up, Bill," he said in a low voice.

Celeste got defensive and stepped forward, "What'd you do to her?"

"Nothing." Tom shrugged.

Julian wrapped an arm around Celeste and said, "He tried to kiss her."

"Really?!" She asked shocked, looking at Julian, then turning to Tom. There was a smile on her face and he didn't understand why everyone seemed more excited that he kind of liked her than he was.

"God," Tom groaned, "I thought you said girls didn't tell secrets."

"Unfortunately I'm not a girl!" Julian giggled and beamed, causing everyone else to laugh as well, except for Tom of course. He felt like they were all laughing at him and it pissed him off. He wanted help. He wanted Bill to cure him and everyone else to get off his case. Everyone seemed to be excited that he liked Kyrah and he felt like he was in middle school and everyone knew he liked the most popular girl and was picking on him

He hated it and he wanted to be alone.

"Damn it!" Tom growled. He whipped around and threw his clothes on the bed, then turned to yell at all of them before slamming the door, "Leave me alone!"

He fell down on the bed after locking the door and stared at the ceiling.

He blinked.

He took in a deep breath and let it out slow. He could hear them talking and laughing in the outside room and knew they were probably making fun of him. He didn't care though. "What if she's upset? What if Richard had really hurt her feelings or embarrassed her? And it's all my fault. She was so awesome and focused that morning, besides the pole and the money thing. Then I tried to kiss her and probably confused the hell out of her and made her feel awkward."

He rolled over on his stomach and pushed himself off the bed, moving his hands to his jeans so that he could change clothes. After getting into wardrobe, he figured he'd go check in on her and see what was going on. He needed to apologize for the kiss and he needed to check to make sure she was okay and that Richard hadn't hurt her.

He shook his head and laughed at himself. "Who am I kidding? I really just want to see her again."

He needed to.

Chapter Two