Chapter 5

“Why do you feel so nervous?” Johnson asked.

“If it’s another man, I wouldn’t feel so shy but you are like a brother to me. Of course, that would be awkward at first.” Alice said defensively.

“What? You would rather kiss a stranger?!” he said incredulously.

“It’s not what I mean!” she exclaimed. “It’s just that those actors are just co-workers for me and I guess they are used to those kinds of scenes but you are different!” She can’t look into his eyes.

“Oh, it’s like you are saying I am special?” Johnson asked her.

“Of course! You and Odette are special to me since we have known each other all our lives!” she blurted. ‘I know your secrets but you don’t know mine yet.’ She thought sadly.

“I see.” Even if Johnson is not really happy with her answer, he is excited about helping Alice to practice especially the romantic scenes. They continued practicing and during the last kissing scene, Johnson got carried away and kissed Alice for several minutes. It seems that Alice got carried away too and she let him lay her on the bed. Just as Johnson’s hand started to go under her shirt, she was shocked and gently pushed his hands.

“I-I’m sorry I got carried away.” He sat up from the bed and slapped his palm on his forehead.

“It’s okay, it seems that I got carried away too.” Alice blushed profusely.

“Don’t be like that with actors in the future.” Johnson said softly.

“I won’t. I just got carried away because it felt so natural.” She was ashamed of what happened.

“I will go back to my room now so you can rest.” Johnson pretended it was just nothing but deep inside, his heart was somersaulting in his chest. He went back to his room and lay on the bed. His mind is filled with scenes that happened earlier.

He doesn’t know if he will tell her about his feelings or be a coward and just remain friends forever. The first time they met when they were just kids, he would always try to provoke and tease her whenever there was an opportunity just so she would notice him. She was aloof at first and but then Alice decided to beat the crap out of him so he tried another approach by enrolling in the same martial arts school with her.

Since they were neighbors, he would always go over to practice with her until they became friends. Their parents and Odette’s parents are all friends so they often visit each other’s families especially if there’s an occasion. There is just one thing that he observed with Alice.

She seems to have a secret that she can’t share while Odette and Johnson are so transparent. Odette shared the story to them about her first kiss with a classmate during elementary, Johnson shared the story about how he sneakily attended a party when he was in freshman, about how Odette cheated on her exams, among other secrets that their parents didn’t know about but Alice never told them anything about her secret.

‘Maybe she is just a good daughter with no secrets to share. She is smart and doesn’t need to cheat to get perfect scores in the exams.’ He knew that it was a fact, but still, he felt there was something but he didn’t want to ask her directly. He will wait until she is ready to share something about her. Odette doesn’t mind if Alice doesn’t want to share her secrets though, as long as they treat each other very well, then there would be no problem.

The next morning, Odette got up early and barged into Alice’s room, “Rise and shine my sunshine!” she shouted while getting the remote control so that the roof would be covered with the blinds that were set up before the sun shone hotly.

“So early…” Alice complained while trying to cover her ears with the pillow.

“Hell no, girl! It is already six in the morning and your call time is at ten!” he tried to grab the pillow from Alice. Then continue making a lot of noise.

“Oh my God! I set the alarm for 7 AM and you are earlier than the alarm clock!” she covered her head with the comforter.

“Remember! The early bird catches the early worm!” Odette tugged at the cover.

“What worm are you talking about? Is Corey your worm?” Alice answered sleepily.

“Yes, yes! He is my worm and I want to catch him early.” She said excitedly.

Alice has no choice but to roll out of bed and wake herself up forcefully. She is not a morning person and she prefers to sleep until noon. She grumpily went inside the bathroom.

“I will prepare breakfast in the kitchen so we can eat before we leave.” She said when she saw Alice fully awake.

“Okay, okay!” Alice answered from inside the bathroom.

Alice prepared slowly and eat slowly just to kill some time. Her manager will pick her up at 8:30 AM with a coaster where her outfits will be ready. The make-up artist and the PA will be on the coaster as well and she doesn’t have to wear a lot of makeup so they spend just a little time on hair and make-up. Her face is breathtakingly beautiful even without makeup.

They arrived early at the set and some of the small actors and actresses are already there. It is only 9:21 AM and there is still so much time. Of course, Odette took the advantage to talk to a lot of people and easily get along with them. She is trying to find Corey but he is not yet on the set.

“Hey, when would Corey arrive? It is almost 10 AM.” Odette whispered to Alice.

“I don’t know, this is the first time that I will work with him.” She whispered back.

“Look! There is Jennifer McClaughlin and Tony Jacobs!” exclaimed Odette. She is talking about the main actor and actress in the movie.

“Shhh…don’t be so loud or the director might kick you out if you make a fuss. Just act normally.” Alice advised her friend.

“How can I? We’re talking about Jennifer and Tony here, I will ask for an autograph later and a groupie with them!” she danced excitedly. The two artists are at the top of the country and they are also international stars and very famous.

“Behave yourself, Corey might be turned off if he sees that you are so star-struck.” Alice is still whispering.

Odette suddenly acted like it was just normal for her to see the two stars when she heard Corey’s name even if she already wanted to run and pester the two main casts.

When Corey arrived, Odette almost fainted on the spot but she tried to calm herself and pretended to be a demure and reserved lady, she pinched herself just to make sure that she was not dreaming.

Corey just swept the set with his gaze and sat on a chair to read the script. He noticed that there seemed to be a lot of aspiring actors and actresses on the set playing roles as extras. He noticed Alice but pretended that he was ignoring her.

He is familiar with her because of advertisements and her pictures in famous magazines. He knew that he would play opposite her and this was her first big role as a supporting actress and plans were already formed in his mind before they even started shooting.

‘Her looks are so refreshing.’ He said to himself. He began to fantasize about things that they would do once she gained her trust.

Alice’s manager told her that she needed to get along with Corey so they approached him and were introduced to each other. “Hello Corey, this is Alice. She will be your girlfriend in this movie” Alice offered her hand and Corey shook hands with her pretending to be aloof but professional.

“It is nice to meet you, Alice.” He said while still holding his script in his left hand.

“Same here, Corey.” She felt Odette nudge her gently. “This is my good friend, Odette.” She added.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Odette.” He also shook hands with Odette.

“The pleasure is all mine.” She said blushing slightly. “Are you guys going to practice with each other?” she turned to Alice.

“I don’t want to bother Corey, I already practiced last night.” She answered. She knew that her friend wanted her to practice with him so she could have more opportunities to be near him.

“It is a great idea! Why don’t we do that so we can be more familiar with each other?” Corey said to Alice after giving Odette a dashing smile. It seems that he doesn’t need to exert too much effort and she can use this girl to get closer to Alice.

The two of them are practicing their dialogues and Odette keeps on giving comments and encouraging them when the director of the movie calls out to them. Finally, it is time to shoot their scenes. During this scene, the two of them are walking and see that the lead actress is being bullied by a group of men.

“Stop it right there!” Alice followed what was written in the script.

“Mind your own business young lady!” said the thug leader.

“Maybe she wants to join the fun, boss!” the other tug laughed coldly.

“Let’s play with both of them!” Said the other.

As she was about to run forward to slap the perverts, Corey intercepted her and said, “Allow me...” the dialogue is still according to the script but the action is different, instead of putting out his arms in front of her to touch her arms, it landed on her chest.

“I will beat the crap out of these morons!” he whispered to her ear and continued acting as if nothing happened. Alice just went with the flow and continued acting too.

“Alright, I’ll give you an hour to beat them all, if not, I will be forced to help you.” She nodded and ran to help the lead actress from the ground.

The two girls watched the fighting scenes on the side just enough to be seen on the camera. “Cut! Perfect, perfect!” the director shouted and clapped his hands.

“Well, what do you expect? It is indeed Corey Ward, no need to take two when it comes to the fighting scenes.” Corey’s manager said proudly.

Alice's next scene is with the lead actress. In this scene, a friendship is established between the two of them. Corey’s next scene is at night so he is about to go to the refreshment area when he hears a voice, “That is so amazing Corey! Here, have some refreshments first.” Odette offered him a fresh pineapple juice.

“Thank you.” He reached for the juice and drank it thirstily.

“I watched all of your movies and I know that you are good but you are just perfect in person.” Odette didn’t hold back anymore and gave Corey the impression that she was his fan. She stared at her and thought that she was also beautiful but not as beautiful as Alice who looked like a goddess of beauty.

“Really? Did you watch it with your friend? He glanced at Alice while saying this.

“I watched it with my other friends, Alice is too busy to watch movies,” she said embarrassed.

Corey held her hand, “Don’t be so shy around me, we can be friends too you know.” Naturally, Odette was instantly on cloud nine when she heard this. She started blushing nonstop while smiling.

“I did not expect that you would be so friendly.” She’s hoping they would be more than friends.

“Why don’t you accompany me to my van so we can chat while we are resting.” He invited Odette and gave her his famous smile that made girls almost faint on the spot.

Of course, Odette was rooted on the spot and very elated that she was being invited by him. She will grab this opportunity and try to get close to him as soon as possible.

“Hey, are you okay? It’s fine if you don’t want to…” Corey snapped his fingers in front of her.

“Wait, I want to go! Let’s go now!” she exclaimed happily.