Dan got frustrated with her bra. He was jerking on it, and it had begun to hurt. Colleen remembered the look on her mother’s face as she came home early. Her teenage daughter was close to tears because a red-faced boy had been trying to tear her bra off. Colleen still had nightmares from that encounter.
As can happen in the aftermath of a situation like that, new draconian rules were implemented that prohibited dating boys. By some miracle, she avoided going to an all-girls school when her father saw reason. Later, she figured out that the cost of a private school was why he had caved.
The rules were lifted for her senior prom when Mitch Jacobs, the minister’s son, asked her to the dance. On the fateful night, he had reserved them a hotel room to ‘change in.’ He had just as much experience as Colleen had with the opposite sex, so when she insisted that Mitch get undressed first, he obliged. She made the mistake of touching him, and everything ended prematurely … all over her prom dress.
By the time Colleen started college, her plan was to wait for the right man.
She found that she was very popular. The boys either wanted to sleep with her or—like the girls—they wanted to get close to her dad for his movie connections. Hollywood was a close-knit community, one where knowing the right people could make a real difference in your career path. Colleen’s father was the casting director for many successful films, which meant he knew almost everyone in the business.
Luckily for her, Colleen’s roommate was Gail Peck. She clued Colleen in as to why she was suddenly attracting so many ‘friends.’ That bit of knowledge allowed Colleen to start to figure out who was genuine and who was not.
In the end, the kicker was that four years later, her dad actually helped her ex-fiancé get a production assistant job on a film being made in France. It just proved that sleeping with her really did pay off.
Her father, realizing that he’d stepped in it when he got Bart the job, had taken Colleen with him to the premiere of the James Bond movie he’d cast. That was the first time her make-believe life and real life collided.
It was at an after-party for the movie premiere. Colleen loved the movie because one of the main characters was her imaginary boyfriend. It simply confirmed what she already knew: he was perfect.
At the party, she was thinking about how much Bart had hurt her and how David never would when her imaginary boyfriend walked up to her and said, ‘hi.’
What did you do when your fantasy became a reality? Did you drag him off somewhere and do all the naughty things you’d imagined late at night?
The problem was, she acted like some sixteen-year-old virgin from Dorksville. She’d blown her chance and all but chased him away. The only saving grace was that Colleen would never see him again.
◊◊◊
Colleen had a conflict the first day she was TAing for Professor Blum’s film class. As an undergraduate, this was her favorite class because it was designed to help film students figure out what path they wanted to take. It was project-based, where they created a film, short, or TV show.
The medium wasn’t critical. It was the whole process that the professor wanted his students to learn about in a firsthand, practical manner. Doing projects like this touched on everything from writing a script to dealing with actors to setting up cameras, lights, and sound. After they had the film in the can, they got to piece it together into a polished product.
When Colleen had taken the class, she was teamed up with a local boy who loved to surf. He’d talked her into creating a short about a surfing term—they called it ‘The Blue Room.’
He described it as catching the perfect ride where you hit the sweet spot of the wave. As it topped out and began to roll over, the wave’s lip would reach out and touch the water in front of it. The rolling wave created a tube of water all around the surfer; it looked like a blue room. If you timed it correctly, you would shoot out of the beautiful blue room at the last possible moment, emerging safely into the bright sunlight.
By the time they were finished, Colleen knew that she wanted to make movies for a living.
Today, the class was supposed to turn in their ideas for their project. All Professor Blum really cared about was that the project not be so big that it wouldn’t be completed before summer school ended.
Colleen hurried to catch up with the professor as they entered the room, eager to help her students. That was all fine and good until it suddenly got … awkward. Sitting front and center was David. Colleen hadn’t realized that her boss had suddenly stopped and all but knocked him down.
The commotion caught the attention of everyone in the class, including David. She about died when he recognized her with a smile and a small wave.
◊◊◊
After class, Colleen tried to remember what had happened, but all she could think about was that David A. Dawson was in the class she was helping teach.
Professor Blum had tasked her with reading through all the project proposals, so she’d gone back to his office to work. He had some faculty function to attend, so she was left all alone.
As she began to sort through the proposals, Colleen found she couldn’t focus. She wanted her best friend and roommate to talk some sense into her, so she called Gail.
“I need you to bring me over a change of clothes,” Colleen said as soon as Gail answered.
“Did you have another mishap at lunch?” her roommate guessed.
While that had happened two years ago, Gail brought it up whenever she could to needle her.
“I look like something the cat wouldn’t bother dragging in.”
Colleen could hear Gail suck in her breath before saying, “You met someone!”
“I have not!” Colleen whispered into the handset.
“You have!” Gail cried out gleefully. “You used to care what you looked like when you were with Bart. Now you just put on whatever’s at the top of your drawer.”
“I’m not that bad.”
“Please. Remember our conversations? You were going to wear such-and-such a dress to please Bart. You were going to go to the whatever-it-was restaurant because you thought he’d like it.”
“That’s crazy talk! I certainly didn’t wear my sweats and faded t-shirts on Sunday mornings because I thought David would like them.”
“Who?!” Gail asked.
“I meant Bart.”
“No, you didn’t. Who’s David?” Gail pressed.
“Just an actor in my production class. I have a meeting with him this afternoon to discuss his project.”
Gail could always tell when she was omitting something important and waited Colleen out.
“Okay, fine. He’s David A. Dawson.”
Colleen could hear the phone clatter on the floor and Gail scrambling to pick it back up.
“You lucky bitch! You so have to bone him.”
“Gail!”
“You know what I mean.”
She did, but Gail was wrong. David A. Dawson wasn’t a hookup. He was her make-believe boyfriend. Well, no longer make-believe. He was the man she was going to meet one-on-one this afternoon.
To throw Gail off the scent of any possible romantic feelings she had for David, she said, “I’m not ‘boning’ David. He’s one of my students.”
“And you’ve never heard of an interoffice romance?”
“He’s my student,” Colleen repeated. “I have a moral and ethical obligation to not sexually harass him.”
“And he’s drop-dead gorgeous,” Gail countered.
Colleen could see Gail’s pleased expression in her mind’s eye. She should have known her roommate would give her a hard time. And Colleen didn’t need to be traumatized today. What she needed was for Gail to bring her a change of clothes.
“I’m not going there.”
Gail only laughed.
“I’m hanging up on you now! I’m going back to work!”