“Is that right?”
I slowly circled her, as if I was stalking her. I lost my towel. She watched as I gracefully moved.
“It’s all about the timing, and when you make your move. Not when you’re ready, but when they are. The anticipation builds. When they know what’s coming. Every nerve ending is tingling, and ready for it. It’s the moment when they’re most alive, with the expectation that the hunter has them in his sights,” I told her.
“Are you trying to seduce me, David?” Bree asked.
I kept a straight face. Bree had forgotten my character was called Roman.
“No,” I said, as I grasped her hair. “That part is already done.”
I pulled her up out of the chair and she came willingly into my arms. I looked her in the eye for a moment, and then I leaned down and kissed her with fierceness. I wanted to possess her. Bree ran her hands up my back and put her fingers into my hair.
I had completely forgotten we were on a set until I heard, “Cut!”
Bree and I parted, panting. She had a hunger in her eyes. If I was on that vampire show, she would have sunk her teeth into my neck by now. I could see Bree shake her head to clear it, and then she looked at me and smiled.
“You’re a naughty boy, and you’re dangerous. If we had you out in LA, you’d be in big trouble,” she warned me.
“I thought the whole idea was to seduce you,” I said.
“I think you nailed it. When they see this at the studio, you’ll be a lock.”
“If this movie gig is just about kissing pretty girls, I’m in.”
“You can make a good living doing just that,” she said sagely.
Kendal and I watched the playback. The young man told us that they’d be putting in bulkheads and a window that looked out onto the planet’s surface as background. They had it set up, so he gave us a sneak peek of what the background would look like. The whole scene looked good. I was excited to try this.
“I like your take on Roman. What made you go in that direction?” the producer asked me.
“It was just that everyone else was trying to go over the top, so I wanted to keep it simple,” I said.
“No, I liked that also, but I was talking about the kiss. That came across as genuine. No one else kissed her,” he explained.
“I thought I was supposed to seduce her. Did I do something wrong?” I asked.
“NO!” Bree exclaimed.
The producer chuckled. I think part of what they were doing was seeing if we had chemistry.
“I can tell you’re a model by the way you move. We’ll need to work with you a little bit with that, but I haven’t seen anybody better. From looking at the playback, you and Bree came alive on screen. I don’t want to get your hopes up, but you did very well.”
I had Kendal take a few shots of Bree and me so I could send them to Lily. My Twitter account blew up on the way home. I had people I’d never heard of commenting on the pics of Bree and me. It didn’t help when Bree got on and commented on what a good kisser I was.
What I didn’t know yet was the game of self-promotion that’s needed in the movie industry. The clip of my audition was soon on the Star Academy movie website. Lily grabbed the link and put it on my Facebook page. By the time I got home, I had over ten thousand likes. This stuff was insane, compared to what I’d done so far.
This was going to be fun.
Chapter 9 – Stryker
Monday October 13
I had called Peggy last night and we arranged to run this morning. She explained that since I was now dating her, I should come to pick her up. That was why I found myself jogging up to her house. Mr. Pratt was coming out the back door to go to work.
“Morning,” I said in way of a greeting.
“I want to talk to you,” he said in an unfriendly way.
I just stopped and tried to figure out what his deal was.
“Who do you think you are, taking my daughter out and getting her drunk?” he asked.
Only my mom gets away with that.
“I’m the guy that who was sober and took care of your daughter. I’m the guy that who she cried her eyes out to because her parents are fighting. I’m not trying to get into your family’s business, but you need to take care of that, or she’s going to opt out.”
“I don’t think you’re the right guy for my daughter to be dating. I was against it before, and now I’m sure I was right.”
“Daddy!”
Peggy startled us both as she came out the back door.
“Peggy, we’ll talk about this when I get home tonight,” Mr. Pratt said, and he got in his car and drove away.
We stretched in silence and then began to run. I was waiting to see what Peggy had to say.
“I suppose you don’t want to date me now,” she said.
“Why do you say that?”
“Well, because my dad doesn’t want us to date.”
“I would only not want to date you if you didn’t want to date me. Do you still want to date me?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Then I’m good,” I said.
Peggy got serious.
“David, we need to talk. I want to make sure we’re on the same page.”
I hated these talks. I just waited her out.
“I want to be clear that we’re just dating,” she said.
“I think you might want to clarify that for me.”
“I thought about us more this weekend. I’m off to college next year, and I’m not dumb enough to think that we can survive two years with me away at school. I just can’t see us being serious. I want us to go out and have a good time, but we both need to know that it isn’t more than it is.”
“What does that mean, though? Are you my girlfriend? Are we exclusive?” I asked.
She got a pained look on her face.
“It means that we’re just dating. I make no claim on you. If you go out with someone else, that’s okay with me.”
“Peggy, I can’t believe you mean that. You’d be okay if I took other girls out on dates?” I asked.
“Well, yes, but don’t get me wrong, I want to date you. I want to have fun, and do things together. What I don’t want to have happen is that when I leave, you feel bad. I plan on being friends with you long after we graduate.”
“Okay, but you have to go to a party with me next Wednesday night.”
“What, you mean the day after tomorrow? It would take an act of congress to get me out of the house to a party after what I did Saturday. There’s no way I’d be allowed to go. You saw my dad,” Peggy reminded me.
“No, I mean the following Wednesday, nine days from now. What if I got your mom’s permission?”
“I wouldn’t bother trying,” she said.
We spent the rest of the run talking about her hangover, and me going to Chicago. When we got back to her house, I went in with her to talk to her mom.
“Hey, Mrs. Pratt, can Peggy go to a party with me Wednesday night next week? I promise to bring her home full of cake and ice cream.”
“Oh, really? And where will this party be?”
“It’ll be over at State. I have an in with the guest of honor, and scored a plus-one invite.”
“What time would Peggy be home?”
“I’d say no later than nine o’clock. It is a school night, after all.”
“It’s fine by me,” Mrs. Pratt said.
“Hang on! Why will I be full of cake and ice cream?” Peggy asked.
“Because that’s what’ll be served at my nephew’s birthday party,” I told her.
They both kicked me out of the house. My nephew Kyle was going to be one.
WHEN I GOT TO SCHOOL, Wolf had waited for me. He came up and gave me a hug. I was giving him a wary look as he released me.
“Thank you,” he said.
“You’re welcome?”
“For Northwestern. Mom and Dad told me what you’re doing. I just wanted to tell you I appreciate it.”
“Oh, no problem. Which reminds me, I need to get the rooms for Saturday night.”
I called Kendal. What are business managers for, if they can’t find you last-minute rooms, for a large group, for a homecoming game?