''No way you touched her ass. Fuck me, man, I should have auditioned for this role,'' Simon said to me as we were sitting in a bar. ''I always wondered if actors get hard when they film erotic scenes with hot actresses.'' He took another sip of his beer.
''Well, it was a really close call, bro. I almost ruined it,'' I responded with a laugh. I told Simon all about the scene and how it went.
''You are lying, you got hard with his wife and he didn't cave your skull in?'' Simon said. 'Iif you ever need something to fill in for you, I'm your man.'
He didn't seem to believe anything that I was saying but to be fair to him, I couldn't believe it either. This had been so surreal. Last year I was fantasizing about Victoria and I may have had a couple of wanks over her. How did I get so extremely lucky?
''Did you get lucky this week?'' I asked him, but knowing Simon's history I was pretty sure I already knew the answer.
''I have been seeing this girl a couple of times. She's smoking hot but it doesn't compare to doing kissing scenes with Victoria Stonefield.''
''Come on man, you have been banging hot birds every week. Every time we go out you always come home with someone gorgeous. I never get laid. I wish I could be as good at pulling as you are,'' I said.
Simon started laughing, ''Yeah but still, you are spending most of the week with the sexiest woman in the world! You will probably be the next one with your picture on a magazine cover. You're a real movie star now mate. I would gladly switch places with you at the moment.''
He was right, in a way, I never thought about the possibility of being famous or anything like that. All I could think about was the fact that I got to spend so much time with Victoria and how amazing this was for me. And I finally landed a role that wasn't some shitty commercial.
''Simon, mate, I guess that we are both happy for each other. That's why we are friends right? Let's get some shots man!''
''You are right man, let's do it.''
I raised my shot and looked at him, ''Here's to friendship and to the future, to a great week of filming and to being able to spend some more time with the Victoria Stonefield!''
He laughed at my toast and we downed our shot.
---
I spent the rest of the weekend working on some assignments for a movie history class that I was taking. We didn't have a shoot day until the next day so I decided to take a shift in the coffee shop. I would get paid some good money for the movie but I wouldn't receive it until the shoot was over, so I still had to work for my lousy boss. I didn't realize when I signed the contract that the pay would come at the end of the shoot. But I honestly couldn't care less. I would have done it for free.
I arrived at the coffee shop, put on my apron and started to clean some of the tables. The shift would start soon and the place was already starting to fill up with the usual customers. My boss Stacy was already throwing angry eyes at me. I was going to ignore her the best I could. Luckily for me, Lucy was also working that day but not in the morning, so I'd have to survive the morning rush alone with my dreadful boss. Stacy was in a really bad mood, even worse than usual.
''Why aren't you done cleaning yet? It's 8:30, the rush is coming. Can't you do anything right?''
Man, I couldn't wait to quit that job. It was getting harder and harder to be in the same room with her.
''I heard you finally landed a role in a movie?'' She said to me with a mocking tone. ''Do you think you can slack of at work because you are some big shot in Hollywood now?''
''I am not slacking! I'll be finished in a minute.''
I tried to remain calm. I didn't want to make a scene and the people in the shop didn't need to hear me arguing with the manager. She was staring at me, not saying anything. I just wanted to get done with the cleaning and go take orders from the customers. I think if Stacy wasn't so annoying, she would be an attractive woman. But her bitchy behavior made it really hard to see the good in her. I can't lie, she is good looking but her personality was so off-putting that I wouldn't take 10 grand to spend a night with her.
I managed to survive the morning without Stacy and I snapping at each other. Lucy came in after lunch and my mood was a lot better. She always has this aura of positivity around her. I hadn't seen her that weekend so we had a lot to catch up on.
''So, Simon told me that you tried to convince him that you kissed Victoria on set this week?'' she asked me.
I grinned, ''I actually did.''
Lucy couldn't believe what I just told her. ''You did not kiss Victoria! I don't believe it.''
''Come on Lucy, I mean it's part of our job, right? And you know Hugo Armand movies better than anyone so you know that a steamy kissing scene is a must in all his films.''
She smiled, ''Oh my god! I'm really happy for you. That must be quite the experience for you. It's crazy to think that I will be in the audience and watching you two make out in a theatre one day, and you can brag about kissing Victoria. And then I will be able to tell people that I knew you when you were still a broke barista and not a big-time actor.''
I laughed at her comment. ''You are an amazing actress yourself; I don't think it will take long until you land a big role as well. Maybe we will get to star together in a movie someday.'' I paused and enjoyed the mental image of what it would be like to kiss Lucy on a movie set.
''Enough talking, more working!'' Stacy yelled from behind the counter and interrupted our conversation.
''God, what is up her ass?'' Lucy whispered to me.
''I don't know, you tell me'' I whispered back.
''She can probably use something up her ass, maybe it will make her feel better.''
I started laughing and Lucy giggled.
''The weekend is over guys. You can talk and laugh all you want when your shift is over.'' She yelled again.
Lucy and I looked at each other and shrugged our shoulders and went back to work.
When our shift was over, we went back to our dorms. I wanted to hang out with Lucy to catch up more but she was going to have dinner with her boyfriend Brad. Things like this made me a bit sad sometimes and although Brad is a great guy, I would be lying if I said I wasn't jealous. So, I went back to my dorm and decided to read my script for tomorrow's shooting.
Armand works in a weird way. He doesn't want to tell too much about what is going to happen on set. He said that it made the scenes more authentic if we didn't know what was coming. Every morning we would gather in his office and he would give us a brief about the scenes that we were going to shoot. So I knew my lines, but I had no clue if there was going to be a kissing scene or anything else tomorrow.
It was getting late so I put my script away and went to bed. But as I lay down I heard my phone buzz. It was a message from Ava and I opened the text.
''Hey James! How was your weekend? I'll pick you up at 7:30 tomorrow, okay?''
''Spend most of my weekend working on a project for film school, so nothing special haha. Sounds good to me, I'm looking forward to it''
''Great! See you tomorrow, goodnight, James xo''
Fuck, I should have asked her about her weekend, too. This is why I don't do well with girls. But it's too late. It would be awkward to ask her now. She probably just asked out of politeness and is not that interested in what I was doing, anyway.
I put my phone away and went to sleep.
---
My alarm went off at 7:00. I got out of bed and grabbed a quick shower. Normally I would have struggled to get out of bed, but I was really eager to get to the studio and film. As I stepped out of the shower, I heard a text coming in. It was Ava, she told me she was on her way. I didn't have time to make breakfast so I just got dressed and went to the coffee shop to get some food and coffee. I ordered one coffee but then changed my mind and asked if I could get a second one as well. I walked to the parking lot and Ava waved at me from her car.
''Good morning!'' she said with her cute, enthusiastic tone.
I gave her the extra coffee and she smiled, ''Aww you shouldn't have. What a gentleman, thank you, James!''
''For picking me up,'' I said while she gave me a heartwarming smile.
The first thing I did when we were driving towards the studio was ask her about her weekend. She told me that she spent some time with her sister and played tennis on Sunday. She seemed like a pretty active person and that was reflected in her personality.
''Are you excited for today?'' she asked. ''Probably hoping to kiss Victoria again, aren't you?'' she said with a teasing voice.
I laughed, ''I'm really excited, yes. It's weird, last week was amazing. I can't believe that it was all real. When I came home from set on Friday and told my friends, they didn't believe me at all.''
She giggled, ''If I wasn't on set, I would not have believed it either.''
We arrived at the studio and were greeted by a couple of crewmembers. It was strange, last week when I came here, it was the first time in my life. I was just another face, no one knew who I was. But now they were saying good morning to me and asking how my weekend was. It was quite the contrast. Ava went off to find some of her other colleagues, and I made my way towards Armand's office.
''Hey James! How are you today?'' he said with a smile, ''I hope you had a good weekend. Did you have any plans?''
I smiled, ''Hi sir, yeah, just relaxing, working on my school project.''
''If you keep calling me sir, I will cancel the film. I hate it when actors treat me like their boss or something. You are part of the team, okay?'' he said with a wink.