Though the years had been kind to Crystal, people in the industry hadn't. But is there ever a time when everything is right and wonderful and everyone lives happily ever after? Crystal scoffed to herself as she thought about her acting career and the sacrifices she'd made to get where she was today.
One of those sacrifices had been the future that Kenny, her childhood best friend had mapped out for them. He was certain they would marry and raise a family together, and for a while, she was too. Then she got a taste of Hollywood when her parents had taken the family on a vacation to Los Angeles when she was 16.
The call of stardom had never left her mind, and she decided to go after her dream full throttle. For a while, she tried to hang on to both lives, knowing it would devastate Kenny if she broke up with him and moved to L.A. permanently. After several fights about it all though, he realized she was never going to settle for him and anything less than fame and fortune.
Kenny had been the one to break it off and told her to go be famous and make everyone back home proud. And dammit, that's exactly what she had done. Mostly anyway. After a few small roles in random movies, a certain director had taken a chance and cast Crystal as the female lead in his newest romantic comedy.
The film ended up being a smashing success and Crystal never looked back. Now that she was in her 40's, directors were still offering her roles that she would have played in her early 20's, including the one in the manuscript in front of her.
Two things bothered her about this movie though. First was that the male lead was Derek Brantwood. The second was that there was a shower sex scene with him.
Unfortunately for Crystal, she and Derek had history, and a little bad blood between them. He was one of a string of men that she had dated throughout the past 25 years. The man was hot and steamy and sex personified. She loved his body. And the sex? Holy fucking cow. He was probably the best she'd ever had. When he turned his ice blue gaze on her at night, she felt like the fire she saw there would melt her clothes off. It definitely had left burn marks on her heart.
His personality however, was the reason she stopped responding to his calls and texts. There was no end to the amount of grief he gave her over each text or phone call from another male. It didn't matter if it was her manager, her brother, or a friend that she had known for 10 years, Derek's jealousy had been out of control.
Now her agent wanted her to work with the man on a new movie. Crystal sighed and picked up the phone. Stan answered on the third ring. "What's up my dear? Are you reading the transcript I sent over?"
"How'd you guess?" she said drily.
"Look, I know you have history with Derek, but I really think you should do this. Let's show the world how classy you are. In fact, I want them to be in awe that you can put such strong personal feelings aside and be an adult and work with him on this project."
"Am I that classy though?" Crystal sighed and put her head in her hands. The phone was on speaker and laying on the table in front of her. "I'm really struggling with this, Stan. I don't want to put myself back within his reach. You know he's going to fuck with my emotions the whole time. What do I need to prove that you want me to do this so badly?"
Stan sighed as well at that. "Have I ever asked you to do something that wasn't in your best interests?"
Frowning, Crystal thought back through the years. "No actually, you haven't."
"Trust me then, Crystal. I think your popularity is starting to fade just a tiny bit but this script has to the potential to make your name huge again. After this movie comes out, I predict we'll have people beating down your door with offers again. Have you noticed I haven't sent you much lately?"
"I just assumed you were doing your job and filtering everything for me," Crystal chuckled.
"A bit, yes,"Stan chuckled as well. But there's still been a very real decline in offers. I want you to be inundated with job offers like you were 20 years ago. You deserve it, my dear."
"Don't you mean you deserve the commission from all the projects you want me to work on?" Crystal laughed out loud at him.
"Haha ok, you caught me. But I do truly care about you and your reputation as well." She could hear the warmth is his voice.
"Yeah, yeah." Crystal shrugged it off. "I'll think about the script over the weekend and get back to you on Monday."
6 months later:
Crystal had been working on the new movie with Derek for two months and it had been going decently well. He had made a few odd comments here and there, but it was to be expected. For the most part, he had stuck to the script during filming and enjoyed the usual antics of cast and crew when someone forgot their lines or the scene didn't go as planned. Crystal thought she had felt him looking at her a few times, but when she turned to confirm, he either had his eyes averted, or wasn't anywhere to be seen at all.
Being who she was, Crystal had agreed to work on this movie with two caveats. Directors usually bent over backwards to cater to her requests, but she also always tried to be reasonable. This has gained her a reputation as one of the better actresses to work with.
For this film, she had requested that she be given a week off in the middle of filming to go visit her family for her parent's 50th wedding anniversary party, and secondly, that there be partitions during the shower sex scene positioned between the actors and the camera that blocked her "private" parts. She knew Derek would see them during filming, but she didn't want them in view of any camera at all, even though the finished movie would only show their heads, shoulders, lower legs, and feet. It was a personal condition for Crystal that there would never be any footage anywhere of her completely naked body.
The Director had, of course, agreed since they really wanted her for this role, and the film wasn't going to be rated to show nudity. And since today was the day to film that specific scene, both she and Derek were there to supervise the installation of the partition on the set and ensure the accuracy of the height.
"I'm glad you thought of this Crys. No sense in everyone seeing the goods. Keeps the mystery alive," he smirked at her.
"You of all people should know how I feel about public nudity. Especially after the fiasco you caused in San Diego." Crystal looked up at him recalling their sex on the balcony escapade that someone had witnessed and reported several years back. She knew he was thinking about it too by the smile on his face. "I don't mind doing what's necessary for my job, but there's no need to give anyone any material to hold over my head."
"That's my job," Derek winked, giving her a look full of intended meaning.
Crystal blinked, confused. "What do you mean?"
"Oh nothing. Forget I said anything." Derek turned and sauntered away, whistling as he went.
Frowning at his back, Crystal stood in the shower on set so the workers could screw the partition in place at the correct height so that it would protect her body from being filmed. Once the Director was happy and this scene was wrapped up, she would be leaving to go home for the party. She decided she would focus on that rather than trying to figure out what Derek meant. After all, she hadn't finalized the flower arrangements yet, which were her contribution.