Page 83 of The Actor: Harrison

I hoped my script was good, but this is way beyond my expectation. The potential to become a classic? She’s crazy, right? I mean, she’s obviously in love with me and blowing her compliments out of proportion.

I turn toward Aaron and Alan and they’re both grinning.

“I don’t understand,” I blurt out and Sienna squeezes my hand harder.

“Sienna asked us to read your screenplay and it’s one of the best I have come across in my entire career,” Aaron confirms and I feel my breath leave my lungs, emptying them for a long moment.

“Are you serious?” I ask, turning to Sienna.

She nods. “I think your script is magic and I wanted to be sure you move forward with it. I know you doubt your writing skills and I wanted to have Aaron and Alan on board to show you I’m not joking around with this movie.”

I laugh and rub a hand over my face. “I thought you were going to say it was a shitty screenplay,” I confess and they all chuckle. “I’m serious. I thought you hadn’t the courage to tell me that it sucked and I was moping all day trying figure out how to look you in the eyes again after I made you read that shit.”

They all laugh.

“I can’t believe you don’t see how good it is.” Alan speaks for the first time.

I shake my head. “This is the first time I’ve written a screenplay and I’m not sure about anything.”

“Bullshit. It can’t be you first script. It’s too polished to be the first thing you’ve written,” he scoffs in disbelief.

“I swear, I’ve never written a single word before a little more than a week ago.”

He gapes at me and I look at Aaron. The proud smile on his face makes my chest tighten. Is it possible to have your heart explode from happiness?

“Why on earth didn’t you write sooner?” Alan seems genuinely curious about my reasons for staying away from manuscript writing.

I turn my gaze to Sienna. “Because I never had someone pushing me to use my skills. Not many people believed I could do it. I’m just a pretty face in Hollywood.”

Alan shakes his head and scowls at me. “He did a number on you, that shitty agent you had, didn’t he?” He stares at me as though trying to figure out something.

“Fortunately, someone got a hold of you before you wasted your career on meaningless movies.” Aaron winks at me and smiles behind the glass of water he’s sipping.

It hasn’t fully settled in my heart and brain, what’s happening at this table tonight, but one thing I’m sure of: this is a turning point in my life. I don’t know how big it is, and I don’t know if it’s for the best. The only thing I know is that I want to discover it with the woman sitting next to me holding my hand.

I wrote that screenplay to get those feelings off my chest, the ones crowding a space too small to fit them all. It turns out, my heart is full of new emotions that make me happier than I ever thought I could feel again in my life.

“We need to talk,” the four words a woman never wants to hear from her partner, leave Harrison’s lips as soon as I answered the phone this morning when I woke up.

It’s been three days since our dinner with Aaron and Alan and it’s been a whirlwind of phone calls, meetings, and planning. This new movie is coming along faster than I thought and I’m already overwhelmed with everything I have to do to complete the one we just finished shooting.

The perk is that I’m working with Harrison. I came to the conclusion that I love working with him. It’s not just an emotional connection with the person I love, but a natural chemistry we have when it comes to being creative together.

We discussed my notes about how I want to do the filming, we discussed my vision, and we put together a few names for the technical side of the project—who we want as director of photography and who we imagine bringing the soundtrack to life. It was more “dream casting” than a real talk, but we had fun with it.

It was refreshing and intimate and I’m glad Harrison suggested starting fresh with our personal life. No lies, no doubt, nothing to stain this blissful collaboration.

So, I’m not worried about those four words as I drive to his house. He’s not going to dump me. He just needs to talk about something serious and we’re not going to do it on the phone. No hidden meaning or overthinking our situation.

When I park in front of his house, he’s already at the front door waiting for me. I can’t help but smile, walking to him.

“Hello, gorgeous,” he whispers before grabbing my waist and pulling me to his chest to kiss me properly.

I slip my arms around his neck and kiss him back. When his tongue slides over mine, a moan escapes my throat. “If you keep kissing me like this we won’t get far from this doorway.” I peck at his smiling lips.

“Well, isn’t it good that I live alone and we can get naked anywhere we want?” He smacks my butt as I walk in front of him toward the living room.

“Do I have to remind you that you asked me to come here totalk?” I raise an eyebrow at him while I sit on the couch.

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