Page 57 of #Moonstruck

“People say no offense when what they mean is I’m about to insult you but don’t get mad. It’s rude.” Why my mother’s words came out of my mouth just then I couldn’t have explained. It was like the main part of my brain was freaking out, and so dumber parts were free to speak up.

“I didn’t say it to Caryl, so it doesn’t count.” Ryan looked as if he was really enjoying himself.

“She could work,” Bay announced. “Get her into hair and makeup and then into the actual wardrobe, including the wings. Do you mind if we dye those red streaks pink or purple to match the outfit?”

“Don’t I have to agree to it first? Sign a contract?” I asked as someone reached for my elbow.

Ryan knelt in front of me as he had for the fairy princess. “We’ll give you the money we were going to give to Caryl. Please, fair maiden, be in my music video so we don’t waste over a million dollars.”

I didn’t know if Ryan had personally contributed to that amount, but given his financial situation, all the ways I owed him, the offer of even more money, and that he was kneeling—how could I say no? “I’mreallynot an actress.”

“You’ll be fine,” he assured me. “Do you mind if they dye your streaks?”

“No.” I could always redo them red later.

“No, you won’t do it, or no, you don’t mind about your hair?”

“I’ll do it,” I told him. “And I don’t mind about my hair.”

Have you ever regretted a decision so quickly that you felt a blinding pain right behind your eyeballs?

This is a mistake!kept running on repeat through my brain as the beauty team got me ready. I knew I would go out there and make a total fool of myself. The hairstylist decided on purple streaks, as all she had to do was add some blue to the red. My hair, makeup, and outfit were completed in record time. The dress was too long, so the head of wardrobe slashed off four inches or so, giving it this jagged look that somehow worked. As if the dress had always been that way.

All the same, I felt like a little girl wearing her mother’s shoes and outfit. I was a fake and a fraud, and soon they would all know it.

The success of this video now rested on my untrained, unprepared shoulders.

I was glad I hadn’t eaten that morning because I seriously felt like I was about to puke.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Bay had me go to the throne recently vacated by Caryl. It wasn’t uncomfortable, as I’d imagined. There was even a cushion. In fact, it was far more comfortable than the collapsible chair I’d been in all morning. Bay called Ryan over, intending to speak to both of us at the same time.

“This is a song about loss. It’s also a song about aching regret. About desire. About wanting someone so badly, but there’s nothing you can do about it. You can’t even touch each other. You can’t change your situation or the fact that you’re from two completely different worlds.”

It was starting to hit a little too close to home.

“You’re a princess, and he’s a lowly knight who would do anything for you—slay any dragon, defeat any foe, defend your kingdom. But you’ll never be together. It will never be real. It will never work, and it’s killing you both.”

Now I was sure that Bay Michaelsen was straight trolling me.

“When he kneels, I want you to look at him with longing. Like he’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, and all you want to do is kiss him and hold him, but you can’t. Ryan, when you look up at her, I want to see the same thing on your face.”

This was probably the most nervous I’d ever felt in my entire life. They started the music, and Ryan walked through the forest to me, then knelt at the base of the throne.

When he raised his eyes to mine, I gasped and started breathing hard. He looked at me with so much desire, with so much naked want in his eyes, that I had to grip the armrests of the throne to not fling myself at him.

I didn’t have to act. No pretense necessary. I only had to let my emotions show on my face. Which wasn’t hard because, despite my nickname, I was a fairly emotional and passionate person. I’d never been all that great at lying. I basically had to be myself and let all the things I felt for Ryan show.

Did he do the same? Or was he a much better actor than I’d given him credit for?

“Perfect!” Bay sounded over the moon. “Let’s do it again.”

Again? I wasn’t sure how many times my heart could take it.

It turned out to be a lot of times. A lot.

Every scene that Bay had planned out, we shot at least four or five times. He said it would have been more if this were a movie.

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