Page 38 of Act Three

“Cut!” Preston yelled again, impatience clear in his voice. “Start again.”

I fared better in the next take, although as I ground my modesty garment against Dean’s sock-covered penis, I imagined that everyone in the room was staring at my nipples.

“Cut!”

I sighed. What now?

“You should moan more,” Preston said, standing over Dean and I without caring that we were almost starkers.

“Moan?”

“Like a porn star,” Preston said. “Uh,uh,uhhhh, that kind of thing. I feel like I’m watching a silent movie over here.”

My cheeks burned as we filmed the next take because I felt ridiculous moaning with so many people watching, especially when I wasn’t even having sex, but I did what he asked.

Twenty or thirty takes later, my self-consciousness had almost gone. My stomach rumbled and all I could think about was food. I gave the moans everything I had, and would have pulled the modesty garments off and had sex with Dean in front of everyone if it meant that we could stop filming this scene.

Finally, Preston seemed not to hate what we’d filmed.

“Let’s break for lunch,” he said, and I half expected Dean to apologize to me for his earlier attitude, but instead he walked away and pulled out his phone. Apparently, the “no phones on set” rule didn’t apply to A-list celebrities.

Now that she’d seen Dean shirtless, April seemed to have forgiven me for “stealing” her role.

“You’re so lucky!” she gushed as we walked to the lunch room together. “I thought I was about to come just from watching the scene.”

“I’m glad we made it look realistic.” I tried to smile, but I no longer had the energy — the tumble of emotions I’d felt in the past twenty-four hours had left me feeling drained and I was starting to feel like Dean had used me.

None of the guys were in the lunch room, I noticed. Had Dean told them to stay away from me?

I grabbed a plate and walked along the Bain Marie, examining today’s selection of food. There was lasagne, a green curry, omelets, chicken drumsticks, potato bake, and fruit salad. I loaded my plate with a bit of everything until I had to balance it carefully so the curry didn’t drip over the side.

“Are you sure you want to eat that?” a female voice asked behind me. I spun around and saw an actress who played a waitress inPushing Daisystanding there, waiting for the silverware. Her own plate was almost empty, containing only a chicken drumstick and some fruit.

“Why?” I looked at my plate, wondering if she’d seen a fly in the food or some evidence that I’d get food poisoning.

The woman laughed.

“You’re the lead actress now. You don’t want to gain any weight.”

“What a bitch,” April said as the woman walked away.

I looked at my food. It was a big serving, but I knew I was hungry enough to finish it all and I didn’t think a single meal would affect my weight too much. Still, the woman’s words stung and after being almost naked on camera only a few minutes earlier, I knew she had a point. Reluctantly, I scraped half of my meal into the bin next to the exit. I felt bad for wasting food, but movies were a visual medium and this was my job now. I had costumes to fit into, sex scenes to film… and besides, I reasoned, I had enough money in my bank account now to buy an entire grocery store full of food after we finished filming.

I sat opposite April at one of the smaller tables and ate what was left on my plate while she tried to pump me for information.

“How was it?” Her eyes blazed with curiosity.

I shrugged.

“Awkward being naked in front of so many people.”

“But still hot, right?” April mimed feeling up an invisible man. “I mean, you got to touch Dean’s shirtless chest.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“And you must have been able to feel his dick through that sock.” April leaned across the table, her long hair falling over her plate and narrowly missing her lasagne. “Was it huge? Did he get hard?”

“It felt…” I searched for a word that wouldn’t invite more questions, “Normal.”

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