Keep To The Script (Complete)

~ Chapter 6 ~

“You can’t say things like that, Angel,” she whispered, almost downing her drink. She didn’t need thoughts like that! That’s why she was worried, why she was trying to keep her distance. Didn’t he see that his flirting wasn’t something she was used to, especially from a sexy, YOUNG man like him?

“I can say whatever I want, Judith. And you can believe and act however you want.” He finished his beer and set it aside, nodding his head at her near-empty glass. “Would you like another one?” And just like that, his flirtations had cooled, and he was back to his smiley self.

“No, I better not, not if I need to take something.” He frowned as he looked at her.

“Still have a headache?” She finished her drink and slowly shook her head.

“No, not really. It’s a light ache now, nothing like the pain I was having. Thank you.”

“Not a problem. Usually, when I get those types of headaches or migraines, I tend to come to dark quiet places to soothe them away. If that doesn’t work, pills it is.”

“Do you get them a lot?”

“More than I probably should. It’s been an ongoing thing for years. My parents hated it because it would be nothing to find me curled up in a ball in the middle of my bed.” He played with the table and then looked back up at her. “I was told to go see a doctor on a regular basis, but I can’t say I grew up in the best of households when it came to money.”

“A rather poor family?”

“You could say that. There were 6 of us kids, only two of us got a high school diploma, and only one of us has some type of college degree. Not that a lot of people view an acting degree as a degree.”

“So, how did Jesus get the funds to buy this?”

“I’m actually a silent partner. This has only been his for a little less than a year. He was my biggest supporter growing up so when I got my first big check, I wanted to make his dream come true, and this is it.” Judith couldn’t help but smile at that. It was nice to see that people could still be humble in this world, especially when it seemed their name was getting bigger and bigger.

“I think that’s rather sweet of you, Angel.”

“My family is close; I couldn’t imagine not supporting him.” Angel paused and tossed a glance at his brother. “I did have to send his ass to school to get a bartending license, but he didn’t seem to mind too much. Other than the paper that says he can run this place, he didn’t learn much. But he loves coming to work and actually makes quite a profit here. Every Friday and Saturday he has live acts come out, and various genres of music, and the place is always packed. This is a very quiet night.” Judith couldn’t help but smile, not surprised to find another mark to like about him. To her, family was everything and she understood, wanting to support them as they were always the most important things. “Do you have a lot of family?”

“I do, actually. I’m one of 5, a total middle child. Think that’s why I wrote, to gain some type of attention while with the family. We’re all very close in age, guess my parents were so in love and couldn’t keep their hands off each other.” She laughed as did he and she twisted her lip, liking his laugh. His eyes crinkled up at the edges and she almost wished he was older. “My older brother’s wife, Shelly, sent the story to the publishing company without me knowing. She loved the piece, as did my two sisters, and all said the same thing; get it out there, no matter the cost.”

“Didn’t think it would take off?”

“God no! The first few weeks I cried myself to sleep over the harsh words I got on reviews.” She ducked her head as that left her mouth. f**k, could she sound any lamer?

“I saw a couple of those and have to say I disagree,” he told her, shaking his head. “I hate that they made you cry. Your talent is unmatched.” She tilted her head, wondering how brave she could be. It seemed like he wanted to give more than just friendship or was she totally misreading it?

“Thank you, Angel.” He nodded and there was a lag in their conversation. “Would you have made me happier?” she blurted out and then slammed her hand over her mouth. He smirked and leaned forward on the table again.

“I would have,” he answered honestly. She saw the look in his eyes and twisted her lip again.

“What would you have done?” she whispered. But instead of answering, he stood up and offered her a hand, which she took. He started walking to the door and held it open for her. And when she walked by him, he lightly touched her back.

“You aren’t ready for those words yet, JD, but sometime I’ll share.” Her head snapped over to look at him and she saw the glimmer in his eyes which caused her heart to flutter.

-----

Judith rubbed her face, three days later, as she watched the same scene get rehashed. It wasn’t that the actors weren’t killing it, because they were. But it seemed that Victor had a vision of something and kept changing it, much to her annoyance because the more he saw and liked, the more off-base he got with what she wanted. With a sigh, she stood up and walked out of the room, making sure the door slammed behind her.

She needed a break. Day in and day out of coming here and dealing with all of this was killing her creative juices. She hadn’t realized that the actors and the crew worked such long days. And as she watched and dealt with it on a daily basis, she wasn’t sure which was worse. A regular old job or working as something like this in Hollywood. Sure, actors made big bucks, but damn at what cost? She shook her head and rested against the wall for a moment before sliding down.

She wasn’t sure where her standing was, if she could take a break away from the staff or if she couldn’t. Actually, she had no formal contract that really stated anything, at least that she knew off. Sure, she was getting paid as well, but that didn’t mean that she could walk off the set or anything like that. In other words, she didn’t think she’d get fired.

“How do they do this?” she mumbled, running her hands over her face and through her hair. She quickly snapped her head up and stared in the direction of the door as it opened.

“Judith?”

“Here, Victor.” He turned to the sound of her voice, and she stood up. “I needed a break; it was just becoming too much in there.”

“That’s fine. I’m calling it a weekend break anyway. The set crew has a couple of things to work on and I’m waiting to fill in a bit more for the cast. So, right now, I’m calling it a three-day weekend. Go do whatever and restart your brain.” She wasn’t sure if he was some mind reader or something that had him thinking much the same thing she was.

“Thanks. I’ll see you Monday.” He nodded and she followed him in, seeing the staff had dispersed and was heading out. She grabbed her bag and then stopped to watch Molly and Angel, thinking again that they fit really well together. And age-wise, they were so much better. With a quiet sigh, Judith grabbed her bag and swung it over her shoulder, and walked out. She had every intention of letting Angel and Molly talk and would just catch a taxi back to her place.

“What are you doing, JD?” She turned and looked at the man who was waiting on her. He had pulled on some shades, but she knew those eyes were laughing at her.

“I was leaving, why?”

“I told you I’d take you home,” he said, walking over to his car. She looked around but saw no Molly, so she followed him.

“Yeah, but you were talking, and I thought I’d give you space or whatever to talk to Molly.” Angel started up the car and cranked the ac.

“That’s nice of you, but Molly just wanted to talk about possibly working on some lines together. She had some ideas and wanted to run them by me.”

“Oh,” was the only thing she could say. What did she know about Hollywood? Maybe a lot of actors got together to work on things off-set? It wasn’t like she had some answer to that. “I guess that makes sense.”

“What, did you think we were planning a date or something?” She couldn’t help the blush, but she shook her head. “I tend not to date co-workers; it can make things messy.”

“I suppose I can see that. But you two look so good together!” He laughed as he merged with the traffic to take her home.

“I’m not above making appearances and giving the media something to fawn over, especially to help sales. However, it will stick to their speculation and nothing else. I fought long and hard to get where I am and I’m not going to have some fling or something take it away.” She mulled that over as he pulled into her parking lot. He was almost seeming like the type who didn’t do flings.

“Flings in general....,” she started but his laugh cut her off.

“I’m not an innocent man. I’m 27, not 13.” He turned to look at her and stopped her before she could get out. “Join me this weekend,” he told her. The look he gave her spoke volumes and had her stomach twisting. And it was on her tongue to say no, but for the love of God, all she could do was nod her head. What the hell was she getting into?