The alarm went off and Diana groaned. She peered at the clock: 5:30 a.m.
“Oh, this sucks,” she told her pillow.
“Mmfph,” Billie said from the next bed.
“Can you remind me again why we’re getting up at 5:30 in the freaking morning?” Diana pushed the blankets back. “It’s barely light out.” She tested a floor with a toe; freezing. She glared at the bleating clock, wishing she had a baseball bat. Or a gun.
Billie sat up, eyes still shut, groping for the alarm. “I bet Miles is already on set,” Billie mumbled, opening an eye. “Being the focus-puller and all.”
“How was he?” Diana pulled on fluffy pink slippers.
“How was who?” Billie fumbled with a flannel robe.
“Miles, silly.”
“Oh.” Billie’s cheeks turned red, and she shuffled into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.
Diana pulled on her Chinese silk robe and hurried over to the door. “Billie! Billie, I know something’s up! Did you sleep with him? Tell me you slept with him! Billie!”
Water ran behind the closed door.
She banged on the door. “Billie, goddamn it! I practically took his pants off for you! Open this door!”
The door flew open, and Billie, clutching her toothbrush, glared at her. “You know what?” Billie pointed at her accusingly with her toothbrush. “It’s okay to have an actual boyfriend. You could have an actual relationship, not just a friend with benefits. You need to realize not every guy is out to break your heart. You need to get over Brock.”
Diana opened her mouth.
“No, don’t even. I’m telling you this for your own good, Di. Because I’m your friend.”
“I told you about Brock in confidence. Because you’re my friend.” She tied her robe shut. “Are you going to be in the bathroom long?”
“Yes!”
“Well, I’ll use the bathroom down the hall, then!”
Billie’s face fell. “You are really mad, aren’t you?”
Diana slammed the door shut behind her.
* * *
Diana dressed in the public bathroom, but had forgotten her flat iron and had only the makeup essentials.
Billie violated Rule No. 1 of being Diana’s best friend: Thou Shalt Not Bring Up He Who Should Not Be Named. Brock was her first—first love and first lover. She had five overprotective older brothers and never dreamed someone like Brock—popular and handsome—would ever pay attention to her. At sixteen, that shit was important, no matter what anyone said.
In retrospect, dating Brock sucked. He could give Dick lessons in being a sexist asshole. Brock required her constant attention and pouted if he didn’t get it. He held the threat of leaving her for other girls over her head. The guy was an asshole of the first order, only she’d been too young and dumb to realize it.
Diana dashed tears from her cheek. He didn’t deserve to have her crying over him, especially not after so many years. But being told she was too short, too curvy, too dark and too Italian—that took her heritage, something of which she always had been proud, and made it a negative. And it still hurt.
Diana took the corner of the staircase and ran smack into Miles. She glanced up quickly, before lowering her eyes to hide the redness and puffiness.
“Hey, you okay?”
Keeping her eyes fixed on the floor, Diana mumbled something about finding Dick and hurried off before he noticed her mascara was running.
When she arrived on set, Billie already was there, and she looked like someone killed her puppy, dug it up, reanimated it and killed it again. Diana sighed, trying to flatten her hair. Billie broke the rule, but she was set on fire and drowned. That earned her a break. Her next-to-oldest brother Fabio would tell her so, anyway. She made her way to the craft services table, where Pam doled out hot drinks and pastries.
“Do you have any coffee?”
“Regular or decaf?”
“Decaf is the devil.” Diana shuddered. “Regular, please. Can I have a cup of tea, too?”
“Sure.” She handed Diana two styrofoam cups.
“Thanks.” She snagged some toast, before circling around to where Billie hovered on the edge of the action.
“Hey.” Diana passed her the tea and toast. “What’s up?”
Billie took her drink. “Nothing much, they’re blocking stuff off. I’m getting some pictures.”
“Great.” Diana slid an arm around Billie’s shoulders. “Let’s talk about some shots for the press kit, okay?”
Billie was silent for a long minute, then wrapped her free arm around Diana’s waist and squeezed. “Yeah, okay.”
* * *
Diana fell into a rhythm, going over photos and interviewing the cast. She managed to get a reporter out from the local weekly. It was small—the reporter also was the publisher, editor and delivery driver. But it was his first time on a movie set and he was impressed. Getting other reporters to visit the set began to look promising.
Dick made a habit of bursting into the lodge office, which she had commandeered, and arguing with her several times a day.
“Grady needs to see that story on Jordyn before it goes out.”
“Grady needs to kiss my ass. He’ll try re-writing it, and I don’t have the time. I’ve got to catch a ride into Harrison Hot Springs and mail these releases out. Why is he still here, anyway? Doesn’t he have other clients?”
“Remind me why I hired you?”
“Because my writing samples were excellent and I work cheap. Go away, Dick, I’m busy and you’re being boring again.”
“I really should fire you.”
“My day wouldn’t be complete without you threatening to fire me at least twice.”
It was a good thing she had a healthy ego. On the other hand, she kept Billie as far away from Dick as much as possible.
“I told her not to take a picture of Ted—he’s the killer, for Christ’s sake!”
“Oh, give it up, Dick. He’s listed as ‘Reaper’ on IMDb! I need headshots. N-E-E-D. Of the entire cast. And you. You’ve blown her off again for your sitting, haven’t you?”
“I’m busy,” he grumbled.
“Busy being a pain in my ass.”
She entered a couple notes for the next day on her device, then stretched. It was dinner time.
“I’ll see you in the morning, Joe.”
Joe hung out in the office and tried to scare her with First Nations legends. She saw scarier stuff during her sophomore year, when six of her ex-hookups died within a month. Joe’s stories had nothing on the sorority gossip machine; now, that was nightmare fuel.
Diana went to her room, freshened up, then headed downstairs for dinner. Even though Billie admitted her first try at a date with Miles was a failure, Diana was certain Billie still had a chance. Miles kept popping into the office, looking for Billie—he blushed when he asked after her. Diana looked forward to his little visits; he was adorable in an awkward way. Since Diana inadvertently made their first date uncomfortable, it was up to her to help them find a love connection.
She crossed the lobby, hoping to avoid Judd. He was under the impression an on-set fling equaled a relationship. Diana didn’t intend on getting in a serious relationship, but she didn’t want to hurt Judd, either. She made it all the way down to the dining area before he caught her.
“Hey, I missed you today.”
“Long day on set?”
“Yeah.” He brushed her hair back and, fingertips under her chin, tilted her face up and kissed her. He was warm, insistent and skilled. Despite her best intentions, she melted against him.
When she came up for air, he wasn’t looking at her, but at the hair and makeup crowd—and Cassie.
She rolled her eyes. “You want to tone it down a little?” She shrugged out of his arms, finally recapturing his attention.
“You weren’t complaining in bed last night.” He pitched his voice loud enough to carry, and it didn’t escape her notice.
“We didn’t have an audience last night.” She stalked off.
She had to re-evaluate the Judd situation.
Billie got into the habit of waking early, grabbing a cup of tea at craft services, then bringing Diana a cup of coffee in bed. The late-night action Diana saw in the Judd department didn’t make her a ray of sunshine first thing in the morning.
They suffered through weird rehearsals, including one where all Jordyn did was scream like a maniac. Miles brought her tea and honey all afternoon, and his patience obviously was wearing thin.
Today was the first day of shooting. When she went down for tea, people were racing around, and she dashed back upstairs with coffee for Diana.
“Hurry up, things are moving.” She yanked the covers off.
“Hmrph.” Diana turned over and pulled a pillow over her head.
“You don’t want to miss the first day of shooting.”
“I’ll miss just about every day of shooting. I’ll be stuck in the office. See if you can get Dick to sit down for a headshot session. He’s using one that looks like he took a selfie in the bathroom.”
“I’ll be lucky if I can talk to him without wanting to throw up. He doesn’t even know my name. He calls me Camera Girl.”
“Because he’s a dick.” Diana got out of bed and opened the closet door, displaying Closet Sidney. “Observe. A real man.”
“Observe. A poster.”
Diana shrugged. “Still better than ninety percent of the options.”
“Including Judd?”
“He’s alright. On to more important things. How’s Miles?”
“I wouldn’t know. He’s busy.”
“Bils, you have to make an effort to talk to him.”
“He’s not my type.”
“What is your type? Brent? We tried that already. Tortured wannabe tone-deaf musicians are not your type.”
It was pointless to argue with Di. When she was in one of these moods she wouldn’t rest until Billie got laid.
Billie spent a good ten minutes putting on SPF 60. Although there was shade around the forest and lake sets, the sun still was hot during the day, and she was a fair-skinned redhead. The last thing she needed was to sunburn and freckle half to death. It was enough to make her jealous of Diana’s deep olive complexion.
She grabbed her camera equipment, putting her 5D into the sound blimp and making sure she had the 24 to 70 millimeter lens on since it would be the best one for catching the action. She said goodbye to Diana and joined everyone outside. They were shooting scenes on the lakefront, then moving to the lodge to shoot indoors once night fell.
Claudia finally had given copies of the script to her and Diana. A different color paper was used for each edit. The script they were given had so many colored pages it looked like a kid’s book rather than a movie script.
Fay hovered on the edge of the set with a copy of the script and a pen dangling from around her neck. The script supervisor, a high-strung woman named Serena, perched behind a monitor next to Richard, who shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He got up and sped away as Billie approached.
“Was it something I said?” she asked self-consciously.
“Not feeling well,” Serena said. “Probably first day jitters.”
“Richard doesn’t get the jitters.” Claudia blew out a stream of smoke, then ground her cigarette out on the ground. She picked up the walkie talkie on her belt. “Can we get first team in here?”
Billie looked at Serena questioningly.
Serena rolled her eyes. “It’s the lead actors. This scene has Joyce Hayward and Luka James in it. We rehearse with stand-ins for blocking, then the actors come in and rehearse once or twice, then we shoot.” Serena looked at Billie more closely. “Who are you again?”
“Billie Jessop, still photographer. And don’t worry, I have a sound blimp.”
Serena relaxed. As the script supervisor it was her duty to make note of everything in a scene, from dialogue to props. Things had to be reset perfectly, lines said just right, and the point where an actor moved or reached for something had to stay consistent. She was in charge of making sure not a single mistake was made. If Billie didn’t have a blimp to put her camera in, the clicking of her shutter would ruin every take.
Billie got her camera out, then noticed the discarded cigarette butt and picked it up, tossing it in a garbage bag hooked on a tree. She snapped pictures of the set and the crew, wandering closer to a kayak storage area, hoping she could get wide shots of the set. A couple portable toilets were installed near the kayak building so people wouldn’t have to go all the way to the lodge.
Richard leaned against the kayak building while Lark talked to him. Billie snapped a few photos, then moved closer. She couldn’t say why she was intrigued, but they made an odd couple. Richard wasn’t unattractive, but Lark was a bombshell. Richard glanced towards her and Billie pointed her camera at the tree tops, pretending to snap birds, but kept her ears open.
“But Ricky, you said you could put me in a scene,” Lark pouted. “I don’t like getting people coffee. Jordyn called me a bimbo the other day and Luka makes me bring coffee to Cassie and she’s a crew member! If you put me in a scene, I can be an actress, too. I’m really good. Watch, I can scream like a killer is after me.”
Lark started screaming with abandon, and Billie stared with her mouth open. A few crew members came running and everyone stopped as Lark shrieked in front of Richard, who looked around as if he hoped the earth would open up and swallow him.
“Lark, bunny, that’s . . . that’s great, that really is. God knows it’d be nice to hear that . . . you know, at night, in private. But we’re shooting a scene where the mom and son reunite for the first time since he was ten. There’s not really any place for screaming.”
“But I can do other things, Ricky!” Lark followed Richard as he attempted to escape. “I can bring them coffee in the scene!”
Billie couldn’t resist the smile she shot Richard, who rolled his eyes as he dashed by. A second later he pivoted, then headed back to the portable toilet and slammed the door.
Lark walked dejectedly over to Billie. “I’d be really good in a scene. Hey, do you think you could shoot a headshot for me? If Ricky puts me in a scene, I can get an agent, and I’ll need a picture. Maybe I can ask that agent guy Grady. Can you do it?”
Billie looked around for rescue, but there was none. “Well . . . I guess I could.” Billie wished she had a stronger spine. The last thing she wanted to do was shoot free headshots for every wannabe actor here.
“Oh, thank you!” Lark gave a bounce Billie suspected worked better on men as a thank you. “Can we do it tonight? Where should we shoot?”
Lark was so excited, and Billie didn’t have the heart to say no. “I guess we can do it in the lodge after we finish shooting. I can give you a deal on the cost, but I can’t shoot for free. I can bring my lights down and take some shots in the conference room.”
Lark squealed another thank you just as Richard walked by.
“What are you thanking her for?” Richard asked.
“She’s taking my headshots for me. I’m gonna give ‘em to Grady.”
“Grady?” Richard exclaimed. “He’s a sleazeball. He hits on everything in a skirt.”
Billie rolled her eyes. The pot wasn’t worried about the kettle he called black.
“Well, at least he’ll help me become a star. He’s not going to make me go get coffee for mean girls like Jordyn Brooks and plastic surgery addicts like Joyce Hayward.”
Richard slipped an arm around Lark, who shrugged it off.
“It’s not fair. You said if I came on this movie I’d be in a scene and you won’t put me in one.” She burst into melodramatic tears. Richard tried to comfort her, but she dashed off toward the tents.
“PAs,” Richard sighed. “It’s really hard to find a good one.”
Billie looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Look, you saw her tears—crocodile tears. Her eyes were totally dry. She’s the worst actress I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot. I’m doing her a favor.” Richard puffed on his vape. “And you, Camera Girl, would’ve been better off saying no to her little dream.”
Billie snapped a picture of Richard’s right side.
“Hey!”
She stuck her tongue out at him, then walked back to the set. She glanced back once—Richard was looking in a pocket mirror at his right side.
“You’re lucky that side’s looking good today. That friend of yours is rubbing off on you!”
Billie tried not to laugh.
Billie adjusted the lights and backdrop in the conference room after a long day. Richard popped by, shook his head at her, then disappeared, saying something about wasting her time. Ten minutes after their session was scheduled to begin, Lark walked in.
Her hair was in beach waves and her makeup was nicely overdone—she suspected Cassie and the hair and makeup team were having a laugh at Lark’s expense.
“Sorry I’m late,” Lark said. “The girls did my makeup.”
She smiled broadly and Billie hoped the lights would wash most of it out and Lark would look half-decent. She put the 85 millimeter lens on the camera.
“I thought maybe we’d start with some studio shots, then move into natural light over by the windows.”
“Whatever you say,” Lark said. “Oh! Here’s the money.”
She handed Billie an envelope. She tucked it in her back pocket and motioned for Lark to sit in front of the backdrop.
“Grady gave me the money, isn’t that nice?” Lark said. “He said I could really be a star. But Ricky stopped me in the hall. He was trying to talk me out of it.”
“He was?” Billie wasn’t sure whether it was to screw her or Lark over.
Lark nodded, then smiled brilliantly as Billie clicked away. She checked the images—the makeup washed out enough that Lark didn’t look like a streetwalker.
“He said I was wasting my time.”
“Lark . . .” Billie hesitated. If she learned one thing being in a sorority with a few hundred other girls, it was girls hated advice. “You know you don’t have to sleep with him to be an actress, right?”
“Oh, I know,” Lark said with a naughty schoolgirl grin. “He didn’t even promise me until after we slept together. He was really drunk, though. But I’m going to hold him to his word, drunk or not.”
“I mean . . . you don’t need to do anything like that to break into the business.” Billie clicked away.
“Oh, I know, Ricky warned me.” Lark posed. She was good at modelling for the camera. “He said I wouldn’t do a great job avoiding the casting couch. He said guys are always trying to take advantage of girls like me. He keeps trying to convince me to go to beauty school.”
“He does?” Billie asked. “Richard?”
“Uh-huh.” Lark got a serious look and Billie snapped away. “He said I did makeup and hair really well—I helped him during casting down in LA—and he even called a friend who runs a makeup school in LA, but I wasn’t interested.”
“Why not?” Billie asked.
Lark shrugged. “I’d rather get my makeup done than do it for other people. It’s so glamorous.”
Billie sighed. “It’s a good opportunity, school.”
“Yeah, I know,” Lark said. “Ricky said he’d even help me with tuition, since he knows most of my money goes towards my mom’s health stuff. She has MS.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah. Anyway, Ricky’s just mad I won’t listen to him and turned down school. But if he puts me in the movie, then there’s nothing to worry about. Between that and these headshots for Grady, I’ll be on a new career path!”
“Are you sure?” Billie put the camera down. “Why don’t we move into the natural light.”
They moved closer to the window, and Billie winced at the first few shots—the makeup was so overdone Lark looked like a clown.
“I’m sure, I’ve always wanted to be an actress. I may not be a natural, like Ricky says, but I can work hard.”
“But he said he’d help with tuition.”
She shrugged. “Which is why I think he can help by putting me in the movie.”
Billie suggested Lark scrub off some of the makeup and she waited in the conference room while Lark retreated to the bathroom.
“What’s going on here?” Claudia stood in the doorway.
“I’m doing a headshot session for Lark,” Billie said.
Claudia raised a thin eyebrow. “Why?”
“She asked. She paid. I snap.” Billie set the camera down on a table. “We’ll be done soon.”
“Good, we need the room for a department head meeting.”
“You know, I thought Richard was just a jerk sleeping with Lark for no reason, but she said he offered to put her through beauty school.”
Claudia looked at her, stone-faced. “Why are you surprised? Richard’s a very nice guy. He does nice things for people all the time.”
Billie shrugged. “I just didn’t expect it, that’s all. I’ll be done soon.”
“Good,” Claudia said. “Oh, and I wouldn’t go spreading things about Richard around. You know, about him and Lark or this school thing. It could upset people who want something from him. Everyone does.”
Billie nodded. “Okay.”
Claudia’s heels clicked as she walked out of the room.
Lark returned. Her face was clean, a little red, and she looked a hundred times better. Billie got her in the light and tried to get the rest of the session done as quickly as possible. Incurring Claudia’s wrath was not on her list of things to do.
“Thanks so much, Billie.”
“I can’t promise how fast I’ll get the retouched pictures to you,” Billie said. “It depends on work. But I can burn you a DVD of the session later on.”
“You’re the best!” Lark squeezed her in a hug. “Grady will love them!”
“Think about the school thing,” Billie suggested. “It sounds like a good opportunity.”
She made a face. “You sound just like Ricky!” She bounded out of the room, and Billie sighed and started taking down her lights.
“Told you.”
She turned around. Richard leaned against the doorway.
“Told me what?”
“She’s got her head up her ass about acting. She can’t act her way out of a paper bag, and she’s as dumb as a bag of tacks.”
“Richard!”
“You’d be better off deleting every headshot off that camera. It’d do her a huge favor.” He took a puff on his vape.
“Don’t want her acting? Or don’t want her around Grady?”
“C, none of the above,” Richard said. “Camera Girl, she’s just gonna get her heart broken. Trust me. I’ve seen it before.”
“You mean you’ve slept with it before.”
A smile tugged at the corner of Richard’s mouth. “Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.”