The following Thursday was the first of many days that Cat was incredibly nervous about. Thursday was the day they were scheduled to film scene seventeen B.
Seventeen B not only had a borderline acrobatic dance number, as well as a song, both of which rivaled anything she'd done in her concerts, but it also had an intense dialogue Cat felt she was incapable of doing well.
It was a bit of a turning point in the relationship between the two main characters and was supposed to come off as incredibly poignant. Not only because it laid the groundwork for the rest of the characters' interaction with each other, but it had a subtle double-meaning that was a commentary on how people's lives were affected by the Crash and the beginnings of the Great Depression.
Cat felt grossly underprepared to portray something so heavy, and she silently questioned why on earth she'd signed up to do this in the first place.
And if being forced to deliver words and emotions that were far too advanced for her lack of experience wasn't enough, the beginning of the scene included a directive that made her stomach churn—Bella kisses Jake.
Upon receiving the script, Cat flipped to every scene that contained this type of interaction, and she re-read them over and over, trying to think of ways she could possibly make them less awkward for her.
So for seventeen B, Cat decided she'd give Alec a sassy little peck and then flip her hair, as Bella often did, before busying herself with something else that would fit in the context of the scene.
Cat had been relieved to discover Roger, the director, didn't require any extracurricular making out between her and Alec…you know, in the name of chemistry building…and she'd only have to do this once within the context of the scene and with the whole crew watching. That would prevent it from being the least bit intimate. And it wouldn't chip away at Cat's resolve to continue secretly loathing Alec.
After nailing her routine in only two takes, Cat stood about five feet away from Alec while André touched up her face.
She futzed with beads and sequins on her costume as she tried not to look at him. He was a bit too handsome all dressed up in twenties garb, with slacks and suspenders, a white dress shirt that was purposely left unbuttoned to the top of his chest, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and his tie meticulously loosened, so he appeared sloppy, but in an almost overtly sexy way.
Roger had spent the morning blocking the scene with Cat and Alec, so once touchups were finished, it was time to dive in headfirst, and Cat made her way back to the place on the stage where she'd concluded her number.
"Scene Seventeen B, take one!" came the shout of the clapper loader as he slapped the board shut.
There was a brief pause.
"And…action," Roger muttered dramatically.
Cat waved and smiled at the group of cheering extras gathered around the base of the stage, exited right, and started sassily pulling off the fingerless sequined gloves, casting a flirty glance at Alec.
"Why so serious, my love?" She tossed a glove at him.
"Like you don't know," Alec mumbled, tossing the glove onto a chair.
"We were sold out tonight, darling," Cat crooned as she flipped her hair in the mirror. "Maybe it won't be as bad as all that."
"No," he grunted. "It'll be worse. And it might do you some good to quit bein' so naïve about it."
Cat whipped around and shot him a look that was half annoyance, half amusement, and then stepped away from the mirror and stood close to him.
She pressed her index finger into his chin and stated coyly, "And maybe you oughta have some faith."
She quickly planted her tightly closed mouth on Alec's, in a similar fashion to the way he'd kissed her in the bar that first time many years ago. Then she whipped around to set herself back down at the mirror.
"Cut!" Roger chuckled. "C'mon, Catarina. Is that any way to kiss the love of your life?"
Cat turned sharply. "I beg your pardon?"
"Bella and Jake are madly in love," Roger explained, waving his hands theatrically. "And Bella is a woman of fire and passion. I wanna see some hair grabbing and some tongue action."
Cat's cheeks flamed as her mouth gaped open, and she briefly let her eyes dart to Alec, who only had the slightest hint of amusement on his face while he held his chin in a ponderous manner.
"Fine," she huffed as she stood up from the vanity table.
"Take it from when you cross the room," Roger directed. "I liked the finger on his chin, so keep that, but then kinda let yourself grab his face. Ready?"
"Scene Seventeen B, take two!"
Cat took a deep breath and closed her eyes only briefly. She didn't want to screw this up. This phase of her career depended upon her doing this well, so she let her mind go back to a distant, long forbidden place, one where Alec wasn't the asshole who'd done the unthinkable—one where he was the man who loved her more than anything. Nobody ever said this was going to be easy; they just said she'd have to do it.
"Action."
Cat chose to saunter slowly across the room as she held his eyes with hers, and then pressed her chest firmly against his and placed her finger on his chin.
"And maybe," she murmured, "you oughta have some faith, darling."
She brought both of her hands to his cheeks and ran her fingers over the sides of his head, through his hair, as she tried to ignore the subtle hint of something soft behind his eyes.
No, Cat told herself. It’s not that. He doesn’t remember you. He’s giving a performance. So are you.
Regardless of whether or not this was just a performance, when her parted lips arrived softly at his, it was still there as if it had never left.
Electricity.
And God help her, she tried to ignore it.
Cat felt Alec’s hands make contact with her waist and move to the small of her back. They pulled her closer to him, so the entire lengths of their bodies were pressed flush against each other. Her fingers held the nape of his neck as she tilted her head to take in more of his tongue and his breath, and she let herself get almost totally lost for a few brief moments and then pulled away from him, ending the kiss in a natural fashion.
She let herself smile at him sweetly and punctuated the moment with a second small peck before turning from him and crossing the room to sit down at the vanity. Roger didn’t stop her this time, so she figured her efforts were not in vain, and she continued with the scene as if it was just work as usual and everything she felt about her costar hadn’t begun to completely change in those three little seconds.