One More Time(6)

I’ve run this interaction over and over again in my mind, perhaps more so than my actual lines. I’ve decided I’m going to play it calm and cool, but genuine. As though it’s only been a short time since I’ve seen her, as though so much between us hasn’t remained unsaid. I can’t scare her off now that I’m this close.

First, I need to pull her aside, into a quiet corner. This requires no audience, not even a single girl from Makeup eavesdropping while looking for the vinaigrette. First, I’ll compliment her about something to break the tension.

That shouldn’t be hard. Jenna has always been the most beautiful girl on earth.

With any luck, that will disarm her, lead her into a conversation. I have this dumb idea that if I can just be near her long enough, I can remind her of how things were. How we were. Before everything.

Hey Jenna. Nice to see you. Your hair looks great like that.

She’ll politely repay the nicety – Jenna is nothing if not polite - and then right after that I’m going to launch into my proposition. This situation is awkward, but I’m excited about seeing her again. I’ll say something like, Let’s have dinner. I think it could help us get our footing, especially with our characters. There are some things we never got to talk through.

Just thinking about seeing her makes me so nervous my palms start to sweat. It’s a wonder I can concentrate on my lines.

“Alright. I think we’ve got it!” Polly yells out. “Congrats on not messing up your very first scene, Sir James.”

“Oh shit,” I call back, “Was I supposed to be wearing pants this whole time?”

“Very funny.”

And there’s my first scene, officially wrapped. But the real work is still ahead of me.

I don’t even change out of wardrobe before starting the walk over from the post office set to where craft services is set up around the corner. I want to make sure I get to Jenna before everyone starts lining up for food. But then I see all the groups of people gathering and chatting, and I realize my whole plan is about to be a bust.

There is no quiet space to say hello. Cameramen are yelling to grips that are throwing foil-wrapped tacos over the heads of production assistants. It’s a rowdy first-day food fest, and now I have to pull off an awkward interaction in plain view of a hundred people who are fully aware of my past – our past. I need a plan B, quick.

Or a miracle.

I’m standing just outside the large tent where food is served trying to come up with a fast fix when I see someone turn the corner from where the trailers are parked and throw a beaming smile right in my direction. It honestly takes me a second to recognize her. I knew she was a knockout. I’ve followed her modeling career. Watched her grow up in front of the camera.

Just—I didn’t expect her to look so happy.

I look behind me, there must be someone else she’s throwing these sunbeams at, but no. It’s me. And all the warmth of a summer day surrounds me at the sight of her walking toward me. Her dark hair is long, spilling past her shoulders in waves. Her creamy skin is translucent, her blue eyes bright. My cock jumps in my pants as she brushes a curl back, exposing that swan-like neck I used to love kissing.

She’s got a look in her eyes that I swear I’ve seen before – the night I met her.

I was at a JD Hawkins party at the old Spanish mansion he was renting off Mulholland. The pool was jam packed with famous faces and new stars. I was a nineteen-year-old hotshot, not looking for anything but a good time. If the chick in the pink bikini gave me the eye again, I was going to offer her one too.

But when I locked eyes with Jenna across the pool, all that went out the window. She looked at me with an intensity that no one ever has again. It’s the same intensity I see in her eyes this very moment.

Shit.

All of my anxiety about this hello might be for nothing. Am I really the only one of us who is carrying any baggage from our past?

“Tanner,” Jenna says as she finally reaches me. “Nice to see you.”

“Yeah. Wow. Hi. How are -” I’m caught off-guard, but I know my lines.

Before I can get to them, though, she takes over.

“I’m great. Listen. We’re both adults, and I’m looking forward to getting this job done as professionally as possible. We’ll stick to the script. We’ll interact when we have to. I’ll respect your personal space, and I’m hoping you’re capable of the same. What’s done is done, and I frankly have no interest in rehashing any of it for the benefit of other people. So I’d rather not exchange numbers or spend time reminiscing about the past. We’re here to do a job. And that’s that. Are we good? Good.” Her lips find their way into another radiant smile.

I’m still trying to process the speech she just delivered when she holds out her hand. In fact, I’m so thrown that I don’t even realize that she’s reaching out for a handshake. A handshake! Like we’re some kind of former business partners that had a deal go wrong. Like she didn’t spend three years waking up naked in my bed. Like we didn’t have a freaking celebrity gossip pet name.

I hated that dumb name, but right now what I hate more is the fact that the J-A part of it doesn’t seem to remember that it ever existed. I want to remind her, I want to tell her that I’m not okay with this, that I’m anything but good, but--

Once again, Jenna walks away from me, trailing orange blossom scent behind her.