::chapter two::
~Aurelie, at home after work that day~
“Damn, Tahoe on the first weekend. Not bad,”
“Really now, Li?” Melina said, calling her by the affectionate nickname her parents had given Aurelie years ago. Melina quickly dashed into the living room to turn off the CD player.
Lily laughed, “Ricky Martin again, Mel?”
“I work more efficiently when his songs play.”
“Suuuure. Shakin’ your bon bon while I’m gone! Ha! Well, I’m gonna go sit in the tub now. I’ll tell you everything when I get out.” She went up the stairs, tossed her back onto her bed, stripped off her clothes and pulled on a navy satin robe. Finding the tub already full, jets on high, bubbles bubbling, she silently thanked Melina. Aurelie nearly choked on the bubbles when Melina knocked on the bathroom door.
“Sorry, Li, you have a call.”
“Who is it?”
“Joshua”
“Ugh, fine, come in.” Melina handed her the phone and walked out.
“Hi Lily,” JC said.
“Hi JC. I’m in the tub right now- can I call you back later? Speaking of which, how’d you get my number?”
“I asked Mrs. Stein before I left. And I just wanted to know if you got home okay.”
“Of course I did, I’ve lived here almost all my life. Anyway, are Justin and Lance coming to Tahoe, too?”
“Huh, why?” JC wondered aloud worriedly. ‘Why does she wanna know?’ “They’re part of the camera/ set crew, so they are.”
“Okay. See you tomorrow, Josh, ‘night.”
“Alright, ‘night Aurelie.” JC clicked off, and sighed. Aurelie did as well. ‘Sheesh,’ After her bath and changing, she went downstairs to the kitchen.
“Lily. How’s work?” Melina looked up at her from her magazine.
“Pretty good. JC’s been hittin on me so much, it’s not even funny. I think I’ll go out with Lance and Justin to give him the idea that I’m not interested. Ooh, and we’re going to Lake Tahoe this weekend, you get the house!”
“Ricky Martin 24/7! I can get used to you leaving the house! But aren’t you happy that he likes you?” Melina asked.
“Sure-- I mean, I don’t know. I don’t want to get work and romance mixed up. Besides, his friends are pretty hot.”
“Oookay. How long are you staying at Lake Tahoe?”
“I think a week or so.” Aurelie started eating the steak and beans Melina had prepared for them.
~The next day~
Aurelie came about an hour early to the studio, hoping from a mini tour from anyone but JC. She spotted Justin as she locked her car. “Justin!”
“Hey Aurelie!” Justin jogged over to her as JC was parking. Knowing he was watching, she jumped up, wrapping her legs around his waist, hugging the surprised Justin. “Whoa, didn’t know people were that happy to see me!”
“Of course! Do you mind showing me the set or the studio?” Aurelie put her arm around his waist before he could answer.
“Sure. But, um, are you trying to avoid JC or something?”
“I don’t know. I don’t like intertwining love and work together,”
“I see. He has the hots for you though,” Justin said as they started to walk into the studio.
“Really now? I haven’t noticed.” Rolling her eyes after her statement, she had to add, “Just don’t tell him any of this.”
“I know. Alright, over here, we have the club set…” Justin continued as JC stood next to his Jeep, his jaw hanging down.
“Life is like a bowl of cherries, bud,” a brown, spiky haired friend of his patted him on the back.
Josh sighed, “Sure does, Chris.”
“So why don’t you just ask her out- oh.” Chris stopped as he saw Aurelie and Justin pass by arm- in- arm. “Tough luck, man. But maybe you could have a chance,”
“What do you mean?” JC looked over at him, interested in what he had to say.
“That,” Chris said, looking over at his friend. JC was smiling back at Aurelie, who had waved at him. “Ooh,” Chris wiggled his fingers and said sarcastically, “Yeah, she’s REALLY gonna come to you now.”
“Ugh,” JC started to make his way to Lily and Justin, but stopped in his tracks as he watched Lance join them in her trailer. “What the…?!”
“I just have to use your bathroom, like, really, REALLY bad!” Lance pushed his way past Aurelie and Justin into the bathroom.
“Um. ‘Kay…” Lance came out a couple minutes later.
“Uh… ahem… Lance, hun, check your zipper…” Aurelie giggled and looked away.
“Wha- AH! Uh… oops.” Lance turned around and zipped himself up.
“And you were looking, Lily?” Justin smirked.
“What?! What do- of course not! It was just… there!” She walked out and saw Alex, the actress who played Michelle. They met before Aurelie had gone to the casting office, in the hall.
“Hey girl!” Both of them hugged. “Hey J, Lance.”
“Are they almost ready?” Aurelie quickly asked Alex, as she saw JC approaching them.
“Yeah, I’m headed of to makeup right now.”
“Great. I’ll go with you. Bye, guys.” Aurelie walked off with Alex to the makeup trailer.
“Damn it!” JC muttered as he met up with Justin and Lance.
“Whoa dude, it’s just Aurelie!” Lance said.
“What do you mean, ‘it’s just Aurelie’ ?! I mean… just look at her…” JC exclaimed, trying to calm himself.
“Yeah, we know, dude. She’s pretty and everything, but… sometimes life isn’t always fair.” Justin said rationally.
“It isn’t,” JC looked down at the ground, shoving his hands in his pockets.
“Come on dude, let’s go,” Lance and Justin looked at each other, worried about JC. “He really needs to get it together, we hardly know Lily,” Lance whispered to Justin as they walked with JC to his trailer.
“Yeah… I think I know how we can…” Justin trailed off as JC shut the door in their faces. “JC!”
“So, Aurelie… you like it here so far?” Alex said, as one of the stylists brushed her dark brown, almost black hair, and put it in curlers.
“Of course I do! And we get to go to Lake Tahoe… oh my God… TOMORROW!” Aurelie squealed in her seat.
“Oh yeah! Oh my gosh, I forgot about that. Wanna come over to my place? Just bring all the stuff you need and come to my house to pack. We can talk and stuff,” Alex offered.
“Whoa, really? Yeah! Dude, that’s cool! Where do you live?”
“93054 Hills Lane,”
“Wow, that’s pretty close to mine, a few streets or so away.” Aurelie coughed as a cloud of power hung in front of her face. “Geez, stop with the powder already, Jules!”
“Oops, sorry about that.” Julie, one of the makeup artists apologized as she fanned away the cloud. Soon enough, they were both made up, and they walked to the wardrobe trailer next door. A white tee and jeans were set out for Aurelie, and a green tank top with frayed capris for Alex.
“Ooh…” The girls took their outfits, and headed to their separate trailers to change. Walking out to the set, JC was making a beeline for her. ‘Oh, yay,’
“Aurelie?”
“Yes?”
“WHY?!” JC shouted. Aurelie just stood there, staring at him, open- mouthed.
Finally her vocal cords allowed her to speak, after an awkward silence. “What the hell? Why what?!”
“ACTORS ON SET!” The director yelled.
“Saved by the director,” Aurelie walked off and took her place. ‘Nobody Wants To Be Lonely’ played softly in the background as she started her lines. “Where the hell is Keith?” Leanne paced around the room, looking up at the clock. “He’s almost 30 minutes late! Ugh,” she picked up the phone and dialed his number. No answer. The doorbell rang, and Leanne rushed over to open the door, only to find Michelle. “Michelle! You have any freakin’ idea where Keith is?! He was supposed to pick me up over 20 minutes ago!”
“Whoa, girl! Isn’t that him right there?” Michelle looked over the balcony of their apartment, seeing a silver BMW park.
“Yes, it is. I’ll see you later.” Running down the stairs, and hugging him tightly, she pulled away and looked at him.
“What?”
“YOU WERE LATE!” Leanne smacked him upside the head. Keith stared at her blankly. “Well?!”
“Oh… my gosh. You said 7:30, didn’t you?”
“YES!!”
“I’m so sorry… I thought you said 8:30... And then I decided to come early!” Keith hugged her tightly. ‘Ooh, don’t you wish this was real, isn’t that right JC…’ Aurelie thought out of character.
Getting out of the car, the director called, “Cut! To the restaurant scene!” All the cast members and set workers moved to the other set a few feet away. JC and Aurelie stood at its ‘entrance’ and another spiky blonde was sitting in the middle, among a bunch of extras who were scattered around. “Okay. This is good. Action,”
Leanne and Keith made their way inside, sitting in front of the spiky blonde who played Sammy. “Hey Leanne, Keith! Ooh, y’all already hooked up?” Leanne blushed.
“Yeah,” Keith smiled as he put his arm around her.
“Coolness! Alright,” The waiter placed the menus in front of them. The scene continued until they got their food. “Man, this looks sooo good!” Sammy put the fork up to his mouth and as he did, his whole plate of seafood fell into his lap. Aurelie and JC burst out laughing.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen!!!” JC laughed.
“AHAHAHA!” Aurelie was leaning on JC, laughing as well.
“Maaaan…” Joey pouted.
“Wardrobe on set!” About 5 people ran over to Joey, with clothes, “AH! Don’t change me here! Whoa there,”
“Don’t worry Mr. Fatone, it’ll be quick,” the director chuckled. Aurelie stared at the workers who left as quick as they came.
“Wow,” JC commented, Joey looked the same, if not better, from before the first take.
“O… kay…” Aurelie said.
“Roll it!”
Sammy began eating his food, “So, when did y’all hook up, anyway?”
Keith looked at Leanne and smiled, “Almost a week and a half now,”
“Yup,” Leanne smiled sweetly back at him. The scene ended, and Leanne and Keith went back to the car, after saying goodbye to Sammy.
“Okay, cut. Quick switch to the parking lot!” Aurelie saw Justin and Lance run by with cameras and props, Chris asking the director something. Lance walked up to her.
“Hey, having fun?”
“Yeah, this is fun!” Aurelie giggled at the thought of the earlier take.
“I saw, yeah, that was funny! You ready for your lil’ kiss now?” Lance smirked.
“What?! Ohhh man! The kiss! Damn it…” she almost smacked her forehead, but kept her composure.
“Uh, is that a good thing?” Lance questioned, giving her an odd look.
“I don’t know,” Lily walked off to the set.
“Alright, let’s go!” Mr. Collins, the director, shouted. Keith opened the door for Leanne as she sat in the passenger seat, and shut the door. Sitting in the car, Keith looked over at her nervously. She was waving at Sammy as he pulled out, and drove away. Turning to face him, she was surprised to see his face so close to hers.
“Keith…” he smiled, and leaned in to kiss her. She accepted, and pulled away when she had to breathe. ‘Whoa… oh my God… daaaaaayum!’ Aurelie thought, biting her lip, staying in character. Keith smiled again and put the car in ignition. Driving back to her and Michelle’s apartment, the drive home was pretty quiet. “So, uh, call me tomorrow?” Keith nodded. “By the way, I had a great time tonight,” Leanne kissed him once more, and got out of the car. Running up the steps and opening the door, Michelle looked up, since Leanne had interrupted a movie she was watching.
“Hi Leanne, how was the date with Keithy?” Leanne didn’t answer, she was leaning against the door with a dreamy look on her face. “Leanne? LEANNIE!”
“Huh, what? Oh, heh heh, hi. The date was great!”
“Wooow, cut! Great guys! Great! Alright, lunch break everyone!” Mr. Collins got up and went outside.
“Wooo, you go girl!” Alex giggled as they walked to their trailers.
“Shut UP! It’s called acting,” Aurelie retorted.
Alex scoffed, “Yeah, getting it on is called acting now? Hmm…”
“No it isn’t! And we weren’t! So shut up about it already!”
“Okay, okay, sheesh man, don’t get all worked up about it!” Alex said as they reached the doors of the dressing rooms.
