Selene~
I stood there, frozen, with my heart pounding vigorously against my chest.
Had I actually forgotten how to act?
"She used to be good, right?"
"Guess she's only good at the other thing now."
"How humiliating for her."
"I'd leave and never come back."
Someone laughed softly, at me.
Luca, Sophia, they weren't laughing, but they just stood there and watched. Not like I was expecting them to do anything.
Gladys came up to me quietly, shooting the director a look.
"Take five." He said and walked out in hurried strides.
"We're going to end up being delayed because of her." One of the crew members said, also loud enough for me to hear it.
"Breathe, sweetheart. Breathe." Gladys said as she stroked my back. But that seemed to be the problem.
I was breathing, that was all I could do.
Gladys managed to lead me off the set and out of view.
"I… I don't know what happened to me out there." I stammered once we were beside the makeup trailer. "I've done this a million times. I've done scenes ten times harder than this."
"Well, that was painful to watch."
I turned my head to see Christopher. He walked over to us with his hands casually tucked into his pockets.
"Chris," Gladys said, a little too pointedly.
I groaned. I had forgotten he was one of the cast members.
"Gladys, can you leave us?" He asked, a bit too seriously. Gladys didn't say a word more and left us alone. "Go on."
He gestured to the makeup trailer and I hesitated for a moment before walking inside. He followed behind me and shut the door behind him, we were being watched and I knew this was bound to cause another controversy.
"If you're here to mock me, you can save your breath."
Christopher leaned against the door, his arms were still tucked in his pockets but his expression wasn't readable. "I'm here to help you."
I scowled. He'd been 'coming to help me' a lot lately.
"I've not been attacked yet," I said as I took a seat. "What's your brother planning?"
He finally removed his hands from his pocket to scratch his head. "Don't worry yourself about my brother. I'm handling it."
Handling it? Yeah, right.
I knew what I saw that night so I couldn't really write it off as a dream, and we weren't even close for him to be pranking me.
"So, what are you doing here?"
He looked at me. "I came to help you."
"Not that again," I groaned. "Okay, how are you going to help me? Are you going to magically make me able to act?"
His lips curved into the faintest smile. "You want me to?"
"I know how to act." I huffed.
"I know," he said. "I know you do. You are very talented."
I scoffed.
"But you're scared right now, I can help you. I've done it before. Trust me."
"Are you going to bite me?"
He paused. "No."
I rolled my eyes. "You definitely thought about it, didn't you?"
"Can you just trust me."
"Why should I?" I asked.
He groaned and ran his hand through his hair, pacing through the trailer before stopping right in front of me.
He leaned closer, staring at me intently with those dark eyes of his. His eyes glowed, turning to an amber color just like his brother's eyes did.
And that was the last thing I remembered.
I came to my senses when the director yelled, "Cut! That was superb."
I blinked. What was superb? Why was I on the set and not in the trailer? Why was I in a change of clothes? The last thing I remembered was Christopher talking to him and then his eyes glowed. What did he do to me?
"That was fantastic," the director roared. "That is exactly the kind of performance I've been trying to get. You're a natural born star, Selene."
"Your daughter is a natural born star, Mrs. Grey."
The voice echoed in my head, it didn't belong to the director, it belonged to someone else. Someone in my distant memory, but they had not been talking to me.
I looked around the set, everyone had their eyes on me, but it was not the same condescending look they were giving me, instead, they had a look of awe.
"Wow," Luca was in front of me, we were seated opposite each other, the set was made to look like a coffee shop.
This scene…
Luca had this look on his face, his brows were raised and his lips were slightly parted. Even Sophia looked surprised.
"What happened?" I asked, more to myself than to anyone else.
"You happened, you silly star," the director excitedly came to my side to pull me into a hug. "You are going to make this project supreme."
He let me go and excitedly went over to review the footage.
"You're still as amazing as I remembered." Luca said.
I turned my head to look at him. Luca Grant, my first love. His voice was soft, just like it used to be, he stared at me with that same gaze that made me fall for him in the first place.
My heart ached.
"What happened that night?" I asked before I could control myself.
His expression suddenly darkened and he left the set without saying another word to me.
He walked away, just like that, the same way he walked away from me that time.
I stood up to go to a corner and collect my thoughts when Sophia blocked my way. She didn't have any scenes today so why did she even come?
"What was that all about?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Sophia folded her arms and tilted her head. "Don't play dumb, Selene. Was this your tactic? Act like you've forgotten how to act only to pull up with amazing acting skills later?"
I sighed and tried to walk around her but she matched my pace and blocked me again.
"What do you want, Sophia?"
"You took my spot," she leaned in with a dangerous glint in her eyes. "But don't think the public will love you because you know how to act. You're nothing more than a sex addict junkie."
She scoffed. "And if you know what's good for you, you will stay away from both Luca and Chris. After all, drama seems to follow you around."
With a smirk on her face, she turned around and left.
I didn't feel riled up, I didn't feel upset. Those words didn't make me feel anything and I was not sure how I felt about it. I didn't want to be comfortable as seeing myself as the girl from that night but it followed me everywhere I went. Whenever people recognized me, they didn't recognize me as their favorite child actress, they recognized me as the girl from that leaked video.
I walked back to the dressing room in a daze. The director praised me for delivering a stellar performance but I couldn't remember performing anything. I got out of the movie clothes and slipped back into my hoodie and jeans. I was about to leave the dressing room when two crew members blocked my way.
Great, now they're also here to remind me about that night.
"Here," one of them handed me a cupcake. "We thought you might need a bit of sugar after those scenes."
Scenes? Plural.
"Uh… thanks." I took it, but I didn't eat it.
Could be poisoned.
"Um, well…" they just stood there, clutching the hem of their tops and looking at the ground. Without context, it would look like I was bullying them, which I wasn't.
"We look forward to working with you."
I smiled. "Me too."
They both squealed shyly before scurrying off and glancing back at me like I was some celebrity. It was oddly sweet.
Now, to find the last person I was with before I blacked out.
Christopher, like Sophia, also didn't have any scenes today and yet, he was here. I knew if I asked him, he'd say he was here to protect me or some bullshit like that.
I found him beside the makeup trailer, with Gladys. They both looked up at me as I walked over to them, Gladys looked at me with a proud smile, and Christopher, let's just say he was smiling.
"Gladys, please can you leave us?" I asked, not breaking eye contact with Christopher.
Gladys looked between us. "Again?"
"Please."
She took a few more looks between us before she walked away.
"Get in." I said, gesturing to the trailer.
"Scary," he muttered as he opened the door and went into the trailer, still keeping it open till I entered then he slowly closed it behind him.
"What'd you do to me?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Ah, so you don't remember."
"You hypnotized me?"
He smirked. "I didn't hypnotize you. I motivated you… with my face."
"I don't remember a thing since looking into your weird ass colored eyes," I yelled.
"At least you crushed your scene."
"Shut up."
He blinked. "Aren't you supposed to be scared of me, knowing that I can kill you and all?"
"Shut up," I snapped.
And he did, but that stupid smirk on his face didn't fade.