The First Flight ❀ COLIFER

Chapter 28 ❀ Are you?

"Hey, just relax." 

Colin tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his fingers slowly finding their way to my neck. I felt his breath on my skin before he pressed a kiss right under my ear.

I leaned back against his chest, sighing. As I rested my head on his collar bone, I started wondering how I could still be this hot when the water of the bath was cooling down rapidly. About five inches of foam were making it impossible to see underwater, but he was trapping my legs between his.

He grabbed my hand underwater and lifted it up. "You're here, with me, and that's all that matters."

"But what if this ends?" I caused a whirl of foam as I turned around to look at him.

His gaze wandered to my lips and he smiled. "I told you before, love. You don't have to worry about any of that."

"But you know this can't be it. You know we aren't meant to have our happy ending, not when—"

He pressed his lips onto mine to get me to stop talking, totally out of the blue, and I forgot about reality when both of his hands grabbed my face. I kissed him back, breathlessly and more fiercely than I'd anticipated. Until reality hit me like a truck.

"CUT!"

We burst apart, almost panting. The room filled with noise as the crew members started moving, but I was still looking at him when Ralph, our director, came up to us with a bundle of paper in his hands.

"Colin, I loved what you did there," he said. "That unscripted kiss... it adds to the intimacy. We're going to have another take of that in a minute."

Colin nodded, flashing bright red, and I wrapped my arms around myself as I got up. A crew member handed me a towel, which I gladly took from him.

"Okay, listen up!" Ralph held up his papers and demanded everyone's attention. "We're going to take a ten-minute break. In the meantime, I want someone to refill the bath with hot water."

I wrapped the towel around myself, avoiding Colin's eyes when he stepped out of the bath. We were both wearing skin-colored bathing suits, but they were way too tight to come anywhere near "protecting our modesty"— as they were supposed to.

Talk about an interesting first day of shooting.

"You okay?" Colin asked when he'd wrapped a towel around himself too.

I nodded, heading straight for the heating fan in the corner of the set. These were the kind of scenes where they tried to have as little people as possible in the room, but there were still more than twelve crewmembers— and then there were the cameras and the microphones, which really just made any kind of intimacy that was left disappear into nothing.

We both sat down in our chairs, not looking at each other. And we were both thinking about the kiss. The kiss that wasn't supposed to happen.

We'd done that before. I had kissed him when it wasn't in the script. But this time?

This time was different.

"So... how is Evan?" I asked, keeping my gaze focused on the ground.

"He's good. They're here in Vancouver for the summer, and he keeps asking me if he can 'come to work with daddy' again."

I looked up at him and smiled, and he smiled back. I looked around us at the set, which was starting to get empty because people were getting a snack, and when I turned back to Colin I could see there was something he was dying to ask.

"What?" I said, grinning.

"I... well..." He scratched behind his ear. "Maybe this is not the right time to tell you, but... Helen wanted to talk to you."

My smile faded instantly, and so did his. 

I looked away again. "Oh, really?"

"Yes. She didn't tell me why, but she wanted me to ask you when you were free."

I absentmindedly rocked back and forth in my chair, hiding half of my face behind the towel. Why would she want to talk to me? 

Three months ago, this wouldn't have been weird at all. But that was before Colin told her what happened in Atlanta. And before she decided to forgive him for everything.

I wasn't so sure if she'd forgiven me.

"Tell her I'm free on Thursday night."

* * *

For the first time ever I was eternally grateful for our ridiculously long, 16-hour workdays, but I had a knot in my stomach when I woke up on Thursday. I only had a few scenes with Bobby in the morning, and as soon as I was on my way back home my head started spinning again.

A few hours until I knew why Helen wanted to talk. I put on a dress, reconsidered, and then I emptied my closet until I decided that my red dresses would only put a spotlight on me. That was the last thing I needed.

So I went with the first dress I picked out.

When I called a cab, the knot in my stomach felt even tighter. Around seven o'clock, I was on my way to the restaurant where I was supposed to meet her.

She wasn't there yet. I sighed, relieved, and the waiter showed me a quiet table in the corner of the restaurant. When I'd ordered some wine, there was nothing else I could do other then stare at the tablecloth.

"Jennifer?"

My head shot up. Helen was standing next to the table with a smile on her face, wearing a classy, slightly sparkly dress, and I praised myself for picking the dark grey dress after all.

"Hey!" I said, getting up to give her a hug. It's what I would've done under normal circumstances, and I wanted to hold onto the illusion that everything was fine for a few more minutes.

My gaze was fixed on her as we both sat down. She seemed so incredibly calm, almost too calm, but my heart was racing.

"So, how are you?" she asked.

"Good, really good." I took a sip of the wine, hoping she would link the fact that my cheeks were turning bright red to my drink.

In reality, all I could think about was the scene in the bath with Colin— the scene we repeated about five more times.

"How long will you be in Vancouver?" I asked, right as the waiter handed us the menu.

"We're staying here for a few weeks. Evan's school and mine are on summer break, so we can spend some time here."

"Must be nice for Evan," I said, trying to swallow the lump in my throat.

"Yes, it is." She looked up at me, a smile playing on her lips. "He gets to see his dad every day, which is nice."

Ouch. As if I didn't feel guilty enough already. 

I managed to steer the conversation away from Colin and Evan, and we continued chatting about nothing that mattered until we got our main course.

We both knew something felt wrong. We'd always been great friends, ever since Colin joined the cast, and I even used to come around their house to have some wine.

I pricked a carrot on my fork, but I couldn't move. I was staring at my plate for a few seconds, and then I looked up.

"Helen, I just wanted to say—"

"Let me guess, you're sorry?" She smiled, but there was something else broiling under the surface.

"Yes." I put down my cutlery, part of me feeling relieved that we were finally addressing the elephant in the room. "I'm so, so sorry about everything that happened. I never meant to hurt any of you, and I swear—"

"Can I ask you a question?"

I stared back at her, my mouth half-open. "Eh... sure."

There was still a smile on her face. She slowly put down her fork and knife, wiped her mouth with a napkin, and leaned forward.

"Are you in love with my husband?"