Back to You

Keep it Professional

After signing the contract and going over the schedule for the next week I leave the room. We'll be here filming every day until 10 or 11 pm. This is going to be a tiring week but if it gets us back on schedule that's fine. We'll just have to power through this week. I'm thinking about how hectic this schedule will be when I feel myself bumping into someone and I grab their shoulders to keep them from falling.

They look up and of course, it's Teja. We stare at each other and like always there is this moment of awkwardness between us. A moment of memories flashing before our eyes before we bring ourselves back into the current moment. However, this time instead of averting our eyes and walking away from each other, we hold eye contact and give each other a small smile.

She breaks eye contact and looks away for a second. She tucks her hair behind her ears while saying, "So... uh... I guess the producers told you about how they don't want our personal issues coming in between."

I give a slight nod. "They talked to you too?"

"Yup right before you came but I mean I guess it's what we talked about yesterday. I guess everyone wants us to leave our past behind." She finishes the sentence with a light laugh and hits my shoulder. We both look at the spot where her hand was on my shoulder and she quickly pulls it away. No matter how much we talk about starting over our past will still exist. Those fights, those tears, those emotions cannot be wished away.

She takes a moment and closes her eyes before opening them, seeing to have collected herself. She puts on a wide smile that I know is fake and says, "So now we have to be nice to each other."

Seeing that she's clearly trying to move on, I decide to play along and tease her a little. I lean my shoulder again the wall and cross my hands over my chest. I pretend to think about it. "Being nice to you? Seems a little too hard."

She rolls her eyes but has a smile on her face the whole time. "Oh please, I'm so easy to get along with."

I tilt my head as if I'm confused. "That's what you think. Little do you know how hard you are to put up with."

She opens her mouth up in shock. "Me? Do you know your mood swings, possessiveness, need for attention?? I may be a lot but don't get me started on you."

I put my hand over my heart in mock hurt. "Tsk tsk Teja. Didn't you say we would be nice to each other? That wasn't very nice."

"Oh my gosh I'm not even the one that started it. You did with your comments and I wasn't even that mean."

I put my hands on her shoulders to calm her down. At the feeling of my hands on her shoulders, she stops talking and looks up at me. I take my hands off her shoulders quickly. "I know bholu. I was just teasing you. You're still just as easy to wind up."

With that last line, both of us go quiet. Once again despite saying we'd move on from the past, we're standing here thinking about it again. It's so easy to fall back into my old habits. Teasing her like I used to won't do anything but blur the lines between us. I need to keep it professional. Just focus on working with her, I don't need to become her friend.

After a few seconds of silence, we see one of the producers come out of the meeting room.

"Oh, you two are here? Perfect. Let's go down to set and I'll get you the script for the scene we are going to film today."

On set we are given our scripts and both of us sit down to read it. Teja has a few solo scenes to film before our scenes together and despite telling myself to concentrate on my lines, my eyes keep getting drawn up to her. It's weird seeing her perform but it's clear she puts her whole soul into the performance. Everything from her dialogue delivery to body language communicates what the director wants to show. However, it's her eyes that keep grabbing my attention. They're so full of emotion and finish the story her words are telling.