Chipped Heartz & Broken Smilez

Together (2)

Jason was as eccentric as I thought he would be, but we finished shooting his music video within a week. He had been a picky assistant director, micromanaging everything, including how the two girls in his video should display their romance despite not being a woman who loved women.

It was ground-breaking work since the love between two women was still an urban myth in our society, something that people whispered existed, but none except those involved had bothered to confirm it. It wasn't illegal for two women to get together; they simply didn't have the required sexual organs to be approved for marriage. So, there was no legal way they could ever be considered spouses.

Unfortunately, Jason focused on marketability more than the story. I had shot more nude scenes than those with clothes. The innocence and purity that came with love were lost to Jason's obsession with sex, shower scenes, and stares filled with lustful desire. If I had been in control, I would have painted a much better picture. I would have given the characters dimensions, personalities, and ambitions. But since I didn't have any power and would never work with him again, I yielded to his desire.

My co-star was a young, pretty woman. Her long golden hair contrasted with my short black and grey curls. Her ivory skin, next to mine, seemed almost luminescent. And when we kissed, Jason had wanted it to look and feel real, so naturally, there was a lot of tongue. We had lay together on a bed so large that I could have easily gotten lost, and when we broke up due to family pressure, she killed herself. And I being the only one living, had been left sitting by her grave, naked and distraught, wondering if there was anything I could have done differently that would have allowed us to stay together.

***

On the last day of the shoot, Jason took me out to dinner. There was a smile on his face as we ate real food; burgers covered in sweet secret sauces, onions, and lettuce. Sandwiched between whole-grain buns.

Fries waited in a rectangular dish on the side. The air was thick with the scent of beef and oil. All around us, people relaxed in black leather booths. Unlike T-73, the chairs here weren't ripped and scratched. No gum waited beneath the table for your fingers to accidentally catch on.

The chandeliers were black with fake, electric candles as bulbs, but the walls were red, spilled blood rushing towards the ground.

"I think it'll turn out well once we edit," Jason said, dipping his fries into ketchup before flipping them into his mouth. "I hope you don't mind me asking, but there isn't anything going on between you and Olivia, is there? I've seen how you look at her. But whatever you may feel, you should know that if Olivia went down that path with you, she would self-destruct and lose her good reputation in society. That can't happen, you understand? I won't let anyone ruin her no matter how much she loves them. She isn't someone anyone can have."

He spoke to me like I was a child, something beneath him.

His threat hung in the silence between us as he crushed the sliced pieces of potato between his strong teeth.

Like me, he had been born in one of the lower grids, but he had risen while my rank stayed the same.

"Your concern is unnecessary because I know more than anyone else that Olivia would never love someone like me. She's nice to me like she is to everyone else. That's all this is."

Jason frowned, then shrugged as the issue left his mind. "Thanks for the help with the music video; you did well. For someone who doesn't have much acting experience, you managed to make your character come across as real. Your acting was almost as good as my singing." There was a white flash as he grinned, and the light struck his teeth.