Just Like the Movies

Chapter Eight

His head was close to mine as he spoke. "I just wanted to say I'll leave Evie's parts alone in the script."

I could smell his cologne and it made me wrinkle my nose. It didn't smell nearly as good as Theo's.

Then I registered his words. My eyes widened. "Wait, really?" I asked, too loudly.

He grinned, shiny white veneers showing. "Evie is the main character. We really shouldn't cut her out that much."

"Yes, exactly," I responded, keeping my voice low, trying to keep a smile off my face. He'd actually considered my words. Maybe being dismissive was just a reaction to feeling like I was questioning his creative choices.

Marco put a hand on my arm, patting it. "Theo came and spoke with me and made some really good points about the script, so I've decided to keep it as it was."

The elation I felt slipped a bit. So, he hadn't considered my words. He'd considered Theo's. "Oh."

"You're very lucky to be able to film with him. He's very talented and also has great creative input."

His hand squeezed my arm, a little too hard, and I grimaced a bit. "Yeah..."

"Excuse me," a voice said loudly from behind me, causing both Marco and me to jump.

Marco immediately withdrew his hand, looking behind me, throwing what I assumed he believed was a charming smile on his face. "Hey, there."

I glanced behind me, seeing it was Rowan standing there, glowering at Marco. "I need Maisie."

"Feel free to take her. I've finished here."

Rowan didn't let her gaze leave Marco as she held her arm out in the direction of the main building. "Come on."

Marco cleared his throat. "Rowan, I was thinking we should get dinner together sometime—"

"I'm busy," Rowan cut him off. "See ya."

Although Rowan wasn't exactly the person I wanted to see at the moment, I decided to make my escape with her. I headed toward the main building, and she followed behind me. Normally, I'd feel on high alert around her, but I didn't even care that much. I didn't know why I felt so conflicted about the script not changing. I'd been happy to hear Theo would speak with Marco about it at first, but now I felt disappointed that it was because Theo had spoken to him he would keep it the way it was supposed to be. Did my words mean nothing to Marco? I'm the one who wrote the book. I worked with the screenwriter on the script. I'm the one who approved the final version. But Theo's words were more important?

As we walked up to the door, it swung open violently. Rowan's lightning-like reflexes saved me as her arm shot out to stop it mid-swing, only a fraction of an inch from my face. I stared at the door in shock for a second, my heart shooting up to my throat, before stumbling back into Rowan's surprisingly sturdy body.

"Dude, what the fuck?" Rowan said, speaking to the person on the other side of the door. "Did you not see the sign? It says to open slowly."

"...I have actually never seen that sign before and it explains a lot," the person responded, and then Levi poked his head around, eyes round. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yeah," I said, putting a hand over my chest.

"I'll be more careful," Levi said to Rowan before turning back to me. "And I'm sorry for almost killing you, Maisie."