Screen Burn

Pilot

Dedicated to Elisa for giving me the inspiration to start, and QBC who I love so much that I made them a motorcycle crew that'll appear quite frequently in this book.

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Jake Creek did not believe in signs from the Universe. His friends were accustomed to and quite amused by the grimace that appeared on his face when anybody mentioned soulmates or serendipity. His distaste for the cliché didn't stem from a fear of love and relationships, but rather from terribly written love stories that graced television screens all around him.

As a student studying film and television in college, he placed great emphasis on unique story-lines, even in real life, which he often looked at through the lens of a director. He could spot love triangles, unrequited crushes and similarly complicated relationships from miles away, and was quite tired of them.

To say he was shocked when he experienced "love at first sight" was an understatement. The entire situation would've made sense if he was a character from a Shakespearean play, because good ol' William loved dramatic irony. Jake personally thought coincidences that humbled characters were highly unlikely, which is probably why he never saw himself facing the same fate.

At least he knew he was doomed the second he saw Astrid Larsson.

He had walked into his screenwriting class and was carrying several books, trying to balance them, when she had smiled at him. His arms went limp and the books fell to the floor, like he was a simpering teenage girl from a chick flick. Her smile had widened in response to his flustered behavior. In that moment, she was perfection personified, breathtakingly beautiful and completely out of his league.

It made him feel sick.

He wasn't Stefan Salvatore, for God's sake. But she wasn't Elena Gilbert either. From the first glance, he could tell that she was somebody who was much more interesting.

Her dyed green hair, the silver nose-ring that glittered on her nose and the black clothes that hung loosely on her frame made her look like someone whose pictures might frequently appear on aesthetic blogs on Tumblr. A tattoo that resembled a clinging vine, started just above her elbow and disappeared under the sleeve of her shirt. Several rings adorned her fingers, which she constantly tapped against any available furniture.

He had taken a seat next to her, but could barely look her in the eyes for the rest of class. He occasionally snuck glances at her from the corner of his eyes, like he was trying to look at the sun but afraid of being blinded. When she introduced herself to him, he managed to stutter out a response.

An hour passed and the lecturer finally stopped talking. He nearly ran out of the room in his haste to get away from the gorgeous woman he had embarrassed himself in front of. The last time he had felt so insecure around a female was in the eleventh grade, which was when he'd had his first and last date.

His inability to charm women, along with his addiction to "dorky" television shows and Tumblr, had successfully managed to keep him single for most of his teenage years. Despite having popular friends, he was always the boy at the party who went home alone. He was also the only teenager in his town who thought an invitation "to watch Netflix and chill" meant just that.

Fortunately, his friends in college tried to keep him informed about modern-day slang, the mating rituals of their generation (he had no idea that "you got kik?" from a straight, white male was an invitation to sext), and rumors that nobody bothered to verify. Once he had confessed his feelings for Astrid, they decided to fill him in about the details of her fascinating life.

"She's from Sweden," Nick whispered, looking around to make sure that no eavesdropper took his hard-earned information. "She moved here last month, just to attend Tisch."