Extra

8- Living On The Edge

"I think that it's most likely the second one then because he can't have a crush on me. He doesn't know me," I say for what feels like the thousandth time. I guess I'm just not a believer in love at first sight.

"Well, no, but he thinks that he does and, okay so I've taken some psychology classes and there's this thing," She pauses in her psychology theory so that we can order and then we step to the side to wait for our order to come up. "And psychology says that even if he doesn't really know you, he knows just a few bits about you—you stand up for yourself, you're an extra in a movie—just stuff like that. And what he does know, he likes, so he fills in the rest of the stuff in his mind."

"That's too much psychology for me," I mumble with a shake of my head. The fast food employee hands us a tray with all of our greasy fast food on it so I grab the tray and we get a table by the window to eat. "The thing is that he doesn't know me and I don't want him to know me. We live in two completely different worlds."

"I agree," Marina nods. "I think that it's really weird that he's taken an interest in you. Not that you aren't totally awesome, because obviously, you are. I just never imagine the hoity toity celebrities ever mingle with us unfamous extras from the background."

"Maybe we just underestimate his character," I suggest as I'm tossing a small fry into my mouth. With a loud groan, I lean forward and hide my face in my hands. "God, this is so complicated. This guy is so much more complicated than I thought that any one person could be. I don't get it."

"Do you want to know what I think that you should do?" She asks me.

I sit back up and look at her, nodding pleadingly. "Yes please."

"I think that you should go for it. I think that you should just talk to him and see how it goes. I'm sure that it'll be totally platonic and I think that it could be fun. And you, Iris, deserve some fun. And I'm assuming that you don't want anything long term, even if it is just a friendship—except for my friendship because I'm amazing—so here's the awesome thing. Celebrities don't say in one place, you know? So no matter what, this is temporary. Whether you're the best of friends or you sleep together, he'll be traveling the country soon to promote this movie or some other movie or whatever. So why not, right?"

"That's... oddly logical. I like that," I say with a small smile. Everything with Hudson is temporary. Every conversation, every awkward little note, it'll all be forgotten after this movie is done shooting because I'll move on to audition for another movie and Hudson will start traveling for talk shows and meet and greets to promote this movie.

"Well, that's because I'm a genius," She tells me after swallowing her hamburger bite. "And, you know, it'd be such an experience to hang out with a celebrity. That'd be a story that you can tell your children, your grandchildren even."

"Okay. So I'll... I don't know what I'll do," I mumble as I'm running my fingers through my hair and then I grab another fry from the little box of fries.

"Just wait until he talks to you again and if he does, just try not to push him away," She suggests. "He seems sweet and if he really wants to talk to you again then he'll come to you."

"This is so weird," I shake my head. "I've been working on movies for over a year now and this has never happened."

"Well then it's a good thing that I'm here to guide you in the right direction," Marina offers me a widening grin.

When we get back to the studio after our short lunch break, they're shooting a scene in the studio so we're told to be absolutely silent until we get into the back. The scene looks like it's Hudson and Dalton standing in a fake living room having a conversation.