Cold (Mads Mikkelsen Love Story)

18. Personal space

Patricia was sitting with Ridley Scott and two other producers, Simon Kinberg and Mark Huffman. They were trying to set up an amount to give to Patricia but her mind was back to someone else.

"So, how much did Spike offer you for the script?" Simon asked with a very serious look.

"A million dollar, I mean, he's paying me in installments. He got one installment paid this month actually," Patricia replied. I don't really like Simon's vibe, what's up with this man?

"Is he paying you anything after the movie goes to the theatres?" Simon asked again.

"Not that I know of, I don't think so," she replied as politely as possible.

"That is why he is paying that much to you. Got it," the man sipped on his wine.

"Look, we have two offers for you. We can either go for a nice round four or you can get two now and then get five percent from what we get from the box office," Mark informed the young writer. This man is a lot better than the other one. Guess I'll have to deal with people of all sorts.

"I am leaning towards the latter option more but make that ten percent," Patricia told her end of the bargain.

"That is too much," Simon protested.

"I am sure. If not you, I am sure I can get other producers on this script of mine. I know how good it is so I wouldn't have trouble finding people," Patricia was almost about to get up from her chair when Ridley stopped her.

"Simon, we have a good script at hand. It's not that hard to give her what she wants. We have a good budget on this," Ridley pressed on the unimpressed man.

"Alright, we'll pay you in cheque now then," Simon quickly brought out the chequebook. "Don't you have an assistant or anything? This is very unprofessional," the man commented.

"I like dealing with my own things my own way," Patricia replied.

"We have a deal then. I'll have to change a few parts of the paper then. I'll send it to you by tomorrow afternoon, is that okay?" Mark asked with a smile.

"Of course, not a problem at all. By the way, who do you have in mind for my character Mark Watney?" Patricia asked while taking the cheque from Simon.

"We were thinking Matt Damon actually. We pitched him the first few things of the script. His manager will let us know in an hour or so," Ridley replied. "Are you excited?" he asked.

"I am. It's honestly like a dream come true," Patricia smiled wide.

"Your attitude really doesn't call for it," Simon muttered under his breath. I heard that, asshole.

Patricia glared at him but got her hand lightly squeezed by Ridley. In the next half an hour, it was confirmed that Matt was going to play his part and Ridley planned the things he wanted to do for the film with Patricia's permission. This was the part she loved. They shook hands at the end of it and Patricia knew that she had to get in the good books of this man who seemed to hate her so much. What's with people hating me without even knowing me? Is it my resting bitch face?  Ridley walked her out to her car and she hugged him.

"Don't worry about Simon. He'll come around. He has the tendency to be very critical with newcomers. I am sure you can make him think otherwise," Ridley assured her.

"Hopefully," she breathed out with a weak smile.

She got into her car and drove back to her apartment. She hadn't seen Mads the whole day because she informed him about the weird 11 A.M in the morning meeting with the producers. He replied with a smiling emoji and okay which confused her if he was unhappy or okay with the situation. Patricia wanted to know what to call their new developed sexual attraction. She figured he liked her but to what extent? She liked him and she knew it was beyond just the physical attraction. Is he confused about everything? She wouldn't blame him if he did. He had two adult children and was recently divorced. He was already dealing with a lot of emotional stress and she didn't want to add anything to him now. Natalie was in Toronto for a business trip for a week so she rarely stayed home. She just wanted to save money, that witch! She closed the front door behind her and sat down on her couch. She remembered the morning conversation that she had with Natalie.