It's Only Acting

Chapter 3 - The meeting

"Come on Ermal, you can do it. It's gonna be fine, no need to worry." Ermal stopped his steps in front of the big building.
"Oh God.. "
He took one last big breath, straightened his jacket and stepped inside.

It looked very chic, very modern, very...unlike him.

"Oh god, what if I don't fit in? They will look down on me, treat me like a no one." Ermal was now truly terrified. Did he make the right choice?

The lady behind the desk told him where he should be. 2nd floor, first door on the left. His legs began to shake when walking toward the elevator. His body was tense, his heart skipped twice the speed as it should and his hands were all clammy. Soon Ermal arrived at the 2nd floor and stood in front of the door. His hand was on the handle, but it stayed there.

The past few days Ermal submerged himself with images and scenarios in his head. Images of how the set will look like, how it will be to see yourself on a big screen. Scenarios about if his colleagues will like him, if he was gonna do a good job in acting the part, how the scenes with Mr. Romano would be.

There's no turning back now, Ermal opened the door and... ''woah.'' The room was really big and right in the middle stood this huge rectangular table with already a lot of people sitting behind it.

''Hi, you must be Ermal?'' ''Uhm yes! Nice to meet you.'' ''Nice to meet you too. So my name is Sofia, I will be the director on set. Make yourself at home, grab a drink and find your character nametag on one of the chairs.''

''Oh, yeah sure, thanks!'' Ermal was a bit overwhelmed with how lovely Sofia seemed to be. Maybe this wouldn't be as bad as he thought in the first place.

He got himself a glass of water and quickly found his spot at the table. He looked around at all the people, the room was already filled with loads of them. Some of them he recognized from commercials or little parts in other movies, but unfortunately no big stars yet. Then everybody became quiet, Sofia spoke up at the head of the table.

''Hello everybody, thanks for coming and welcome! As you all know, today we will walk through the script and tell you some more information about the coming events. First of all, is everybody here?''

People looked around, but all the eyes stopped at the seat next to Ermal's left. On the other side of the room the door swung open with a bang and every head turned around. ''I know, I know, I'm sorry alright? It was a hectic morning.''

''Nice to see you too Fabrizio, now please, take a seat over there.'' Ermal eyes went open wide. Isn't that...isn't that Fabrizio Moro? The bigger actor in Italy? No, right? Ermal looked at the seat net to him. It said ''Alessandro Romano'' Oh god, so this meant that Fabrizio Moro will be Mr. Romano. THE Mr. Romano with whom Ermal has to play an affair with. Oh god, help,

The man made his way over to Ermal, not looking around the room but only focusing to the chair with a grumpy face. He looked intimidating to Ermal. You wouldn't want to mess with this guy, he thought. Fabrizio sat down next to Ermal mumbling a quick ''hi'' and turned his attention to Sofia.

''Now that we are complete, let's begin!''

The goal of this whole meeting was to let everyone say their parts in the script, reading the entire story out. The first few scenes Ermal wasn't part of, but now it was his turn to read his bit. Luckily for him this wasn't something scary like an intimate scene.

[Gigi] ''Mr. Romano? I'm afraid your appointment on Wednesday is to cancelled by the Chinese company. Should I reschedule it to next Monday?''

[Alessandro] ''Yes please, thank you Gianluigi.''

[Gigi] ''Please, you can call me Gigi, I like that better.''

[Alessandro] ''Sure, thanks Gigi. You're also allowed to call me Alessandro you know. We might as well leave the formal thing if we're working closely together.''

Now was the moment that Gigi and Alessandro shared some intimate eye contact, looking each other up and down with a spark in their eyes. At least, that's what the script says. But Fabrizio isn't looking at him. He's only looking at the script in his hands.

Those hands, another thing Ermal finds very intimidating about this man. One hand has an eye with a sun around it tattooed onto the skin. The other hand, on the knuckles it says ''pace''.

He probably would have more tattoos, Ermal thought. God, this man looked really tough. His clothes, his posture, the tattoos, the face. It wouldn't surprise Ermal if he already murdered many innocent people with his bare hands and his killer glance.

Was Ermal afraid? Oh yes, definitely.

Half an hour had passed, and now it was time for the first sex scene to be read out loud. This is probaly going to be really, really, REALLY embarrassing. He had to say things like ''harder Alessandro, you feel so good, fuck Ale-.'' And Fabrizio too had the same kind of lines. To his surprise when he looked over to Fabrizio, he saw that the man was slightly blushing.

But in the end it turned out better than he initially thought. He had fun with all the other people, they all laughed a few times at the scripted jokes and the sex scenes...well, that's just something he needs to adjust to. But he was sure it's gonna be alright. At least, reading it out loud. Acting it out was a whole other story.

With confidence he walked out of the room, saying goodbye to everyone. The meeting was over and next week will be the first day on set. Ermal was looking forward to it, luckily his first few scenes weren't sex related so he would be alright. Now standing outside the building, Ermal reached inside of his jacket pocket to fish out a cigarette and a lighter. He leaned against the wall, the sun shining in his eyes with a clear blue sky above him. It was a beautiful summer day, something Ermal could really appreciate. Even the feeling of one single sunbeam upon his face made him feel some kind of peace inside.

''Got a lighter?''

Ermal shook his head, trying to take himself back to reality. He blinked once, twice and then his vision became clear. It's Fabrizio standing next to him, looking at him with questioning eyes. Somehow it became difficult to make up words and putting them in a logical sentence.

''Oh uh, uhm, I- yeah. Sorry yeah, I mean...yes,'' Fabrizio smiled at him, something Ermal didn't see during the meeting. But it made him look a lot less intimidating.

''Sooo, the lighter?'' ''Oh yes, here.'' Ermal handed him his lighter, looking at those tattoos again.

It was silent for a bit, both men just staring into the distance while smoking up their cigarette. Ermal didn't know what to say to be honest, he figured it'll be better until Fabrizio would say the first thing.

''Looking forward to next week?'' ''Yeah, I do. I'm excited to see how everything will work.'' ''Is this your first job as an actor?'' ''Yeah.'' Ermal looked down, putting one hand in his pocket. Fabrizio must think ''why the hell did they cast him for the job?''.

''Don't worry, every first job is nerve wrecking. But Sofia is really kind and understanding, and if you need any tips you can ask me.'' ''Thanks.'' Ermal showed a small smile. ''Oh sorry, I really need to go now. Good luck with learning your lines. I'll see you next week!'' Fabrizio walked away, looking back once more to wave at him. Ermal waved back, gobsmacked by what just happened.

Fabrizio was so... not scary or intimidating. This whole image of Fabrizio he had made up at the meeting changed within two minutes of talking to the man. Something inside Ermal made him want to get to know this mysterious Fabrizio better. Well, he shouldn't worry about that. Ermal is sure he will get to know Fabrizio better in the coming weeks. Maybe even more than he thinks in the first place.

I would very much appreciate a comment!!! Everything is fine, I'm just very curious what everybody thinks about my writing...if it's worth the effort or if could better stop xd