Abroad

Chapter 76

I give him a short smile and turn away. I down my drink and order another one. I feel his presence behind me.

"You look gorgeous tonight," he whispers in my ear, his lips against my skin cause me to shiver.

"Thanks," I whisper underneath my breath. He also says hello to Lizzie.

"Did you girls want to join us?"

"No-" I start my sentence but Lizzie cuts me off.

"Let's have one drink Char! One drink and we'll go back to the dancefloor." I nod and follow them. I didn't want to join him. We're in a good place right now and I don't want to ruin that. To my relief, there are no girls with him. We greet his friends and they give us a glass of champagne. It's actually really nice. I feel his gaze on me all the time. His eyes never leave me. Our eyes meet sometimes and my body responds to that. There's a familiar feeling in my stomach and further down. After two glasses of champagne I can't stand the tension anymore.

"Let's go dancing!" I thank Hero and his friends and drag Lizzie with me.

"Woa, the tension between you guys!" Lizzie says with a smile.

"Don't start."

"I saw it the other night as well. There's so much going on between you."

"I knew that was why you put us next to each other."

"You're so cute together," she says with a sweet voice.

"Stop it," I warn her.

"But-"

"Drop it Lizzie!" I hand her a new drink and march over to the dancefloor. I want to dance as soon as possible and take my mind off Hero. I'm not doing a very good job though and my eyes dart to his spot all the time. To my happiness his friends make sure that all girls stay away and we continue to do the same. Some boys tried to dance with me but Lizzie scared them off.

Around four am I'm exhausted. We walk to the coatroom and I wait for Lizzie by the door.

"You looked really good," I hear a familiar voice behind me. I turn around, startled and not knowing what to say.

"Uhmm, thanks," I stammer. To my horror I feel my blood rush to my cheeks which causes him to laugh.

"You look adorable when you're shy."

"Stop it!" I give him a slight push. He grins and my heart melts.

"Are you going back to the flat?"

"Yeah, we're exhausted."

"Give me a minute, I'm walking you back."

"Oh, you don't need to-" There's no point in arguing, he already left to find his friends.

The walk back isn't as awkward as I feared it to be. Once again, he gives me a small kiss on the cheek and walks to his room. Lizzie gives me a bright smile and wiggles her eyebrows. I give her a push and lock myself in my room. That night I fall asleep with a silly smile on my face.

The next couple of weeks time flies. We're busy with auditions, contracts and meetings. I'm very pleased with the actors we've managed to find. Sam was right: having Hero on board really made a difference. I see Hero quite a lot. I'm there for every rehearsal and every audition. I'm worried though, shooting hasn't even started yet and I can tell I'm already falling for him all over again but I have to act professional. I'm a producer and he's my actor. He broke my heart and I'm not ready to give it to someone again. Luckily I can keep myself busy and I try not to think about it too often.

Before I know what's happening the first day of shooting has arrived. I check my list for tomorrow and I'm so nervous. Everything should be fine. Lizzie did a great job with our sets, my crew installed all our equipment and the script is ready. The only thing that worries me is the location. The shop is located in a very dodgy area in Cardiff and our equipment is very expensive.

The next day I'm on set bright and early to double check. By the time everyone has arrived I'm even more nervous. I've never done this before and the next week will be the busiest, most exciting and most frightening week of my life. Lizzie gives me a small push and I step forward. I take a deep breath and try not to look into Hero's eyes. Let the game begin!

"Hello everyone and welcome on the first day of shooting Chaos."