Hello! It's me, the author.
A couple of days ago, I realised that today would be the one year anniversary of me publishing the first chapter of this book! Now, it has over 80k reads and has some rankings I'm pretty proud of, plus the best readers an author could ask for! And, it's all finishing in just a few more chapters. It's bittersweet, but I'm excited to finish.
To celebrate, and to thank you all for being so patient and kind through each hiatus - I've decided to add a bonus chapter.
This chapter is a prequel, if you will, from Joes POV. The day he met Charlee, and a little later. I have had the idea of writing a book from his POV (because I personally love reading the other love interests POV of my favourite romance books myself) for awhile, I even have a cover and title ready to go. But, there's so many other stories I want to tell. So, I'm not sure if I'll ever get around to that, but I can give you this at least.
Please enjoy, and thank you all again for being here, and entertaining me with your kind, and hilarious comments. This has been so much fun.
A small spoiler warning for Season 3, Episode 3 if you haven't seen it yet x
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I'm scrolling through my Twitter feed while I wait for Maya to finish her scene, but I'm not really paying attention to anything. I sigh, as I lock my phone and put it down, when I hear two very distinct, and unmistakable laughs.
It's Gaten and Maya.
"You can't have a ferret on set!" Gaten tells Maya loudly as they get closer.
"A ferret is the PERFECT set pet, and then I can take him home when we're done filming and bring him back next season!" Maya responds.
"Shawn will never go for it," Gaten laughs.
Maya and Gaten sink down into the couches next to me, relaxing.
"Surely we can have SOME kind of pet on set, it will boost morale!" Maya says.
"A pet would be way too distracting," I say, joining the conversation.
Maya rolls her eyes, and crosses her arms. I half expect her to pout too, like a child who's been told no to having candy for dinner.
"You two just hate fun," She says grumpily.
As Gaten and I laugh at Maya, her arms relax, and her gaze softens as she stares off behind me.
I turn around, and see Robert talking to a girl with long, curly dark hair. She's wearing jeans and a baggy black T-shirt, and paying careful attention to whatever Robert is telling her, but they're laughing about something too.
When I turn back to Maya, she is still staring.
"Who's that talking to Robert?" I ask her, trying to break her out of her trance.
She shrugs, and blinks as she comes back to reality.
"I don't know," Maya says.
"I think it's that new writer, she's meant to be starting today," Gaten says.
I give Gaten a nod, and turn around again to have another look. They're both walking towards us.
"Hey, you guys!" Robert calls out to us as he walks over, and we all greet him.
As he stands in front of us, the new writer stands next to him nervously. She picks at her fingers as she does quick glances at each of us, and presses her lips together. It's kind of cute.
"This is Charlee, she's joining the writing team today. I'm showing her around set before she has to go back to the offices," Robert explains as he introduces the quiet girl.
"Hey! I'm Gaten," Gaten introduces himself with a little wave.
"I'm Maya! Are you excited about the job?" Maya asks Charlee with a grin.
Charlee smiles shyly at Maya.
"Yeah I am! I have been watching the show for awhile, so it's cool to be apart of it," Charlee tells her.
Her voice is soft, and sweet. The sound is pleasant to my ears, and I find myself wanting to hear her talk again.
"I'm Joe. It's nice to meet you, Charlee," I say, giving her my most comforting smile to try help ease her nerves.
"It's nice to meet you too," Charlee's says in that sweet voice, and I congratulate myself for being able to get her to talk again.
She looks into my eyes as she talks to me. Hers are a golden brown that look like they're on fire with the way the light is hitting them, and I feel like I've lost my breath.
Robert looks over to Charlee, and it looks like he's going to leave and take her away. I'm not ready for her to go yet, though.
"Have you worked on any other shows?" I ask her quickly, before Robert can pull her away.
"No, actually. This is my first job in the industry, and the town. I just moved here," She explains.
I listen attentively, and nod as she speaks. I'm about to ask another question, when Robert touches her shoulder and speaks.
"We better get going, they're due on set pretty soon," Robert says to her.
I silently curse him for keeping us to our schedule. I'm not sure if I'll get to see Charlee again, and it feels like there's still so much to learn about her.
"You should come back and visit sometime!" I say before they turn away, in a last ditch effort to ensure our meeting again.
"Thanks, I might do that," She says, giving me another timid smile, then following Robert.
I smile to myself, proud of my efforts. I don't know what it is about her that is so intriguing to me, but I have a feeling that we will make good friends.
"What was that about?" Gaten asks, giving me a funny look.
"Huh?" I ask, confused.
"You seemed like, desperate for her to come back," He tells me.
Oh. Well, that's embarrassing. I didn't mean for it to be so obvious. Had she noticed?
"They seemed to get along really well, didn't they? Do you think Robert likes her?" Maya interrupts, thankfully changing the subject.
"I thought Robert, was gay," I mention, remembering the way he was staring at Dacre during the lifeguard scene at the pool.
Maya shrugs, and looks down. She's being strangely quiet right now. It feels wrong.
I get a text notification on my phone, and take the break in conversation as a chance to have a look at it, hoping Gaten forgets my weirdness.
Gemma
Won't be home for dinner tonight, seeing friends x
I look up, and brush my hair out of my face. I would have liked to have dinner with her. I hardly ever see her anymore. Sometimes it feels like we're roommates, more than boyfriend and girlfriend.
I send her a text back, asking if she'll be home late and look over to Gaten and Maya.
"Doing anything tonight?" I ask them.
*****
A few days later, and I'm on set waiting around for Dacre to finish for the day so we can go and do something. As he comes over to me, I stand up from the seat I was sitting on.
"What are you in the mood for?" I ask him.
Dacre licks his lips before answering, stalling.
"Do you mind waiting around a little longer? I told Noah I'd watch his scene. He's a bit nervous," He says to me.
I raise my eyebrows. Noah, along with all the kids, has more talent than a lot of adult actors I've worked with have. Plus, he's done some pretty full on scenes in the show already. Him being nervous for a scene is pretty out of character.
"Yeah of course. What scene is it?" I ask him, curious.
"The one where Will destroys Castle Byers after his fight with Mike," Dacre tells me.
I vaguely remember that scene from one of the read throughs. From what I remember, it was a pretty emotional scene.
I follow Dacre over to the set. It has what looks like 2 stages. One side has the inside of Wills castle easy for the cameras to see, and the other has the outside of the castle, ready for Noah to destroy.
Noah is sitting in his chair, with a blanket around him. Judging from his hair, and the rain curtains set up, he's wrapped in the blanket because he's cold from the wet.
When Noah spots us, he stands up and walks over to us.
"Hey, thanks for coming! I haven't started yet. They're sending one of the writers over to talk me through the whole thing, I just can't seem to get it. They should be here soon, but if you need to go it's alright," Noah says to us.
Dacre shakes his head, and puts his hand on Noah's shoulder, comforting him.
"It's fine, we have time! Don't worry about it, it happens to all of us," Dacre tells Noah.
Noah's face looks grateful. I think he admires Dacre a bit. I feel like a big brother to the kids on set, but I think they look up to Dacre in a different way. He's like the cooler brother of your friend, while I'm the over protective big brother. It works for us though.
"She's here! She's here! I brought her!" Roberts voice breathlessly yells out, as if he ran the whole way here carrying whoever it is himself.
I look over towards the sound of Roberts voice, and he is literally dragging the poor girl behind him. My mouth goes dry when I see the thick, dark and curly hair.
It's her.
I turn to say something to Dacre, but can see he's staring at her too. His throat tenses as he swallows.
"She's pretty," He says.
I try not to make it obvious just how much I've noticed that too.
"Yeah, I met her the other day when she was touring the set," I tell him.
Robert drags Charlee over to us, so that she can speak to Noah. He's standing in front of us, and for some reason, the dude is still holding her hand. Robert smiles at all of us, and I could swear his cheeks flush a mild red.
I look at his hand holding Charlees, and then I look at Robert smiling at Dacre, and I'm trying to figure out which person is making him blush.
Charlees eyes meet mine, and I feel as if I've been given an electric shock all of a sudden.
I shake my head to clear my thoughts. Why is it bothering me? Why am I acting jealous all of a sudden? I met this girl once, and I have Gemma. I need to sort myself out. I run my fingers through my hair.
I refocus onto what's happening in the room. Noah is explaining what he's struggling with in the scene, and Charlee is listening intently, giving Noah a warm smile. I can actually see his shoulders drop as he begins to relax. Just being near her is making him calm.
"The others were too busy to come, I'm sorry," Charlee apologises, as if she isn't good enough to be here.
Noah shakes his head, and tells her she's fine. Charlee's curls bounce softly, as she nods her head.
"So, I wasn't here when they wrote this scene. But, I've read everything they've written so far, and all the notes. You've got to remember that the emotion he's feeling in this scene isn't just the fight with Mike, and not getting to play Dungeons and Dragons. He's feeling the weight of everything he missed while he was stuck in the upside down - stuck in the castle in the upside down - while all his friends were going through something together, without him and growing up. When Will gets out of that, he wants things to be the same, but there's new people and interest, you know? The castle represents both his childhood, and the upside down in a way," Charlee explains. Listening to her interpretation of Will's frame of mind is interesting.
Noah nods his head, as he listens to Charlee's sweet voice intently.
"And he's not interested in girls at all yet, so he doesn't understand why they want things to change," Noah adds.
Charlee smiles, and it's contagious. I find myself smiling too, and I glance at Dacre and Robert. They're smiling along with her. She leans in closer to Noah.
"This hasn't been confirmed at all, but I secretly think he's in love with Mike too," She says in a conspiratorial tone.
Noah nods in a way that suggests he'd been thinking this too.
"You ready?" Charlee asks him.
Noah sighs.
"I'm not sure. It's just that, there's no dialogue in the scene," He tells her.
Charlee chews on the corner of her bottom lip, like she's considering something. I try not to spend too long watching her lips, and rub my hand over my face. Jesus christ, what is wrong with me?
"I could try show you, if you want?" She asks him.
Noah nods his head enthusiastically, and Robert leads her to Noah's mark, on the inside of the castle.
Charlee sits on the makeshift bed inside the castle, looking around at all the memento's on the walls. Photos, pages from Dungeons and Dragons guides, etc. Her eyes begin to water as her face falls, and her lip trembles as she picks up memento, after memento.
Eventually, Charlee throws the mementos to the ground and goes through the entrance. Tears are running down her face now.
"As you come out through the entrance, the sadness and despair that Will is feeling, turns to anger. He resents everything that's happened that I talked to you about, and then takes it out on the castle. Do you think you can do that?" Charlee asks Noah. He tells her he can and walks over to her.
"She's pretty good," Dacre whispers to me.
"She's amazing," I say.
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Well, that's it! I hope you enjoyed Joe's POV, and noticed the little hints I put in here of what is to come in their future.
I realised, I never really described Charlees appearance before! This was partly intentional, because I wanted everyone to be able to put themselves in her shoes and relate to her so to speak. But, I kinda needed some features for Joe to notice, so I added some of how I kinda see her here. How did you picture her?
I am hopeful that I should have another chapter ready for you this weekend! I better go now and work on that, haha. Bye now!