Somehow James convinced me to come to set again on Saturday. School that week had been exhausting as it was all prep for finals next week, trying to avoid Rowan as much as possible, and I wasn’t exactly up for waking up at a ridiculous hour in the morning. But here I was, slumped in the back seat with James asleep on my shoulder. Mom opted out of this excursion, claiming she had plenty of articles to write and submit, while Dad was spending the day out doing research. But because of their jobs, they got to sleep in and, for that, I was insanely jealous.
The car pulled into the lot’s parking area and I nudged James off my shoulder and said good bye to Rick. I had the lot pretty much memorized which was good considering to how often I had wandered off and gotten lost and I was barely paying attention as I made my way to the Zone. The lot was fairly inactive as all the actors got their hair and makeup done. As I entered the Zone, I saw three new faces sitting close together on the couch. They were all fairly young girls, the oldest looking girl couldn’t have been more than 12 years old, however I could tell they all seemed extremely comfortable sitting there. Two of the girls were playing hand games, the other reading a book.
“Good morning, Camille!” Finch fluttered by me, stopping in front of the coffee machine.
“Hey Lisa, how are you?” I joined her, grabbing a cup for myself.
“Good! Busy. Getting prepared for when we go to France. Just a few weeks now!” She did seem a little more stressed than usual, her hair frazzling out of her usually perfect style.
“France?” I squeaked.
“Yes, of course. Didn’t James tell you?”
“No...” I said carefully. Maybe he had mentioned it?
“Oh, well next month we’re going to Paris for shooting the next segments. Should be exciting, but it’s a lot of planning.” She smoothed her hair back with her hand and sighed, turning to me, “And how are you?”
“I’m good. School is a bit exhausting.” That was the understatement of the century. At least APs were done.
“Well. Remember to get lots of sleep and drink lots of tea! Now have you met the Hawthornes?” I looked at her quizzically.
“Who?”
“The Hawthornes! Liam’s little sisters. They’re just over there. Let me introduce you to them.” I followed wordlessly, gripping my coffee. They all looked slightly like Liam, however there was a different look that they all shared that couldn’t be found in Liam. I couldn’t pinpoint it, but they didn’t look quite like him.
“Girls, this is Camille! She’s James’ little sister.” I cringed. How many times in my lifetime have I been introduced that way?
“Hi, I’m Victoria,” the girl who was reading said. Her hair was dark brown, similar to Liam’s and her eyes just as dark, but instead of the permanently tan skin, she was pale and freckled.
“I’m Alice. And this Zoe. We’re both eight.” Their hair was blonde. And I mean really blonde. Their eyes, though, were brown.
“So you’re twins?” I asked, bending forward to eye level as my babysitting training kicked in. They both nodded enthusiastically.
“But I’m older,” Alice said. Zoe frowned.
“We know, Alice.”
“They never stop talking about it,” Victoria said, looking over her book.
“And how old are you, Victoria?”
“Twelve.” I wanted to high-five myself for being right.
“She likes to act like she’s cool,” Zoe said. Victoria glared at the twins.
“Oh really? Why’s that?” I asked.
“She’s always reading. She doesn’t play with us anymore,” Alice told me.
“Well, reading’s not bad! What book?” Alice and Zoe scooted over so I could sit between them as Victoria looked at me skeptically. She then showed me the cover as her way of telling me.
“Shakespeare!” I exclaimed in disbelief. “Wow! I’m impressed. It’s not even Romeo and Juliet.”
“Liam says it’s good to read plays. So I started on Macbeth.”
“What part are you at?”
“It’s when Macbeth doesn’t get the award. I think... I’m not sure, but he’s really angry.”
“Macbeth terrified me.” I recounted on going to the play my eighth grade year when James was Banquo. I was definitely not a fan of him being drenched in fake blood and having his best friend kill him. Not cool.
“You’ve seen Macbeth?” Victoria’s eyes widened.
“Yeah, I was barely older than you and it scared me to death. I went to bed with nightmares. I’m pretty sure I cried at some point.” I admitted, not caring that I was very well scaring the girls surrounding me.
“Wait... you cried?” I snapped my head to see a smirking Liam off to the side.
“It was terrifying! All the killing and ghosts and, let’s be real, there was a ton of blood -”
“Cam, could you please stop scaring my sisters?” I looked at the twins’ horrified faces.
“I’m sorry. Just... don’t read that play until you’re a bit older.” I smiled, hoping it would make them relax, then I slid over to where Liam was standing.
“Sorry ‘bout that. Just wanted Victoria to tell me about her book.”
“Nah, it’s alright. She likes it when people can talk about books with her.”
“Yeah, everyone has that one thing that they can’t shut up about. For me, art supplies. You; yourself.”
“Hey! Not true!” He defended, but he was laughing. “But seriously, Victoria hardly talks to anyone anymore because she’s always reading. So, thank you.” He was acting as if it was the impossible task to get his sister to talk to people.
“It’s nothing. I just asked her about her book.”
“And I’m pretty sure she’s going to want to be your best friend now.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m good with children.” I snorted at my own comment, remembering all the days of babysitting where the kids would practically kill me and I couldn’t gain control of them. I took a course! I wasn’t evil! Why did they hate me? “Ok, sometimes I’m good with children. Depends on the day. And the child.”
“Did you snort at your own comment?” Liam asked, an eyebrow raised.
“Yeah, so, what’s wrong with that?”
“You are a strange human being, Camille,” he snickered to himself.
“And you’re mean.”
“Just stating a fact.” He shrugged. I lightly slapped his arm.
“Jerk,” I muttered.
“Let’s call this a tie after you called me egotistical.”
“But you are!” I replied.
“Now who’s the jerk?” I stuck my tongue out and Liam merely chuckled.
“Liam?” We turned to where the girls were sitting, watching us intently.
“Yeah, Alice?” It was adorable how quickly his voice softened when he talked to his sisters.
“Are you and Camille dating yet?” I wish I didn’t take a sip of my coffee at that moment, because I nearly choked on it. Yet? What does she mean ‘yet’?
“No, Ali, we’re not dating,” Liam said. Unfortunately, I thought to myself.
“But you fancy her, don’t you?” Zoe asked, wide eyed. I was glad Liam was in front of me, so he couldn’t see me blushing like crazy.
“We’re friends, Zo.” Ouch.
“Camille, do you fancy Liam?” He turned to face me, a familiar smirk playing across his face as I swallowed my uneasiness.
“Like he said, we’re only friends.”
“They like each other, they’ll be together in no time.” Victoria concluded, barely glancing over her book.
“Tori!” Liam snapped back to look at his sister.
“You know it’s true!” Liam was abut to retort when Finch entered the room.
“Liam! There you are! Get to set now,” I felt like I never heard Finch really get angry, but at least she could be stern when she needed to.
Liam turned to me, throwing a glance to his sisters. “Whatever they say, don’t pay attention.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just... don’t listen to them. I gotta go, see you later!” He waved and ran off behind Finch leaving me and his sisters behind.
“He fancies you so much,” Victoria said from behind me and I whipped around, my eyes wide.
“No he doesn’t,” I said quickly. It was something I didn’t want to think about. If I got that mentality, and then he didn’t end up liking me, I’d just feel stupid. The last thing any girl needs to deal with is rejection.
“Yes he does. He’s told us that there was a girl that he fancied that we didn’t know,” Alice began.
“And that she didn’t work with him,” Zoe continued on and I felt my heart racing. Stop it, stop feeding the fire.
“So that leaves you. We just met you and you don’t work with him,” Victoria concluded.
“That could be a lot of girls though,” I tried reasoning with them. Once little girls got ideas in their head, it was difficult to crush.
“That or he actually told us that he fancied a girl named Camille.” My heart hammered in my chest. “Hi Camille.” Victoria waved at me to prove her point and I shook my head vigorously. He told me not to listen to them. Don’t listen to them. Maybe he knew they’d try to convince me that and it’s actually false! But what if it is true and he just wanted to tell me himself?
“I’m going to go,” I announced and I turned without another word out of the Zone.
I wasn’t quite sure where I was going, an all-too-familiar feeling with me and the lot. I didn’t feel like watching on the sidelines yet - not to mention I didn’t know where they were filming - and there was no way I was going back to the Zone. My coffee was still clutched between my fingers, keeping my hands warm as I wandered the lot, mind still racing about the previous scene I witnessed.
There was a chance Liam liked me. But there was an equal or greater chance that he didn’t like me at all and that’s why he didn’t want me to listen to his sisters. But of course I did listen to his sisters and that’s what was driving me insane! They told me Liam fancied me and Liam told me not to listen. There was no more to this conversation or what happened, but I was still enormously curious as to why Liam would tell me not to listen and the thought continued to run through my head as I weaved through trailers.
“Wandered off again?” My head snapped up to find Ava walking out of her trailer, looking particularly dirty, with holes in her clothes and a oozing and bloody mess taking over her shoulder.
“What happened to you?”
“Blew up a truck, no big deal.” She shrugged nonchalantly as she continued walking, I’m assuming towards where they were filming, and I followed her, knowing it’s not a good idea to get lost in the sea of trailers and buildings.
“Can I touch it?”
“Maybe later, this took a few hours to get looking right.” I grimaced at the thought of sitting in a chair for hours as they applied fake blood and raw flesh material to get that look. “But what are you up to? You looked a little stressed.”
I shook my head. “It’s really nothing. I just met Liam’s sisters, that’s all.”
A flash of recognition went through her eyes as she smiled knowingly.
“Did Tori give you the cold shoulder? She does that.”
“Quite the opposite. I asked her about her book and she liked that. And then they started telling me that Liam...” I groaned and pushed my hair out of my face.
“That Liam what?”
“That Liam fancies me.” Ava smiled triumphantly.
“Well of course he does, why wouldn’t he?”
“Shut up, don’t encourage this.”
“So wait, what exactly happened? I know the need to dissect a conversation.”
I told her everything that happened, not necessarily that it was a difficult ordeal. By the end, she was laughing at my expense and my embarrassment with Liam’s sisters and how I had no idea to brush away the situation.
“He fancies you so much,” she said between laughs.
“But then again, he said don’t listen to his sisters!”
“Because he wants to tell you himself, obviously! Cam, it doesn’t take someone a telescope to see that this was coming from miles away.”
“Stop. Encouraging it.”
“Never. One day you’ll realize it just like the rest of us,” she said, driving her point into me with a finger directed towards me.
“Or you’ll all realize you are wrong when I am sobbing in a corner with ice cream and some disgusting chick flick.”
“Hey babe!” James said, throwing his arm over Ava’s shoulder and planting a quick kiss to her cheek. “Cam, what are you doing over here?”
“She wandered again. Shall we take her back to the Zone?” Ava asked, wrapping her arm around his waist.
“Yeah! Oh, Liam’s little sisters are here. I’m sure you’d like them.”
“Yeah, we met,” I said, following James and Ava as they started moving towards the Zone.
“Oh really? And?”
“They’re nice, I guess,” I said, shrugging. I didn’t feel like telling James about the earlier conversation.
“They said that Liam fancied Cam.”
“Ava!” I screeched, eyes wide as I looked at her.
“What?” She said. “Like you wouldn’t tell James about the conversation anyhow.”
“Wasn’t exactly planning on that time being now,” I muttered, stuffing my hands in my pockets.
“Let me guess, you’re freaking out now?” James asked and I gave him a quick look and nodded. “Just don’t worry about it. Girls overanalyze things anyway.”
“I can’t just be like, k imma be chill now, bye.” I rolled my eyes. “That’s not going to happen, James.”
“Well, then have fun dying from overload of emotions. We have to go shoot our scene now. Ready babe?” James asked Ava and she nodded as they turned away from me. I looked to my left and found the Zone. Huffing, I made my way in the building where the three girls still hadn’t moved from the couch. One of the interns was doting on them, but it didn’t seem like she minded very much that her job today entitled making sure the children were settled.
“Camille! You’re back!” Victoria said as I made myself visible when I walked towards the coffee. My mug was already finished and I was in dire need of some more. The twins looked up from their spot and gestured for me to come over.
“Nuh-uh, no way am I sitting near you three. You’re messing with my mind.” The girls laughed at me.
“We’ll stop, we promise,” Alice said and I narrowed my eyes.
“Please?” Zoe asked, giving me killer puppy dog eyes. Dang those cute, little children.
“Fine.” I moved over to the couch, sitting between Alice and Zoe as they looked at me expectantly. “What?”
“Liam told us that you can draw. Can we see?” Zoe asked. I didn’t see any point in fighting their adorableness, so I pulled out my sketchbook and started flipping through them slowly.
They never said anything as I went through each picture. They were quiet and attentive, their eyes big as they looked at each sketch. I tried to pass through the ones I thought were ugly quickly, but if I turned anything to fast, they would place their hands on the page, stopping me from doing so. Victoria, for awhile, stopped reading to look at the drawings and I could feel my face burning from all this attention. By the time we reached the end of my drawings, they looked up at me with another look of expectation.
I laughed at their expressions. “What now?”
“Can you draw us?” Zoe asked.
I shrugged. “Why not? Sit there. Do you want to just sit and smile or...”
“I’ll read,” Victoria told me, not glancing up from Macbeth.
“I don’t want to just smile,” Alice told me.
“Here, face each other and pretend you’re playing those hand games that you were doing earlier.” Both the girls moved to sit cross-legged from each other on the couch and I put their hands in the position I wanted them in. Deeming the staging well enough, I move to the chair facing them, grabbing my pencil, and began drawing.
Time passed quickly as I got in my own zone. I was amazed at how still the little girls could sit and for so long, but I tried to finish them first so they could move around. Victoria wasn’t making any plans on moving any time soon. When I told Zoe and Alice that they could move, they instantly jumped up to see my work. Being too distracted by my work, I had no objections to them standing directly behind me, peering over my shoulder. My pencil etched over the paper, the lines curving and interweaving to make the shading look realistic.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t particularly proud of this piece of work. Everything looked identically to how I saw it and it made me extra careful to not screw anything up. I could feel my hand beginning to cramp and my energy draining by the time I was finishing up and I was extremely excited that I was actually in love with it. Signing it in the corner with the date, I dropped my pencil and cracked my knuckles to relieve the tension.
“Are you finished?” I heard one of the twins ask.
“I think so. How do you like it?” I held my arms out, holding it in front of me as they gathered up at my sides. Victoria got up from her spot on the couch and stood behind me to look as well.
They didn’t say anything at first, and that scared me. What if they didn’t think it was as well done as I did?
“Hey, girls, it’s lunch time, didn’t you hear?” I turned to see Liam, Carson, and Gemma coming in the Zone.
“Liam, you have to see this!” Alice snatched the drawing before I could tighten my grip or hide it away.
“Alice, no!” I said as she handed it over to Liam. Carson and Gemma leaned over so they could get a better look at it and I could feel my cheeks heat up.
“Dang. Who did this?” Carson asked.
“Camille,” Liam said quietly. I couldn’t read his expression as he looked at it. He knew I could draw, so I don’t know why his look was so different this time than the rest.
“Cam, you draw?” Gemma asked, sounding extremely surprised I had any sort of skill.
“That would be a yes,” I replied, trying not to give her the satisfaction of demoting me to something worthless.
“Can I keep this?” Liam asked, holding the drawing up and I felt like taking it back and pretending no one had seen anything. I was not a fan of this attention.
“You already have the octopus, what more could you need?”
“This is of my sisters though. My parents would love this.”
“If Liam doesn’t get it, can I have it?” Zoe asked from her spot on the couch.
“Yeah, Zo, you can have it.” I smiled at her, quickly grabbing my sketchbook, ripping the drawing out, and folding it carefully. On the back, I scribbled a quick message to the twins and then placed it in her hand.
“Are we getting lunch or no?” Gemma asked, tapping her foot impatiently for the added affect that she was bored.
“Yeah, let’s go.” Carson and Gem left the Zone, clearly dying from hunger as Liam approached me. He looked weird, like he was sort of sick. It was kind of a pained expression, but he looked happy at the same time. I couldn’t place that look and when he suddenly hugged me, I was even more confused. It was a tight quick hug and I barely had a moment to hug him back before he released me.
“Thanks so much, Cam,” he said and I looked at him in surprise.
“For what exactly?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“For drawing them, for hanging out with them, I don’t know. Just thank you.”
“You’re welcome? They’re nice, a little devious, but nice.”
His eyes widened in worry. “Oh my gosh, what did they tell you?”
“Nothing you haven’t heard before, I’m sure.” He didn’t look any better, but he shook it off.
“Alright, lunch?” He asked.
“Yeah, let me just grab my phone,” I turned away, trying to find my phone, when Victoria passed me and whispered quietly, “You fancy each other so much, it’s not even funny anymore.”
“Oi!” I whipped up, looking at her as she walked away laughing.
“Zo, Alice, lunch time, let’s go,” she called and they scampered after her as I grabbed my phone and walked out with them, Liam following, but I couldn’t stop my mind from racing to every wild conclusion about what had happened that morning.
I didn’t know what was happening and that thought genuinely terrified me.
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Hello lovelies!
LOOK AT THIS! I UPDATED AND IN LESS THAN A MONTH I'M SO HAPPY! Not to mention CAMILIAM ACTION. And for those who are wondering, Java (James and Ava) are going strong. Boo yah.
So what are your thoughts? I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you did, let me know! If you didn't like it, let me know that too! Because feedback is a good and necessary thing :)
If you'd like, follow me on Twitter @KateWells7 or Instagram at the same name.
I'm also super excited because Christmas break starts in less than two weeks which means SLEEP AND WRITING FOR DAAYYYYSSS.
I hope you all have a lovely day and stay classy my friends,
-Katie