A/N: Yes, I'm alive (but just barely.) After what has easily been the most stressful semester of my life, I've finally somewhat recuperated and am back to writing, so keep an eye out for more updates on this and Better Than Me in the next few weeks!
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Chapter 11: Rotten Chemistry
Once we were outside, Nora stood in between us as Christian and I looked at each other with what I could only describe as disdain. As far as he knew, we barely knew each other, yet the negativity was palpable to anyone unlucky enough to be stuck in the middle of this feud – in this case, Nora.
Most of what came out of our mouths next was immature and senseless, so I wasn't that surprised at Nora's lack of a response.
"One at a time, guys," she finally said.
I was just about to speak when Christian – shocker – interrupted me. He wasn't used to people speaking over him and still thought if someone else had the opportunity to speak their mind, it was because he allowed them to. And still, he wondered how we ended up out here in what was essentially a Nora-mediated time-out.
"Why should you speak first?" he asked.
"Haven't you heard of 'ladies first'?"
He snorted unattractively. "I would hardly call you a lady."
"Last I heard, you're not a lady at all."
Nora didn't seem to be in any hurry, despite the words that came out of her mouth next. "Are you two done now? Have you gotten it all out of your systems?"
"No" was clearly the wrong answer, so we went with "yes."
"Good. Now, we have work to do, and we need to get started," Nora said. "You two need to learn to control yourselves. If you want to fight, do it on your own time. Better yet, do it on screen. Use your anger for your scenes together. Okay?"
We muttered an unenthusiastic reply of acceptance and followed her back inside. By ignoring each other, Christian and I caused no more problems, and we were able to finish our introductions and begin the read-through, which was literally just reading through the script together for the first time.
My character had the first line, so I started us off. "No, no, no! I said gardenias. Gardenias! Is that so impossible to comprehend?"
"We have some very nice tulips and lilies available –"
"Did I ask for tulips or lilies? No, I didn't. I said gardenias. We want gardenias."
My character came across as a bitch initially, but it was kind of understandable, considering the way she'd been raised – literally fed with a silver spoon her entire life. Plus, it was better than playing a two-dimensional cardboard box of a character like Natalie, or a heroine with no backbone.
"Miss, you must understand –"
"There is nothing to understand," I said. "We want gardenias. Not tulips. Not lilies. Gardenias!"
"Sophia sounds a little stiff to me," Christian interrupted. "Give us some emotion, sweetheart."
I bit back the wave of expletives he deserved to have hurled at him and settled on, "Call me that again, and I'll show you emotion."
"Well, if you're so worried, Christian, how about we do some exercises to loosen up?" Nora suggested. I could actually see the evil twinkle in her eye. It was kind of admirable.
I'd never seen someone backtrack on their word faster than Christian did the second she said that. "Did I say stiff? I meant great. She sounded great to me."
"No, I think this is a good idea, actually. We're all doing these. Not just the cast. It'll be fun!"
Several complaints were heard from around the room, and I didn't blame them. Acting exercises sucked. Anyone who had ever taken any form of acting class could attest to that.
For the first exercise, we were forced to run around the room making animal noises for ten minutes. I kid you not. The second one was a bit better, but not by much. It was an improv exercise that required a partner. Just as I was about to partner up with anyone but Christian, Nora made us pair up together and made Blake go with Savannah.
Nora walked to the front of the room and clasped her hands together. "This exercise is called 'Yes And.' The first person in each pair starts by establishing the setting and the plot. The second person goes along with it. You have to keep agreeing with each other until it's time to stop. How about we have our protagonists show us how it's done?"
Blake pushed Christian and me to the front of the room, probably because he saw us hesitating, forcing us to be Nora's example.
I said the first thing that came to mind. "Standing next to Christian Ryder is a nightmare." If he had to agree with everything I said, I might as well make it interesting.
"Not exactly what I had in mind, but she did establish the setting and the plot in one sentence," Nora said.
Christian glared at me, going along with my statement only because he had to. Unless he was self-aware and realized he was trash. "Yeah, it's almost as much of a nightmare as talking to Sophia Hastings."
"Yeah, well, I wish I'd brought some nose plugs, because it's clear someone is overdoing the cologne again."
"Yeah, well, overdoing the cologne is better than not wearing anything at all. Clearly no one told you that."
Oh, he knew damn well I smelled like a cotton candy delight. He could do better than that.
Nora cut in just as we were about to go on, urging the rest of the cast to go off and try the exercise themselves. Christian and I were told to try the Mimicking exercise instead of continuing with this one.
As soon as she went away, Christian went for it. He sure didn't waste any time. "I'm Sophia Hastings, and I'm a raging, hormonal bitch," he said, using a girly, high-pitched voice. It was kind of terrifying. I hoped I didn't actually sound like that to other people.
Before I knew it, the words, "I'm Christian Ryder, and I'm a narcissistic piece of shit," were coming out of my mouth. I'd deepened my voice as much as I could, and for some reason, it came out sounding like Christian was a surfer dude.
"I take pride in being so much better than everyone else because I'm original and don't give into the norm," he said in that same terrible voice.
If not giving into the norm meant not giving into the hype surrounding him, then yeah, that was 100% accurate. I wasn't sure how that could be considered an insult.
"I take pride in sleeping with everything that has a vagina without contracting an STD," I shot back in my manly surfer dude voice. "Oh, wait, just kidding, I have one."
Christian glared at me. "I always seem to be on my period because I just don't know how to be in a good mood," he said, placing his hands on his hips, because all girls do that, of course.
"If I had a period, I would probably brag about the size of my tampons."
"I'm way worse, though, because I act like I have one in 24/7!"
We went on with this for who knows how long. Everyone else finished the "Yes And" exercise, the Mimicking exercise, and two other exercises while Christian and I continued the same one. Nora couldn't get us to stop by the end. Roasting each other was just too much fun.
Eventually, we had to get back to reading through the script. It took a while, but not as long as it might have had we not gotten all of those roasts out of our systems.
As soon as we were finished, everyone except Christian and me rushed out the door. The read-through had taken longer than most of the cast had planned. It was almost nine, which meant they were all late to something. Savannah had to go to the recording studio – she apparently sang now, so God help all of our eardrums – Blake had a meeting with his manager, and the creepy man who played Will and Eric's father said he needed to go "do something." No one asked because I doubted anyone wanted to know what he was up to. I know I didn't.
I was actually kind of surprised Christian hadn't left with them, but I wasn't curious enough to ask him why he was still there. I was ready to high-tail it out of there and reunite with my bed, not stick around to talk to him of all people. My hand was on the door, and I was just about to leave when I vaguely heard my name. I stopped in my tracks to listen.
"... Are we... going to... Christian?" was all I heard.
I turned around, trying to locate the source of the sound while avoiding Christian's gaze, but I could feel it on me. "I think they're talking about us."
"No shit."
I made my way over to the source of the sound and heard his heavy footsteps trailing behind me.
"Anne, I promise you, it'll be worth it," I heard Nora say. "I know it will. I have faith in them." I was pretty sure Anne was one of the producers, but I wasn't sure.
"I don't know," someone – Anne, I was assuming – said with a sigh. "I won't deny that they're both talented. I know it was Rachel's choice, but I can't help but wonder if it will work."
"It will work," Nora said. "We've never hired anyone under these circumstances before, but I have a good feeling about this. You just can't fake what they have."
I glanced over at Christian for some sort of clarification since he knew this business a hell of a lot better than I did – as much as I hated to admit it – but he seemed to be just as lost as I was. I was still reeling from the sheer fact I'd managed to break into the industry in such a short time. I hadn't had time to get to know other people in the industry or totally understand how it even worked.
"You know what? This is ridiculous. I'm going in," he said.
I was going to tell him it was probably better to just stay put and keep listening in, but it was too late. He had already barged through the door. Nora and Anne could see me crouching down by the door, so sneaking away and pretending I was never here wasn't really an option anymore.
"What were you saying, Nora?" Christian asked.
"I'm sorry," I mouthed to Anne and Nora as I walked in, all of a sudden feeling a lot like a mother whose toddler was running rampant while she stood idly by, unable to control him. It was an odd feeling, all things considered.
"You guys are quick," Nora said. "I thought this conversation would happen later on."
"What are you talking about?" Christian asked.
She pressed her lips into a firm line and paused. "Well, to be honest, Rachel cast the two of you because of your rotten chemistry."
"Our rotten chemistry?" I asked. "Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?"
"Usually, yes," Nora said. "But this is different. Will and Emma can't stand each other throughout a good chunk of the film. They can't even be in the same room without starting an argument."
Christian and I shared a knowing glance. My lucky casting was making more and more sense. Newcomers didn't just land lead roles like this right off the bat. They almost always started with smaller roles until they made the right connection or wowed the right person and landed something bigger. There had to have been something else behind my casting, and this explained it. They liked me because I didn't like Christian. Who would've thought my vendetta would actually propel my career forward one day?
Nora chuckled at us. "Sounds familiar, doesn't it? When Sophia came in and you two kept fighting, Rachel and I started talking, and we said, 'Well, who better to portray Will and Emma than two actors who literally can't be in the same room without arguing?' It was perfect."
"But this is acting," I said. "Shouldn't any capable actor be able to portray that?"
"They should, but that's not always the case. Rachel was concerned any girl she cast would fawn over Christian and be unable to truly embrace her character. It's happened before, and she wasn't planning on casting Christian because of that any more than Christian was planning on being a part of this film. But then you came into the picture."
It was kind of hard to believe she was talking about me like I was indispensable. Sure, the circumstances were kind of odd and I wasn't sure this was entirely a compliment, but it felt nice to be needed.
"You did the impossible," she continued. "You put Christian in his place and treated him like he was just any other guy, and you weren't even acting. You didn't know anyone was watching. It just came naturally to you."
Christian looked like he wanted to complain but stopped midway.
Nora didn't even bother to acknowledge him. "That's when we realized that with you by his side, we could cast Christian after all. I know the scenes where Will and Emma get along may be a bit tougher, but I know you guys can do it."
I was silent for a moment, taking everything she had just told me in. I still wasn't sure how to feel about it, but it didn't really matter how I felt about it. The only thing I needed to focus on was making the best of the chance I'd been given, regardless of how it came about.
No one said anything until I finally broke the silence, shaking my head. "Wow. Wouldn't that make a great headline? 'I got the lead role in Kidnap My Heart because I hate Christian Ryder.' How much of your fan base do you think you'd lose then? All of the hopeful actresses and celebrity wannabes?"
He didn't say anything, so I went on.
"That would pretty much be most of your fan-base. That's a lot of anti Ry-Turds, you know. Think you could take the heat?"
He turned to Nora and Anne, rubbing his face in frustration. "I have to deal with this for three months?"
Nora shrugged. "You knew what you were getting into when you agreed."
He let out a loud exhale. "Just shoot me now."
"Don't have to ask me twice. Where's the gun?"
By the look he gave me, I couldn't say he was as amused by my comment as Nora and Anne were.