A Little Less than Famous (24 page)

“Listen, Mikey, I’ve told you. I’m not going to tell you. There is literally nothing you can say or do or promise that will make me say anything.” I glared at him, daring him to go farther.

“I’ve already tried making promises with you,” Jake said, sitting back in his chair. “And
you know what? Y
ou wanted nothing to do with them. I’m done with making promises. And don’t call me Mikey; it’s Detective.”

“Well, I wanted nothing to do with your promises anyway,
Detective,
so you lost that bargaining point,” I said.

Jake ran his hands through his hair and again, I felt a pull in the pit of my stomach that had nothing to do with the scene and everything to do with him: Jake Kennedy. “I don’t know what to do with you. You need…you need to understand! Your brother is going to go to jail if you don’t tell us something, anything! Is that what you want, for David to go to jail?”

“Of course I don’t want him to go jail!” I yelled back at him, standing up. “But the idiot doesn’t have anybody; I’m the only one he’s got and who the hell else is going to protect him if I don’t?”

“You can’t protect him by keeping quiet, Charlotte. You can’t! Keeping quiet is only going to send him straight to jail,” Jake said, standing up as well, his hands gripping the table.

“And cut!”

I blinked a couple times and turned to Josh, who had a beaming smile on his face. “Great, just great. I think we’ll run through the scene one more time but you did great, both of you.”

Jake leaned across the table and placed a quick kiss on my forehead before I could even react, sending a jolt through my body. “Good job,” he said. “And thanks.”

I frowned up at him. “Thanks?”

“For helping me with my lines,” he said, smiling. “You’re 100% responsible for how great that scene was. He came around the table and wrapped an arm around my waist. “So, seriously, thank you.”

“Yeah, definitely,” I answered. “They say you should always learn from the best.”

Jake raised his eyebrow but Josh came over before he could respond. “All right, let
’s run this through one or two more times
and then we’ll break for lunch.”

It was the last week of November when my first episode on
Crime Scene
aired. I refused to watch it with anyone around, though both Jake and Luke
even
wanted to throw a viewing party in Jake’s theater room. Instead, I holed up in my bedroom, the covers of my bed pulled up to my chin, waiting for the moment where I could yank them over my head in embarrassment. I’d filmed three episod
es as Charlotte and only had three
more to film before her story would finish and I wouldn’t be necessary anymore. Josh, Jake and Cam had been singing praises my way the entire time.

Andrea, on the other hand, was n
ot pleased. I was doing well on
the set, the crew and cast were all super nice to me,
and
pictures of Jake and I kept app
earing in random magazines.
Andrea was pissed, especially since most of her press was negative. Her husband was spending a lot of time back home
, in Scotland
, supposedly because his mother was really sick. Despite what seemed to be a legitimate excuse, the press was eating it up with rumors of an impending break-up, especially with Jake and I appearing all over the place, looking pretty happy.

The show played every Thursday at eight p.m. I had gone downstairs into the diner, fixed myself a sandwich and then went upstairs to my room. Luke had the game on but I knew he was waiting for the show to start. He smiled and shook his head as I went into my room and shut the door.

After the show, I sat on my bed, not exactly sure how to feel. I felt like I had done a good job but that didn’t necessarily mean I had actually done a good job. I had just turned off the TV when I heard my phone vibrating on my desk. I grabbed it and immediately answered it. “Hello?”

“You were fantastic.”

“You really think so?” I asked. I shook my head. “I mean, of course I did.”

I could hear Jake’s laughter easily through the phone. “You are one of a kind.”

“I know,” I said, smiling. Luke peeked his head in and, noticing that I was on the phone, gave me a thumbs up.

“Seriously, Kinley, you rocked it. People are going to be talking about you tomorrow,” Jake said. “ I am so proud of you!”

Jake wasn’t lying. The next morning, I was mentioned on several of the morning
news and talk shows and Adrienne
called me to tell me that last night’s ratings of
Crime Scene
were the highest they had been since last season. My phone was ringing off the hook the next few days and I had to shut it off during business hours to keep it from interrupting me while I was taking people’s orders.

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Today was the day that I would film my first ever kissing in the history of my short career as an actress. I shouldn’t have been nervous. Obviously, I had kissed him before, considering that most nights I had spent at his house were nights spent in between those fancy silk sheets on his bed. I had never kissed anyone for an audience though, or in front of a camera and people kept telling me that it was extremely awkward.

“You’re really nervous, aren’t you?” Jake asked, as we walked down to the set.

“Absolutely not,” I said, firmly.

He reached out and took my hand for a brief moment. “It’s not a big deal, I promise. You have been doing an awesome job and everyone loves you. Just keep doing what you’re doing.”

“Right, of course,” I answered, as we walked on set. Wendy came out of nowhere and started straightening my hair.  She looked way more nervous than I felt. “I’m fine, Wendy.”

“Look, we can barely keep our hands off each other so I’m sure you’ll be fine in front of the camera,” Jake whispered in my ear. I felt a shiver go down my spine and I resisted the urge to kiss him already.

“You guys ready?” Josh asked, walking over to us. We both nodded and we walked over to the set. Today we were filming the first time that Charlotte and Mikey, inside Mikey’s apartment. Things were already set up and I noticed Andrea out of the corner of my eye, even though I knew she wasn’t filming any scenes today.

Josh came over, gave us a bit of a pep talk, and got us both in our places. I stood by a table in the apartment, where I was supposed to stare at a photograph of Mikey and Maggie together. Jake was on the other side of the room. Josh counted down and the scene began.

“Why are you here, Charlie?” Jake said, softly.

I kept my eyes away from him. Charlotte was trying hard to fight Mikey. She had feelings for him, especially because he was fighting so hard to protect her brother. However, she actually wanted to be the good person and respect his relationship with Maggie. “You tell me, Mikey. I told you, I could have just stayed in a hotel. You offered me your spare room and I’m here.”

“You could’ve said no.” Jake’s voice was tight. Mikey too was trying hard to resist. He was both pulling her in and pushing her away.

“Right,” I said. I turned to him, my face hopefully expressing all the desire that Charlotte was supposed to be feeling. “But I didn’t say no, Mikey. So now what?”

“I guess I can make up the guest room…”

I shook my head. “Mikey…” I said, softly.

He shook his head; once, twice, three times. “No, stop, Charlotte. We both know that this can’t happen.”

I crossed the room over him and stood right in front of him. I took a deep breath, glad that the script called for that because I needed it. I placed my palms on his chest and stepped closer to him.

“You should really stop,” he whispered, loud enough to be picked up.

“I don’t see you stopping me,” I whispered back, my palms snaking up his chest and around his neck to pull him down toward me. Our lips met and suddenly, I forgot that I was only supposed to kiss him once. I pulled my hands tighter around his neck and pressed my lips tight to his. God, he was a fantastic kisser. I was actually getting paid to kiss him and he was kissing me back like we were back in his bedroom, instead of on set. On set. Shit.

I pulled away, and looked over at Josh, who had an amused look on his face. “Oh my god, I am so sorry,” I said, feeling incredibly embarrassed.

“That was a great kiss, McKinley, honestly. But remember, Charlotte kisses him very lightly first and then Mikey initiates the rest.”

“I know, I remember,” I said, feeling ashamed. I saw Wendy, who was trying very hard not to laugh and saw that Andrea was looking both pissed and satisfied at the same time.

“Let’s try that again, okay? From your last line, McKinley,” Josh said.

I placed my palms on Jake’s chest and looked up at him. “Sorry,” I whispered.

“That was quite a kiss,” he whispered back before settling into character.

             
“I don’t see you stopping me,” I whispered, my hands travelling up chest to his neck again. I pressed my lips to his softly, quickly, and pulled back. Jake stared for a moment.

             
“Okay, now,” Josh said. Jake leaned forward, and swept me up his arms, pulling me in for the kiss that was supposed to be the one that changes everything. For a moment, there was no sound on set except for the two of us basically making out. Then, Josh called cut.

             
“Good, but let’s try it again. McKinley, try to use less tongue next time, okay? And Jake, I want you to be possessive of her. Grab
her;
pull her close to you, like you’ve been waiting forever for this to happen. Let’s go again.”

             
I flushed a little but nodded. “Okay, let’s do it again.” Who knew there was a right way to kiss on camera?

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“Relax, its going to be completely fine,” Wendy said, brushing powder across my face. “Just be yourself.”

“You know I’m a huge bitch, right?” I said, making a face. The brush tickled my face, though
I knew
the powder was necessary to cover those damned freckles. “Being myself is not a good idea when talking to a reporter from
TEEN!
Magazine.”

Wendy rolled her eyes at me, in the mirror. Over the past few months, Wendy had become a friend to me. She was the first person that really helped usher me into this world and she was the last person I saw before every scene I acted in. My favorite part about her was that she put up with my shit. “Do you always have to put yourself down all the time? I swear, it’s completely ridiculous.”

Now it was my turn to roll my eyes. “Seriously, you think you’d know me by now.” I looked at myself in the mirror and down at my outfit. “How do I look?”

“You look…” Wendy paused, head cocked to the side as she studied me. A smile spread across her face. “You look like you’re ready to be on the cover of
TEEN!
Magazine
.”

I sighed with relief. I had the photo shoot first, which is why I had spent so much time being poked, prodded, pinched and plucked into perfection. I
had a white lace blouse on, with a thin black belt buckled right under my breasts for accent
and a pair of black shorts. Wendy had instructed me to wear black flats but my feet would be bare for the photo shoot.

When Adrienne
had called me the day after my premiere episode, I expected congrats or even just a “good job” or something. I had never expected her to tell me that her phone was ringing off the hook, and that the phone calls were about me. She said no to all the “lower” magazines
, whatever that meant
, and the gossip rags but had booked a front page spread plus interview with the top selling teen magazine,
TEEN!
After she had walked me through what was expected, I hung up and call
ed Jake. And then called Adrienne
right back to make sure I hadn’t imagined it.