Generations 2.7 kindle (12 page)

……

T
he way the video treatment had been redone, while offensive to Jack, was actually going to be super cool. Kat had realized that right away. She thought that Jack saw it too, but that he wasn’t ready to admit that Ben’s version was better.

Kat was now in costume and on the set, waiting for lighting checks. She was getting nervous. Big time. The fact that they hadn’t practiced weighed heavily on her, but there was also the fact that she and Ben were going to be close. Intimately close. Bodies smack dab next to each other. At one point, she was actually supposed to wrap her leg around him. Oi!

Not that the dance was anything … raunchy. Her dad had seen it, and he approved. It was just … romantic. Passionate. Full of yearning. Or at least it was supposed to be. It might turn out to be one of those awful You Tube videos where someone ralphs in front of the camera. And that someone was going to be Kat.

Ben came out of his dressing room looking like … well, like Ben. His costume wasn’t much of a stretch. This dance between Kat and Ben was them now—modern day and age. They looked like every other kid on the street. Sorta. They were glammed up a bit. And he wasn’t wearing gloves. Phew.

This part was to be filmed against a green screen. At first, when Ben and Kat finally reach each other and their dance begins, it’s just them. Everything else in the world is black. Like nothing else exists. Then they’ll be CGI’ed into the forefront of the scenes with the other dancers. Ben and Kat will still be doing this slow intimate dance, while in the background, the others will be doing the dance through the decade thing. And the scenes will subtly shift through random decades, just like Jackson’s treatment. But Ben and Kat in modern age will still be the focus for a while. Then they jump back into the group dance, in the costume of each decade, to finish out the song. Cool, right?

Most of the cast had been dismissed yesterday, since all the group scenes were done. It was a lot quieter today. Kat missed the noise and the endless selection of people to talk to. The thinner crowd added to her malaise. It served as a reminder that something big was about to happen. Something kinda private almost. Especially since Ben had kept his hands in his pockets every time she was around. Seriously, there had been absolutely no physical contact between them since rehearsals began. And now they were supposed to get so close that even a flea couldn’t fit between them.

When Ben and Kat took their places under the myriad of lights and camera equipment, Kat had to have Heather come dust her face before they even got started. She was already sweating. Nervous sweating. Ugh.

Action. The routine started. Kat missed Ben’s hand.

Take two. She got his hand this time, but missed her kick.

Take three. Got the hand, nailed the kick, nailed her spin, and then poked her finger in his eye. Yep. Major embarrassment. Especially since his make-up girl had to come retouch his face. Five minute time delay.

Take four.

Take five.

Take six.

She was doing something wrong—something stupid—each and every take. She was blowing it. Big time.

Ernie pulled her aside and scolded her: severely. He’d never so much as said a cross word to her during rehearsals. Sure, he pushed her. He expected way more of her than Ms. Stella ever had. And she was dancing better than she ever had because of Ernie’s direction.
Was.
But now she was falling apart.

Take seven. A near repeat of take three. Her finger gouged Ben in the temple instead of the eye this time. She covered her mouth with her hands. “Oh. My. Gosh. I’m so sorry,” she quickly apologized. Ben didn’t smile about it like he had last time. He didn’t look mad though … but he did look worried. “I’m just off … today,” she said, trying to explain away his worry. It’s not like this was something she did every time she was paired with a male partner.

“Do we need to call it? Try again in a few hours?”

“No.” She could feel the tears coming. “I’m good. I can do it.” She breathed heavily, trying to keep the wash of emotions from flooding her body.

“Go take a break,” he said. His voice had a moderate amount of kindness in it. Good. He wasn’t going to can her … yet. “Ten minutes enough for you to pull together?”

She gave him some sort of quick response and sprinted for her dressing room. She wanted to get inside before the tears came. But they were already spilling down her cheeks by the time she reached the door. Great. That meant touch-up time. She’d just added another five minutes to the break time.

When she was back on set, she was composed again. Albeit, her insides were still a jumble. But she could do it. She had to do it. Or she’d be tossed out on her ear.

Take eight started out fine. They got farther into the dance than before. But she couldn’t relax. Every time Ben would touch her, she could feel her body stiffen. And about the time that Ben completely wrapped his arms around her was about the time that it fell apart. She was so stiff that when she went to take her next step, she actually stumbled. Landed on one knee. Holy mother of embarrassing moments.

“Cut!” Kat was pretty sure that the director hadn’t been the only one to call it. Ernie’s voice was in there as well. And probably Paul’s. Maybe even Ben’s. Oh, this was bad. She caught Jack’s eye. He looked concerned. He was the only one that had that look. Everyone else looked mad … or disgusted. Not that those two looks were that different. They both had the same effect: tears pricking in her eyes again.

Ernie returned to her side, this time his voice was back to normal decibels, but it had a tone of … shame in it. Like he was thinking that this looked badly on him: like she was betraying him. And she was. He was a better teacher than this. He had her do some stretches and then practice her yoga breathing. “Relax,” he kept saying.

She wasn’t going to relax, ‘cause Paul had just called a conference in the control booth. Ernie left. The director left. Ben left. Yep. They were going to can her. It was all over. She kept eyeing the nearest exit. Should she just run for it and save them the trouble of having to tell her that she better get a job at the nearest Burger Barn because her dancing days were over?

Ben finally came back. Alone. Oh bad, bad news. One by one, the other crew members began to leave. She heard whispers of “clear the set.” Her heart fell out of her ribcage and hit the floor with a splat, never to be reconstructed. Game over.

Ben had his hands in his pockets, looking all suave like always. But he looked kinda tense too. He waited until the set was empty before he came within speaking distance. He gave her this pathetic attempt at a smile and said, “Katrina, I think I made a mistake.”

Chapter Eight ……

K
atrina looked like she was going to turn into this massive black hole. Like she was going to completely collapse within herself. He had used the wrong wording. She probably thought she was going to get fired. That wasn’t the case. Ben really had made a mistake: in the way that he had planned on filming this sequence.

He suspected what the problem was around take seven. But then once he saw the footage, he knew for sure. Katrina was afraid to touch him. This was a complete backfire on his plan.

“Do you want to sit down?” he asked her. She looked like she was going to be sick. She probably should sit down. But then he realized he probably just made it sound even worse. “Or you can stand if you want,” he amended. “It’s not like I have bad news or anything.

“You … don’t?” She sounded like she didn’t believe him.

He reached for two nearby chairs and sat them facing each other—close, so that when they sat, their knees almost touched.

“I have to confess something,” he began. “I have been deliberately avoiding you the last few days.”

Her eyebrows shot up. Then she lowered them, trying to look composed. He wanted to smile. Her animated reactions were the entire reason they were having this discussion. “Not because of you—in a bad way. But because … because,” he gave a small sigh. He hated to spill it like this. Typically he could
show
a girl how he felt about her. That was easy. Telling her—upfront, without any sort of confirmation on her part was rather nerve racking. “I really like you, Katrina. I like being around you. You have the most … expressive face. I could be entertained for hours, just watching your expressions. And I thought that … I
hope
that we have some pretty good chemistry goin’ on.

“So I had an ulterior motive. I hope it doesn’t make you mad. But I thought that since we’re both amateurs—not real actors or anything—that our first … contact with each other should be on screen. So it will look real. So that the audience will see that chemistry. See what it’s like the first time we touch. The first time we … connect, in that way.”

He told a small lie. He could act. Not Oscar-worthy or anything. But he’d had plenty of training. He didn’t know about Kat. She was raw. And even if she was well trained, he doubted that she could reproduce some of those uninhibited expressions. Her looks of delight, surprise, disgust: they were all done with twice the enthusiasm of the average girl. Like she enjoyed everything twice as much.

But she also suppressed some of her reactions around him. He noticed this right off. The instant, candid response was always there. But then it was as if some internal kill-switch kicked in. And she would cover up the emotion with fake impassiveness. It never completely worked. And that made it all the more intriguing. What was going on inside of that silly head of hers? What kept her from letting loose entirely?

He also noticed that the kill-switch never kicked in during her interactions with Jackson. He didn’t know if she was that way with her entire family: he just knew that he wanted to get there. He wanted her to show her true feelings, because he was ready to do the same. Hiding it for the last two weeks kept him up more nights thinking about it than he cared to recall. He was beginning to wish that he could get an intravenous caffeine drip.

She was doing it right now: covering up her emotions. This time he honestly couldn’t tell what she was hiding. Anger? Delight? “So what are you saying exactly?” she asked.

Ah. It was confusion. Disbelief.

“I’m saying that I wanted our first touch to be in front of the camera. To capture the chemistry for the sake of the video. And that’s why we never practiced together.”

He could see that she understood now. She scowled for half a second. He jumped on it quickly, before it got buried too deeply. “Does that upset you?” he challenged.

“No,” she quickly responded.

“Really?” He felt like an attorney. He was going to force the truth out of her, eventually.

Her face softened into a small smile. “Maybe, a little. I just thought … that you were avoiding me ‘cause you weren’t into me. And then I thought that you were going to fire me for messing up. So yeah, I’m a little mad that you … toyed with me. I probably got a new ulcer today.”

He had to smile at her, although he felt badly for what he’d done. But he couldn’t say that. So he reached for her hand. He laced his fingers through hers. Her hand was soft, like he’d expected. But she gripped his hand with more strength than he would have guessed. It made him smile. It felt like she was holding his hand like her life depended on it. Like she would fall into some deep abyss if he let go. An enormous smile had erupted on her face. She looked like she’d just won some sort of lifetime achievement award. And that was the response he wanted—on camera.

He still had to try for it. “Do you want to spend more time alone?” he asked. “Getting … comfortable. Or do you think we could try it again?”

She nodded her head. “We can do it. In front of the camera. I feel better now.”

Excellent. This might not have been a mistake after all. He’d still get her expressive face on camera. Maybe. “One thing Katrina,” he said, “Don’t hold back. Don’t be afraid to show what you are feeling. Just let loose entirely. Imagine the character: that she’s been waiting for this one guy for decades. What is she feeling when he finally reaches her? When he finally touches her? When they embrace. She has been waiting for this for a lifetime … several lifetimes, actually. He should know how she feels … know how much she has longed for his touch, just by the way she looks at him. I think we can replicate that, in our expressions, if we don’t hold back. If we think about these past few weeks, wanting to be closer, wanting to get to know each other better. We can channel that into this dance. Make it real.”

Katrina’s chin pulled down as she bit on her bottom lip, kinda shy like. “I can do that. I think I can relate to her,” she grinned slyly.