Take Two (24 page)

But Andi’s burdens were different now. She wanted to be a movie star. Most days she couldn’t understand how college was getting
her any closer to her goal, with the exception of one thing — the movie she was going to make with Taz. Film projects like
that would give her experience and open doors that simple prayer could never open.

Andi was sure of it.

She closed Rachel’s journal and set it back down on her dresser. But after a few seconds she slid it to the back of her top
drawer, along with the framed photo of her friend. Rachel was gone. Looking at her face each day only confused her. And with
the opportunity Taz was giving her, she couldn’t afford to feel confused. She shut the drawer and hurried from her dorm out
across campus to the theater building.

When she reached the door of the classroom Taz had reserved for the film project, she saw there was dark paper taped across
the small window. She smiled. Taz had promised her privacy. She knocked, and he opened the door after only a few seconds.
His smile warmed her heart. “You’re early.”

“In case you needed me.” She felt suddenly breathless, excited about what lay ahead. The screenplay was truly cutting edge,
relevant and honest. This would be her biggest role yet, and she wanted to prove she was up to the task.

Taz touched his fingers to her cheeks. “I always need you, Andi.” His voice was low and smooth, for her alone. “Make no mistake
about that.” He ushered her into the room where several other people worked to set up the shoot. Two college kids assembled
oversized lights near a quasi-set consisting of a bed, a nightstand, and a mirrored dresser. In another corner of the room
a student worked on a sound panel, testing a wireless microphone.

Relief washed over Andi. In the back of her mind she hadn’t quite dismissed Bailey’s warning — that maybe Taz wasn’t legitimate,
that he was some kind of weirdo, wanting her to strip in a student film. Now Andi could see Bailey would’ve approved. Nothing
shady about the shoot whatsoever.

“You feeling it?” Taz turned to her. He touched his fingers to her shoulders and ran them lightly down the length of her arms.

She felt her cheeks grow hot. She felt his presence like a physical force — if that’s what he meant.

He grinned. “The character, I mean? Are you feeling the character?”

Again she relaxed. “Of course. I’ve studied the script ten times this week.”

“Good.” He came closer, looking her over. “A little more eye-liner.” He walked around her, looking over her outfit. “I’d like
to tease out your hair a little. It looks too clean-cut the way it is.”

She nodded, quick to agree. “I wasn’t sure how to change that.”

“I can take care of it.” He called to a female student working over a clipboard in another part of the room. “Norma, can you
do some touch-up?”

“Of course.” The girl gave Taz a flirty smile.

A sense of pride came over Andi as she watched Taz. He wasn’t interested in the girl or anyone else. He only had eyes for
her.

When Norma was satisfied with Andi’s hair and makeup, the two of them returned to the classroom. The lighting guys notified
Taz that they were ready and then hung back, lost in their own quiet dialogue. A sound-proof observing area adjoined the room,
and Taz ordered the crew into that space. “Places.” His voice was confident, methodical. Not a bark like most directors. “Quiet
on the set.”

Other scenes would be shot on campus in daylight. Two were set to be filmed in a Bloomington diner. But tonight’s scenes would
be the most intense, where Andi’s character was melting down and making choices about leaving home. Andi could relate to the
character a little more each day.

“Andi …” Taz came to her and again touched his fingers to her cheek. His gentle caress sent electricity down her arms and
legs. “You ready, love?”

She swallowed. “I am.” This was her break. She’d show everyone.

“Okay, take your place.”

Andi stood and smoothed the wrinkles in her shirt. She caught her reflection in the mirror and held it for a moment. What
was that look in her eyes? Guilt? Anger took the lead in her emotions. Guilt should be the last thing she was feeling. She
wasn’t doing anything wrong. She blinked and tried to work herself into character.

Only one other student remained in the room where the filming was taking place — the cameraman, already positioned behind
the enormous lens.

“Now remember …” Taz stood a few feet away, his eyes locked on hers. “You’ve just had a falling out with your mother, and
you’re sick of her rules, sick of your life. You want to run away.” Taz’s words were slow and melodic, mesmerizing. “You’re
angry, trapped, ranting at your fate. But then slowly, gradually, you focus on your image in the mirror. For the first time
you see that you’re beautiful, and that maybe your body is your ticket out. You could model or act. As you study your reflection,
you slowly start to remove your clothes. First the pullover, then the tank top … until all that remains is your bra. Hold
that pose until I cut.”

Andi knew her lines and her character’s motivation. She had read the part too many times to count, wrestling with whether
she should do it before realizing she had no choice. These were the stepping stones actresses had to take if they were going
to reach the top. Besides, the film was sensual, and the storyline demanded this scene. At least from an artsy point of view.

Taz took a few steps back, “Okay, tell us when you’re ready.”

Andi thought about the teenaged girl, the struggle she felt against her parents. They couldn’t tell her how to live or when
to be home. She wanted to make her own rules for once, to be someone of her own creating. She waited as the character came
to life inside her, and she gave a nod to the camera.

“Quiet!” Taz held up his hand. “Three, two, one … rolling. Action.”

Andi stormed into her room and flopped down on her bed, her arm crooked over her eyes. After a few seconds she sat up, angry,
trapped. She exhaled hard and looked around the room, searching for a way out. The corkboard with school photos tacked to
it, the simplicity of the bedspread across the foot of her bed. Same old thing, every day. She stood and made a face at the
walls around her, at the familiarity of it. Slowly she moved to the window and grabbed the faux windowsill. “I hate this,”
she seethed through clenched teeth. “I hate it more every day.”

Like a caged animal, she paced back to her bed and picked up a notebook on her dresser. A few seconds of staring at it, and
she threw it down on the bed. “I want out!” Her words were hard and sharp. She loved this, loved her character.

Then, from the corner of her eye, she caught her reflection in the mirror. Slowly, and with new appreciation, she walked to
the mirror and stared at herself. Her expression told the story. This was the first time she’d seen her body as an asset,
a tool that might lift her from the doldrums of the life she shared with her parents.

Gradually, sensually, she pulled the sweater over her head and tossed it on the bed. Standing there in just her tank top and
jeans, she studied herself once more. She ran her hands over her arms and shoulders, down the lines of her sides and toward
her narrow waist. She allowed a smoldering feeling to build inside her, a feeling that came easily. Then slowly she peeled
her tank top off and stood there, her chest heaving, her body breathless as she imagined the possibilities. Andi could no
longer tell where the character ended and she began. It was like she was truly seeing herself for the first time. She stared
at the mirror, waiting.

“Cut.” Taz breathed a quick laugh as he came to her side. He touched her arm — awkward since she was still in her bra. “That
was amazing. Really, Andi. You’re a natural. I have a feeling you won’t have time for many more student films. Not with that
talent.”

His words spoke straight to her heart, to the place her parents had failed to recognize. If Taz saw the talent in her, then
Hollywood agents and directors would see it. Taz moved to the bed and handed Andi her clothes. “Get dressed, and let’s do
it again.” His voice spoke straight through her, like a spell over her. “You were brilliant the first time. I can’t wait to
see what you give me next.”

She did the entire scene a second time, and then a third, and with each one Taz grew more thrilled with her performance. Almost
as if her acting were exciting him in ways Andi didn’t quite understand. When she finished, he had her get dressed a final
time, and he told the rest of the crew they could go. They would film the campus scenes next week.

Finally only Andi and Taz remained in the room. “I’ve been thinking.” He gathered his things, keeping an appropriate distance
between them. “I might put myself in the film, after all. Toward the end.”

At the end of the screenplay, Andi’s character met up with a guy from the streets, and the two of them shared a kiss. Nothing
more, but still the scene was passionate. She placed her cosmetics into her backpack and faced him, trying to understand what
he meant. “You mean … you’d play the guy … ?”

“The guy you kiss.” He set his things down so he could approach her unencumbered. “That scene’s about chemistry.” He took
another few steps toward her, until he was so close she could smell the mint on his breath, smell the fresh scent of his shampoo.
He lightly touched her chin. “You and I, we have chemistry.”

She tried to hide a quick gulp. What was it about him that captured her and rendered her unable to think straight? “We definitely
have chemistry.”

“Maybe … maybe we should make sure.” His smile melted her and he closed the distance between them. He placed his hands tenderly
on either side of her face and for the most delicious moment he kissed her — kissed her in a way that made her dizzy. Nothing
Andi had experienced had felt anything like this, and she wished he would never pull away.

When Taz pulled back, his eyes smoldered with desire that was beyond intense. “Yeah.” His voice was thick and smoky, his fingers
still soft against her face. “We have chemistry.”

She thought he was going to kiss her again, but he stepped back and grinned at her. “Let’s talk between now and next week,
okay?”

And with that, the session was over. Taz was a gentleman, walking her back to her dorm and giving her a quick, appropriate
hug before saying good night. The kiss hadn’t been a come on, any more than the scene in her bra had been some weird act to
satisfy Taz’s curiosity. He was simply being a filmmaker, testing the waters to see if the chemistry existed. Now the film
would be stronger because of it.

She went inside and hurried down the hall to her dorm. Bailey wasn’t back, but Andi wasn’t surprised. She’d probably spend
the weekend at home with her family. Maybe tomorrow Andi would join her. But for now she wanted to be alone so she could replay
the night over and over again. So she could picture Taz’s reaction to her acting and feel his kiss on her lips one more time.
Her guilt from earlier was gone. The partial nudity was nothing, really, and now that part of the film was behind her. No
big deal.

As she stepped into the bathroom to wash her face, she was surprised by her reflection. Not the way her hair had been slightly
ratted for the scene, or even the heavy makeup around her eyes. But something in her expression. Whatever it was, Andi felt
strange and a little frightened by it. Because in that moment she didn’t look like Andi Ellison, daughter of missionaries,
seeker of Hollywood fame, actress.

She looked like someone she no longer even recognized.

B
AILEY COULD HARDLY WAIT TO GET
into the city. They’d taken a flight from Indianapolis to La Guardia first thing that morning, and now they were being driven
into Manhattan. They had three hours before the eight o’clock showing of
Mary Poppins
.

“I can’t believe we’re here.” She stared out the window and tried to get a glimpse of the New York City skyline. But the car
was stuck in traffic just short of the Midtown Tunnel. The view would have to wait.

“You?” Tim had been practically speechless since they landed. “I’m blown away and we haven’t even crossed the East River.”

“This is always the worst part. Getting through the tunnel.” Connor sat on Bailey’s other side, and their mother had the front
seat next to the driver.

The tunnel was always sort of weird, cars moving at a snail’s pace in stop-and-go traffic, but every car crammed in so close.
At one point, their car sidled up to a full-sized bus. Bailey stared at it. “That’s crazy. If you stick your hand out, you
can easily touch the side of that thing.”

“I’ll keep my window up.” Tim laughed. “Let’s talk about something else.”

“That reminds me …” Bailey’s mom handed back a copy of their itinerary. “Here’s a list of the shows we’re seeing. Your dad
was able to connect with friends of his down here. We have the best tickets at each of these shows.”

“It’s like a dream.” Tim looked over the list. “I never thought I’d have a chance to see one of these shows, let alone all
of them. It must be nice to live like this.”

Tim’s comment hit Bailey in a strange way. Most of the time she didn’t think about her parents’ wealth. Her dad had been an
NFL player and now a coach. Her family gave away a lot. She knew because they’d always believed in sharing those details with
the kids. But still they clearly had plenty to live on. More than most people could ever imagine. She glanced at the guy she
was dating. Tim’s mom was a nurse, his dad the manager of a hotel in Bloomington. Of course Tim hadn’t been on a trip like
this.

But that wasn’t what bothered her.

In the last week, Tim had been more attentive than usual, almost overly so. He sometimes sounded like he was in awe of the
Flanigan family’s money and the fact that they could take a trip like this. Bailey had mentioned it to her mom. “It’s kind
of weird. I mean, does he like me more now because we can take him on the trip?”

Her mom’s answer was wise. “Money can be a problem in relationships, one way or another.” She hadn’t taken sides beyond that.
“I think it’s something to watch.”