“Alright guys listen up,” Rachel announces, “We’re looking to go into grace to get this done.”
Groans and shuffles fill the room. Grace is essentially fifteen minutes of overtime.Unpaidovertime.
Danny doesn’t notice.
The hair and makeup trainee, Katie, creeps onto set and heads for Danny. I’m moving before I even question why.
The question is answered as Danny explodes, “Can you back the fuck off? Jesus Christ.”
Katie nearly drops the concealer brush in her hand. I step up and put my hand on her elbow, steadying her as I feel her arm tremble. I glare at Danny.
“Hey man, back off,” Jerry, one of the crew, says.
“Oh piss off mate,” Danny snaps, his face scrunching. “Go back to your corner.”
“Danny,” I hiss, stepping in front of Katie.
He doesn’t acknowledge me, still staring over my head at Jerry.
Rachel forges into the fray. “Is there a problem here?”
“Yeah there’s a problem,” Danny seethes. “I’m surrounded by fucking idiots.”
The grumbles of the crew get louder and the animosity bubbles in the crowd. I feel tethered to Danny’s side. It’s clear to me what side I’m going to end up in this fight, no matter how infuriated I am.
Eventually Gwendoline pipes up. “Alright everyone let’s cool off. We’ll forget the grace, I think we have enough.”
I see Callum hide his smirk behind his hand.
Katie finally backs away, ungluing her feet from the floor.
I turn to Danny. “Let’s go.”
Danny clenches his jaw and storms away, shrugging off the hand I place on his arm and giving Callum a wide berth.
The walk across set is terse, the ride back to base even worse. My anger whirls in my belly, tinged with embarrassment. All day I’ve been fending off criticism and scorn because I’ve been saddled with a belligerent man child who can’t even be a decent person to Katie, who is easily the sweetest girl on set.
Danny slams the car door behind him as he heads to his trailer. I hasten my strides as I chase after him, catching his trailer door before he can slam that too. I’m going to have to replace it with a curtain just to stop him taking his feelings out on the poor door frame.
“What is going on with you today?” I ask incredulously.
Danny ignores me, pulling off his shirt. I glance away at the sight of his broad back, refusing to acknowledge the dip in my belly that should be full of righteous anger.
Recovering, I say, “You’ve been in a foul mood all day. Just tell me what the problem is and I can help.”
“Would you just piss off, Anya? I don’t know why you think you’re helping me because you’re not. You’re just making everything worse. I don’t give a shit about this vanity project, I hope I waste enough money to bankrupt the whole fucking lot of them.”
I clutch my hands at my hips, my frustration from this horrendous day finally spilling over.
“You might not give a shit about this job but every single other person here does. They’re away from their families working grueling hours before you even get out of your thousand euro a night bed. They work hard all day whilst you lounge in here, and they have to stay and work longer when you are being completely selfish just to piss off your father.”
“It’s pretty cushy for you in this trailer too though isn’t it?” he seethes. “All you do is buzz around my ear and fetch me my fucking coffee.”
I see red. “You know what Danny? Fuck you.”
“Fuck me?” he laughs scathingly. “Original.”
“Don’t you patronize me, you stubborn prick. I’m here running around after you, getting treated like a social fucking pariah on set, and for what? A shitty credit working with a pretty shitty person. You know when I got this job I thought I had finally had my big break? But it’s all fucking pointless. I have a pointless job. But every single person out there is working really fucking hard for thisvanity projectand you just offended every last one of them. You’re pathetic. You need to grow up and appreciate what opportunities you’ve been given because there are thousands of people who would not be so careless with theirs.”
