Chapter 13
Jeff
On the last day of the shoot, I woke up feeling downcast — something I didn’t think I’d ever done before. There had been times I felt like I didn’t want the shoot to end because with it, the fun of shooting with a certain crew, or doing a certain type of stunts would end. Sometimes I was happy it was the last day as I was looking forward to moving onto other things, or simply because I felt a sense of completion. There had also been a few times when I’d been relieved due to having worked under bad conditions. But never before had I felt truly upset that a shoot was ending. Not like that morning.
I was lying in bed, collecting my thoughts, trying to make myself see the bright side of things, but I simply couldn’t. Not right now.
After Bill’s untimely return, Pat had withdrawn. At first, she seemed scared of what the cast and crew would think of her, but they showed so much support she melted. I could see on her face how much she loved working with them. Still, she looked melancholy. She told me that she was scared she couldn’t handle the ever-changing life of an actress. She’d fallen in love with the character of Victoria and I think it had given her a lot of confidence acting a badass woman. Plus, she’d been counting on it being a long-term gig. Now, there were no guarantees.
She also told me she’d keep seeing me as a friend, but she wanted to wait to get involved. And as much as I wanted sex, I couldn’t imagine having sex with her in her current state of mind. She was too frail. Too closed. There was nothing inviting in her demeanor anymore.
I sighed. I hoped that our relationship and Pat would both recover once we got back to L.A. I also hoped I could sell this pilot and sell it fast — that would hopefully give Pat some of her confidence back.
As I finally dragged my tired self out of bed — I’d been up till all hours working on making sure the editors were moving things along so the pilot would be finished as soon as possible — I sighed. I really wasn’t looking forward to wrapping things up. While a part of me hoped that Pat would recover in L.A., another part of me felt like Maui was all we had and leaving it would mean leaving us behind. But work had to be done so I put my worries aside, got dressed and headed to it.
As I arrived on set, preparations for the last scene to be shot were in full swing. I saw Pat standing chatting to someone from wardrobe. She looked sweet, but frail and I felt my heart break for her — she’d really been through a lot lately. She gave me a quick smile and a nod but didn’t come over to chat as it was time for her to act.
I decided to sit down and watch the scene being filmed instead of heading to my office. I needed to clear my mind and I figured watching another scene would do the trick — I knew it would be a good scene. And whenever I watched one of my productions that I knew would turn out well, it made me happy. I knew thatSpeed Bumpswas a great production and I was fairly certain it’d be picked up by a network. The only problem in a city filled with creative filmmaking geniuses is that there are a lot of great ideas and the networks and studios can only accept so many.
As I sat down to watch, I felt myself relax immediately — maybe things would work out OK after all?
Nine hours later, we were done and dusted — it was a wrap. The cast and crew were heading to the hotel bar for drinks and I planned on joining them. As I picked up my things, I couldn’t help but smile hearing people’s excited chatter. Everyone was happy with the production — things had been done on schedule, people had gotten on well, the outcome looked promising…
Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“Jeff?” the director’s voice asked.
“Yes?” I replied, turning to face her with a smile.
“You’re coming back with us for drinks, aren’t you?”
“Yes, of course!” I kind of wanted to spend the night with Pat instead, but one look in her direction and the melancholy expression on her face and I knew that that wouldn’t happen.
“Cool, I’ll see you there. It’s been a great shoot, you know. Even if Netflix decides not to go with it, we’ll find someone else.”
“I think so, too.”
“The lead is great. She’s really a good actress, Jeff, and a nice woman, too. She told me you’ve been friends since forever but she just got back into acting. Such luck you ran into her on Mulholland.”
The director smiled at me happily, but I thought it was ironic — if I’d been lucky Bill, would have stayed away from my set and Netflix would have signed, so that Pat would have found some stability in all her turmoil. Still, I smiled and nodded, as the director sauntered off.
Two hours and a large whiskey later, I was sitting in the bar with a very happy cast and crew. That’s to say, apart from Pat. She had a few drinks, but unlike the rest of the guys, she wasn’t happy. If anything, she looked as if she was about to cry.
I was just thinking about walking up to her as one of the guys in the crew did — one of the gaffers, Peter. Judging from the way he walked, he’d had one too many already.
“Hey, Pat,” he said. “You’re one hell of an actress.”
“Thanks,” Pat replied with a sad smile.
“You’re gorgeous, too. Such a fiery hot lady. I bet you get that all the time — red hair and all.”
Peter looked at her like a puppy — a drunk, quite an adorable little puppy — but rather than soaking up the praise, Pat looked unsettled by it.
“Thanks,” Pat said and tried to turn away, but encouraged by the effects of liquor, Peter grabbed her hand.
“Want to dance?” he asked.
Pat looked down and I saw her eyes landing on the ring on Peter’s finger — it was on his right hand, but Pat didn’t seem to realize. Instead she looked horrified and tore herself away.
