Rock Bottom | Charlie Gillespie

Charlie POV #6✨

The first kiss...

I watched as Aubrey from across the set, her eyes focused on the script in her hands; I wondered if she felt as nervous about the scene as I did. Aubrey and Owen were supposed to be filming scenes together, but Kenny changed the schedule last-minute when Owen called in sick. So here I am, on my day off, getting ready to shoot the scene I had mentally prepared myself wouldn't be happening until the last week of shooting. Over the last month, my feelings for Aubrey had only grown, and I know kissing her was only going to make it harder for me to differentiate between what's real and what's fake. I quickly shake away the thought of Aubrey being nervous; she's been acting for much longer than me. To her, this kiss is just another day of work; but to me, this was my first time kissing the girl I'd fallen so deeply for, a moment that Aubrey would probably brush off, but I'll probably never forget. I almost wished this wasn't our first kiss; I longed for it to be real; but we weren't real, and as much as it hurts me, we probably never will be.

"Okay," Kenny called out to the crew, moving to stand behind the camera, "Let's take it from Elena walking down the stairs," I watch as Aubrey sets her script down, moving to the spot Kenny directed her to stand, I sit down on the steps, facing away from her, "alright, and action."

🤍

"Hey," Aubrey greets me, her voice full of nerves that I know are just her acting like Elena; I turn around to face her, my eyes wide as if I'm shocked to see her.

"Elena," I greet her, promptly standing up from my seated position, "w-what are you doing here?"

"I couldn't sleep," She shrugged her shoulders, stepping closer to me, "what are you doing here?"

"Just thinking," I shrug; Aubrey awkwardly nods in response, silence falling over the two of us for a moment. This scene is one of the biggest scenes for both of our characters, they're finally able to touch, and the boys ended up staying; all of the feelings the two of them have had bottled up were about to be shared. I didn't find it hard acting as if I was nervous in this scene, it felt like Luke, and I were the same person at this moment, both ready to share the feelings we'd kept bottled in for so long.

"I have something I want to tell you," We both say simultaneously; I'm honestly very proud of how in sync we were.

"You go first," I offer; Aubrey smiles gratefully, taking in a deep breath; I was thankful Aubrey was scripted to go; first, it gave me more time to prepare for my part mentally.

"I like you," She blurts out; I open my mouth like the script directed me to, as if I'm about to respond. but she cuts me off, continuing her characters rant. "from the moment our eyes met that first night in the studio, I knew you would be special to me, and I denied it for a long time, but I can't deny it anymore." She pauses, and for a minute, I think she's forgotten the rest of her lines; but seconds later, she begins speaking again, "Luke, I have never been the kind of girl who can't stop thinking about a guy and to be quite honest, I never thought would be one of those girls until I met you," My eyes widen in shock, these words were not in the script; the last thing I expected Aubrey to do was adlib her lines, it was almost as if she was trying to make me fall for her even more, "and I know this sounds crazy, and we would probably never work out, but I've tried everything, and I can't stop liking you." Once she's finished her monologue, she stares down at her hands nervously, "and I know you probably don't feel the same way; I just needed to tell you," Like the script says, I stay silent; our goal is to have fans on the edge of their seat, waiting to see what happens next; I'm supposed to begin my own monologue seconds later, but instead I place my hand on her cheek, guiding her to look at me, I guess she's not the only one who can add something new to the scene.

"El," I mumbled, smiling down at Aubrey, "I never thought something or anyone could make me happier than music, but you showed me there to life than just the band and performing. I really like you, and I don't know what the future holds or why things changed, but I do know that I want you by my side throughout all of it," I don't move my hand from Aubrey's cheek, allowing her to act as if she's thinking over the words, I just admitted to her. I take a nervous breath, knowing what I have to do next; this is going to change everything, "El?" I ask her, she connects her eyes with mine once more, and I glance between her eyes and her lips, my character's way of asking for permission to kiss her; Aubrey nods, and I lean in. I can tell in her eyes that she's nervous too, but I remind myself it's not real; Aubrey is a professional; kissing co-stars definitely doesn't phase her anymore. After what feels like an eternity of me slowly leaning in, I slowly crash my lips against hers; every ounce of nerves that I feel vanishes in this moment, and I grow more confident as Aubrey kisses me back, moving her hand, so it's playing with my hair. I always thought kissing someone on set would be awkward, but with Aubrey, it felt like we were the only people in the room. After a minute, despite not wanting to pull away, we do, breathlessly leaning our foreheads against one another's. "Was that okay?" I ask; Aubrey chuckles lightly in response, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. Just as the script instructed, I lift her off the ground, hugging her back.

🤍

"And, cut, take five," Kenny yelled; I placed Aubrey back on the ground, I open my mouth, ready to break the awkward tension, when she cut's me off.

"Um, I need to grab something from my trailer," She announces, loud enough that Kenny hears her too; before I can respond, she rushes towards where the trailers are, leaving me alone in the middle of the set. I wasn't sure how I expected Aubrey to react to our kiss; maybe she'd crack some sarcastic joke, or maybe she'd awkwardly go to the other side of the set, but the last thing I expected was for her to walk off the set as if what happened did not faze her in the slightest.

"What was that about?" Of course, Tori was the first person to come up to me; I shrug my shoulders, my eyes not straying from where Aubrey had just run off to

"She needed to grab something from her trailer," I remind Tori, saying exactly what Aubrey had said as she rushed off; that was the only explanation that made sense anyway, "she'll be back," I say, trying to reassure myself. Maybe it was so bad or uncomfortable that Aubrey needed some space? Maybe she could somehow sense I was into her, and was weirded out by my feelings?

"Of course," Tori nodded as if it was obvious Aubrey was going to come back. I could tell she came over here, hoping Aubrey had run off because of some unknown drama going on between the two of us; she was hoping for the worst, "I was wondering if you're free this weekend? I found this amazing yoga class; I think you'd love it."

"That sounds great; it's just-"

"Charlie," Kenny called, cutting me off; I was relieved to hear the voice of our director calling my name. I've never been good at letting people down easy, "I just want to go over your delivery of the lines before Bree gets back," I nodded, smiling apologetically at Tori as I walked up to Kenny. I try to pay attention as he gives me pointers and praises the little add-ins Aubrey and I included, but it was hard; all I could think about was Aubrey. "Oh perfect, Aubrey's back," I turned to see the girl Kenny was referring to; she walked onto the set, laughing as she spoke with Jeremy and Carolynn.

"Hey, sorry I forgot my water in my trailer," Aubrey informed us, holding her water bottle up, "and then I bumped into Jer and Care on the way back," I wanted to believe her and not think the worst about why she ran off. but Aubrey was fidgeting with her necklace, which was usually a sign that she wasn't being completely honest, "ready to get back to work?"

"yeah," I nodded, following Aubrey to our places; as we walked over, Jeremy and Carolynn both sent her reassuring smiles, "So, that was interesting," I internally cringe at how awkward I sound.

"Right?" Aubrey laughed; she seemed just as awkward as I feel, "You did really good though," my eyes widen in shock at her compliment, "at the scene," Aubrey added; I couldn't tell whether she was blushing or if the lighting in the room was weird, "so hopefully, we don't need to do too many takes."

"Yeah," I nodded, not meaning it in the slightest, "hopefully."