Tʀᴜʟʏ? - ᴀ ᴛɪᴍᴏᴛʜᴇ̀ᴇ ᴄʜᴀʟᴀᴍᴇᴛ ғᴀɴғɪᴄᴛᴏɴ

8

My heart hummed like a bee, echoing through my body as we walked. We were headed to cameras now, and I doubted we would be working on shooting the scene. Lilia had kept a suspicious eye on me the whole time, most likely trying to figure out what me and Timothee had talked about to make me feel this way. To tell the truth, it was purely a normal conversation (despite all his questioning), but I guess the fact that he was literally Timothee Chalamet had finally registered to me. Lilia snapped me out of my thoughts by ushering me through the doorway as we went into the camera room. The same set of men were inside, and they glanced up briefly as we entered. We gave polite smiles as they looked back down at whatever they were doing. I sighed and took a seat on a random chair behind them, Lilia doing the same. We sat there in silence, waiting for direction. In most cases I would take initiative and do what needs to be done, but for this job I knew if I touched anything I would get immediately sent out. Me and Lilia played Rock Paper Scissors as we sat, bored.

Around 15 minutes passed before one of the guys acknowledged our existence. He called us over and we quickly jumped up and went over. He looked annoyed.

"Denise wants to speak with you both. In the wardrobe room," he said. Me and Lilia exchanged looks.

"Like, now?" I asked. He rolled his eyes.

"Yes, now," he said. Me and Lilia nodded and quickly left the room.

"Isn't Denise one of the producers?" I asked. Lilia nodded and we hurried to wardrobe. As we entered, the atmosphere was bubbling with people. Someone spotted us and rushed over.

"Why aren't you guys in costume?" He asked. We shrugged with wide eyes.

"We just got here, someone said Denise wanted to see us?" I asked. He scanned us up and down.

"Right. Over here," he said, guiding us through the heavily dressed people and to a large rack of dresses.

"We're low on extras. You won't have any speaking parts, just a quick ballroom scene. You'll wear these and each of you will be assigned a partner to dance with unless otherwise instructed. Now hurry and get dressed, we're going to start filming in 15," he explained. We nodded as he shoved two poofy dresses into our arms. We looked around and everyone was just changing in the room. I shrugged and slipped off my sweater, quickly replacing it with the dress. I shimmied off my jeans and slipped on a pair of heels that was next to the skirt. I ran a hand through my hair and saw as Lilia finished dressing too.

"What do we do? I mean, don't we need makeup? Hair? Signing forms?" She asked. I looked around nervously, without a clue. Suddenly, a woman I recognized to be Denise rushed over.

"Hello ladies, you're the interns?" She confirmed. We nodded and she shoved us two clipboards with a form.

"Great. Sign here so you can be in the scene." She said. Me and Lilia quickly scribbled our signatures and handed them back. She smiled, briefly looking around stressfully.

"Sorry for the late notice, we had a few last minute disasters. Find someone with some hairspray in their hand and have them do your hair. There will be makeup artists on set. Bye girls!" She said, running to another part of the room. Lilia grabbed my arm as we navigated through the crowd to the front of the room. There I found a couple women hurriedly braiding someone's hair. One of them noticed us immediately and ushered us into the small foldable chairs, pressing us down by our shoulders. A couple more hair artists started working on our hair and it felt like I was a model about to open a show. There was the smell of hairspray and curling irons in the air. After what seemed only a minute, they pulled away and moved onto their next victim. Me and Lilia came out of the circle of hairbrushes and hairspray with elegant up-dos. Mine was a complicated braid crown on the top of my head, not a single hair out of place. Lilias was straightened and she had a small headband made out of her own braid wrapped around her head. We smiled as I admired her updo, impressed with the work the hairdressers did. We didn't have much time though, as someone with a large microphone rounded everyone up as we journeyed into the ballroom. Cameras were set up on one side, as the other was decorated with candles and other things that tied it back to the era. Me and Lilia stood with the others, just as clueless. Producers and assistants started guiding people to their places, looking back and making sure the scene looked right.

"We need some ladies with Timothee on the couch," someone said. I was astounded to see Greta Gerwig standing there, hands on her hips. She caught my stare and although I immediately looked away, she walked over to us. I cursed and nudged Lilia, as she too soon became aware of Greta's presence.

She looked deeply at our faces for a second, as if she was deciding something. "You have potential. Would you two alright with a bit more time in the spotlight?" She asked. We nodded excitedly as she looked pleased and brought us to a couch, instructing us what to do. She gently showed us how we should sit on the couch, and how to act during our entrance.

"Alright girls, you're the most important extras in this scene. I need you to look like you're entertained by this drunk Laurie, laughing with him, alright? Then when you guys sit, and Amy comes over, I need you to give her judgemental looks, and be like, "who are you," like that." She said, demonstrating with her face. I nodded and me and Lilia practiced our judgemental faces. She clapped her hands and smiled.

"Perfect. Stand here for a while," she said as she scurried away, leaving us at the top of some short stairs where we would start the scene. Me and Lilia nodded, exchanging exciting smiles. A couple people came over to us and my face was dusted with some makeup, but barely enough to be noticeable. I had a considerable amount of blush added, and watched as Lilia got the same. After a couple minutes, most everyone seemed ready for the scene to start. Timothèe made his way over, but he hadn't seen me yet. I braced myself for his reaction. Greta put a hand on his back and was talking with him in a low voice, probably explaining the dynamics of the scene. Timothèe looked far away, like he was thinking about something deeply. He suddenly looked up and my eyes met his for a brief moment. I looked away quickly, but the damage was done. He came over and put his hand up for a high-five. I furrowed my brows but gave the high five and smiled. He gave one to Lilia as well as he stood between us. Greta laughed and grabbed some other extras, directing them the same things she told us minus the couch part. I looked at Timothèe, realizing he was staring at me. I noticed our close proximity.

"What?" I asked. His eyes sparkled in the overhead lighting. He was grinning widely, probably amped up for the big scene.

"Look who's a superstar now," He said. I smiled.

"It was last minute," I explained. I smiled as he laughed, the prop drink in his hand swishing around the glass. I looked back up and laughed along, not even sure at what. I caught Lilias smirk as she wiggled her eyebrows. I gave her a knowing look with my eyes as someone ordered silence over the set.

later

"Perfect, perfect take," I heard someone saying. All the extras started to get up, no doubt getting ready for the next scene. We all gathered near the back as a new scene was set up. I bit back a smile, knowing although I doubted the camera would see my face for more than two seconds, I could officially say I was in a movie.