Keep To The Script (Complete)

~ Chapter 2 ~

Judith cleared her throat as she stepped off the plane at LAX, her stomach twisting. Her nerves were through the roof, and she had no idea what to even think, let alone say. When Susan called her three weeks ago and told her the news, she was dumbfounded, no other way to explain it. And once she said yes, everything happened in a whirlwind. The flight was booked, the meeting was set up, the trip was planned, and if all went well, Judith would be looking for a small little place for her to stay in. Wow, the thought of two places to own was minded blogging to her, but that was the current situation.

She was a smart woman and to keep traveling back and forth between LA and her home in the Midwest was just too much money. Not that the production company wouldn't help, or her editor, but she didn't want to put that on them; she wasn't that type of person.

"Excuse me."

"Oh!" Judith finally stepped to the side to let the other passengers off and looked around for the person meeting her. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, someone, holding a big sign like in the movies? Someone chic with a bored expression? Someone with a gold watch who kept checking the time and stopped only when he saw her standing there.

"Judith?"

"That's me," she answered, taking the hand that was outstretched to her.

"Victor." Her eyes opened wide, and she gasped.

"As in Sullivan?" He chuckled as he nodded.

"Yup, the one and only. I thought it would be best if I came personally. I talked to your editor, and she said this was all new and random to you, the last thing I could do was send some stranger to welcome you to LA for the first time."

"That's very nice of you, Mr. Sullivan. I'm very much out of my realm on this." He chuckled as he put his hand on her back to guide her out of the area.

"Well, I know this can't be your first time flying, so let's go get your bags. And since we're going to be seeing a lot of each other on set, call me Victor, so long as you don't mind Judith?"

"Oh, no, not at all." He nodded and led her down to the baggage claim. He was right, this wasn't her first time flying, but God damn she felt like such a newbie, and it was rather embarrassing. She could have had an uber pick her up and take her to the hotel; she didn't need this man going out of his way.

"So, tomorrow we'll be on set screening some leading ladies, however, if you don't mind, we already found the male lead."

"No, I don't. Honestly, Victor, this is your world, I'm not even sure what you want with me, or why you would call me out here." He didn't answer and instead, had her show him which bags were hers. And once he grabbed them, he led her outside and she had to fight the gag at the heat that was rolling in. Yeah, LA in the middle of June was rather shitty and she would have to remember that. Once he got to his car, he unlocked the doors and opened them for her, offering her a smile.

"Now, to answer your question," he said, once he climbed in and turned the car on, the ac already kicking in, "I loved your story, the twists, and turns, the drama, the passion, the excitement, it was all amazing. How one mind could come up with that as a debut novel was crazy to me. And I wanted you on set because the last thing I wanted to do was destroy what you wrote. So, the screenwriters have been working on it but I want you here to make sure we stay on task, to really create the visual that you created on paper." She crossed her arms over her chest and let out a breath. Well, what the hell did one say to that? Like fuck, those were magic words to any writer. It was so easy to see Hollywood take a piece, adapt it to the big screen, and then destroy the fuck out of the story. So, for him to call her out and say they wanted to keep it as close as possible was just, well, fucking awesome!

"Okay, deal. And in the meantime, I'll try not to step on too many toes." He laughed as he put the car in drive and excited out of the garage and into the busy LAX traffic.

"Right, I'm actually hoping you do, otherwise, those actors and screenwriters can totally destroy that piece and we don't want that."

-----

Two weeks later, Judith sighed as she rubbed her eyes. The script was almost done, just a few more touches and they were set to start shooting. However, there was a major deal with finding the female lead. When she had gotten out there, they had told her the male lead was already cast and she was fine with that. Really, in this department, she had no insight. She was going to trust these people a lot more than she probably should, but so far, they've been great.

The role of Michelle was a feisty, red-haired, bright-eyed, smart, and eccentric female, and so far, Victor hadn't seemed happy with anyone that had auditioned. Contacts and dye, or wigs, could fix the hair and eye color, but the spark that was Michelle was being lost. Which, for Judith, was funny, because she didn't think Michelle was a hard person, but to nail her character, the very heart of her, a lot of people were failing.

And for her, in this world, she didn't have a lot of knowledge. It wasn't like she could drop actresses' names who might be willing to do it. She didn't design her characters like that, these were people from her mind, and okay, maybe a small piece of her. In fact, because of that, she had told Victor a few times already that maybe it was best if she wasn't part of this, but he kept saying no, that she needed to be here. So, here she sat, sitting in the back of the room, looking at photos, and shrugging to herself.

All she knew so far was that the male lead who was to play Tony was an upcoming young star. He had done a couple of daytime shows, had landed a couple of movie shots, and was fast becoming a household name. Tony was a great character, funny to counteract the sassy part of Michelle, but strong, and more down to Earth. Victor had said his name was Angel, but for Judith, that was lost on her. She didn't know him, sad to say. And for some odd reason, she had yet to see his picture.

With that thought, she glanced back down at the pile in her hand and then froze. Out from the mix stared a young girl who had a vibrant red shade of hair and curls! This was Michelle. Her eyes spoke of the feistiness and Judith could picture her on set, just glaring at Tony and the fireworks that would come forth.

"Victor," she called, causing the man to turn around.

"Yeah?" he asked as he walked back to her seat.

"I found Michelle." She handed him the photo and he looked at it before looking at her, his eyebrow raised in question. "Just look at her eyes. Don't they scream fire? Don't they scream don't mess with me? Don't they scream passion? If you want a good Michelle, her eyes are going to hold everything you need. For her, the eyes are the very window to her soul and to all that she is. That's Michelle," Judith said, hitting the back of the picture.

"She's a little chunkier," he started but Judith waved him off.

"I don't design my characters to really be fat, tall, thin, nothing like that. And even so, so what. I don't know what Angel looks like, but if you say he's the perfect Tony then he's going to balance her on, and off, the screen, don't you think?" At this point, if he didn't want to listen, Judith was done. She could easily just sit in her little one-bedroom that she was renting rather than be here.

"Okay, if you feel this is her, I'll give her a call." With that, he walked away, his phone already attached to his ear as he called to get her in for an audition. Judith leaned back, a smile on her face. She didn't think he would actually side with her, but it sure felt good that he did. And wow, that picture. When she wrote the book, there was no set picture in her head, more a personality than a face. At best, the picture was hazy, but seeing that photo, that woman, Molly Ashton, was set to play Michelle. And now curiosity was getting the better part of her. She wanted to see her Tony. After all, Victor said that he had seen a few photos and had a few men come in, but when this Angel came in, he was just bowled over by the way he held himself and he felt it was the perfect Tony.

With that, she got out of her seat and walked over to the table that held the photos. She glanced through the piles, noting which ones were already set aside as no, which ones were maybes, and which had been selected. She was surprised it was that simple. She was about to grab the pile when someone stepped up behind her.

"Excuse me," the deep voice said, and Judith swung around, looking guilty as sin. But the moment she rotated, and her deep brown eyes caught his twinkling chocolate ones, her breath caught in her throat and her heart stopped, causing her to worry.