Shortcake*

Chapter 2: Shortcake

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Siren's Song was set in the 1920s in Greece; a marine biologist, played by Link, stumbles upon one of the last Sirens in existence, played by Cleo, when he hears her singing in a cove. She's trying to lure him closer to kill him, but he captures her instead, intending to study her. He wears earplugs whenever he is around her, thwarting her attempts to control him, so she ends up seducing him to free herself. He falls for her, but instead of freeing her, he researches lore to turn her human to keep her forever. When she figures out his plan, she tries to kill him again, and he thinks he accidentally kills her trying to defend himself. Heartbroken, he returns her body to the cove he found her in and lays her in the water. When he turns his back to leave, she swims off. The movie ends with him in a boat searching for her while she follows behind, set on revenge.

They were on location on the Island of Kos in Greece. The cast and crew were staying in a resort on one end of the island, and there were various filming locations all around it. They were filming all the ocean scenes first and getting all the location shots. Cleo was a strong swimmer and a certified diver, spent three months learning to free dive and spent several weeks performing with the mermaids at the Dive Bar in Sacramento in preparation for her role. She was determined to use stand-ins, and stunt doubles as little as possible. Once they were on the beach, Nico and Frankie helped her wriggle into the tight, scaled, silvery blue/grey tail. Once it was on, Frankie repainted a few spots and glued on more scales, taking pictures for reference.

"Cleo!" Tim Perez, the movie's director, approached her and held out his hands. "You look incredible!"

"Thanks Tim, how are you?" Cleo smiled up at the tall, thin man with prematurely white hair. His black eyebrows stood out in stark contrast against his hair and flashing black eyes, and she took his hands as Nico made minor adjustments to her hair.

"Excellent." He looked around. "I think we'll start filming you playing in the water. Get those shots out of the way while we wait on Mr. Hart."

Cleo nodded excitedly. "Yes, absolutely. I'm gonna need some help getting into the water though."

"Of course." Tim chuckled. "Zale, Michail, come here please." Cleo watched as two tall, muscular men with dark hair and eyes in wetsuits approached them. "Cleo, this is Zale and Michail Vlahos; they're brothers and local divers and will be there making sure you're safe in the water. Gentleman, this is Cleo Knight, our Siren."

Cleo smiled brightly and held out her hand. "It's lovely to meet you."

Zale, who was shorter and stockier than his brother with longish black hair and a close-cropped beard, grinned and kissed the back of her hand. "I can see why you were chosen as the siren."

Michail nudged him out of the way, tall and slender, with hair shorter on the sides and longer on top and three days' worth of scruff on his jaw, took her hand next and kissed the back as well. "He's married, but I'm very single ómorfi kopéla."

"Thanks." Cleo laughed lightly. "You two are gonna be trouble, I can tell."

"We need to get Ms. Knight into the water." Tim said, rolling his eyes a little. "Would one of you mind?"

"No problem." Michail lifted her smoothly into his arms and carried her into the warm water. Zale handed him his fins after they got her settled in, and they took their positions behind the cameraman, who was also in a wetsuit, while Tim climbed aboard a rubber boat. They filmed a bunch of shots of her diving off rocks, playing in the waves, sunning herself on the rocks and in the shallow water, chasing fish and crabs. When she was done, Zale carried her out and set her down in a chair so Frankie could touch her up and she could eat lunch. After lunch, it was back out into the water so they could film Link's character spying on her. When Tim called it a wrap for the day, she was exhausted. Nico brought her a bathrobe and helped her out of the tail right there on the beach.

She picked it up and threw it over her arm. "I'll bring this to the costume trailer and meet you at the car." She smiled as he kissed her cheek and walked away. Inside the trailer, she passed the tail off to the people to clean and dry it out for the next day, thanked them for their hard work and told them it was a dream to swim in. After changing into her street clothes, she said her goodbyes at the door, turned to leave and bumped into Link's broad chest. "Shit!" She bounced off him and would have landed on her ass, but he quickly caught her by the wrist and kept her upright.

"Watch where you're going Shortcake." He grumbled, letting her go and stepping back so she could leave.

"Sorry, I thought you were already gone." Cleo shrugged apologetically. "And don't call me that." She hated the nickname he insisted on calling her because she was "short and too sweet."

He ignored her and entered the trailer, closing the door behind him. She stared in disbelief, then closed her eyes and fought down the scream of frustration that rose in her throat. She wasn't sure what she did to make him hate her, but she hoped he stepped in water puddles while wearing socks every morning for the rest of the filming. 

*Copyright: Stephanie Myrick, 2023. Posted to Wattpad ONLY*