Born to Die - Drew Starkey

16. Drew

It was so late. I was beyond exhausted. And our sex scene wasn't even close to being done. It was a Thursday night and we didn't even start filming until sundown.

We were filming from chapter eighteen, where the group went to the mainland for an overnight and Rafe and Audrey shared a room and visited third base. But since all of this was supposed to happen when it was dark, it was well past midnight.

We filmed the whole scene outside where Rafe and Audrey start to confess some feelings beyond sex, and that whole thing ate up at least three hours, trying to get decent lighting and make sure the cameras followed us properly as we walked.

And then there was the intimacy. Oh, the intimacy.

Juliette and I hadn't done anything since that one night in my trailer, but she came over practically every night and we just fell asleep together. We'd talk casually and cuddle and fall asleep. We wouldn't even kiss.

"We're trying, you guys, really." Marshall insisted as Juliette pulled her shirt back on. "It's hotel lighting, it's not flattering, trust us."

I laid on my back, my head hitting the pillow beside Juliette.

"It'll be a couple more minutes and we can run it again."

Crew members were playing around with only having bathroom lights on, only using different flashlights, et cetera. It was getting tiring.

Jules let out a breath and walked over to the side of the room and took a soft blanket from one of the crewmates and then came right beside me.

She was about to speak when the lighting completely cut out. She gasped along with many others.

"Sorry, I unscrewed the lightbulb!" Someone yelled from the bathroom.

She groaned and cuddled up in the blanket, sighing amiably when she got comfy, just as she did every night.

I rolled and faced her, watching her actually start to drift off.

"It'll be probably an hour, actually." Marshall said, making her jump in the darkness. The only things lighting the room were some crew member's phone flashlights and streetlamps. "Rest up and we'll run it."

Jules huffed and swallowed with annoyance. I didn't know how to help. God knows she gets cranky when she's tired.

"Drew? Can you hold me so I can fall asleep quickly?" She whispered.

The first night after we had dinner and I ate her she asked me the same thing. Every other night we spent together I just did so before she had the opportunity to ask. But I wouldn't expect her to want me to be affectionate outside of the comfort of our trailers, especially when we made it clear that this was a no-strings-attached situation.

"Please?" She asked because I hadn't responded.

"Yeah, yeah." I slid my arm between her waist and the bed, tugging her towards me gently. She lifted her arm and caressed my jaw with her hand and I felt my eyes close. She wrapped herself in me the same way she had for the past couple of weeks and it made me feel just as relaxed as it did the first time.

We both ended up falling asleep like that and the scene got delayed because of it.

- - -

Jules was sick. The issue with her being the star meant that she was always in whatever scene was being filmed. She had long hours and it was even tiring for me. She'd leave my arms early in the morning and I'd wait up for her at night.

I was in most scenes too, of course, she just had more people stopping her and asking something of her and she was too nice to turn anyone down. So between me, work, time with friends, I knew she was overdoing it.