See You in Hell

8

Louise was supposed to have been at the restaurant 8 minutes ago, but she'd been waylaid reviewing footage at the Pesto's. She was dreading reaching the "Lover's Lane" edit and as a result had been unnecessarily dragging her feet on the minutiae of other scenes.

The shoot was still too fresh in her memory. She'd been in a kind of stunned stupor for the rest of the day. They'd come down hard on the pavement when she'd been dragged from the car, much harder than intended - they weren't exactly stunt trained.

Her pale face and disorientation after Andy had called the scene had made everyone on set a bit anxious. Ollie was especially concerned - convinced that she'd actually been concussed in the fall. He'd carefully conveyed her from her prone position next to the car to a folding chair away from the set and hovered nervously around her.

Andy had been too busy being triumphant about his cinematic achievement to match his brother's concern. "That was perfect! I can't believe we got it in one take!" He thumped Louise heartily across the back. "The scream was excellent!"
"Hey take it easy!" Ollie pushed away his brother. "Is this blood?" He'd dabbed at some corn syrup on Louise's shoulder.

"What the fuck was that?" Was the first thing Louise had managed to say.
"We said no lip to lip contact, there was no lip to lip contact." Andy was evil sometimes.

Her retaliatory threats to walk off set were dampened by the fact that Andy was already satisfied with the take. Even if he hadn't been, there'd been a miscommunication to their amateur zombies as to when and how the fake blood was to be deployed. Louise was beyond make up repair for a reshoot. In the end, Ollie did the rest of the camera work for Logan's death scene. Louise had been relieved to have his concern for her well being as an excuse to get out of it. She couldn't face Logan.

When she'd finally had to see him again in the restaurant he had looked sheepish.
"Hey, I'm really sorry if I crossed the line the other day.. Andy, er Andrew told me you were on board to make it look real so I kinda just went with it.."
"It's fine." Louise had cut him off.

She didn't want to talk about it. She just wanted to forget the whole thing. When she thought about it the way she'd felt when he'd kissed her neck her belly squirmed nauseatingly. She wished she could erase the whole day and start again.

Louise couldn't help feeling a bit uneasy around him now. The idol chatter that had become a regular part of their routine felt suddenly unnatural and stiff. Even her usual venomous wisecracks completely dissolved, replaced by an inability to make eye contact and a sudden uncertainty of where she should stand.

At Least Logan seemed not to have noticed her discomfort. It had been hard enough to find time to catch a breath during their last shift, much less find a moment for idle small talk. For once Louise was grateful for the end of summer rush. She and Logan ran past one another in the tight space of the kitchen gliding through the motions of their designated roles in double time. By the end of these hot nights they were both usually too worn out for any conversation beyond what was absolutely necessary to divide up their tips.

Louise had just reached the door of the restaurant. She paused with her hand still out when she saw the scene that was unfolding inside. Logan and Jade were arguing over the front counter. She couldn't hear them through the thick glass, but it looked heated. She stood there awkwardly, unsure if she should go back across the street to Pesto's or wait it out.

Logan's eyes caught hers over Jade's shoulder and Jade spun around to see what he was looking at. When she saw Louise her expression darkened. She shot her a look of pure venom, before turning back to lay into Logan again even more animatedly. She appeared to get in some kind of final word before swinging her comically tiny bag over her shoulder dramatically and storming towards the door. Louise jumped to get out of her path but Jade still managed another withering glare on her way out.