Star Signs ✮ Malum

Strange Love

A/N: *highkey obsessed with the Halsey album* Hello

"This is going to be so awkward." I whispered as a blush coated my cheeks. Michael chuckled and gave me that look that said he understood what I was feeling, "You'll get used to it."

That didn't do much to make me feel any better about the scene we were minutes from filming. Every few seconds I'd accidentally catch someone's eye and they'd give me a sympathetic smile.

"Is everyone ready?" Angie asked, looking from Michael to me then to a new girl who's name is Jordan. She's only be in the movie for this one scene, supposed to be one of Brandon's flings.

Since Michael had helped me gain a bit of confidence with kissing I thought it would be best to actually make out with whoever, even if it's not with my preferred gender. Michael didn't complain when I made the suggestion, which surprised me because we kind of had a thing going on, maybe I was reading into it too much.

"Jordan, Calum, places." Angie instructs, reading of the script for a moment. She seemed especially disinterested with this scene.

She counted down from five while snapping at the half asleep cameraman, Phil had the day off because he scheduled in advance for when his best friend would be here.

I looked around the set quickly, it was meant to be a stereotypical teenage boy's room with clothes all over and posters of chicks with cars slapped on the wall haphazardly. I'd seen messier rooms of course but everything seemed to have a certain placement, even the shirt thrown onto the lampshade.

I guess looking around at the set had let my guard down because when a glossed up pair of lips met mine I was a little surprised. Jordan had no problem getting into character, my shirt was over my head in no time.

The entire thing seemed wrong, the loud rock music didn't change it, it seemed to make it worse. I wanted to get this in one go so there are no repeats.

I closed my eyes tightly and tried to imagine it was Michael, but girls have different bodies than guys and Jordan had really big boobs. The entire experience so far was forced, obviously, but I don't think I was supposed to feel this violated. It was just acting.

Like the script said, Jordan was hovering over me with her shirt off and pants undone when Michael-Charon burst through the door. Although the entire thing was scripted I didn't know when exactly Michael would be coming into the scene because the girl was basically eating my face.

I was shocked in real life so there wasn't much acting involved there.

Breathing heavily Charon looked at the scene in front of him quizzically, "Brandon, I need your help." He sighed, breathing heavily.

The girl was still shocked by the sudden invasion that she just stood there covering her chest when Brandon threw on his shirt. He didn't seemed fazed by Charon just bursting in.

"Maybe next time, babe." He threw a wink over his shoulder at the confused girl before following Charon out of the room.

"Cut! That was good." Angie praised, nodding even though she didn't appear to be looking directly at the scene.

"Do you think we'll have to redo it?" Michael asked, seemingly reading my mind.

"Yeah, the camera angle sucked dick." Angie mumbled, shooting an accusing glare at the replacement camera man who seemed disinterested with the entire thing.

"Fuck me." I whine, drinking some water to drown out the taste of girl.

"Maybe later." Michael winked, walking backwards so he could wiggle his eyebrows at me.

The scene took seven takes, each one more excruciating than the previous. I was fed up when Angie finally said we had the proper footage.

"Hey Michael?" I asked, exhausted even though it had only been a half hour of filming. "Want to go out for lunch?"

~*~

We ended up at some retro bus station place that looked kind of like the one from A Cinderella Story. Michael chose to place our orders again, explaining after word that I wasn't allowed to get anything unless it was a milkshake.

I ended up drinking most of his too.

A teenager walked up to us with a phone clutched in her hand, she made it to our table just in time for me to flick a small amount of milkshake off a straw and onto Michael's cheek.

"Michael, can I get a selfie?" She asked politely. Michael was quick to say yes and posed for several selfies while I awkwardly sat there drinking my own milkshake.

"Calum?" She asked suddenly, making me a little confused because I didn't expect her to know who I was. I continued to look confused up until Michael chose to point at her phone discreetly.

"Oh! Of course!" I reply, giddily leaning across the table to get in the frame.

We all chatted for a while, her asking how we were and a bunch of random questions about acting. Eventually she paused and looked a little unsure of herself, "So, uh, you and Jordan Rachel, huh?"

"Pardon?" I ask, not recognizing the name immediately.

"Jordan, the girl we filmed with today." Michael clarified for the girl, looking unsure of why she chose to categorize us together.

"Ah, now it rings a bell."

"Wait, you aren't dating?" The girl asks suddenly, seeming both surprised and excited.

"Dating? No, we just met today and her and I didn't really connect that well." I tried to make it sound like Jordan and I weren't that great of friends when really I wanted to just say I'm gay.

"What about the picture?"

"What picture?" Michael asked, suddenly joining the conversation.

She quickly brought up a black and white photo of me sitting on a bed in black jeans and no shirt, I was looking off to the side so you could tell that the person in the photo is me.

I frowned, not sure where this photo came from until Michael laughed. "You're looking at me in that picture."