Lights, Camera, Rumblefish!

Chapter 1

LCR 1

"Hey, whatcha doin'?" I knocked on my bedroom door of my Aunt Susie's house to see Matt on the bed, gazing over a book with a highlighter in one hand and running his fingers with his hair with the other. When he saw me, he capped the highlighter and moved the book to the side.

"Nothin'," he said solemnly, smothering his face in the palms of his hands.

"Uh, no, you were doing something," I said, taking a seat next to him on the bed, tugging gently on the hairs on the back of his neck.

"It's nothing, sweetheart, it's nothing," he insisted. I ran my hand up and down his back.

"You sure?"

"Yeah," he said without looking at me. I peered over his shoulder and snatched the book behind him.

"Matt, this is a baby name book. What are you doing with this? Some woman you're supporting I don't know about?" I said.

"No! I just wanted to look...just in case, give me that. Essie, give me that!" He tried snatching it away from me but I pulled away.

"Matt, lemme see it," I opened it up to the page where the highlighter was nudged in and started reading off the circled names.

"Christopher...Benjamin, Allen...Josie, aw I like Josie," I said.

"You do?"

"Yeah, I do. Samantha...Elsie...Donna, Michael, Charlie. I like most of these names," I said.

"Wait, you really do?" he said.

"Yeah...Posey, now that's cute. I like that," I said.

"Yeah, I like that one a lot," he said. I sat straight up and started rubbing his back.

"Now why do you have this?" I asked.

"Because I thought...in the future, when we really do have kids..."

"Matt, you've been hassling me since May to have kids. It's almost October," I said.

"Well, maybe I really do want to have kids soon, Essie."

"Sweetheart, we're not even married..." He wouldn't look at me, only the floor.

"But we will be in six months," he said.

"I know... And you know, in six months, when we are... I'm not opposed to it," I said.

"You're not?"

"No, I'm not. As long as you're with me for the nine months."

"Yeah, I'll be with ya... I'll be with ya every step of the way."

"You will?"

"Yeah."

"Well, can you wait six months before we start actually thinking about baby names and building cribs?"

"Yeah, I can wait a little longer," he said.

"Good," I nudged my forehead against his and grinned.

"I'm sorry I have to keep pushing it off and turning you down, but...I have my reasons."

"I understand," he said. I pressed my lips against his and he grabbed hold of my lower lip with his teeth. He held my lower back and kissed the top of my nose before resorting back to my lips.

"Dinner's ready!"

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It was dark, the only light came from underneath the bedroom door into our pitch black room. The clock on the ticked, and Matt tossed. I laid with my head resting comfortably on a pillow, fidgeting with the end of a blanket.

"Matt?" I whispered.

"Hmm?"

"You awake?"

"Yeah," he turned over on his side and looked at me before I turned on mine. He shut his eyes and then jerked them open a second later.

"You okay?" I whispered.

"Yeah, yeah, I just can't sleep," he said.

"Me neither," I reached for his hand and it in between my two palms. His hand was vibrating and I realized that he was shaking.

"Matt, you're shaking."

"No, I'm not."

"You're literally shaking. Are you alright? Are you sick?" I laid the back of my hand on his forehead.

"No, I'm not sick..." He pushed my arm down.

"Then what's wrong?"

"I might be a little...nervous."

"Nervous?"

"Yeah...nervous," he said.

"Well, what's the matter?" I said, pushing the stray hairs out of his face.

"This, uh, this fight scene...I'm a little nervous about how it's gonna go down."

"But you're fighting Glenn, the guy who wouldn't kill that spider crawling across Mickey's leg."

"I know, but Francis wants real knives, and I'm just a little freaked by it."

"Because of last time?"

"Yeah."

"Well, honey, I don't think he's going to let Glenn actually cut up your side... You're going to have padding underneath it that holds the blood."

"Essie, it just brings back what happened to me and I'm not really comfortable with it," he said. I rest my hand behind his head.

"Sweetheart, you have nothing to worry about. Francis isn't going to let anyone hurt you, I'm not going to let anything happen to you, Susie's not going to let anything happen...You're working yourself up," I said.

"It freaks me out, Essie," he said.

"I know but... you'll get through it in a couple takes and then you can continue filming another scene," I said.

"Will you be there tomorrow?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna be there."

"Okay...If I feel uncomfortable during the shoot, can I come talk to you?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure. Whatever you need to do," I said.

"I just feel like an ass, always asking you for stuff and expecting things of you lately. I'm an asshole, I'm sorry. If you don't want to be there tomorrow, you don't have to."

"Sweetheart, what did I just say? I'm going to be there tomorrow. Now will you relax. You act like you're going to jail and I have to bail you out," I said.

"I'm sorry, I'm just freaked, I'm just freaked."

"You're tired. Go to bed."

"Yeah?"

"Yes. Go to sleep. I'll wake you up tomorrow."

"Okay...hey, thanks, babe."

"No problem." He gave me a quick kiss before beaming.

"I'll dream about you tonight," he said.

"Okay," I smiled and kissed him again before rolling over.

"Sweet dreams, my love," he said.

"Good night."