Love in making🎬🎥

Chapter 8

The Date

We are at the site location today. It is a big house with around 15 rooms. It is the home of the dean of WSU but we will show it as Hardin's frat house. The place for weekend parties and all the aftermath. We have kept the place all messed up. Beer bottles on every table,shelf and corner of the ground floor. Well those bottles had beer in them long time ago, now they are filled with water, lemonade,soda, Appy Fizz and diet Coke. "You look beautiful Jo" I said while Fatty was busy tying her hair. Her red dress had nice lace detailings on it. It looked a bit out of place but then that's what Tessa is, a misfit among these junkies. "But you look hot Nir !!" Khadija said joining our conversation. "You look like you belong to our group" she said tying her arms around my shoulder. She is so tall, almost towering me and Jo.
"Ahuh?? I see, I think I should talk to Jemmy". There was a moment of silence before all four of us broke into laughter. "Ok Girls I need to go now to check all the cameras. Do great !!" I left to check everything one last time. "Shawn I want you to take me 7ft. high for capturing the house." I told the camera crane guy. "But you can take it right from here. Isn't it?" he retorted. "That's a usual angle but I want to do it differently. We will capture their entry, the lawn area and the house in one single frame". "As you say !!!" he smiled back. "Ok people. Let us start" I said rushing down the stairs when my eyes met Hero sitting on the sofa . He was sitting in a corner with Inanna talking to the other boys. I went straight towards them. "We are starting guys,so get ready" I said without looking at him but his eyes were already on me. "Hey there beautiful,are you here to party with us? Swen teased. "Are you always in your character?" I rolled my eyes and everyone laughed. "An ass remains an ass" Inanna chirped. "Am I suppose to be here or outside?" Pia asked. "You have to be here waiting for Steph" I replied still not looking at him but his eyes were burning a hole in me. Without a word I rushed out of the house towards the camera crane machine. I sat on the seat and motioned Shawn and Jemmy.
"Action !!"
Then we followed Tessa and Steph and completed a game of truth and dare in which everyone kissed everyone including Hero who kissed Inanna. I have myself never been to such parties. And if those parties really turn out to be like this, I am happy that I never went there.
"Cut !!!"
Now we need to move upstairs. I followed Jo and because of the timing Hero followed me on the narrow staircase.
To prevent myself from tripping over a bottle rolled down, I skipped one flight of stair but when I reached finally up, I felt hands on either side of my waist to hold me steady incase I fall with the heavy camera in my hand. Hero removed his hands once he was sure I was steady on my feet.
I should thank him but instead I simply looked over and walked away. I am crazy, you must have realized that by now.
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I place one camera near the door and stand against a shelf of books. This is the master's bedroom and we moved out everything except the bed and this book shelf. I managed to keep the lighting dark and intimidating. The walls are a deep shade of red and every piece of furniture is black. We have used yellow lights and no flash. My positioning in the entire scene was funny as I stood right there with Hardin and Tessa kissing in front of my face.
When we finished the scene everybody was laughing seeing my red face. I have never shot anyone kissing so it felt awkward. "Do you know that you are blushing more than me?" Jo nudged me. And so my awkwardness became the piece of joke for the entire unit.
Everybody went downstairs after the scene except me and Jemmy. We sat there going through all the takes and retakes. "Good job Nirvana" she said while leaving the room. I sat on the edge of the bed to make myself more comfortable while adjusting picture clarity and brightness of the selected shots.
I was so engrossed in my work that I literally jumped when the bed moved when Hero sat beside me. "You scared the shit out of me" I spat. "Sorry I didn't mean to" he said suppressing his laugh.
"Am I a joke to you? Why are you laughing?" I said repositioning my laptop but he simply removed it from my lap. "No. You are no joke to me" he said in his deep voice. Finally I met his gaze and I couldn't look away from his eyes. His deep green eyes piercing right inside my soul. His arms resting on either side of his body as he was leaning on them. His cologne filled the room. His gaze not leaving me for even a second and I can say exactly the same for myself. I don't know how long we have been there staring at each other ,when he finally broke the silence. "Go out with me" He said in one quick breath. "I can't" I said, my eyes returning back to the floor. "And why not?" He asked raising his brow. Is he serious ? "I can't because I work here." I said hoping he gets my point. "Ofcourse you work here and so do I , but after packup, You are no more the camerawoman and I am not the lead. We are friends. And I can take you out" He said in a serious tone. A major part of my brain agreed to his words. He has got a logic there. I too promised myself earlier that I won't push him away. "But where will we go? It's 1 a.m." I said checking my phone. "Just come with me" he said standing and reaching for my hand.
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We have been walking for a while now. Hence it proves that Hero literally had no plans before asking me out. Not that I am complaining, I will never for his company. And its not that there were any awkward silences or any hostility. He told me about London, his family and friends, his childhood. The fan in me literally interviewed him asking how he landed in the role of Tom Ridley in Harry Potter, why he went to become a model and not an actor, how his friends react to his sudden stardom. We walked in a skating rink and sat on one of the stair. "So... how do you feel about all of this attention that you are getting? I mean you will get ten times more than this once the teaser and trailer release." I asked him kicking a pebble on my way. "I don't know really what I should expect out of all this. I am happy that I am able to do something so good but at the same time it scares me because the future is unknown. And the amount of uncertainty that comes with this field is what kept me away until now." He said in a thoughtful tone and looked over me. "What about you? Your parents must be so proud of you doing such an amazing job. Isn't it?" He asked leaning his head on his shoulder which was brushing me. It took me a minute to comprehend my answer. Should I tell him or not? Ofcourse I have to. There is no way to hide it now. "No. I don't have parents." I said resting my head on my hands. "I am sorry" he said and placed his hand on mine. "Its ok. I am doing fine. My mom died after giving birth to me and then my father met the fate of his alcoholic nature". I do feel bad for my mother and I miss her. But not my father. He chose alcohol over his daughter. He chose alcohol over me and that took away every ounce of love and respect I had for him. Hero scooted closer to me and placed my hands in his, giving a gentle squeeze. "You are so brave, intelligent and smart and beautiful and kind. He missed everything if he missed you and the beautiful person you have become. You were worth of all his efforts and if he didn't see that, I don't know what else he should have seen." He was not pitying on me. He cared and I could not help but smile on his words and he engulfed me in a tight hug. My heart was beating hard against my chest and my entire body lighted up as he rested his chin on my head. I took in everything I could. His scent, his touch on my bare shoulders, the rhythm of his breathing and his heart beating against my palm. As we parted he looked in my eyes searching for something I don't know but a smile appeared on his face.
I don't want to talk about this anymore and I am glad Hero realized it as he stood up lending his hand to me. "Where are we going ?" I asked as we left the rink. "Wait and watch" he said tugging my hand around his arms. Soon we reached a Baskin Robbins parlor. "Its never too late for an ice cream date" he said as he pushed open the door and let me in. "So are we on a date?" I asked curiously. "I never thought it to be anything else" he shrugged. "Ohkk but you should have told me. I am not even in a decent date dress" I said looking at the menu for order. "About that, you look really sexy in that dress. And why bother for a particular dress when you can look beautiful all the time like fucking, all the time !!!!" He said stressing the last part in a dramatic way. I blushed bad and he noticed it smirking.
"Nirvana what would you like to have?" He asked looking around. "I will have mint chocolate and you can call me Vani". All my friends call me that and he is a friend now so, you know.. "One mint chocolate and one Jacoa coffee please" He ordered and the woman at the counter looked at him from head to toe. That is when I realized she was not the only one. Every single girl in the parlor was looking at him. You have no idea that you are gonna see him on the big screen soon ladies and then you will regret not taking a picture with him. Hehehe !!!! I got my ice cream and walked out of the parlor, Hero followed.
Once we were far enough from the parlor I turned around and instantly something cold brushed my cheek. "What was that?" I shouted, cleaning the ice cream he smeared on my face. "That is what you get when you don't share yours with me". "You shouldn't have done that" I said brushing my index finger on his nose which is now green and ran away. "Tastes good?" I teased keeping my distance. "We have got a problem now" he said and ran behind me. I sprinted away before his hand could reach me. I started running away but Hero is fast. He caught my hand and grabbed my face in his hand full of ice cream. I tried to push away but he didn't let go off me. Our face was an inch apart and I could feel his warm breath on my cold cheeks. His eyes were set on my lips before I caught him off guard and smeared my entire ice cream on his face.
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We went back to the parlor, gathered some tissues and started cleaning ourselves. I rubbed my face and checked my hair. Thankfully it is safe. When I looked at him he was already looking at me. "What?" I asked him throwing the tissues in bin. He shook his head "Ready to go back?". My heart wanted to stay but my mind knew better. We hailed a cab thereafter. By the time we reached my place it was already 5 in the morning. We can catch only 4 hours of sleep before getting back in action. I got off the cab and Hero came around to me. "I had a wonderful time with you" he said. "Me too" it was not just wonderful. It was the best night of my life. We stood there in silence, looking at each other. Both of us expected something from each other but we couldn't point it out what. We were just quite. "Goodnight Vani" he said in a low voice. "Good morning Hero" I said and turned around to walk to my door. I unlocked it and went inside and closed the door. I then went to the window and saw him grinning, biting his lip before hopping in the cab.