Trust Me?

Part 16

The next day was a work day.
I had been bathing in so much happiness since Martha and Mat had come over and Ben and I had patched things up. He was showing me so much love lately that I even considered that I'd never been happier. I was sure this constant reminder of his affection would soon wear off, but it didn't seem to be.
It was an early start and I was shuffling around in the kitchen, still making my limited clothing last as long as it could. I was so excited for a few days off in the week to finally go back to mine and start moving my stuff over, and waving goodbye to my hovel of a flat.
The dawn was just edging over the horizon when Ben entered the kitchen, standing behind me as I made tea in a travel mug. His arms rested on my waist and his lips softly pressed under my ear, making me giggle. I turned my head to him and kissed him on the lips as we laughed at our awkward positioning.

"Morning," he said softly.

He reluctantly pulled himself away from me and organised himself for the day, shuffling around the kitchen and shoving papers and his laptop into his bag.

"Ready for your new apprentice to start today?" He asked.

"Oh my god, I'd forgotten about that!" I held my hand to my mouth and rushed around even quicker now, worried this new girl was an early starter and would be stood waiting outside my trailer in the pouring rain. "We'd better go."
Luckily, Ben was ready as I screwed the lid onto my coffee mug, threw on my coat and hoisted my bag over my shoulder.

We bundled into the car to get out of the freezing morning air and Ben looked over to me.
"What?" I asked, wondering why he wasn't starting the engine.
"I love you," he said.
His ever-continuing affectionate nature didn't even seem to be absent in a rush. I smiled and placed my hand in his thigh, squeezing slightly.

I fast-walked towards my trailer, Ben following me as I unlocked the door. He stayed with me for a bit in my trailer as I sorted the mess out and tried to make it look a bit more welcoming for the new girl. Not long after we'd arrived, there was a knock at the door.
"Oh, hello," Lizzy, the show's producer said, surprised to be met by Ben opening the door to the make-up trailer. I walked over to the open door, causing Ben to move over. "Jules, this is Olivia-" Lizzy said, stepping to the side to make room for a petite blonde girl stood behind her.
Olivia smiled and waved, her hands clasping back together as if she didn't know what to do with them. She wore a floral dress and her blonde ringlets fell perfectly over her shoulders and down to her collar bones. She was very pretty and her make up made her look like a fifties film star. I smiled back and took a step backwards.
"Hi, come in," I said.
Olivia looked at Lizzy before climbing the few steps inside my trailer.
"Thanks Jules, I'll leave you to it," Lizzy said before hastily walking away.

Inside the trailer, Ben smiled his friendly smile to Olivia.
"This is Ben, he's in the cast," I said, gesturing towards him as he shook her hand.
"Nice to meet you," he began, "are your excited to start working with us?"
"Oh, yeah, really excited. This is like a dream come true!" Olivia spoke with such positivity and eagerness, it made me feel like I'd lost my spark. Her voice was soft and cute.
"So, let me show you around. It's a small trailer so everything is kind of everywhere, but you'll get used to it." I said, summoning Olivia to follow me.
I showed her the chart of the filming that would be happening today and what make-up and costumes were needed for the sketches.
"We'll be working on Larry, Mat, Jim and Ben today for this shoot. I'll do them for today, and you can watch and see how it's done, does that sound okay?" I asked Olivia. She nodded.
"You can work on me, if you like? Mine is quite simple." Ben said, smiling.
I looked at him, surprised at his bold statement. It wasn't like him to be so forward with such important decisions like that. He was also normally a very shy person around new people. It was quiet for a moment as Olivia looked to me.
"Yeah, sure. Good idea," I reluctantly said. "I'll work on the hairy ones, yay." Olivia giggled and I smiled back unconvincingly. "Come on then," I said to Ben eventually, patting the make up chair for him to sit in.
I rifled through at least five drawers before I found an image of what the make-up needed to be like for a 'grubby peasant' sketch. As I was doing so in the store cupboard, I could hear Ben and Olivia talking as she stood beside him in the make-up chair. Her giggle seemed to penetrate my patience and I wasn't sure why. I heard him laugh and thought about how lovely it was of him to be so friendly, and to make the new girl feel so welcomed. I smiled at his loveliness as I walked out of the cupboard with the image Olivia needed for reference.
"Okay," I sat down in the make-up chair next to Ben's and showed Olivia the picture. "It's quite easy, really. The only thing is, we didn't finish this entire sketch last time so it needs to look identical to this." The need for continuity of the make-up is why I had offered to do all of the boys' today, not wanting to give such a big job to Olivia so soon. "Are you sure you'll be okay doing this?"
"Jules, it's only a bit of make-up, I'm sure it won't even matter if it's not identical. Give Olivia a break, I'm sure she'll be great." Ben smiled at Olivia.
I didn't doubt that Olivia was good, but Ben had made it sound like I had no faith in her at all.
"Thanks," Olivia said to Ben, not even making eye contact with me. Suddenly, I felt like the bad guy.