13 Flames | gxg

12 - love interest

Palmer

I can't keep touching Lexa. I know I shouldn't but I do anyway. I need to stop. Because my skin sparks every time I touch her, and freezes over once I remember there's an engagement ring on her finger.

I have to stay away before I do something I'll regret.

I push my thoughts away as I enter the set. My breath is still taken away by the wonder of it all. After years of hard work, I finally got here. A leading role, a tv show that could actually take off. An amazing cast, an amazing crew, an amazing set. I can't wait.

We gather in the center of the set, the director, Matt, and the producers at the front of the room.

"Alright! We're going to get started. Some of you are new to this, but everyone is new to this set. There will be mistakes, slip-ups, but it's all part of the process."

He continues to go on and describe the day to day atmosphere. We'll be filming one episode every two weeks, beginning with a roundtable reading on Monday, filming the first week, editing and touch-ups the second week. We've already received the script for the first episode. I know all my lines.

"Welcome to Thirteen Flames! Let's get to work!" Matt concludes.

We're starting with our first roundtable and about half of the group heads in that direction. I follow the throng of people, Lexa on my left and Alex on my right.

The place is huge. Seriously. We're led through the main set to another collection of rooms. A break room is there, with couches and a kitchenette. The roundtable room sits across the hallway. We enter and I smile at the groups of people finding their seats. Seven main chairs sit at the front row, a name tag in front of each. From left to right, the name tags read Brayden, Peyton, Lexa, me, John, Joseph, and Alex. My chair sits front and center. And of course, Lexa sits beside me. I follow the others to take a seat but glance over my shoulder when someone calls my name.

"Palmer! Lexa! Can you guys come here for a sec?" It's Sarah, who takes up the rear of the group, Matt beside her. I glance at Lexa and we both head over.

Matt smiles. "Hi. I wanted to approach you two about something." He glances at Sarah who nods encouragingly. "This is an idea we've been throwing around but we won't take it any further without your agreement."

I raise an eyebrow, unsure where this is going. Matt seems excited about it, though.

"You're characters, Emily and Ali. We want to write them as love interests."

My heart skips a beat. My mouth hangs open but I close it immediately. I glance at Lexa, seeing a similar shocked expression on her face.

"So..." Matt prompts. "What do you guys think?"

I smile while my head screams at me to say no. "I'm down. If it's okay with you?" I ask Lexa.

She blinks, trying to wipe the startled expression off her face. "Um, yeah, totally. I mean, but I'm not, uh," she stops herself. "I'm straight though," she finally says.

My mouth hangs open again and I don't bother to close it. "Sorry, what?"

Matt also looks surprised but he recovers much faster than I do. "Oh, okay. If you're not comfortable–"

"No, it's okay," Lexa interrupts. "Acting, right? Besides, some representation would be good," she smiles. I'm still staring at her with a confused expression.

Matt returns the grin. "Great! Okay! We'll start working it into the episode." He hurries off to his seat, bubbling with excitement.

Sarah smirks at my expression before following him away. Lexa turns to me. "You look surprised."

"I am. I mean, uh, I guess, I didn't know," I stumble over my words.

"I'm marrying James, remember?"

That doesn't mean you're straight. I force a smile. "How could I forget?"

She glances over my shoulder to the rest of the room. "Come on, they're starting." She pushes past me and I follow her to our seats. On the way, I make eye contact with Alex. He regards me with a smirk. I ignore him as I relax into my chair and open the script in front of me. I keep a small smile on my face as cameras flash around the room. Matt says a few words and we dive into the script. I pay attention, of course, but I let my mind wander as we review scenes I'm not a part of.

Love interests. Of course. Cause why would anything be easy? So much for not touching her anymore. With luck, the subplot won't pick up for a few episodes. I'll have a chance to get to know her better, as a friend. And only as a friend. Because apparently she's straight. I scoff to myself. Yeah, right. I completely understand and respect someone's sexuality. But the way she looked at me our first night in Vegas, her head against my shoulder when I pulled her away from the guy at the bar...

Stop. Just stop. It's a good thing she's straight. Right? It means there's nothing going on between us, there isn't a deeper meaning to whatever this is. She sees me as a friend. That's all.

Unless she's lying to herself. Unless I'm lying to myself.