Josh groaned as he and Ashley blew another take and the director called a cut. This time it was his fault; he’d mangled dialogue and actions he knew like the back of his hand. If she hadn’t tried to slip him some tongue during their kiss scene…. He let out a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through his hair as he stormed off toward Rick Rivera, the director.
“You okay?” Rick asked as he walked up to him while they reset the scene. He was older than Josh, greying hair, a few wrinkles, and a twinkle in his eyes that reflected his passion for his work. They had worked on other movies before and he had always found Rick to be understanding when he lost focus, always kind to interns, and determined to make the set a fun place to work. The whole reason Josh had signed on for this deal was because Rick would be directing. Apart from Mackenzie's begging.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” he replied automatically. In theory he should be fine. Ashley was hardly the first person to try to kiss him when he wasn’t interested, though she was definitely the most persistent.
Maybe it was too close to lunch. Or maybe he needed to take his meds. Or maybe it was the fact that he knew Beck would be waiting in his trailer when they cut for lunch. Just thinking about her made his frustration lift.
“Why don’t we break for lunch a few minutes early and regroup in, what, an hour?” Rick suggested. “Give you some time to collect whatever’s going on in that head of yours. I’ll talk to Ashley.”
Smiling, he said, “Not sure that’s quite enough time for that, but maybe after a bit of lunch I can reset my focus. And thanks.”
“Go get some food, kid,” Rick laughed.
“I’m 33.”
“And I’m 56,” he shot back. “Go get some food, kid.”
“Yes, dad,” Josh replied, throwing a salute as he turned to head for his trailer.
Somehow when Beck checked the progress of the download, it had more time remaining than it had a few minutes earlier. About a week had passed since Josh had picked her up at Union station, crying over her bad day. Every day since, he had brought her on set with him to work in his trailer while he worked. Between takes, he would come back and hang out with her while playing video games or reviewing his script. Even the silence when he was reviewing lines was comfortable.
In all of her digging, she had managed to find a remote access tool and a keylogger. Someone wanted something off of it. So now she was going through system logs and access logs to see what had been compromised, what they were after. Some asshole looking to spoil the movies? Someone looking for dirt on Josh? At this point she had no idea. And damn if reading logs wasn’t her least favourite part of her job. It required so much focus and attention and sometimes she just needed to break from it. Hanging out with Josh had been good for that. He was a lot of fun and a great distraction when she needed it.
Looking up, she debated turning on the giant flatscreen TV and playing one of the many video games in Josh’s library. On either side of the TV were bookshelves filled with video games for N64, Xbox, Playstation; hell, he even had an old NES and a Sega. Of course, he also had a full kitchen with a ceramic top oven, full-sized fridge (complete with beers inside), and a dishwasher. At the other end of the trailer was a bedroom, complete with a queen sized bed and the most comfortable mattress she had ever laid on. Well. Laid on. Technically he had encouraged her to run and jump into the bed like a toddler on sugar. Then he had done the same and laid down next to her. Next thing she knew Kris was barging in and waking them up for his next call on set. That had only been slightly embarrassing.
Between the bedroom and living room was a huge washroom with a bathtub. That had shocked her when she first saw it, during his tour of the trailer. Even her apartment only had a stall shower. The whole damned trailer was nicer and bigger than her apartment and definitely more luxurious.
A grin slipped across her face as her thoughts wandered back to when they had fallen asleep on the bed, growing bigger when the trailer door opened. It was like just thinking about him had summoned him. Compared to other days she’d been on set with him, he was dressed relatively normal - just a plain navy blue jumpsuit with his character's name on it and a white shirt underneath. There were some fake cuts and dirt on his face as well, but nothing that really stood out. The other day he’d been in full battle regalia and eating salad. If she hadn’t been so afraid of issues with the NDA, she would’ve taken a picture.
“Hey,” he greeted, smiling at her. “Brought pizza!”
“My hero,” she muttered, glancing at the box and napkins in his hands. “Did you swipe a whole pizza from the set?”
Josh gave her his best ‘who, me?’ look as he dropped down next to her on the couch and opened the box to offer her a slice.
“Plain cheese?” she asked, looking at the pizza.
He winced. “Not your thing?”
“Definitely my thing,” she said, taking two slices out and dropping them on napkins in her lap. “Always got called weird for it, but I’m just not a fan of covering my pizza in...anything.” From the corner of her eye she caught him staring at her with a goofy grin. “What?”
“That’s exactly how I feel,” he said, taking a slice of his own. “People get so judgy over pizza.”
She snorted a laugh. “People get judgy over everything, Josh. It’s why I don’t have any social media.”
“What, none?” He was looking at her like she’d grown another head or seven.
In reply, she just grinned around her mouthful of pizza.
Dropping his slice on top of the box, he asked, “What’s that even like? Shit. I mean, I have to have notifications turned off, otherwise I’d go nuts.”
Beck arched an eyebrow at him.
“More nuts,” he corrected, smiling. A noise like a phone vibrating hit her ears, and Josh’s posture went rigid and he slid the pizza box to the side to run across the room. “Shit, almost forgot.” His words were so quiet she almost didn’t hear them.
“Everything okay?” she asked, watching as he picked up what looked like a pill organizer and a bottle of water.
“Yeah, fine,” he muttered, popping the pill and chugging the water.
“If you’re not okay, you can -.”
“I’m fine,” he reassured her, smiling. “Nothing’s wrong. Well. Nothing bad. The pills are for...they’re....” He took another sip of his water, clearly stalling.
Smiling softly at him, she put her own pizza down on the box with his and crossed the room. Maybe she could ease his mind if she told him about her ADHD? “Promise I won’t judge, Josh,” she murmured. Fishing around in her pocket, she pulled out her Vyvanse bottle and showed it to him. “I take my own medication for -.”
“ADHD,” he said, a slow smile pulling his mouth up. “You have ADHD?”
She nodded and took the bottle back, putting it away. “Yeah, combined type,” she confirmed. “It means -.”
He showed her his pill organizer and grinned widely. “Adderall. Predominantly hyperactive, but only by a hair.”
Beck shook her head, laughing. “Guess that’s why we get along,” she muttered. When she looked up, he was giving her a weird look, so, trying not to blush, she suggested, “We should finish the pizza.”
“Good plan,” he agreed. “Rick’ll kill me if I ruin a take with a growling stomach.”
“I have a feeling you could run your car through the set and he’d still think you hung the moon,” she giggled as he pulled her back down on the couch. It had been obvious from the moment she showed up on set and he introduced her to Rick that they were close.
Josh shrugged, smirking. Whatever he was up to, she knew she was going to regret it. “Yeah, but I like my new car,” he said. “Blue’s my favourite colour.” And he took a massive bite of his pizza, tomato sauce dripping down his chin as he chewed loudly around his grin.
“You’re gross,” she laughed, pushing his face away from her to avoid sauce dripping on her. “I think if you get pizza sauce on your wardrobe, Rick might actually kill you. That might be the line.” She threw some of the napkins at him and grabbed her own slices from the box before he could drool sauce on them.
“You like my weirdness,” he chuckled.
Beck hid her grin behind a bite of pizza. She really did like his weirdness. And now that she knew he had ADHD too, it was like a weight had been lifted. No need to try to mask anymore, he understood. She leaned back into the couch as she ate, trying not to smile too much.
Comments (0)
See all