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“If you don’t know how to take care of your camera, I don’t think that’s my fault, even though you’d like to blame it on someone else. Maybe if you had been paying attention, if wouldn’t have happened.”
“I was paying attention!” Ashlyn yelled. “I don’t know what else you want.”
“I think you know what I want,” Javon said. He bit his lip and looked her over as though he wasn’t bothered at all by her problem. Ashlyn wanted to scream and tear her hair out all at the same moment. She stomped away. Maybe she was acting like a baby, but this was the worst possible thing that could have happened to her right now.
Gary called her over, and Ashlyn hurried. She had to beg him for forgiveness, explain what had happened. She didn’t know what exactly, but she had to do something, and she had to do it quickly to save her little career.
Gary’s face wasn’t nearly as red and angry as it had been before. Ashlyn wondered if this was his “you’re fired” face, like the calm before a storm. “Ashlyn,” he said, “it is Ashlyn, correct?”
Ashlyn nodded respectfully.
“This camera is worth over three thousand dollars.”
“Yes sir.”
“You are very lucky that nothing happened to it. It must have fallen just right on these pine needles to have not been hurt, but it functions correctly.” Ashlyn felt a little spot of rising hope within her. This wasn’t as bad as it had seemed. “You have one last chance. If anything like this happens ever again, then I will have to let you go. Do you understand?”
Ashlyn nodded. “Thank you! Thank you, Gary.”
Gary was already turning away. Ashlyn wanted to kiss the camera for its strength under inspection. She still had a job! She still had hope for the future! Ashlyn turned around to tell Javon that it was okay. The camera wasn’t ruined. Javon wasn’t anywhere around her. Ashlyn visually searched every square foot of the space used by their filming crew. He had left.
Chapter Six
Ashlyn felt unsettled as she tried to carefully finish her day. Javon had left. She didn’t think he had any more parts in the movie. He was just an extra after all. She was surprised he had been there as much as he had. What if she never saw him again?
Ashlyn felt sick to her stomach. She had been such a fool. Why did she always become so angry? It was like when she felt angry she couldn’t control herself. Her mom had always told her that her anger would ruin her one day, and now, Ashlyn felt like that day had come. Her anger had now ruined the blooming relationship she was experiencing with Javon.
Ashlyn was super careful to clip her camera on correctly to the dolly. She didn’t want another mistake, but even her perfect filming for the day did nothing to settle her stomach.
“You are a lucky girl,” Pamela said as they rode together back to the hotel. “I can’t believe the camera didn’t break.”
“Great, is that what everyone is talking about?” Ashlyn asked. “About me being a fool on set today?”
“Honey,” Pamela said, giving Ashlyn a sympathetic look, “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way. We obviously have a lot more time that we will be spending together, but you are still very childish. You don’t keep your problems and emotions inside to deal with in a private manner. You just let them explode out of you. You’ve only been on set a few days, and it seems as though you are always arguing with one of the extras.”
Ashlyn clenched her jaw, not liking Pamela’s words at all. “It’s not a bad thing to let your emotions show,” she said as she had always told her mom. “People always know where they stand with me. You don’t think I like you when I really don’t, not because of some game.”
“But when people are angry, me too, I act like a totally different person, a person that I don’t even like myself. So, if you want some life advice, here it is. Don’t do anything or say anything when you’re angry. Let it pass over.”
Ashlyn nodded like she was listening, but she knew that Pamela’s words wouldn’t actually help her in a real-life situation. When she was angry, she had to let the person know how she was feeling. She didn’t think she could change that, even though it was coming back to bite her now. Ashlyn wanted to cry as she thought about her lost opportunity with Javon. Maybe she hadn’t known him very well, but sometimes, when you meet a person, you immediately feel something for them. Javon had been one of those people.
“I’m going out,” Ashlyn said to Pamela when they reached their hotel room.
“I know you love this job,” Pamela said. “Make sure you don’t forget that when you are dealing with whatever you are doing tonight.”
Ashlyn wanted to stick her tongue out at Pamela, like who asked you to be my mom, but Ashlyn didn’t. She just showered and changed. She didn’t really have anywhere to be, but she wanted to go back to the Red Lobster. She wanted to see the sunset again and see if it was really as amazing as she remembered.
Maybe a tiny part of her was hoping that Javon would be there. She didn’t have his number, and her visit was sort of a final effort to fix what she had broken.
Ashlyn went up the back stairs onto the restaurant’s patio. She never would have known about the passageway if Javon hadn’t shown her the night before. Ashlyn sat on a little bench on the edge of the patio and looked up at the sky. The sunset was still an hour away. She had a long time to wait.
Ashlyn closed her eyes and let the warm sunshine wash over her upturned face. When she was young, she had always tried to get as tan as possible during the summer. The last few summers since college, she had been too busy going here and there looking for work that she hadn’t had time to enjoy being outdoors as much.
Ashlyn took a deep breath and tried to mentally prepare herself for moving on. They would be done filming in eight days anyway. She didn’t know if she would ever come back to Georgia. It was probably for the best that things had ended quickly and cleanly,
“Ashlyn.”
She heard her name spoken, and she jumped up. There, standing at the top of the patio stairs was Javon. He looked just as handsome as he had the other night. She wanted to jump into his arms and beg for his forgiveness. She wanted to kiss him so that he would know she was sorry for yelling at him, that she really wanted something more with him.
