AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 5
INT. REHEARSAL ROOM
“Wait, we can shoot it without showing my boobs?” Rhiannon Simmons looked at Cole as if she wanted him to confirm that Maggie wasn’t talking nonsense when she said the actress didn’t have to display her nipples to everyone with a Videon subscription.
Cole’s costar was almost impossibly young—the kind of young he could barely remember being. But Rhiannon was about a zillion times more together than Cole had been in his early twenties, and someone was taking time and care with her that they never had with him.
He was so, so glad the industry had changed ... and maybe also the tiniest bit jealous.
“I mean, I’m not saying I don’t want to,” Rhiannon added quickly. “But I didn’t know that was an option.”
Across the table, Maggie was watching Rhiannon with a mixture of warmth and motherly concern. Cole understood, since Rhiannon made him feel like the Cryptkeeper. It was one thing to know your coworkers had been in kindergarten when you’d gotten your start. But then they introduced themselves and said your early work was “classic,” and your heart shriveled up to a raisin in your chest.
Cole didn’t want to be classic. Classics joined the AARP and had opinions about the best brands of over-the-counter meds for aches and pains—which was ridiculous, because it was clearly Bayer Back & Body.
“Of course,” Maggie told her. “Zoya has a vision for the scene, for what it shows us about your characters, but this is collaborative. If there are elements you don’t want to do for whatever reason, it’s my job to help you negotiate those and to find a way to film this that’s comfortable for you.”
Rhiannon again turned to Cole.Are you hearing this?her expression screamed. “I’m feeling a little green.”
“I can’t tell,” he said.
Maggie snorted. “Look, if anyone’s the newbie here, it’s me. As written, you’d be nude from the waist up, and the blocking—it would be pretty intense. Zoya sees Madge as being debased by her relationship with Geordie. She’s exposed, literally and emotionally, and we can tell he already has one foot out the door. When Geordie leaves Madge for Effie, that’s going to destroy her.”
“Not very heroic of me,” Cole said, trying to make a joke.
“No.” Maggie gave him a courtesy smile, but Cole knew they were both focused on Rhiannon.
His costar considered the script under Maggie’s hand. Cole knew this was Rhiannon’s first big film or television role. During their chemistry read, she’d been amazing, but she was also walking into a world she didn’t know at all.
For a second, Cole thought about what Tasha had said last night aboutCosa Nostra. Tasha was so fierce—and she’d grown up in Hollywood—so it was hard to see her and Rhiannon as having much in common. But suddenly, those distinctions hardly seemed to matter. They had both been young women in an industry of vampires.
“I’ve done nudity on stage,” Rhiannon said, “inThe Bald Sopranowhen I was at uni. My gran came one night, and that was ... awkward. But this feels different.”
“Because the play didn’t have an international audience?” Maggie asked.
“Yeah.”
Maggie nodded. “Again, the goal is to show something with the intimacy that we can’t reveal another way. But your nipples aren’t necessary to achieve Zoya’s vision, and I’ll be discussing what we decide during a production meeting tonight.”
Rhiannon processed this. Nodded. “And Zoya won’t be mad? I signed the nudity waiver already. My agent ... I mean, we didn’t even have a discussion about it.Waverleyis big for me, and this is just what you do.”
Drew had certainly never told Cole that he could decline a scene or negotiate nudity. Cole’s abs were practically a résumé item for him. The idea that he might not smack them up on screen was almost comic.
Almost.
But there was a gap between the cartoon version of Cole, all muscles and good vibes, and the real person, who might feel embarrassed or self-conscious about it. And given how much of his life Cole spent caught in between them, he didn’t find it that funny.
“No,” Maggie said. “Zoya won’t be mad.”
“And who cares if she is? If it isn’t something you want to do, you shouldn’t do it.” Oops, Cole shouldn’t have said that.
One of Drew’s key rules wasBe easy to work with. This wasn’t because Drew believed kindness to be inherently important or anything so slushy, but because in a world without many backup options, you didn’t want to give them a single reason to axe you.
If he were here, he would lose his mind that Cole had suggested Rhiannon put her own wants ahead of the showrunner’s.
But . . . she should.
“Sorry,” Cole said, trying to decide how much of that to walk back. “I don’t mean to give you bad advice. Of course you want Zoya to be happy. But your feelings are important too.” Cole sounded like agoddamn after-school special. If this went on any longer, he was going to tell Rhiannon to stay away from drugs and not to text and drive.
