Page 49 of Jacob Michaels is Not Here

“Not the exciting answer you expected?” I teased.

“Not exactly.”

“That’s how most of my movies have gone. Soundstages, sets, green screens, editing geniuses throwing it all together.” I shrugged. “I mean, I’ve had scenes where the people I had dialogue with weren’t even there. It’s all just clipped together afterward. Movie magic.”

“That seems…boring.”

Laughing, I nodded in response.

“Yeah.” I relented. “Making movies isn’t nearly as exciting as people think. At least not when you do those big budget movies with lots of special effects and stunts. I’m sorry I pulled back the curtain, Dorothy.”

Lucas chuckled at me, pulling me more tightly into his body.

“It’s okay,” He said, “I guess I was just hoping that you were as scared making it as I was watching it.”

“Sorry. I almost always had stage fright when I did concerts, though, if that helps. Paralyzing, crippling fear where I wasn’t sure I could even take one step towards the stage without tossing my cookies. Or pissing down my own leg. Facing thousands of live people on a stage is much worse than being on a set giving reactions based on what was shouted to me by the director.”

“Directors shout what to do?” Lucas laughed. “How the hell does that work? I mean, wouldn’t that end up in the audio or whatever?”

“The audio is stripped,” I explained. “Then they add in ambient and environmental noise, sound effects, maybe music. ADR saves it.”

“ADR?”

“Looping, dubbing, whatever.” I shrugged against him as I snuggled deeper into his side. “I spent a lot of time in a sound booth, making breathing noises, stuff like that. Just so they could add it to the audio so that no one would know that the scene was originally silent.”

“That seems like a lot of work.”

“Time-consuming but not all that difficult,” I replied. “There are a lot of things you could do at work that are worse than breathing into a microphone.”

Lucas laughed loudly.

“I wish I could have been there with you.” Lucas sighed as he held me close, leading us along the trail. “If we knew then what we know now, we would’ve stayed together, and I could have seen it all with you. I hate that we lost a whole decade of being together, babe.”

“Me too.”

“Don’t sound so sure of yourself.” Lucas chuckled and kissed the top of my head.

“I’m sorry.” I looked up at him. “I didn’t mean to sound unenthusiastic at the prospect.”

“Good.”

Lucas continued pulling me along beside him, our arms finally loosening and our bodies moving apart so that we could hold hands, fingers intertwined, and walk along the trail easily. We continued to walk in silence, no more questions about the less than magical process of making movies. Every now and then, Lucas would pull my hand up and plant a kiss on it before smiling at me as we walked along. The gesture, though it would have made me uncomfortable when I had first returned to Point Worth, now felt wonderful. Having Lucas show me affection in any way—especially now that I remembered everything from my teenage years—made me love him even more.

The depth of my love for Lucas threatened to unnerve me deep down since Lucas and I had only been “going out” for a little over a year before I left for Hollywood. Then we were separated for a decade before we even so much as laid eyes on each other again. How did a love that barely had time to bloom pick up almost exactly where it left off—especially since we hadn’t remembered anything when I returned to Point Worth? Was that a sign of fate or destiny? That we were meant to be together? Or was it just proof of our love for each other that we never forgot how right we felt together?

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Lucas panted from above me, both of us naked, the rough ground in the woods our bed.

“We may never have another chance,” I replied.

“That’s not a good enough reason.”

“It is for me.” I had said. “If I never get a chance to do this with the only person I’ve ever loved…”

Lucas smothered my mouth with a kiss.

Before I had left Point Worth for Hollywood, before I had jumped into the well the first time, Lucas and I had made sure to consummate our relationship. Maybe that was what made the memory of our love for each other so strong that it just couldn’t be broken. Even by magic. I wanted to be scared, realizing that mine and Lucas’ love affair might be destiny, but I wasn’t. My only concern involved what was to come—which I had no idea what was to come. Butterflies danced a rave in my stomach as I considered that Lucas might end up hurt. I could never live with myself. Especially if it happened before he had a chance to remember the same things I did.

We got to the end of the peninsula, and I stopped, looking out at the dark lake and the darker Grassy Island in the distance. Lucas was pulling at my hand, urging me to round the trail so that we could walk back towards Cullen Park along the other side of the peninsula. Instead, I let his hand slide from mine as I stared out at the cold water, the moonlight catching the crests of the small waves as they lapped towards shore. My mind was made up. I just needed Lucas to go along with it.