Love Scene, Take Two

by Alex Evansley

  Teddy opens the door wider and walks in. “You mind if I shower?”

  She tries not to panic and glances down at the foamy toothbrush in her hand. Avoiding his gaze, she shakes her head and stares at the sink while he reaches into the shower and turns on the water. She finishes brushing her teeth as fast as she can and heads for the door.

  “All yours,” she calls over her shoulder, right as Teddy is hooking his thumbs in the waistband of his briefs. His freaking Buzz Lightyear briefs.

  He smirks and asks, “Why are you in such a hurry to run off?”

  “I need to plug in my phone,” Bennett says. It’s a weak excuse, but it works. Once she closes the bathroom door behind her, she digs the heels of her hands into her eyes and tries to collect herself.

  This isn’t a big deal, right? They’re just people on Twitter … a lot of people on Twitter, talking about Teddy and Bennett’s business for a long-ass time.…

  There are spots in her vision when she pulls her hands away. She sits down on the bed, then stands up again and goes looking for an iPhone charger. Teddy comes out of the bathroom a few minutes later, clutching a towel to his hips. Bennett does her best to keep her eyes on anything else but him.

  “Did you find my charger?” he asks as he crosses the room to the dresser. After pulling out a T-shirt and a pair of khakis, he looks back and eyes Bennett expectantly.

  “Oh—yeah. Thanks,” she says.

  He nods before disappearing into the bathroom again.

  Bennett lets out another shaky breath. She needs to calm down. Twitter gossip doesn’t change anything, and it isn’t like Teddy’s the one fueling the Internet fire. Maybe this will turn out the way Burt says it will? Helping the movie reach as many people as possible? The idea still doesn’t sit well with Bennett, but she can’t really do anything about it now, right?

  The bathroom door swings open. Teddy is fully dressed again and in the middle of brushing his teeth, and there’s something so easy about the way he’s casually going about his business that it yanks on Bennett’s heartstrings.

  “So, you pumped for your family to see the set today?” he asks around all the toothpaste in his mouth. “It’s gonna be an awesome day of shooting to watch.”

  “Yeah, should be good,” Bennett says, deciding that locating the rest of her belongings is the most important thing in the world at the moment. She just needs some space for a sec—physically and mentally—to get her head back on straight. “I should probably head out now, though. We need to be on set soon.”

  Teddy looks over at her, but Bennett can’t bring herself to fully look at him.

  “Okay,” he says slowly as Bennett flits around the room. “You wanna carpool or something? Olivia and Emmy can ride, too.”

  “Do you know where my other shoe is?” she asks as she checks under the desk in the far corner. There’s no way it’s under there, but it’s somewhere to look.

  “Bennett,” Teddy says.

  Bennett finds her other shoe beside the nightstand and her tights near the bedskirt.

  “I’ll probably take my car on set today—I was planning on going to a coffee shop later in the afternoon to get some writing done,” Bennett says. She gathers up the rest of her clothes and heads back into the bathroom, still not looking at him. “I’m going to get changed.”

  There’s a sharp exhale behind her as she closes the door.

  Bennett presses her palms to the bathroom counter and checks her reflection in the mirror again. She still looks absolutely wrecked—except this time it’s from the looming anxiety courtesy of #Shardwell. Her hands feel numb.

  Once she’s fully dressed, she comes back out to find Teddy sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. He looks up, and the expression on his face stops her dead in the doorframe.

  “What’s wrong?” she starts.

  His eyes are cold, his mouth a thin line.

  “I don’t know, Bennett,” he says. “You tell me.”

  “What? Nothing is—”

  “Bullshit,” he cuts her off.

  Bennett’s stomach twists uncomfortably. Why can’t Bennett just act normally and wait until she gets back to her room to have her meltdown? What is it about Teddy that makes her wear her heart on her sleeve, out where God and everyone on Twitter can see it?

  “I’m gonna ask one more time, Caldwell,” Teddy says, his tone almost pleading. “What’s wrong? I need you to talk to me here.”

  “Seriously, I’m fine,” she forces herself to say, refolding his T-shirt she borrowed and setting it on the nightstand. “I didn’t mean—”

  “Oh, bullshit, Bennett,” Teddy snaps, and the outburst makes her jump back. “Everything was fine ten minutes ago, what the hell happened? Why are you acting like this?”

  “Acting like what—”

  “Like you’re going to start ignoring my calls and texts and disappear again!” he says, scrubbing a hand through his wet hair.

  Bennett flinches. “Teddy, I was literally just going back to my room.”

  “God, this is so fucking classic Bennett Caldwell,” he growls under his breath.

  His tone sets her enough on edge to straighten her spine and look him in the eye.

  “Do not talk to me like that,” she says.

  “Then why don’t you start talking to me for a change then, huh?” he says, standing and pacing the room. “Literally every time I think things are good again, you freak out over something and shut me out instead of talking to me about it—”

  “Did you know we trended on Twitter last night?” she asks.

  Teddy’s face goes blank for a second. Only a second.

  “Oh, lemme guess,” he scoffs. “You’re freaking out because you found some hashtag and read all the tweets about how I only like to date pretty chicks who can help my career?”

  “Yeah, you nailed it,” Bennett says, matching his sarcasm even though he’s half right.

  “Then what? You came across a shipping war between Team Chelsea and Team Bennett? Read all the Twitter hate directed at you for being romantically linked to me? Had little fourteen-year-old girls tell you that you’re not even that pretty? I can go all day, Bennett—am I getting close here?”

  Pretty damn close. But Bennett isn’t about to let him know how insecure she is for buying into it.

  “I wasn’t freaking out,” she says, and it sounds weak and frail even to her own ears. “I was just … surprised by it.”

  Teddy shakes his head. “Oh, don’t feed me that. I know a classic Bennett Caldwell freak-out when I see one. I’ve become quite familiar with them, thanks.”

  And what the hell does he think he means by that?

  She looks him dead in the eye and says, “And whose fault is that?”

  Her words hang there between them, long enough to regret saying them, but not long enough for her to apologize for them.

  “You know what, man,” Teddy says mostly to himself. He starts across the room, widening the gap between them. “If this is all I’m gonna get when I’ve been trying so hard here, then I have to get ready to be on set, and you should go.”

  He opens his hotel room door and won’t meet her eyes.

  Bennett stands there for a moment.

  “I can’t keep doing this, Bennett,” he says. “I can’t keep getting my hopes up with you that everything’s fine and then have the rug pulled out over stupid things like Twitter. Yeah, it sucks that my job brings in weird factors like PR schemes and people gossiping about us on the Internet, but it’s the reality we’ve got. And if you’re gonna freak out on me every time without even trying to explain, then I’m not gonna keep putting in the effort. I’m sure you appreciate the self-preservation.”

  His words sink down into Bennett’s heart and harden along with the resolve already there. Yeah, she had picked this fight, but she doesn’t know how things went sideways so quickly. If he wants to play the self-preservation card, fine. He can watch the pro. With as much dignity as she can muster, she picks up her bag,
unplugs her phone from his charger, and starts for the door.

  “So, I guess that’s that, then, huh?” she says as she steps past him and out into the hallway. She doesn’t bother to turn around. He’s already closing the door before she’s even through the doorframe.

  The door clicks shut behind her and a loud thud from the inside immediately follows.

  So do the tears.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Burt Bridges has no chill.

  Bennett was late to set this morning—the first time ever—and he won’t let her hear the end of it. But that’s not what’s irritating her the most. It’s the constant, machine-gun fire questions about the book signing. Even during takes he’s only halfway paying attention to the scene. Apparently finding out if his little PR stunt is a go is more important than actually filming the movie.

  “Jesus Christ, Burt, why don’t you check Twitter yourself?” Bennett finally snaps after the eighth time the director asks if she thought people caught on. He throws her a nasty look before turning back to the monitor in front of him.

  “A little subtlety, Bennett,” Emmy murmurs.

  Bennett shrugs her off. She isn’t in the mood for subtlety. She isn’t even in the mood to be on set. The only reason she’s here is because her family is going to show up for their tour soon.

  “Hey—are you okay?” Emmy tries again. “You’re looking a little off right now.”

  Bennett barks out a laugh and stands up from her chair. “You have no idea.”

  She knows she looks like she’s come unhinged. She’s wearing an oversized, wrinkled T-shirt under a fleece pullover, leggings, and her worn out Bean Boots. Her hair is a frizzy mess; and even though it’s cloudy and looks like it could start pouring rain at any second, Bennett makes sure her sunglasses are on at all times.

  “You wanna talk about it?” Emmy asks.

  They start walking back toward the production assistant tables, away from the cast and crew.

  “What time is it?” Bennett asks instead. It feels like she’s been on set for hours, and it doesn’t help that they’re filming some of the more tender scenes between Jack and Katherine this morning. Watching Teddy and Olivia huddle together and pretend like they’re in love is chipping away at Bennett’s sanity.

  “Nine seventeen,” Emmy says. “Everyone will be here soon.”

  “Fantastic. I’m gonna go to my trailer until then.”

  Bennett sees the hurt flash in her assistant’s eyes before she replies with, “I’ll come get you when everyone’s here.”

  Awesome. Now Bennett’s lashing out at everyone.

  * * *

  Her cheek is mashed against the top of her kitchen table when someone finally comes looking for her. Bennett hears the door open but she can’t find the urge to lift her head to see who it is.

  “Jesus, Bennett.”

  She definitely hadn’t been expecting Will. Bennett twists around to look at him and readjusts her sunglasses. “Hey.”

  “What’re you doing? Emmy told me to come find you.”

  “Just … collecting my thoughts,” she says, sitting up straighter. When she stands, Will gives her a once-over.

  “You look like hell.”

  “You look like you’re late for a poetry reading,” Bennett says. He’s sporting black skinny jeans, a gray V-neck sweater, and a pair of square, black-rimmed glasses.

  Will laughs—a good-natured, genuine laugh. It’s enough to thaw some of the ice that’s been building up in Bennett’s chest all morning.

  “This set is insane, Bennett,” he says. “I can’t believe you guys get to come here every day.”

  “Have you met the director yet?” she asks.

  “No, not yet. Emmy said he was finishing up a scene and then he’d come meet us.”

  “We should probably head back there, then.”

  Will hesitates for a second, watching her carefully. “Are you okay? You seem—I don’t know—a little off today.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Well, I mean, compared to last night…” he presses.

  Bennett starts for the door. “Seriously, we should go find everyone else. Don’t want to be late for the set tour.”

  “Does this have anything to do with Teddy?” Will asks.

  She stops, making sure there’s a neutral expression on her face before she turns to face him again. “No? Why?”

  “Because he looks a little off today, too.”

  “He’s fine,” Bennett grumbles. “He gets to cozy up with Olivia all day today.”

  She knows as soon as she says it it’s confirmation Teddy is the reason she seems off. Will catches on, too, but thankfully he doesn’t question her more about it. He nods, and they leave the trailer, heading off across the parking lot toward set.

  “Fair warning: Liz is a bit hungover this morning,” Will says.

  Bennett almost laughs.

  “What’s her deal with acting now?” she asks. “I know you kinda told me, but I didn’t realize how bad it’d gotten.” Will doesn’t answer right away. When Bennett looks back up at him, she slows their pace to a stop. “Hey, are you okay?”

  Will looks like he’s teetering between wanting to scream and wanting to cry.

  “Yeah—no,” he finally says, shaking his head. “It just sucks, you know?”

  “What, having to deal with your older sister encroaching on your life even more than usual?”

  “That, and my parents pretending like I was never into acting in the first place,” he says bitterly.

  “How did this even happen?”

  He sighs. “I’m in a pretty exclusive acting class back home—one you have to get recommendations to get into. Liz kept hounding me after that weekend in July to help her get a spot. I finally did just to get her to shut up about it. Next thing I know, she’s found her passion and is considering changing her major to theater.”

  Sounds like Liz.

  Will adds, “And it’s complete bullshit because I had to beg my parents to let me take those classes—like, I’m talking full-on groveling—and they acted like it was the biggest inconvenience. But the second Liz decided she wanted to start acting, they were all about it. Now it’s ‘Oh, Liz is studying to be an actress; she and Will sometimes take the same class together, but it’s more of a hobby for Will.’”

  Sounds like the McGearys. Bennett’s always wondered how Will wound up with a family of complete assholes. It isn’t fair.

  “I don’t understand why, though,” Bennett says. “Liz used to make fun of you all the time for acting. It’s so random that she suddenly got interested in it.”

  Will scoffs, digging his hands into his pockets and kicking at some loose gravel on the ground. “It wasn’t random. Like, at all.”

  “What?”

  He kicks more gravel. Harder this time. “Think about it, Bennett. She became obsessed with the idea of acting in July.” He waits for her to catch on. When she cocks her head to the side, he sighs and says, “Otherwise known as, the weekend she saw you with Teddy Sharpe.”

  Bennett’s mouth pops open.

  “Are you serious?” she says, her anger mixing with a shot of guilt. “That’s it? That’s the reason? She’s literally trying to steal your dream because of Teddy?”

  “Teddy was definitely a factor, but he wasn’t the main reason.”

  Bennett scrunches her eyebrows together. “So what was?”

  “Come on, B.” He gives her a look like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “On top of seeing you with Teddy that weekend, we later find out it was because he auditioned for the movie that’s being made about your book.”

  “So?”

  “So, I know how my sister works. She’s always had this weird jealousy issue with you,” he says. Bennett snorts. “Oh, shut up—it’s true and you know it. She’s always been jealous, so obviously when she saw that you had all these cool things happening in your life, she had to figure out a way to compete.”

  “But, of all thi
ngs, she picked acting? What’d she think, that I’d miraculously get her a part in the movie or something?”

  He shrugs. “I mean, that’s why she practically forced your parents to invite us to your book signing. I’m sure she had some plan in her head that would get her on set to meet the actors. It was just too much luck that your assistant already had that planned out.”

  Bennett groans. “This is the most messed up situation. Jesus Christ.”

  Will’s smile turns calculating. “Want to hear something even more messed up? Last night she passed out the second we got back to our hotel room, and I was already so pissed about Liz and my parents embarrassing us at dinner, I decided to snoop through Liz’s phone.”

  “Oh, no…” Bennett says, bracing herself.

  “I opened her Tumblr app when I got bored with reading her text messages, only to find that she has an entire fan blog dedicated to Teddy Sharpe. It’s got, like, thirty thousand followers. Not even kidding.”

  “What?!”

  “And that’s not even the best part,” Will says. “She made a post last night with the time and location of the restaurant we went to, promising Teddy would be there. That’s why there was such a huge crowd out front when y’all got there.”

  Bennett’s jaw goes slack. That had to have been the post those girls were referring to last night—it was all Liz. And the fact that she runs a Teddy Sharpe fan blog is so ironic Bennett can’t wait to tell Teddy all about it.

  Well, she wants to tell Teddy all about it.…

  “I don’t even know where to start with this blog thing.…” Bennett says to distract herself, and that’s when she’s struck with arguably the most brilliant idea she’s ever had.

  “Whoa—talk about a demeanor change there, B,” Will says, cautiously returning her grin. “You look like you just had a paradigm shift to end all paradigm shifts.…”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Bennett says. This is going to be perfect. “We should get back. I have a few things I need to do before the set tour starts.”

  * * *

  The set is between takes when Will and Bennett return.

  Everything is in complete chaos per usual—PAs are running around making sure the cast and crew are happy; makeup artists are trying desperately to get in a last touch of powder; the actors are holding court in their director’s chairs.…