Departure from the Script

by Jae

  “Go ahead and take a look,” David said.

  Hesitantly, Amanda picked up the stack of paper in front of her and started reading. The first page held the episode’s title, “Gamble.” Ah. So it was probably about her character’s gambling addiction. I can do that. Especially now that she craved Michelle as a starving person craved food, her portrayal of a woman struggling with addiction should be Oscar-worthy.

  More relaxed now, she flipped through the pages, reading some passages here and there, and quickly became engrossed in the story. In this episode, Detective Halliday’s father, who’d made an appearance on the show before, was murdered and landed on the medical examiner’s table.

  “Great.” Lorena sighed. “Amanda gets the interesting scenes, playing the grieving daughter, while I get to cut open bodies.” Despite her complaints, she gave Amanda a smile.

  “Oh, don’t worry; it gets pretty interesting for you too,” Ron said. “You might want to flip to page thirty-eight. That’s the start of the sequence of scenes between your character, Lorena, and yours, Amanda.”

  So the show’s female characters, Detective Halliday and Dr. Roberta Castellano, were finally getting more airtime. So far, Amanda’s character had interacted mostly with her partner, played by Nick.

  Dave looked from Amanda to Lorena. “We need you and your agents to okay that storyline before we start shooting in August.”

  Why did Kath need to okay the script? With trembling fingers, Amanda opened the script to page thirty-eight and began to read.

  INT. MEDICAL EXAMINER’S OFFICE — AUTOPSY ROOM — DAY

  Dr. Roberta Castellano bends over Jack Halliday’s body on the cold metal slab and lifts her hand with the scalpel when Detective Linda Halliday enters the autopsy room. Castellano puts the scalpel down and quickly covers the body with a sheet.

  CASTELLANO

  What are you doing here?

  HALLIDAY

  My job.

  Castellano shakes her head and rounds the gurney to stand in front of her.

  CASTELLANO

  This isn’t about the job. He’s your father. You shouldn’t be here.

  HALLIDAY

  I have to do something.

  Castellano takes another step forward and touches Halliday’s hand.

  CASTELLANO

  I know how you feel.

  Halliday looks down, torn between wanting to lean into the touch and wanting to be strong. After a few seconds, she jerks her hand away.

  HALLIDAY

  Like hell you do.

  CASTELLANO

  Yes, I do. I lost my partner almost the same way three years ago.

  HALLIDAY

  I’m sorry.

  (beat)

  Your…partner?

  A small smile curls Castellano’s lips, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

  CASTELLANO

  Not in the cop sense, Detective. She was my wife. Or she would have been if the law had been different back then.

  Amanda stopped reading and looked up from the script. When she turned her head, she met Lorena’s startled gaze.

  “I’m gay?” Lorena asked, looking from David to Ron and Walt. “I mean…my character is?”

  Ron nodded. “I hope you’re okay with it.” He glanced at Amanda. “Both of you. Because if you turn to the last page…”

  Amanda did.

  INT. CASINO — NIGHT

  Detective Halliday walks up to the poker table with a stack of chips and is just about to sit down. CLOSE-UP on a hand covering Halliday’s, holding her back. Halliday turns.

  CASTELLANO

  Don’t do this.

  HALLIDAY

  Why shouldn’t I? I lost my father, we lost the trial against his murderer… I have nothing left to lose.

  CASTELLANO

  (whispering)

  You didn’t lose me.

  Halliday stares at her.

  HALLIDAY

  You mean…?

  Castellano nods, steps forward, and kisses her. Halliday drops her stack of chips and returns the kiss.

  FADE TO BLACK.

  END OF EPISODE.

  Amanda put the script down, stared at Lorena, and tried to imagine kissing her. Lorena had been on the “sexiest women alive” list of several magazines in the last two years and was just the curvy, feminine type that Amanda usually went for, but now the thought of kissing her on camera was about as appealing as shooting that kidnapping scene in the cabin all over again—maybe because there was nothing sexy about shooting kiss scenes with all the cameras, technicians, and makeup artists around, or maybe because all she wanted was to leave the party and kiss Michelle instead.

  “What the hell…?” Nick threw down the script with so much force that it skidded across the table and dropped to the floor.

  “This isn’t just a sweeps month stunt, is it?” Lorena asked, narrowing her eyes at the head writer.

  Ron shook his head. “No. We want to do what the powers that be should have done in Law and Order: SVU.”

  “Risk our ratings crashing?” Nick mumbled.

  “Have a lesbian main character in a prime-time TV show,” Ron said without looking at him. “This is your chance to expand your repertoire, Lorena. You’ve been asking us to write a little romance for Dr. Castellano into the script.” He shrugged. “But if you’re not okay with this…”

  “I didn’t say that.” Lorena traced the front page of the script with her fingertips. “I didn’t expect this, but it’s well written.” She straightened and grinned at Nick, who sat with his arms crossed over his chest. “At least one of us will get to kiss Amanda.”

  David turned toward Amanda. “I assume you’re fine with it? Not to sound indelicate, but you know Hollywood people can’t keep a secret to save their lives, so we know you’ve got…previous experience.”

  Amanda nearly fell off her chair. All this agonizing, all those sleepless nights over the decision to come out to her colleagues, and the show’s producer, head writer, and director had known all along?

  “I’m fine with it,” she finally managed to say.

  “Good.” David started gathering scripts. “I’ll need to check with your agents, of course, but we’d really like to go through with this.”

  Amanda still stared at the three men.

  Lorena nudged her. “Come on. Let’s get out of here before Nick convinces them to make it a threesome.”

  Still in a daze, Amanda stumbled out of the conference room. The noise of the party engulfed her, and she scanned the crowd, looking for Michelle. She finally found her on the other side of the room, talking to one of the cameramen and sipping from a bottle of beer.

  As if sensing Amanda looking at her, Michelle lifted her head, and their gazes met. Michelle immediately excused herself from the conversation. With a few quick steps, she was at Amanda’s side and slung one arm around her. “Hey, you okay? You look a bit…”

  “Shell-shocked,” Amanda said.

  “What’s going on? They didn’t fire you or anything, did they?” Michelle looked as if she was ready to storm over to the person responsible for such a decision and rip off his head.

  Amanda shook her head. “No.”

  “What is it, then?”

  “Remember when I was joking about doing a little bondage play with Lorena?”

  Michelle’s eyebrows pinched together. “Yeah.”

  “Well, it seems I’ll really get to do that.”

  Michelle nearly dropped the bottle of beer she was holding. “What?”

  Amanda took the beer from her and took a thoroughly needed swig. “Well, maybe not the bondage, but they wrote a lesbian storyline into season three. The first episode will end with a lip-lock between Lorena and me—or rather between Dr. Castellano and Detective Halliday.”

  “Wow.” Michelle took the bottle back and emptied it with a few big gulps. “I don’t know if I should be jealous or aroused. Probably both.”

  “Neither. Believe me, there’s nothing sexy about shootin
g a kiss scene. How would you like kissing a co-worker while the entire crew is watching and a big, burly guy is holding a light over you?”

  “Not my idea of a hot night,” Michelle said. She put the empty beer bottle down on a table and grasped Amanda’s hand. “Well, there are no big, burly guys with lights in your bedroom, but how about we go home and rehearse?”

  Amanda didn’t have to be asked twice. After all, practice did make perfect.

  Amanda woke at sunrise, pleasantly sore in all the right places. She stretched languidly and smiled at the memories of last night. Despite getting just three hours of sleep, she felt great. When she rolled around to cuddle up to Michelle, she realized that the bed next to her was empty.

  Frowning, she sat up. For a moment, she wondered if she’d dreamed everything. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time she’d had vivid dreams about making love to Michelle.

  But Michelle’s scent surrounded her, and the midnight blue dress shirt she’d worn last night still lay next to the bed, where Amanda had stripped it off Michelle, nearly ripping the buttons.

  A gust of wind from the partially open window formed goose bumps on Amanda’s bare skin. She reached for the pair of sweatpants lying on the chair next to the bed and slipped into Michelle’s shirt, inhaling the scent of her cologne as she buttoned it up halfway.

  Then she went in search of her missing lover.

  The ladder on the fire escape was down, giving her a good idea of where Michelle had gone.

  Amanda climbed out of the window and onto the fire escape and carefully made her way up to the roof.

  Michelle was sitting on the folding chair Amanda kept up there, barefoot, wearing just her pants and the sleeveless T-shirt. The silky material stretched across her strong shoulders.

  Immediately, Amanda wanted to drag her down the fire escape and back to bed. “I see you found my ocean view.”

  Michelle turned. Her eyes lit up. “Yes. But I like this view much better.” She slid her gaze over the shirt, which hung a little too low on Amanda, revealing a good bit of cleavage. “I hope you don’t mind me coming up here without you. You were sleeping so peacefully, and I didn’t want to wake you since you rarely get a chance to sleep in.”

  “It’s okay. My roof is your roof. I want you to feel at home in my apartment.”

  “I do.” Michelle reached out and pulled Amanda onto her lap.

  Humming, Amanda snuggled closer. She kissed Michelle’s cheek, then the scar at the corner of her eye before leaning against her shoulder.

  Neither spoke as they watched the city wake up far below.

  Finally, when the gray light of dawn gave way to the hazy blue of a Los Angeles morning, Michelle guided Amanda’s head around to look into her eyes. “Thank you for last night.”

  “You’re thanking me? I should be thanking you—repeatedly.” Amanda fanned herself with both hands. “Last night was incredible.”

  Michelle smiled. “Yes, it was. But I was talking about you taking me to the wrap party. I know what this role means to you, and I’m sure a few months ago, you couldn’t even imagine risking it for someone like me.”

  “True. Falling in love with you was a departure from the script in the best possible way.”

  Michelle stilled beneath her. Even her breathing stopped for a moment. Then she sucked in a breath. “Did you just say…?”

  Amanda hadn’t meant to just blurt it out without thought. She had wanted to make it special and romantic. Then again, sharing this morning high up on the roof with Michelle was special and romantic. “That I love you. Yes. I hope I didn’t leave any doubt about it last night.”

  “Hmm.” Michelle’s hands made their way beneath the shirt. “I might need a reminder.”

  “Oh, yeah? Do I need to—?”

  In the apartment below them, the phone began to ring.

  Amanda groaned and buried her head against Michelle’s shoulder. “Christ. What is it with us and phone calls that keep interrupting at the most inopportune of times?” When the answering machine clicked on and her grandmother’s voice drifted up through the open window, she moved to get up from Michelle’s lap.

  Michelle didn’t let go. “I have no idea, but I’m not moving an inch until I tell you…” she tipped Amanda’s chin up with one finger so she could look her in the eyes, “…that I love you too.”

  Their lips met in a long, slow kiss full of promises for the future. Then Amanda got up, took Michelle’s hand, and pulled her inside for more rehearsal. She could call her grandmother back later. Much, much later.

  EPILOGUE

  As they were about to enter the eighth store, her grandmother dug in her heels like a stubborn mule and refused to move another inch. “I love shopping as much as the next actress, but this is ridiculous. You’d think you were trying to decide on a wedding ring. It’s a Valentine’s Day card, Mandy!”

  “I know, but it can’t be just any Valentine’s Day card. I need something special.”

  The salesclerk walked over. “Is there a problem, ladies? We have all sorts of cards. I’m sure you’ll find something.” He paused and squinted at Amanda, who tensed.

  She had seen that squint a lot in the past few months.

  “Wait a minute! Aren’t you…?”

  Amanda’s grandmother patted his hand. “Oh, we get that a lot. Doesn’t she look just like that woman who won an Emmy for playing that detective on TV?”

  “Yeah.” The salesclerk still looked at Amanda and shook his head. “Amazing resemblance. They could be twins.”

  “No. I’m her grandmother, so I know for a fact that she doesn’t have any siblings.”

  Amanda was about to retreat before he realized they had tricked him when she caught sight of a card that had been relegated to an out-of-the-way corner of the rack of Valentine’s Day cards. “This! This is it.” She reached for the card and waved it triumphantly.

  Her grandmother took her glasses out of her purse and studied the card. “Uh, Mandy, dear, I’m beginning to think you inherited your grandfather’s rather…um…endearing taste in holiday cards.”

  Amanda had to admit that the card with the picture of Cupid, an arrow piercing his back between his pristine, white wings, might not appear the most romantic to anyone else, but if not for a flyer with the picture of this little guy, they would have never met. “Michelle will understand. And with the right text…” She pulled out the pen she kept in her purse for autographs, clicked it on, and wrote:

  Michelle,

  as long as I have you, I don’t need Cupid. Will you be my Valentine?

  There. Short and sweet. She signed the card, “love, Amanda,” and then, as an afterthought, added another line.

  P.S. Yes. It’s a date.

  ABOUT JAE

  Jae grew up amidst the vineyards of southern Germany. She spent her childhood with her nose buried in a book, earning her the nickname “professor.” The writing bug bit her at the age of eleven. For the last eight years, she has been writing mostly in English.

  She used to work as a psychologist but gave up her day job in December 2013 to become a full-time writer and a part-time editor. As far as she’s concerned, it’s the best job in the world.

  When she’s not writing, she likes to spend her time reading, indulging her ice cream and office supply addictions, and watching way too many crime shows.

  CONNECT WITH JAE ONLINE

  Jae loves hearing from readers!

  E-mail her at: jae@jae-fiction.com

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  EXCERPT FROM

  SOMETHING IN THE WINE

  BY JAE

  Flinching, Drew spat out the sip of wine she’d just taken and frowned at the glass. Ugh! What’s this? Wine or vinegar? She shook herself. Buying the cheap stuff again, Jake, my friend? She craned her neck, searching for a member of th
e catering staff weaving around the party guests. Ah, there.

  A woman in black slacks and a white blouse gathered empty and abandoned glasses from the bar.

  Drew headed toward her to get rid of the swill masquerading as wine. When the woman turned around with a tray full of glasses, Drew’s steps faltered. She stopped a few yards away. Oh, wow. She’s cute. Still watching the woman, she moved closer.

  The server wasn’t the type of stunning beauty Drew was usually attracted to, but something about her captured her attention. Maybe it was the strange mix of strength and vulnerability in the woman’s features and her posture. She moved like a mouse—quietly, but efficiently, as if she didn’t want to draw anyone’s attention.