by Diana Currie
“It isn’t you,” Nathan insisted. “I um… I have a girlfriend.” His fraudulent words seemed to comfort her slightly.
“I didn’t realize, I’m sorry. The magazines all say you’re single. And Mr. Sims didn’t mention a girlfriend either.”
“It’s quite alright. We’re trying to keep a low profile. I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t say anything to anyone. And I promise to tell Gavin that you more than satisfied me.”
Colleen smiled and reached for her blouse. Nathan put his robe back on and politely helped her pack up the massage supplies. He walked her to the front door, gave her a generous cash tip, and after she left, locked both the deadbolts. He banged his forehead against the door, amazed at his ability to turn Colleen away. Things like that were precisely why his brother couldn’t come to Hollywood, Nathan thought. Garrett would have fucked that woman twice before he remembered he had a girlfriend named Jacqueline back home.
His cell phone rang and Nathan ceased thumping his head against the door to go answer it. He realized that with the unexpected arrival of Colleen and a lengthy two-hour massage it was past the time he’d intended to call Maddie. Nathan wasn’t sure he could face her, so to speak, and was relieved to see it was Pete Walker calling instead.
“Hey, man, what’s up?”
“Hey, Nate. Katie told me to call you. We’re all going to an early dinner tonight. She thinks we can avoid some of the paparazzi if we get to the restaurant before five. Then the limo will take us to whatever club we wanna hit up. You still in?”
“Yeah, man. I’m in. I just need about an hour to, um, call my friend back home.”
“Well, hurry up man. We’re meeting at 4:30.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be there.”
“Cool. Oh, hey, did Gavin send you a gift today?” Pete asked gleefully.
“Yeah, she just left.”
Pete guffawed on the other end of the phone. Nathan had to hold the phone away from his ear. “Fuck, I love this town! What did she look like? Mine was Asian but she had blonde hair. So fucking hot.”
Nathan rolled his eyes. He didn’t even have to ask if Pete Walker took full advantage of Gavin’s “gift.” The answer was obvious is his voice.
“She was blonde too; thin and beautiful. I gotta go make that call, Pete. I’ll see you at the restaurant.”
“See you there.”
Nathan ended the call and checked the time. Three o’clock already. Maddie was probably wondering where he was. He raced upstairs to get dressed for dinner and dialed Maddie’s number as he was buttoning his dress shirt.
“Hello,” Maddie’s sweet voice came through the speaker. Nathan instantly felt better having her on the line even though he knew their conversation would have to be shorter than most. “I was starting to wonder about you. Did you get all your lines memorized?”
“I think so, enough to get through the first week at least. I multitasked; working out for about two hours this morning while going over them. I’m sorry I called you late, I had an unexpected visitor.”
“Oh?”
“Someone from Forever sent a masseuse to my house as a gift to celebrate the start of filming tomorrow.”
“Really? Is that kind of thing normal?”
“Yeah, schmoozing the actors happens all the time. They want us to arrive on set happy, you know? So, they don’t have to deal with temperamental actors,” Nathan laughed.
“Was it a man or woman?” Maddie asked. She couldn’t resist.
“Um, a woman. And it ended really bizarrely too. God, I don’t even know if I should be telling you this, but when the massage was over she offered to have sex with me. I was still wearing just a white sheet; it was really embarrassing.”
“What! What did you do?”
“I turned her down gently, obviously,” Nathan replied.
“Was she really pretty?”
“She was, but that didn’t matter. I still wouldn’t have done it.”
“I hope not! The nerve she had to throw herself at you like that,” Maddie said disgusted.
Nathan didn’t want to mention that Colleen only offered because it was part of Gavin’s gift. He didn’t want her to think even less of Hollywood than she already did. “What about you? How was your day?”
She thought about her day with the babies; the crying, the kiddie TV, the pooping. “Mine was about the same, yeah,” Maddie replied flippantly.
Nathan laughed. “I sincerely hope not. That jealous feeling I get wherever you’re concerned might start coming back.”
Maddie grinned to herself, silently pleased this time that Nathan would feel jealous. It should have been you her subconscious reminded her again. The internal voice was becoming harder to ignore. Nevertheless, Maddie was intent on suppressing it for as long as she could.
“When are you going out with the rest of the cast?” Maddie asked.
“Soon, unfortunately. I lost track of time and they’ll be waiting for me in about an hour.”
“That’s really early, isn’t it? Four o’clock?”
“We’re going for an early dinner, hoping to deceive the pap. Tyler’s got a limo to take us around after that. I’m not sure where.”
“Well, I hope you have fun. It’s you, Tyler, and Pete Walker?”
“And Katie with a few of her friends. And the director’s niece.”
“Sounds like it’ll be a wild night,” Maddie replied indignantly.
“I can sense that you are less than enthusiastic for my night out, Angel,” Nathan teased. “You have nothing to worry about. We’re all going to be very busy and stressed over the next few weeks. Tonight is our last chance for some fun, that’s all. I’ll behave myself.”
Maddie smiled despite herself. She was more worried about Nathan going out with Katie Owens than she was about him simply going out. He’d be working with her twelve hours a day, pretending to be a couple in love. How does that kind of work not mess with your head? She couldn’t help feeling some of that jealousy Nathan had been talking about.
“It’ll probably be a few more days before I can call you again. What will you be doing the rest of the week?”
“I’m going to take a kickboxing class with my mom. Sandy’s newest hobby is going to the Future Fitness and she wants me to check it out.”
“That should be fun. It’s nice of you to keep your mom company,” Nathan said. He quickly styled his hair with one hand and finished getting ready to meet his friends.
“Neither of us is very athletic. I just hope she doesn’t mistakenly punch me in the nose or something.”
“You need to learn how to block.”
“No offense, but aren’t you the guy who just took a punch to the face not too long ago? I saw the photos. Maybe you need to learn to block,” Maddie joked.
“Hmm, you might have a point there. What else are you doing over Winter break?”
“I’ll probably hang out with Holly before the spring semester starts. Why do I get the feeling like you won’t be talking to me much the next few weeks?”
Nathan sighed. “I won’t know until I get into it. It’s really that I won’t feel like me for a while. I need to focus on being Caleb, you know?”
“When do you come to Louisiana?” she asked in a small voice.
Nathan was coming down the stairs and stopped dead in his tracks. “First week of February. Why?”
“Just curious,” Maddie responded quickly.
Nathan hadn’t mentioned going to visit Maddie for a while but was still hoping she might allow him at some point in time while he was filming so close to her. It seemed like such a perfect opportunity to go to waste. But he knew her fears and didn’t want to pressure her.
“Maddie, I really want to talk more about this but my limo is here.” Nathan could see out the foyer window that Stanley was waiting for him at the end of the driveway.
“Alright. Have a good time. Behave yourself.”
“I will. Have a good night. I’ll text you how things are going d
uring one of my breaks tomorrow.”
Maddie smiled, happy to hear she would at least have texting communication with Nathan while he was on set.
“Knock ‘em dead, slugger.”
Chapter Eleven
During the first full week of filming Tomorrow and Forever Nathan was just as busy as he had expected to be. There were typical delays that occur on any movie set like stopping and starting as cameramen struggled to get angles just right. The set designers made last minute changes due to lighting and lots of discussions took place about how certain scenes should be shot. Nathan had to adjust the way he intended to play his Caleb character based on Gavin’s vision for the film as well and spent a lot of time rehearsing scenes in the mirror in his trailer.
In addition to all the other setbacks, Katie followed through with her idea to ask Gavin about adding a kiss to the end of the party scene. To Nathan’s surprise, their director loved the suggestion and the schedule for filming on day three got reworked in order to shoot Katie’s script revision. That day Nathan spent almost two hours kissing her over and over in front of the camera until the scene was perfect in Gavin’s eyes. Nathan suspected that at least once or twice Katie messed up the scene just to prolong the kissing. They hadn’t discussed what happened between them of New Year’s Eve but Nathan was relatively certain it was still on her mind.
Every afternoon Nathan hoped that they would wrap filming in time to call Maddie, but he quickly figured out that Gavin was a perfectionist. By the time he was finished each night it was after nine or ten o’clock and with the time difference Maddie was usually already in bed. Nathan texted her each night nonetheless with the same message, “just getting done. Good night, Angel.”
The Saturday that followed Nathan’s first week of filming he was eager to bank some time with Maddie on the phone and maybe even get her back on Skype. Unfortunately, when he called her that afternoon she was not alone.
“Maddie? Hey, I’ve missed talking to you all week. Is it a good time?” he asked.
“Oh, hi Kyle. I can’t really talk right now… I’m at the mall with Holly. We’re shoe shopping then going to grab some food.”
“Kyle? Oh, I get it. Sorry. She can’t hear me, can she?”
“No, Kyle. I’m not with mom, I’m out with Holly.”
Nathan chuckled at Maddie’s terrible acting. “Good to know. Then I guess it’s safe to tell you how much I’ve missed talking to you this week. And I can’t wait to catch you when you’re alone so I can give you the inside scoop on what’s been happening on the Forever set.”
“Yeah, Kyle. I think mom did do your laundry. Maybe I’ll talk to you tomorrow night?”
“Absolutely. Talk to you tomorrow, Angel.”
“Okay, bye.”
Nathan hung up the phone, disappointed that he would have to wait another day to talk to Maddie, but her silly phone antics made him smile. She was really terrified of her friend finding out about their friendship. Holly must be one of those fans… the psychotic ones. Nathan shuddered thinking about it.
His phone buzzed in his hand with an incoming text. God, I’m so sorry. Friggin’ Holly. I wanna talk to you sooo bad! Call me tomorrow. Xoxoxo
Nathan smiled broadly and texted a quick reply. Not God, just Nathan. Call you tomorrow.
The friends’ usual call time was six o’clock central time but on Sunday afternoon Nathan realized he couldn’t wait that long. He dialed her number at three o’clock central hoping that Maddie was alone.
“You’re early, slugger,” Maddie answered happily. Nathan smiled to himself knowing that her use of his nickname meant she must be able to talk this time.
Nathan walked out to his back yard with his phone in one hand and a Miller Lite in the other. He placed his beverage on a little table next to his chaise lounge chair and removed the swim trunks he was wearing before laying out on his stomach in the sun to talk to Maddie.
“Does Holly suspect anything?” he asked.
Maddie giggled. “No, she called Kyle a lazy bum for not doing his own laundry. She demanded I go out with her yesterday so we could find some new clothes for the spring semester, and to gossip about how the Forever filming is going.”
“What did you buy?”
“Just some jeans. I don’t enjoy shopping the way Holly does. So, how are you? It killed me yesterday not to be able to talk to you.”
“I’m doing good. My schedule has been hectic but it’s fun. Being in front of the camera again reminds me why I bother dealing with all the other shit that comes with it.”
“Uh oh, what’s wrong? What are you dealing with right now, paparazzi?”
Nathan shook his head. “Not too much worse than before. Security is tight on the set and so far, everything has been inside the studio so they haven’t been bad.”
“So what shit are you dealing with?”
Nathan didn’t want to go into his issues with Katie; that would only make Maddie feel more insecure to know his costar had a crush on him. He was still trying to make Maddie feel confident about their friendship in hopes that she would change her mind about them meeting in person. So, he chose other examples that were equally annoying.
“The haircut, the constant working out, and now some people on set say I need to get some color. When you spend your life hiding from the Paparazzi you tend to hang out indoors a lot more than usual. Apparently, I look pasty under the lights.”
Maddie laughed. “Really? It’s that big a deal to them?”
“Yeah, little stuff like that makes a big difference on camera. They even installed a tanning booth in my trailer.”
“Did you use it?”
“No. My mom thinks it’ll give me cancer,” Nathan answered seriously.
Maddie laughed. Nathan’s mom sounded really sweet and a little over protective. “So, what are you going to do?”
“I’m getting some sun the old-fashioned way. I’m out in my backyard right now; lying on a lounge chair, sipping my beer, and talking to my girl.”
Maddie let the “my girl” comment slide without acknowledging it because she wasn’t sure whether it made her feel thrilled or afraid; probably a little of both. “You’re not wearing sunglasses, are you? That would be a nasty tan line.”
“One step ahead of you. I can’t even have a bathing suit tan line so thanks to my ten-foot fence I’m lying out naked.”
“Naked?” Maddie repeated nearly choking on saliva. She noted Nathan had no qualms about talking about nudity in any context, be it for a scene or in a case like this where he’s just chilling in his back yard.
“How else do you get a full tan? Gavin’s going to show as much of my ass in this movie that he can get away with, I just know it. I don’t want to lay out with my swim trunks halfway down my butt. I’ll end up with a half tan-half pasty white ass. No thanks.”
Maddie rubbed one hand over her forehead. Nathan’s problems were something else. Kyle worried about paying his rent. Maddie worried about getting a high GPA at school. Nathan worried about half tanned ass cheeks.
“If this is the biggest problem you’ve been dealing with lately I would have to say that’s an improvement from when we met, huh?” she asked.
Nathan shrugged. “I guess. I have two good movies lined up so that makes me feel better. I still can’t really leave the house without getting hounded by the pap, but I’m not as lonely as I used to be. Because of you.”
“Aw, thanks. I’m a lot happier now too,” Maddie replied blushing.
Nathan let out the breath he’d been holding. He was relieved Maddie felt happier since they met. Sometimes he couldn’t be sure how she felt about him since she was intentionally keeping him away. So many times, over the last few months he would have gladly hopped on a plane to come see her if it had been what she wanted.
“How has the rest of your week been?”
“Same old stuff. I watched the babies almost every day. I think that’s why I was so happy to go out with Holly. She can say more words than no, min
e, bottle, and uh-oh. Makes for a much easier conversation flow.”
“What did Holly say about Forever?”
“There hasn’t been much yet. It’s too early for photos to get leaked or anything fun like that. She just wanted to speculate on plot and how close she thinks the movie will be to the book.”
“When does the book come out?”
Maddie rolled her eyes. “How come I know this stuff and you don’t? A month from Tuesday. Holly has a countdown going.”
“That’s soon. Wow.”
“Holly is hoping that Duncan puts a really dirty sex scene in the book and then that the movie director follows it closely.”
“Your friend sounds like a trip, Angel.”
“She’s nuts, you can say it. Why do you think I’m so careful about hiding you from her? But I love her; without Holly I’d have no one to gush over EVOL with.”
“What about me?”
“Um, that’s not going to happen,” Maddie laughed.
“Why not? I lived and breathed that movie for over a year. I’m sure I know more about it than Holly.”
“I seriously doubt that. Besides, we mostly talk about the love story and you know… how hot the leading man is,” Maddie admitted reluctantly.
Nathan smirked. “How often do you think about the leading man? Just curious…”
“Far too often. Can we change the subject now?”
“Fine, but we should revisit this topic later. How long have we been talking?”
“Um, about twenty minutes.”
“Cool. It’s time for me to flip over.”
“Help me out here, just so I have this mental picture right. You’re lying out in the sun, by the pool in your spacious and private back yard, completely naked.”
“Do you like that visual?” Nathan asked enticingly.
“No comment.”
Nathan chuckled under his breath. “Well, you’ve got it right except you forgot the washcloth.”
“Washcloth?”
“To cover my goodies so they don’t burn,” he replied as if the answer was obvious.
“Nathan, I… there are no words. I had no idea you could be so free spirited and playful,” Maddie said. She liked seeing this side of him; aNathan who didn’t feel trapped and alone, but instead was flirty and adventurous. Her dreams would definitely focus around a naked sunbathing Nathan Foster that night.