Heaven Sent…
(Behind the Scenes #1)
Heather Mar-Gerrison copyright 2018
Beautiful front cover design courtesy of Shutterstock designs
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or mechanically, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except where permitted by law. This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. The Author holds exclusive rights to this work.
Prologue
Gerard
“Now, I know this is nothing like your usual role – but hey, who wants to be typecast?” My agent, Lawrence, laughed slightly hysterically and I instantly knew that he was up to something. He was holding the script in his hand, tantalisingly in view but still out of reach unless I made a grab for it, which, I’m not gonna lie, I wasn’t above doing...
I looked at my him with my eyebrows raised as he looked back at me with a look on his face that was a combination of nervous, excited, hopeful and terrified all rolled into one. Yeah, he was definitely up to something, I could tell.
I frowned. Giving in to my less polite side, I leaned across the desk and plucked the script from his sweaty hand. “What’s that look for?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at him suspiciously, “You look like you’re about to give birth to an elephant.”
He laughed again, and it was still no less hysterical before he swallowed and then spoke, “Jason Flaherty is reading the other part.” He said, speaking his name reverently. Uh-oh, looked like someone had a man-crush… “He’s really up-and-coming.”
I nodded. I already knew who Jason Flaherty was. Anyone who had a brain in their head in this industry kept their ear to the ground for new talent – and as much as I knew I was a good actor – the awards I’d accumulated over the past few years were testament to that – I also knew that there was always someone else who would come along that was better and he was that guy…
My girlfriend, Gina, hadn’t stopped going on about him since she and a few of her girlfriends had gone to see the chick-flick ‘Sunset City’ a couple of months back. “Yeah, I know who he is. Young kid. Dark red hair and flawless skin, right?” Unbearably attractive with an ingenuous appeal. He wasn’t all that young, actually – he just looked it with his slight frame and wide-set, doe-eyed innocence.
He nodded, “I think he’s still in his early twenties, yeah.”
Great. So now I was going to have to hit the gym like a man possessed for the next couple of weeks before I was due to film, so I at least had a chance of looking reasonably decent on the big screen next to him. Not that I too, wasn’t in my twenties albeit closer to the mid-range than early – but there was no getting away from the fact that I’d always looked older and I certainly didn’t possess any sort of innocent air. I could play a guy in his thirties – and I could be cast as a good or a bad guy. I had that sort of ruggedness about me. Hell, I’d been shaving since I was thirteen…
I took the script off him and started to read the synopsis. Wow. I blinked and looked up at Lawrence, “it’s set in San Francisco?” I squawked excitedly, “I’ll be going to San Francisco?” I’d never actually been there before. I’d been to the USA before – plenty of times for different movies and chat shows, but never to San Francisco. It was the one place I’d always wanted to go. This was incredible.
He nodded, “Now, listen – don’t go getting all diva-ish on me – the budget isn’t particularly… well, lavish, shall we say. It’s kind of an indie film but we think it’s gonna be big.”
I blinked, “What does that mean?” I knew exactly what it meant. It meant that they were after awards and we were gonna have to slum it for their benefit – and, hopefully, ours – if we got the awards…
“It means that you’ll be up for loads of awards but you’ve got to work hard.” He said, confirming my gut feeling. “You’ll get a flight to Los Angeles but from there, you and Jason are sharing a car to San Francisco.” All of this came out in a bit of a rush and he looked at me with pleading eyes.
I blinked. He had to be kidding me. I wasn’t good with new people. It took me ages to make friends. That was probably why I had so few and actually counted Lawrence among them even if he did drive me crazy most of the time… “But I’ve never met the guy.” I said.
He grinned, “Once you’ve read the script, that’ll be the least of your worries, believe me.”
I frowned and looked back down at the script. What the hell had that meant?
I read on, “Oh.” I looked back up at Lawrence who was chewing his nails down to his elbows, “It’s another gay part?”
He nodded, wincing slightly as he spoke. He clearly thought I would turn it down. “But you’re an actor, right?” He said hopefully, “And obviously you’re a really good one. Hell, man, you pretend for a living – no one really thinks you’re gay...”
I knew no one really thought I was gay but this would be the second movie in two years where I played the part of a gay man. The first one wasn’t so bad. The fact that the character was gay was kind of secondary to the fact that he was a ruthless killer, so mostly I was remembered as the bad guy who shot people for fun… I pursed my lips, “I’m aware of that.” I said a little haughtily. Fuck, what the hell was my girlfriend, Gina, gonna say about this? Actually, she’d probably laugh her head off – and then get super jealous that I’d be kissing Jason Flaherty when it was all she ever fantasised about… I wondered sometimes why I wasn’t more annoyed about that. Mostly I found it amusing. “I’ll have to talk to Gina about this.” I murmured, “And I don’t really want to be typecast...”
He nodded, “Of course, of course.” He said, “You’ve got until Thursday to let me know if you want the part – and then he’s going to start auditioning other actors.”
I shook my head, “No need to wait until then – I’ll do it – can you let them know right now that I’m in?” Well, of course I was in. This was the most exciting thing to happen to me in almost a year of being out of work, save for the usual voiceovers and advertising contracts.
Lawrence beamed at me, “This is going to be so great!” he said, “The director, Jack Rayner, asked for both you and Jason personally. He didn’t want either of you to audition against anyone else – he actually said he would only make the movie if you two were in it and that’s why he’s waited until now that you’re both available.”
Wow. He’d actually waited for Jason to finish his last movie? “Really?” I asked, “Well, thank God. I hate auditioning.”
He nodded, “I know you do.” He said, “You could do more. You know I turn down plenty of shit just so you never have to do that.”
I nodded. I was picky for a couple of reasons – one was that I really did hate auditions but the second reason was that I needed plenty of free time to spend helping my family out.
I knew I was lucky to have Lawrence as my agent. He knew all about my disabled brother, but he didn’t dwell on it and he’d never broken my confidence about him, which I was grateful for. The general public had no idea he even existed, which wasn’t my desire but my parents – they didn’t want his life to be a media circus and I guess I understood that – and I totally respected their wishes.
I didn’t need to talk to Gina before I’d made my decision. I liked what I’d read – and I wasn’t so rich that I didn’t need the money. My brother’s condition meant spending a lot of money altering the family home to accommodate his chair and that didn’t come cheap. Whatever Gina had to say about me making out with Jason Flaherty on the big scre
en, I was in. “I’ll call you tonight – just so Gina thinks she had some say in this.” I said with a grin.
He tapped his nose and grinned, “Good call.” He said. He knew Gina quite well and I was sure his grin was more to do with his amusement at what she’d have to say about it…
Tucking the script under my arm and trying not to overthink having to kiss the beautiful young dude, I made my way home. Gina was going to be impossible about this. Absolutely impossible…
Chapter 1 – Leading man…
Gerard
The drive home from Lawrence’s office through the rush hour traffic is one of the stand-out moments in my life.
I spent the entire journey contemplating my future. Would this make me uncomfortably famous? Did I really want any more fame? Too much fame was a dangerous thing. The media would start digging about my family and I really didn’t need that. Not that I was ashamed of them or anything, it was just that Mum and Dad wanted my brother’s life kept private. I respected that – I didn’t really agree with it. My brother was one of the most amazing people in my life and I would have happily shared him with the rest of the world but right now, while he lived with them, I guessed they were right. They didn’t want the paparazzi camped outside day and night.
Not that I really thought that would happen. It certainly wasn’t my experience. At the moment I could quite easily walk around the city without getting recognised and I rather liked it that way. There was never paparazzi camped outside my house. It was kind of nice.
But I’d never really pushed any boundaries either – this film could either make or break my career – and it would definitely give Jason’s as welcomed boost…
The song on the radio was going to stay with me forever as I thought about the part – and my co-star.
Yes, it was going to be uncomfortable getting naked on set, especially when it was in front of other people – with kissing and simulated sex with another guy but hell, I was an actor – of course I could play a gay part even though I was straight. It was just playing a part…
To be honest, I wasn’t a particularly sexual person. I never had been. Gina and I kind of fell into our relationship with each other towards the end of university and had stayed together since. Our sex life wasn’t particularly exciting – we didn’t even do it all that often if I was honest. I frowned. Would I be able to be convincing on set? Did I actually know how to look passionate? Suddenly I wasn’t so sure…
I gave myself a mental shake. Of course I could do this. It was just another movie. And it wasn’t as if I was going to start developing feelings for my co-star or vice-versa. It had never happened in any of my previous films… Then again, no one had ever been as beautiful as Jason Flaherty before.
As far as I was aware, Jason Flaherty was perfectly straight too. He’d been snapped with the same girl a fair few times – I should know, Gina never stopped grumbling about it. She didn’t think the girl was good-looking enough to be his girlfriend. “He’s so beautiful,” she complained, “And she’s so blah.”
I’d begrudgingly admired Jason Flaherty from afar for a while. He was a fabulous up-and-coming actor and I’d seen a few of the films he’d been in. He had been outstanding in his last movie – the one that my girlfriend had been to see. It wasn’t exactly a box-office blockbuster but it had definitely put him on the map as an up-and-coming star and producers were starting to notice him more and more.
I guessed he’d been asked to read plenty of scripts and I wondered why he’d decided to choose this low-budget indie film over some of the more popular choices. Maybe, like me, he preferred a challenging role to an easy option. I hoped so.
My career so far had been great. I could choose the scripts I liked and this was the second movie I’d taken that was a gay part – but it was a far cry from the first role. That character had been a gay mafia boss who was struggling to come to terms with his sexuality and had been pretty easy to play. This one, by complete contrast was a full-on, if subtly done, very romantic and very sexy, gay movie from beginning to end.
I wasn’t bothered about being typecast. I knew I could take straight roles too – but I’d fallen in love with the story of this script and I honestly couldn’t resist it.
When I realised that Jason was my leading man I’ve got to admit to it – I was really excited. The big screen absolutely adored him.
I could just see us together in my mind on the big screen. He would be perfectly smooth and almost feminine against my rugged good looks. People were going to absolutely fall in love with us…
Jason was one of those guys that everyone instantly fell in love with anyway – and he already totally appealed to both sexes – he was on the cover of many a magazine for both men and women. He was beautiful rather than handsome and he was really beginning to grow in popularity since he was in the lead role of ‘Sunset City’ which had been released six months previously.
The hype of that movie was now beginning to die down a little but the media had gotten wind of this new movie and everyone, it seemed, wanted to interview the main characters as soon as they’d been confirmed.
So that was going to mean a total carousel of interviews all over the world. Jason and I had better get along because we were going to be pretty much joined at the hip for the next year, at least…
I got home. As predicted, as soon as I told Gina that I was going to be in a movie with Jason Flaherty, she was as jealous as hell. “Oh, my God!” she looked at me totally scandalised, “I love that guy! He’s the really beautiful one with the red hair in ‘Sunset City’!”
I already knew that. I grinned, “I know he is.” I said, “I’ll get you his autograph.”
“You’ll get me dinner with him or we’re over.” She bitched.
I just raised an eyebrow and grinned at her, “Oh, right – like that is it?”
She punched my arm, “You’re not all that.” She said with a bit of a snarl to her smile.
I chuckled and shook my head. It was always like this between us, something I can’t deny, my mother found a little abhorrent. Gina reckoned Mum had no sense of humour but I knew different. Mum had a great sense of humour and was generally a really good judge of character.
I thought it was more likely that she just wasn’t all that fond of Gina. I hadn’t quite worked out why yet but I wasn’t stupid enough to tell Gina what I suspected.
“She doesn’t treat you with enough respect, Gerard.” She scolded, “What do you want a girlfriend like that for? There are hundreds of nice girls to pick from – you’re a famous actor for goodness sake!”
“She’s a nice person.”
“I’m not saying she isn’t – just watch your step with that one, that’s all…”
I just shrugged. I guessed there were hundreds of nice girls but I didn’t have the time, nor the inclination, to go and meet anyone else – and besides, I didn’t trust new relationships. Most women I met were only interested in me because I was an actor. Either that or they were famous too and therefore totally self-absorbed. I wasn’t even sure that I wasn’t just like that too.
Gina and I had been together for so long – since our last year together in college – that we’d gotten used to each other’s foibles and it was comfortable, easy. She didn’t give me any drama for being selfish. She knew where she stood with me – and I knew where I stood with her – very firmly under her boot. And she knew the situation with my brother and that Mum and Dad didn’t want him paraded out to the media like some sort of circus freak. And he wasn’t a freak. He was the sweetest soul that ever lived and I loved him dearly. We’d been a massive surprise to our parents when we were born. I was a whole ten years after they got married and they’d just about given up on the idea of ever having children. Mum had gone into labour at work, having absolutely no idea that she was pregnant. I was born first and I was perfectly healthy, but Troy was born with the placenta around his neck and he’d been starved of oxygen, which had caused him to suffer from cerebral palsy. He could
walk – but with difficulty and he relied on crutches and his wheelchair quite a lot. His cerebral palsy had caused him to be slightly slower at learning than I, but that wasn’t to say he wasn’t every bit as intelligent – if not more so – and he was studying for his PhD at university – which I was funding for him. I was happy to help – I’d always felt kind of guilty for being perfectly healthy and able bodied – it could just as easily have been the other way around.
“She’s fine. It’s not like we’re going to get married or anything Mum, so don’t worry yourself into an early grave over it.”
Mum had given me one of her looks. Mum’s are great at those, aren’t they? Making me feel like an idiot. And maybe I was – because I knew, even then, that Gina and I weren’t in love with each other. We were very fond of each other, there wasn’t any question about our affection for each other – but that was about as strong as the feelings were – for both of us.
That was why I wasn’t in the slightest bit jealous of her infatuation with my potential co-star. What did I care if she had a crush on him? It wasn’t like they were ever likely to meet for real – well, not beyond in passing in any case. I was safe – until the real love of her life came along…
“So, you’re going to have to actually get naked with him?” She asked.
I nodded, “Yeah, looks like it.” I went over to the fridge and got out the juice. I poured myself a glass and got one for her too, “Read it through if you want.”
Gina grabbed the script and started to go through it gleefully, “Oh, my God!” she screamed, “You’ve got to pretend to have sex with him.” She looked up at me excitedly, “You lucky bastard.” She said, “You’re totally going to see his cock!”
I nearly sprayed the table with juice as I choked on the mouthful I’d just chugged back, “Uh, yeah.” I agreed faintly once I’d got my breath back, “I probably will.”
Heaven Sent. (Behind The Scenes Book 1) Page 1