Second Chances – Chapter 49 February 1, 2010
Beth sat in a makeup chair a four in the morning. “It’s amazing how much work it takes to look natural,” she said to the make up artist. “I would never wear lipstick and mascara to go running.”
“But if it wasn’t for makeup, you would look like you just woke up.”
“I did just wake up.” The two ladies laughed.
Harry entered the room that had been set up as her secluded dressing room. “Beth, we need you now. The light’s about perfect.”
“Okay Harry. I’ll be right there.”
Beth got to the set; she saw Harry and his assistants running around. He was hoping to get this shot in that day. It was a very special scene that Beth and Rob had to complete where Aria and Paul had a special moment alone the morning of their wedding. It was a time that was just for them. Beth did not see Rob anywhere on the set.
“Okay, Beth,” Harry said trying to get things moving before the sun rose too much. “Let’s start with you leaving the house and just try to get as much done.”
“Anything you say, Harry,” Beth said as she got to her mark, just inside the door of the house. He yelled action and she took a deep breath, and then opened the door where she went outside and began to run. The cameras followed her as she ran. Beth tried her best to look like she knew what she was doing, like she had been running for years. Finally, after what had felt like forever, Harry yelled ‘cut’. Gratefully, she stopped running and while the makeup people re-directed her sweat, she saw Rob arrive at the clearing where the Hollywood camp had set up for the morning.
Beth sat in a chair, drinking some water when he came up to her and sat down in the chair next to her.
“Good morning, beautiful,” he said to her as he gave her a kiss.
“Good morning yourself,” Beth responded, still slightly winded from the run.
“How did the running go?”
“I don’t see why anyone actually enjoys it. But I think it is my best acting to date.”
“I’ve heard rumors that you’ll be nominated for some awards.”
“Yeah, best faking the joy of running in a movie,” she said chuckling.
“No, seriously.”
“Rob, I know. All those awards are so far away. I don’t want to think about something that I can’t control. I’m trying my best to work past that kind of destructive thinking.”
“If only the rest of the world could think as positively as you… It looks like they’re ready for us,” Rob said rising from his chair and taking her hand.
They headed over to where Harry was talking to the cameraman. Harry set up the scene with them and sent them to their starting marks, with the smoke machines set on ‘low’ to simulate the early morning fog.
Beth could not see Rob from where she stood, waiting for Harry to yell ‘action’. She was amazed that her palms were sweating all because she knew how important the scene was to the movie. What they were scripted say and how they were supposed to say to the other, like they were deeply and madly in love was as intense if not more so as the actual “wedding” they were scheduled to film later. A makeup artist fussed over her face and sprayed her with water to make her look like she was sweating more. It was a bit annoying to have her clothes sticking to her, but it didn’t really matter, it was all to make things look as real as possible. She hopped around a bit to get her blood moving again and Harry finally began the scene.
In the clearing that she ran towards, Beth could make our Rob’s figure in the mist. Just like Aria would, a smile came across Beth’s face when she saw him coming into focus. They slowed to a walk and locked eyes that could only pull them closer, like magnets.
“What’s a beautiful woman doing all alone?” Rob/Paul began as he touched her waist and pulled her close.
“You’d better watch it, sir. I’m going to be a married woman soon and I don’t think my husband would like me meeting handsome men on deserted paths holding me so intimately,” Beth/Aria replied beaming.
“I don’t think your husband would mind,” he said as he began to gently kiss her neck, taking her breath away.
“Okay, cut,” Harry called from the distance. Beth was jolted back into reality but Rob continued to hold onto her. He found her so intoxicating; he didn’t want to take his hands off of her.
“Rob? We need to start that again. We’re loosing the light,” Beth told him.
“Oh, right,” he responded as he removed his hands from her and went back to his mark. ‘What am I doing?’ he asked himself. ‘What am I doing with this beautiful woman, who had so much spirit to share with the world?’
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