chapter 4

            “Jenson and Darren scene eight in four… Hold—  Audio check again… All good? Okay, three, two, one… Action!”

            “You know what I’m talkin’ about, man. We could’ve killed that thing the first moment we set our sights on it.”

            “Yeah. I know, but then the girl could’ve died, too. Are you that desperate of finishing this thing off fast just so you could, I dunno…cross another evil out of that damned bucket list of yours? Do you even hear yourself talking? It’s like I’m in prison again—”

            “Cut!” The moment the director shouted, everybody was already all eyes on Taylor, who suddenly entered the picture.

            A latte in one hand with his other arm still in a cast, he wore a smug grin which really switched the dog-tired and 3a.m.-and-still-stuck-in-set mood into almost a half-minute long laughter from the audience.

            Even Todd, their ever-so-smileless executive producer, was laughing his socks off.

            “Everything—hold!”

            Jenson had already blown the guy a kiss when he noticed he had small stitches on the forehead. It seemed the accident wasn’t as bad as everyone had thought. Everyone was high-fiving Taylor and asking him how he was doing and all. Jenson glanced at Darren and winked at him playfully. “Told ya.”

            Darren smacked his fist on his leg. “Agh! My hard-earned money!”

            “Sorry, bro.” He let out a hearty laugh. “Another D&G for wifey. Fantastic.”

            “Shut up.”

            “ASAP, man. Thanks a bunch.”

            A few action scenes and doughnuts with frappe about an hour later, everybody was packing up and wrapping everything up for the weekend.

            Darren was about to leave the set when he saw Jenson having trouble starting up his car. It was parked a good mile away from his. He honked twice and shouted at his exhausted co-star. “The heck you standin’ there for? Get in here; I’m leaving.”

            “It won’t frickin’ start!” Jenson snickered and kicked the front tire and propped his hands on his hips. “Where’s Ralph?”

            “Out. Everyone is. Forget it; I’ll drive you home.”

            “I can’t have you force me into four bottles and another lap dance again. Charm’s still waiting up.”

            “Whatever.” Darren chuckled at that one. That night was memorably hilarious. “Just get in here. I’m really tired.” They could’ve slept in their trailers and saved gas. But this whole week, they’ve been shooting within L.A. — which was good, because they got to spend a little quality time with their wives. At last. They’ve been in Canada for months. Online video chatting, interrupted or conk-out phone sex didn’t actually work for him.

            Jenson kept up his grim look until he sat down in the passenger seat. Then he raised his fist and shifted to face him. “Pinky promise first.”

            “Fine!” Darren laughed.

            A few minutes later, they were chugging down their second beer bottle, sitting in the corner of the papparazzi famous bar Jenson once swore he’d never step a foot back into.

            “This is so screwed up right now. I should’ve been at home ten, twenty minutes ago, you sick bastard.” He burped and gave Darren another pissed look.

            He was just laughing his ass off and ordered another drink. Then another. Jenson swore and kept staring at the martini and ladies’ drink one of the waiters had brought.

            “This another one of your ‘dude, you gotta meet my hot ex back in high school’ stunts? Man… ‘Nuff is enough. She almost read that girl’s text. I almost died from panic that night.”

            “I’ve got somethin’ to tell you.” Darren snorted and used his hand to cover his mouth.

            Jenson looked even more dismal. “What?”

            “Pinky promise first you won’t get mad?”

            Jenson looked believably pissed now. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

            Darren tried not to laugh, but couldn’t keep it down. He chuckled while explaining how he’d managed to actually ward the girl off. As Jenson kept on his not-so-humored smile, he kept glancing at the doorway to see if Pete had already come in. Tammi and Craig were still on the dance floor as if they haven’t been taping for 18 hours straight. Pat and Jason had excused themselves to buy a group of petite bombshells drinks at the bar, and who knows what’ll happen next.

            “What? They’re here? Where?” Panicking a bit, Jenson shifted in his seat and tried to hide as much of his face as possible. He even wore his baseball caps. No papparazzi in sight was particularly focusing on them. Maybe it was because Charlie Sheen and some NFL star were said to have been hanging out at the place often these days.

            “Yep.” He went serious this time and tried to look and sound as believable as possible. “One o’clock. Calm down.” He waved randomly at some guy’s back, then grinned widely. “Hey, relax. He brought Charm. Surprise,” he mumbled through his teeth.

            Jenson fidgeted more and kicked his foot under the table.

            He noticed his pal’s actual uneasiness and burst out laughing again. “I’m kidding— Chill… Pete’s gonna be a bit late.”

            “Pete? Just Pete?” Jenson heaved a sigh and removed his cap. “You asswipe.”

            “Yeah. He tell you about Kellie’s replacement? I met her the other day.” He whistled and swiped his palm across his forehead.

            “What?” Jenson’s brows furrowed. “Fire?”

            “She’s… Well, at first, I thought she’s—”

            “Spit it out.”

            Darren animatedly rolled his eyes and nodded repeatedly.

            “Like… Scarlett J.-hot, or...?”

            The jerk.

            His pal wasn’t exaggerating at all. The girl was reasonably gorgeous. She wasn’t even wearing much makeup or anything fancy at all. She had on an oversized coat and a white shirt, before his eyes shifted to her skin-tight pants. She’d already shaken hands with him earlier, and she was now about to sit opposite him. When she was already sitting next to Darren, their eyes locked again.

            She was still smiling. So, naturally, Jenson smiled back.

            “Pete can’t make it; he says sorry. I think his battery just died out. He said Marin called in sick so he had to…take off early.”

            “Yeah, yeah… No problem.” Jenson tried to keep on making his not-so-surprised look believable.

            “How’s your flight? Got some shut-eye yet?” Darren handed her the drink he’d ordered minutes ago.

Jessi thanked him, her smile big and stunning. “A bit. I checked into the hotel ‘round six. Really sorry for being late.” She glanced at her watch. “I didn’t know traffic existed here ‘til 4am. Oh. Right... Busy Friday night.”

            “Nah. Could’ve just gone by the site, though. You’re staying at Vondu’s, right?”

            “Yes. Um, Pete told me to drop by ‘round midnight but he called again and said you guys were still filming, so…” Jessi checked her phone. Her attractive dark brows furrowed for a second before she slid her mobile back in her coat pocket.

            “Yeah. Some scenes needed to be reshot.” Darren turned to him like it was his fault they had to retape some scenes.

            Jessi frowned and went along with the tower’s comical face. Then she grinned again. “Nice to see both of you this hour of the night…bonding.”

            Darren chuckled and clanked her glass with his. “Came here with the guys. As you can see, they’re all so busy… Hey, I honestly can’t wait for that surprise you brought for Mr. Ross here.”

            Jenson eyed his conniving co-star and long-time friend, and the dude even winked at him. He just grinned, then muttered something under his breath.

            “Oh, but you’ll be glad to see this.”