This Must be Fiction

"I called us a cab. It'll be here any minute." Bam said as we stepped out onto the sidewalk. Ville's hand reached for mine.

"They really will like you. They're all very nice and I promise they won't bite." He clacked his teeth together. I smacked his leg lightly after we settled into the cab that had pulled up.

"God they're not like you and Bam are they?"

"What? Devilishly handsome?"
I rolled my eyes but smiled all the same.

"No.. you know.. the V word?"

Ville shook his head. "Just Linde. You'll figure out which one that is." he looked towards the front of the cab, eying the driver cautiously.

"The blond one, with the dreadlocks." I said.

"Right."

"Glad I remembered." I said, looking down at my hands.

"They'll like you." Ville whispered down at me. I looked at his eyes briefly and then back down.

"I hope so."

We spent the rest of the cab ride in silence, although I think Bam and Ville were speaking to each other under their breath. I couldn't quite catch what they were saying, but they both were moving their lips briefly. Neither one knew I was watching.

Once the cab stopped I got anxious. It felt like the entire time I'd been in Paris, I've been outrageously anxious. It couldn't have been good for my health.
Ville let some comfort fall over me and I immediately felt better.

"Just act like this is a normal shoot."

"I've never been in a video before. I've been in a commercial once, but even then, I was only working for like three hours."

"Ok well, just remember that you're with me. As long as you're with me, you'll be ok."

"I know." I looked up at Ville with admiration in my eyes. How could any person love someone else the way I loved Ville? It seemed impossible. Impossible that anyone could feel this intensely towards someone else.

We walked quickly into the immense castle before us. I gazed up at it, shielding my eyes from the sun.

"Bam really doesn't do anything in small doses." I whispered to Ville, who smiled at my comment.
The band was assembled around a small table when we walked in.

"Hey Ville!" Someone shouted. I heard them all speaking, but I couldn't understand a thing because it was all in Finnish. I shuffled my feet awkwardly and looked at the ground. I would be all right if they just ignored me, I could deal with that.

"Molly?" A voice sounded from across the room. I looked up to see a skinny man with giant blond dreadlocks. Linde.

"Yes. Hi." I waved. He smiled and greeted me with a giant hug.

"So this is Molly. We've heard... wow.. well so much about you." Linde said. He had a voice like Ville's, deep and brain rattling.

"Molly? This is Ville's Molly? The one who left like two years ba--" Another man was cut off by a swift hit in the stomach delivered by Bam. He recovered, smiled, and held his hand out to me.

"I'm Mige." He was rather large with long scruffy brown hair that stuck to his head. I shook his hand and smiled shyly.

"Burton." A tall, skinny man who reminded me slightly of Ville.

"Gas" A rounder man, with an excited expression.
The two other men came up and shook my hand. All the while Linde and Ville stood by my side, beaming at me and the band. It got quiet.

"She's also uh.. the actress for the shoot." Bam cut in from a few feet away.

"No shit? Well what a weird turn of events." Mige said as he walked away. Gas and Burton followed him and walked into their dressing room. Linde and Ville stayed with me.

"They don't like me do they?" I asked, looking up at Ville. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close to him.

"They do, they just aren't sure what to think of us yet. They've sort of got their own vision of you from what they've learned from Bam and I, and I think they're just trying to get everything straight." He kissed me quickly, relaxing my nerves.

"But I'm absolutely amazed that you're here, and entirely more excited than I should be!" Linde spoke from behind me. He grabbed my waist from Ville and turned me so I could hug him again. I smiled and giggled like a child.

"Thanks, Linde. You have no idea how much that means to me."

"Well, sweetheart, I more than anyone understand how Ville feels about you. And it's just great that you're here, and you two are together again." He rubbed my shoulders. Ville had one arm around my waist.

"I'm glad to be here."
He kissed my forehead.

"Good."
Bam rushed me into make-up, stealing me away from Ville for a little while. I was more anxious than I should have been while I sat quietly in the make up chair. The woman working on me must have thought I was a mess.

Bam returned shortly.

"So basically the idea of the video is that you're in love with Ville, and you're looking around this castle for him. He's trying to find you as well, and you two finally meet at the end. You're basically just wondering aimlessly for a while."

"Sounds easy enough."

"It should. We'll start with you as soon as you get all of your hair and make up done." He walked from the room briskly, but let the door open so Ville could file in. His face was covered with make up, including eyeliner and eyeshadow.

"Well don't you look pretty." I said, winking. He leaned down towards me to give me a kiss, but was stopped abruptly by the make up artist.

"Hey! I just did her lipstick. No kissing." She tapped him on the shoulder. He rolled his eyes and settled for a kiss on my head, making me restless.

"Yes well, I'm quite the beauty." He pulled a chair up next to me. "Bam explained everything to you?" He asked.

"He did. Doesn't sound too difficult. But what does the band do while we're wandering the castle?"

"They play in the background and we'll probably get some shots of them before anything else. I think they're setting up now." He turned his head to look out the door. "Yes they are."

"How'd you get all of your make up done so quickly?" I asked. He grazed his hand over mine and mindlessly drew circles on my palm.

"Eh they have more to work with on you. They just throw make up on me and put some gel in my hair, and I'm good to go."

"Ville! Get out here!" Bam's voice sounded from the other room. Ville rolled his eyes and snuck a quick kiss on my cheek before running out of the room.

"You guys are a couple?" The artist asked. I blushed.

"Something like that."
She finished my make up shortly and I walked into the room where the band was setting up their instruments. They didn't have to plug them into anything, but Bam was insistent that everything looked authentic and perfect.

Minutes later I had changed into a short lace black dress that left little to the imagination. Bam had me standing in the corner of the building.

"I'm getting restless." I said, shuffling my feet. Bam glared at me, making me smile. I smiled wider when I realized that Bam's glare would have made me throw up years ago, but we were close now, and I felt the need to annoy him.

"Stop being twelve for five minutes and do your job."

"Somebody is bossy! Easy there Bam Bam."
He messed with his camera and decided to ignore me instead of feed my annoyance fuel.

"Ready?" He asked, looking up. My eyes searched the group of people with their camera equipment. I nodded.

"As I'll ever be."

"Action!" He said. My feet walked softly on the tile as I weaved between columns and around corners. For about forty five seconds everything was silent as I did my best for my "acting" debut.

"Alright, cut!" Bam yelled.

"You don't have to yell. We're all right here." I put my hands on my hips. Bam's face turned into another scowl.

"Let's do this about five more times, and then we'll move onto Ville's scenes."
Five times later, Ville appeared in the room dressed in a black suit with his hair slicked back. My mouth popped open as I took in his glorious appearance. If it wasn't terrible of me to do so, I would have jumped on him.

"Hold yourself back there." Bam nudged me in the rib cage.

"Shut up." I said to him. He winked at me as Ville strolled over to us. He set his hands lightly on my hips and leaned down to give me a kiss before Bam put his hand on Ville's face and pushed him backwards. Ville let out a long laugh as he regained his balance.

"No kissing! Too much make up!" Bam yelled into both of our faces. We giggled together and interlocked our fingers so we could at least be touching for a few moments. It seemed as though ever since we reunited, it was unbearable to be separate for even a few minutes.

"You know what to do, right?" Bam asked Ville. He nodded and took his hand away from mine to walk to the other side of the castle with Bam. I remained in the middle of the mansion, unsure of what to do. The band members spotted me standing awkwardly and Linde waved me over. I walked casually, but was secretly dying of nerves on the inside.

"We don't want to sound like assholes..." Mige began. Heat rose to my face as I felt my cheeks becoming inflamed. "...but we're about to."

Oh god, what could they possibly have to say to me? Oh wait, I knew that one. I had left Ville years ago, making his life hell.

"We did some research on you while you were filming, and found out that you're living with another guy? And have been seen around L.A. with a different guy?"

"Oh, I'm living with my gay best friend Robert. And Benjamin is just a friend, we went out to dinner a few nights ago." I spoke with my hands. Mige nodded as Linde spoke up.

"I'm sorry about them, I tried to tell them that there wasn't anything to worry about."

"It's fine, I'd be concerned about me too. I know I left years ago and it destroyed both Ville and myself. We've talked about it though. It's not possible for us to split up again."

"You're a heavy drinker." Burton said from his corner. I nodded.

"Kind of, I suppose."

"I'm still not so sure about you living with this guy." Mige spoke again. My knees got weak as I readied myself for his interrogation.

"He's gay, I promise."

"It doesn't look like he's gay from what I'm seeing." Mige typed onto his laptop and was clearly looking at photos of Robert and I. "I mean, there's a few of the two of you kissing, even more of you walking into your house holding hands."

"Mige! Stop!" Linde slammed the laptop shut. "Her and Ville just met for the first time in two years, yesterday. She's had a life these past few years."

"It's ok Linde, I understand where they're coming from." I turned to the band. "I promise you, Robert is just a good friend of mine. I bet if we called him right now, he'd be in bed with another man." I received a cringe from Gas. "And the truth is, I really haven't had a life since Ville and I parted. The reason why there's so many pictures and stories about my drinking is because drinking was the only thing to distract me from my depression. Robert and my other best friend Lizzie have been the only two people to even attempt to pull my from my depression. I've been a mess without Ville. If you want you can probably find an article about me being anorexic as well, and that's because I've lost a lot of weight since leaving Ville. My life has been hell, I'll tell you that much."

The men looked at me for what seemed like ten minutes. Linde was standing next to me, speechless.

"Sorry." Mige said solemnly.

"I don't blame you. I'd be suspicious of me too. But I'd really like you to understand just how much I love Ville. Which is a lot."

Footsteps approached us from behind me and I turned to see Ville standing a few feet away.

"You guys are fucking ridiculous. You can't just let me be happy?" He took steps past me and headed towards Mige. Bam ran in between the two men to keep Ville from losing his mind.

"I'm sorry! Can you say you wouldn't do the same fucking thing? Ville, I can't stand to see you as depressed as you've been these past few years, and if she leaves again, that's what's going to happen, but worse. Excuse me if I want to make sure that she doesn't destroy you again." Mige stood and took steps towards Ville. Both the men started speaking in rushed Finnish, and Linde stood in the corner trying to separate them while speaking loudly in his native tongue.

"Can you both stop? Please?" I asked meekly from the corner of the room. The looked at me, each other, and then back towards me.

Ville mumbled at Mige in Finnish before taking my hand and leading me from the room.

"I'm so sorry about that." He said as soon as we had traveled down a number of hallways.

"Don't be. I know where he's coming from. Speaking of, Robert's going to want to rip you a new one once he sees you." I said, pulling him by his belt loops so we could be close.

"Who is this Robert?" Ville asked.

"A friend. We bought a house together in L.A., but don't worry, he's very homosexual." I said, smiling at him. His expression softened and he took me in his arms.

"Bam said we only have a few more shots to do. I'm not sure how long it will take though."

"Ok, sounds good." I said. Ville began walking, leaving me behind him. It was very unlike him to do so, and I assumed it was because he was upset about Mige getting on my case. I ran a hand through his hair, messing it up from it's previous position.

"Are you ok?" I asked him, jogging in my heels to catch up with his pace. Ville realized my struggling and slowed down. He took my hand in his and drew circles with his thumb.

"I'm fine. I don't know why I let this get to me the way it did. It's just none of Mige's business, he needs to leave us alone. He doesn't even know you and he's acting like you're some sort of home-wrecker." Ville wiped his forehead with his free hand and exhaled deeply. I kissed the side of his arm and took his hand in both of mine.

"You stress too easily. Mige is just looking out for you. He's your friend, remember that."

"I know that. And I suppose if it was someone else instead of you I'd be less upset. I just don't want anything ruining what we're trying to do and I feel like my friends are going to scare you away if they keep up with this bullshit."

"Nothings going to scare me away, I promise. Now let's go finish shooting so we can leave and get back to the hotel."

He kissed me quickly. "I like the way you think."

Bam was waiting impatiently for us when we wondered back into the room.

"Don't waist time. I want to get all this shit done today." He said, walking away towards a camera.

After Ville and I did some scenes separately, we shot one together where Bam told us to act in love and kiss passionately at the end. We did so appropriately, but it felt wrong to be doing so in front of a camera. His lips moved mechanically instead of romantically, and I told myself never to let him kiss me like that again. He seemed to automatically understand how I felt about the kiss, and smiled as soon as the cameras stopped rolling.

"That was great! Molly I think you're done for the week, but Ville and the band have to come back tomorrow; at least for a little while."

"Alright. We're done?" Ville said to Bam as he took off his jacket. Bam scanned his paperwork in front of him and checked something off of his list.

"Yeah, you're good. Get lost." He patted Ville's back and kissed the top of my head before heading off in another direction.