The Truth About Hollywood

There was a loud beep from outside, and I scrambled like a chicken with its head cut off for my script so I could do last-minute line memorizing. It had been a week since Danny started bringing me to work, and he had always been there at quarter of, or close to it.

"Why are you early?" I hissed to myself about Danny after looking at the clock and seeing that it was only eight thirty.

"Who's that in the driveway?" Dad interrogated, pushing the curtains away so he could sneak a peek before turning back to me. "Is that a boy?"

"Yeah," I answered, running around to find my other shoe. I was about to give up and go with no shoes, really. "But he's not just a boy. He's one of my costars. After I was late last week, he offered to start driving me."

"Oh, alright. Well, be careful," Dad allowed before going back upstairs. It was another chemotherapy day, which meant that Mom was going to be a mess again in the afternoon.

I felt badly, seeing Mom in that state and not being able to do anything. I had figured that her personality would change, having the tumor, but it was like she had no personality at all. The few times that I'd tried to talk to her, she'd give me a weak, raspy response.

Yelling a fast goodbye, I darted out the door and sat in the passenger's seat. "You can't do that to me," I told Danny matter-of-factly.

"Can't do what?" he inquired, starting to back out of the driveway.

"You can't show up at quarter of nine every day, and then suddenly show up at eight thirty. It throws off my whole groove."

He snickered at me. "You gonna toss me out a window? Like they did in that movie? What was that...?"

"The Emperor's New Groove," I answered immediately.

"That's it!" Danny confirmed. Then, after thinking for a second, he turned to me. "How did you know that so quickly?"

"I'm a Disney movie buff," I giggled, my face turning a little red. "Sue me."

"No, that's cool."

I bit my lip to try to hide the smile that was starting to appear. "OH MY GOD!"

"WHAT?!" His eyes grew wide and he slammed on the brakes. A few cars behind us started to beep and the man behind us stuck his head out the window and started yelling before finally flipping us off.

"Keep going!" I told him, and he pressed on the gas again, calming the reactions from behind us. "I was just going to point out that we have our scene today. Levi said so yesterday."

"What scene?" We were currently filming the third episode of the season, which is where they start to hint at a little thing starting between my character, Diana, and Danny's, Logan. It made me a little nervous that we were going to have to play being interested in each other because I wasn't sure that my mind would be able to pick up the difference.

After we got all done in hair, makeup, and wardrobe, we hung out around the set. We were going to be doing the scene in the set that was supposed to be my house, since the two characters were supposed to be working on a history project.

"Wanna run lines?" Danny questioned, nudging me with his shoulder. Since I hadn't been expecting it, I almost fell over. He laughed at me.

"Thanks," I snuffed before smiling and taking out my script. "Sure."

We only got to go over the scene for about ten minutes before Levi walked in. Though he was only supposed to work on the first episode, I had a feeling that our show was going to be original and only have one director for the series. That'd be cool, since Levi was a pretty relaxed guy. The only thing he couldn't stand was when people weren't punctual. Ahem.

"Alright, Danny and Claire, get your butts on the set."

I could feel the butterflies in my stomach as I took my place on the couch and crossed my legs, pretending to read the Sarah Dessen book in my hand.

"And...action!" Levi called. Danny opened the door to my house and looked around.

"Hey! Nice house you got here."

My eyes narrowed as I approached him. "Don't you know how to knock? Or did they not teach that any of the seven times that you stayed back in kindergarten?"

"Funny," he remarked before sitting down on the couch and putting his feet up on the coffee table. I pushed his legs to the ground.

"Listen," I ordered, my voice low and gravelly. Then...blank. I totally forgot what I was supposed to say, so I improvised. "You're stupid and you smell funny."

Everyone on the set burst into hysterical laughter, since I'd appeared to be so into the scene. Even Levi was chuckling as he stopped the scene with, "CUT! Alright, Claire, the line is, 'Listen. Just because Mr. Jones made us work together doesn't mean that I have to like you...'"

"I just need to get along with you so I can get a good grade on this project," I finished. "Right?"

"Yup. Alright, start from scratch. And...go."

We redid the beginning of the scene, and I got my line right that time.

"God, you're such a control freak," Danny snapped. "Have you ever even failed anything in your life?"

I shuffled some papers and cleared my throat, trying to show that I did not in any way want to answer that question.

"That's what I thought," he finished. Then, with a slight smirk on his face, he picked up Just Listen, the book that had been on the table, and threw it, leaving it in the middle of the floor. "Now I bet that you can't just leave that there."

"It's not that I can't have it there," I defended, a look of horror on my face. "It's the fact that I can't believe you just did that. Don't you have any respect for other people's stuff?"

"Actually, no." With that, he started moving closer to me, putting his arm around my shoulders. "And I bet that you don't want me doing this."

"I don't," I squeaked, trying to move farther from him, but the couch's arm wouldn't let me. So instead, I got up and gave him a scornful look. "Stop."

"Stop what? Am I making you uncomfortable?" It was really strange how mocking and rude Danny could get himself, since he was the complete opposite in real life.

"Yeah, you are. And you seem to be proud of that, you disgusting sicko."

He rolled his eyes. "Alright, just sit down. We better get this stuff over with, or Mr. Jones'll be all over my ass. Without you getting me an A, I'm going to fail."

"You're going to work for your A," I corrected. "I'm not going to do anything for you. If you don't do anything, I'll just tell Mr. Jones. And then you'll be screwed."

"You're a bitch," he told me.

I smiled sweetly at him before picking up my book. This was the part I was worried about. The butterflies in my stomach got caught in a tornado, kicking into hyper-drive.

"A cute bitch, but a bitch nonetheless."

Smirking, I turned to him. "You think I'm cute?"

"Don't let it go to your head," he scoffed. Then, he got up and put the book he'd thrown back on the table. To do so, he had to cross his arm in front of me, and his face was really close to mine.

"Thanks." It was obvious that my voice was a little breathless, which wasn't acting, but I hoped that everyone thought it was.

Danny looked over at me, his face right there, and his brown eyes intense. Slowly...he did something I didn't expect. It wasn't in the script.

His lips connected with mine, his hand cupping the side of my face.

My heart started beating faster as I kissed him back, and I forgot where I was until Levi, confused, yelled, "Um...cut..."

Danny pulled away from me, his eyes still full of emotion, and my face turned tomato red. I could still feel his soft lips on mine.

"What was that....?" Levi asked, looking between the two of us. I turned to Danny, waiting for an answer.

"It, um..." He cleared his throat. "It felt right in the scene."

"Well, I guess that's okay... That the kind of emotion we want to convey, a little tension between you two, but um...that's not part of the scene. It's too early."

I looked away from Danny, trying to mask the grin that was threatening to overtake my face. I didn't know if he knew, but he'd just taken my first kiss, and I couldn't have been happier.

"Let's pick up from Logan throwing the book," Levi directed, and I had to get back into character. Though there wasn't a time where I'd ever wanted to talk to Danny more, I had a job to do.