I Could Never Pretend

With only two months to go until Laura and Jeff’s big day, life in the Dickhouse offices seemed even stranger and more hectic than ever. Jeff was immersing himself in work so that he could avoid being coerced into last minute wedding planning with Laura and just to frustrate his fiancée even further he had made sure her accomplice Amelia would not be free either. Jeff had tied himself up so much with other projects that he had started passing the directorial work on new projects over to Dimitry. However, with the director of cinematography now in the director’s chair, Jeff had to find a replacement for Dimitry. He had always had Amelia lined up for the position eventually, but after the recommendation from Dimitry and Rick, Jeff decided to give Amelia her first big break that very morning.

After dropping Brandon off at the child minders that morning, Amelia made her way to work. It was an exceptionally warm October day. As she felt the wind blow through her hair she felt calm and happier than she had in a while. She had managed to push thoughts of Bam even further to the back of her mind since her birthday and she was ready to concentrating on enjoying life to the full.

“Hey Amelia.” Jeff pounced on her the minute she walked into the building. “Can you come with me? I need to talk to you about something.”

Amelia hesitated and scanned Jeff’s face for any clue as to what was going on. It was too early in the morning for surprises and she had not had her coffee yet. “Sure. Should I be worried?”

Rather than answer her, Jeff simply laughed Amelia’s question off, which did not exactly ease her mind. She followed him into the office he shared with Johnny and was surprised to see Dimitry, Rick, Steve and Johnny waiting for her. “Hey.” She smiled at the boys uneasily. “Is this an intervention or something?” She glanced at Johnny, wondering why he had not filled her in on whatever was happening.

Steve laughed the loudest of them all. “It depends which way you look at it.” He grinned.

Warily, Amelia took a seat on the sofa between Rick and Dimitry. “So what’s going on?” She asked, glancing around at the men.

“We have a proposition for you Amelia.” Jeff grinned, sitting down at his desk and folding his arms in a business-like manner.

“I’m not sure I like the sound of that.” She frowned, earning laughs from the others.

“Hear me out.” Jeff continued, still grinning at her expression. “We’ve got a project coming up and after careful consideration we’d like you as the director of cinematography.”

Amelia found herself speechless as she stared at Jeff in disbelief. “Really?” She looked around the room at her friends. “Why?”

“You’re the best woman for the job, and you were personally requested by the star of the project.” Jeff explained casually.

“Who?” Amelia asked in confusion as Steve stood up at took a bow.

“MTV have commissioned a documentary about Steve’s recovery.” Johnny smiled, walking behind Amelia and placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

“And I said to Jeff I’d only do it if you were behind the camera.” Steve grinned, rubbing his hands together in excitement.

“Me?” Amelia repeated in disbelief. “You want me to shoot it?” She stared, dumbstruck at Jeff. Despite the camera work she had done for Jackass Number Two and the various other Dickhouse projects, she had never had such an important position.

“Of course.” Johnny squeezed her shoulder. “Why wouldn’t we?”

Amelia turned to look at him. “But I haven’t done anything serious like this before.” Bam’s show had not been exactly high brow and most of her filming had been heavily edited by Bam and the network in postproduction.

“Well now’s your chance.” Jeff smiled. “And if you pull it off then Dimitry might find himself facing some competition.”

“What’s not to love about that?” Dimitry laughed and high fived Amelia. “There’s nothing like a bit of healthy rivalry.”

“So who am I going to be working with?” Amelia asked, returning to look at Jeff. “Remember I’ve still not agreed to this.” As much as she was excited by the prospect of this responsibility she wasn’t sure if she could handle any more stress at the moment.

“Dimitry will be directing and Lance is going to help you with the interviews.” Jeff told her. “It’s a pretty simple pitch, mostly interviews and old footage.” He handed her a folder that contained all the preproduction notes. “We’ve set up all the times for interviews. All you need to do is pick your location and film.”

“So you’ve got plenty of opportunity to add your own artistic vision.” Johnny added with a big grin on his face.

“Ok, so what’s the catch?” she narrowed her eyes at Jeff who was smirking.

“The filming starts tomorrow.”

***

The next morning Amelia stopped by the office to meet Dimitry and Lance before they went off to film their first interview with Steve. She didn’t like the idea of relying on a babysitter constantly so she was leaving Brandon with Johnny for the day and she made her way into his office where he was already waiting for them. “Hey there buddy.” He grinned at Brandon. “Are you ready to have fun?” Brandon laughed away happily as Amelia placed him on the sofa.

“Thanks for looking after him today.” Amelia smiled as she approached Johnny at his desk. “He’s so excited to be spending the day with you.” Brandon was positively shaking with excitement about seeing Johnny, it was heart warming.

“You know I’ll have him any time.” He told her. “So how are you today?”

”PJ I’m scared.” She admitted. “What if I mess this up?”

“You have nothing to worry about.” Johnny told her, pulling her into his lap and smiling confidently. “You’ll be fine. You’ve filmed millions of times before and this time it will be easier. Just you let me know if those boys are mean to you. I’ll sort them out.”

Amelia laughed. “Promise?”

“Scout’s honour.” He grinned, saluting her. She leant over and kissed his stubbly jaw before they were interrupted, as usual, by Dimitry.

“Hey little dude.” Dimitry greeted Brandon, kneeling down to high five the toddler. “Are you coming with us today? That would be fun wouldn’t it?”

“You say that now, but I guarantee that after half an hour you’d be begging for me to take him home.” Amelia laughed.

“Ah your mom’s a spoil sport.” Dimitry shook his head as Lance entered the room. “You ready to go Amelia?”

Amelia nodded and after kissing Brandon and Johnny goodbye she grabbed her coat and followed the two men out of the building.

***

Dimitry, Lance and Amelia pulled up outside Steve’s apartment and found him already waiting for them, accompanied by a woman.

“Hey guys.” Steve grinned, enveloping Amelia in a huge hug. “It’s so cool that you’re doing this. I prefer you lot to Jeff.” He added in a whisper, as if afraid that Jeff might somehow be listening.

“Doesn’t everyone?” Dimitry laughed, patting Steve on the back.

“Even Jeff.” Steve laughed. “Oh, I want you to meet my friend Josie.” he gestured to the woman standing next to him.

“Hi.” Josie smiled at Amelia and Dimitry. She was several inches taller than Amelia with striking shoulder length blue hair. “It’s nice to meet you. Steve’s told me so much about you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Amelia smiled and gave Steve a pointed look, wondering why he had not mentioned Josie before.

“Josie’s here for moral support, just in case you ask me too many personal questions and I have a breakdown.” Steve joked, in response to Amelia’s look. “Nah, we met in the sober living complex.” He explained and Amelia thought she could detect a hint of something different in his voice, but what exactly, she was not sure.

“I’m an alcoholic.” Josie added, showing no trace of awkwardness or embarrassment. “I just thought I’d put it out there. Steve and I have quite a lot in common.”

Steve looked proudly at Josie before turning to Amelia, Dimitry and Lance. “So let’s get this show on the road. Where do you want to shoot?”

Dimitry looked at Amelia and she remembered that this was her call. She fumbled for her notes and smiled nervously. “Well I was thinking we could do some bits down on the beach and then some at the skate park?” She suggested, looking at both Dimitry and Steve for approval. They both nodded enthusiastically.

After spending the morning and most of the afternoon shooting, Dimitry decided to call it a day. Despite Steve’s attempts so lighten the mood, listening to him talk about his drink and drug problems had been harrowing and emotionally draining for everyone concerned and there would only be more of that to come tomorrow.