And Cut

Paul can’t help but notice the difference in the way Aurora acts when her fiancé is around and when he isn’t. Whenever Jason is around her Aurora is quiet and meek; however when he is not around she is the girl that Paul met and fell for on set. The movie is set to come out in a few days and Gwen has made herself a nuisance once again.

“Oh, I know it’s cliché that costars fall in love but what can I say? We spent months on end together on a movie about falling in love.” Gwen giggles a little and the reporter smiles benignly.

“You were kicked off the movie though, was that was that because of your relationship with Paul?”

“Yes, in all honesty Paul wanted to quit in protest to my practically unlawful firing but I told him that the public loves him and he should stay in the movie.” The reporter comes on the screen to say an update about the previous interview.

“Gwen Smith has since filed a lawsuit against Paramount claiming unlawful firing. She is claiming damages in excess of 100 million dollars, what her salary would have been at the end of the movie, or so she claims. All calls to Paramount have not been returned.” Paul shuts off his TV and throws the remote onto the couch. Aurora should be here in ten minutes and Paul has some cleaning to do around his apartment. His daughter, Julie, left the apartment less than fifteen minutes ago and Paul already missed her. Rebecca is trying to wiggle her way back into Paul’s life, especially since the movie is getting good reviews and the press is building a big buzz over it. She came over in a skin tight low cut t-shirt and short shorts with sky high heels on.

“I’m surprised you can walk in those things.” Paul commented once he saw her. Rebecca made a beeline towards his couch making the comment that they were killing her. He instead just grabbed Julie’s bag and handed it to Rebecca steering her out the door with the handle of the bag.

“That was not an invitation for you to come in and sit down, Rebecca. As it has always been, you will meet Julie in the hallway.” Paul could tell that Rebecca was trying to come up with a reason for her to come in for a few minutes but Paul wasn’t having any of it. Thankfully Julie was out the door right behind Rebecca, with a kiss and a hug to his daughter Paul closed the door.

He hears someone knock on his door and goes to open it with a quick look around his living room. His breath is caught in his throat when he opens it; Aurora’s hair is no longer blonde and is back to the red he loves. He tries to look away but he knows that Aurora sees him staring.

“My hair was falling out because of the bleach, so I changed it back. Jason hates it though.” She just shrugs and walks into his apartment. Paul quietly closes the door and almost immediately her phone starts to buzz with a text. Instead of doing her usual glance and ignore, Aurora is immediately texting back and that’s when Paul notices the slight bruise forming on her wrist. He catches her eye when he looks away from the bruise. Aurora immediately pulls the sleeve down on her light jacket, but it doesn’t hide the bruise completely.

“I, uh, fell off a curb and hit my wrist when I fell.” Paul can immediately tell that she is lying but doesn’t want to run her off so he instead slightly shrugs and goes into his kitchen. Aurora follows and grabs a soda.

“Trust me I was being clumsy. It’s not what you think, and I know what you think. My parents were very vocal about their thought that it was Jason’s fault as well.”

“It’s your life. I am not going to interfere if you don’t want me to.”

Paul notices that Aurora opened her mouth to speak; she probably assumed that Paul was going to go on the same spiel that her parents had. Her phone buzzes again for the twelfth time in as many minutes. It is starting to really annoy Paul because all Aurora is focusing on is her damn phone and not on her job. It is with that twelfth buzz that Paul finally notices that Aurora is steadily looking more sad and wounded. He can see the tears gathering at the corners of her eyes and before he can process what to do he is sitting next to her pulling her into a hug. Instead of pushing him away or denying what is clear to anyone Aurora breaks down. The phone buzzes once again and Paul pulls it out of her hand and puts it on the table.

“What’s going on Aurora?” Usually Paul doesn’t like to get too personal with people, it inevitably ends up biting him in the ass; however, with Aurora he felt as if she needed protection and he needed to know from whom.

“Jason cheated on me. He claims I am too needy and that this is a natural thing for men. When I told him how would he like it if I cheated, he” Paul could hear the waffling of whether or not to say the truth going on in her head. He gently rubbed her back and she takes a deep breath. “He grabbed my wrist and said that if I ever cheated on him, it would be the last thing I would do. He went on to say that no one would ever want me and that he was doing a service to all the rest of the guys in the world by taking one of the uggos off their hands.” With that Aurora’s few tears turned into a waterfall of silent sobs. Paul sees white. He gently takes her chin and forces her to look into his eyes. Her green eyes, still just as piercing, and rimmed with red look anywhere but at him.

“Look at me.” Her eyes lock with his and Paul takes a deep breath.

“Aurora, Jason is an ass. Any man who thinks that you are ugly and desires to make you feel like shit for his own pleasure is not worthy of you much less any other women out there. When I look at you I see a beautiful woman. You are the type of woman who makes cookies for her coworkers; a woman who is working at her parent’s coffee shop without a complaint; a woman who dealt with Gwen with quiet dignity. Jason is the one who is ugly. You take my breath away every time I look at you.” With that Paul releases Aurora’s chin and goes to the kitchen to grab some water for Aurora. She makes no move to get up and follow him. As he turns off the faucet Paul can hear his front door closing; he quickly walks out to the living room and sees that she is gone. His heart falls and Paul throws the glass of water. Rather than clean up the shattered glass Paul just goes and lies down in his bed almost instantly falling asleep.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife; Jason you may now kiss your bride.” The crowd cheers as Jason lifts the veil revealing Aurora he kisses while simultaneously smacking her ass. Paul is rooted to his spot standing in the back. He doesn’t even know why he came but seeing her up there, with a barely covered bruise on her cheek. She looks absolutely miserable at the reception while Jason is practically dry humping one of the bridesmaids on the dance floor. Paul tries to walk up to her but the closer he gets he concurrently gets further away from her. He tries to call out but his mouth isn’t working. Paul’s heart is pounding and he is straining every muscle trying to get to her.

With a start Paul sits straight up in his bed, he has broken out in a cold sweat. His pounding heart is slowing down to normal as Paul realizes that it was a dream. Aurora left a few hours ago and she is not married to Jason, at least not yet. Paul looks at the clock and sees that it is a little after four in the morning and instead of trying to go back to sleep Paul jumps into his shower hoping that the hot water will rinse away the nightmare. He stays in there for far longer than he usually does. The nightmare will not go away and it is all Paul can think about. He is so caught up in thinking about it that it takes him a second to realize he is not alone in his apartment. With nothing but a towel wrapped low around his waist and Julie’s bat; Paul slowly walks out of his bedroom to see a back turned towards him. The bat comes down to his side and Paul releases an unknown held breath.

“Aurora, what are you doing here?” His stomach drops when he sees the black eye greeting him when she turns around. Slowly Paul notices that along with the black eye there is blood spattered on her clothes. Aurora had cleaned up the glass on the floor and had put down a kitchen towel to sop up the water.

“I shot him. I told him that he would never hit me and if he did that I would make it so that he couldn’t do it again. He’s not dead; he’s at the hospital and then I guess it’s off to prison for him.” Paul guides her to the couch and upon realizing he is still in his towel Paul quickly grabs his robe and returns.

“What the fuck happened?”

“I left here earlier because I knew that I needed to confront Jason. I didn’t want to be alone so I did whatever I could to keep him. You saying what you did made me realize that nothing is worth being abused so I went home to tell him that if he doesn’t treat me as an equal I would find someone who would. He tried the same spiel about how I am ugly, fat, stupid and I won’t find better than him. I told him that if he is the best that I would rather be alone. He grabbed my wrist again and I told him to let me go and he punched me in the face. I grabbed the gun my father had gotten me and pointed it at him and told him to leave. He laughed and said I was too stupid to do anything. I guess I proved him wrong because I shot him in the shoulder and ran to my car. I called 911 once I was inside. The police came and questioned me while the ambulance took him to the hospital. I showed them the earlier text messages and they believed me.”