Shouting her goodbyes nonchalantly over her shoulder, she headed back to her trailer.
– – –
“That’s so unprofessional!” Her friend Emily cackled down the phone.
“…You know that means you have to fuck him now right?”
Her laugh was contagious and Sophie found herself giggling too.
“Fuck off. It’s men isn’t it. You put any man that close to any vagina and it’s not long before he’s humping like an old dog.” She pressed the phone closer to her cheek and wished her friend closer too.
“Oh just take the compliment! Was it big?”
“Em I felt it through 2 layers of clothes and got like 30 seconds.”
“Still, this is major! James Hedland’s dick has touched you. Seriously I could kill you I’m so jealous.”
“…I miss you.”
“Not long now Fi. You can come back for a bit in June?”
“Yer, 2 whole months to clean the flat and replace all the clothes you’ve definitely already stolen.”
The film was British, as were all of the cast, but they had moved production to America, primarily for the locations. 2 months to go before they could break before reshoots. Sophie couldn’t wait, and had dreamt of her bath, pickled onion monster munch, and a proper pint for weeks now.
“Too fucking late mate, I’ve sent half of it to oxfam, and the other half they wouldn’t take!…But seriously Fi, is he as fit as he seems? Are you going to sneak to his trailer tonight and see if you can ‘stand him to attention’ again?”
Emily was hysterical now.
“Right I’m going, you’ve definitely had a wine and I need to head back. We’ve got one more scene tonight and then I’m heading to a disappointing shower and an early bed.”
“Wait wait…what are you filming?!”
“It’s pretty graphic, I’ll fill you in later.”
“You fucking better! I’m getting moist already.”
“You’re disgusting Em, love you!”
– – –
Sophie had walked slowly back to the set, meandering the long way around, past the block of trailers she knew James resided in. She wanted to ‘accidentally’ bump into him on the way and clear any tension still lingering from before, but he was nowhere to be found. She hadn’t felt this nervous for a scene in a long time. Instinctively she licked the small tender bump on the inside of her bottom lip, and tasted blood again.
After a quick refresh in hair and makeup, she was back under the scorching lights, and wrapped up in her robe. Her ‘costume’ for todays scene consisted of a tiny and extremely thin nude ‘modesty’ thong. It mostly covered the necessities, and the small triangle of brown curls on her mound, but anyone within 5 feet of her could still see the curve of her cleft and the darkened shade of pink of her lips.
Taking a deep breath she looked around the room. She didn’t mind being naked, or nearly naked, in front of the crew. They had politely reduced numbers to the bare minimum, so only the director and 5 essential members remained. A small crowd by most standards. As her eyes swept the room once more, the door opened and James walked in.
He too was in a robe. But thankfully had been allowed to keep his jeans on, so as he disrobed, all that was visible was a wide expanse of broad chest, rippling with muscle, and a smattering of black chest hair. He looked up and caught her eyes, smiling politely and nodding as the makeup artist pounced to do her final touches.
“Ok for robe off now? So we can check for lighting?” The director’s tone was softer than usual, and she expected that he had been given a stern talk by HR beforehand, ahead of this scene.
Sophie slipped the robe off, with the help of her ‘dresser’ or undresser rather and tried to stand proud amidst the awkward silence. Turning nonchalantly as she could, she looked over to James to find his eyes respectfully cast downward.
‘What good will that do when you basically have to fuck me in about 2 minutes’ Sophie mentally rolled her eyes and settled in on the edge of the wide bed.
“Wait wait. No this isn’t right.” The director looked down at his tablet and launched off his chair. Off to berate someone Sophie was sure.
“Hey.”
His voice was so much closer than she had expected, and she gave a slight jump. He stood over her, robe in hand.
“God knows what he’s up to now.” He nodded towards the door as it slammed shut.
Draping the robe over her shoulders silently, James took a seat next to her on the bed. Sophie noticed that the other crew had disappeared. With only one cameraman still stood in the corner on a loud phone call, shouting in a language she didn’t understand.
“Nervous?”
Sophie nodded and smiled, pulling the robe tighter over her breasts. They were difficult to contain on the best of days, and she was painfully aware of them trying to burst free of the poorly tied robe.
“A little, I must say I prefer jumping out of planes to this. This is new to me.”
“Yer me too. I think I brushed my teeth and put on deodorant about 10 times today.” He laughed and brushed his mop of dark hair away from his face.
Sophie was taken aback by his honesty, and couldn’t imagine a man like him being nervous about anything.
“Oh come on. You’ve done far worse! That scene in ‘Midnight’ was very hot.”
“Thanks.” He smiled back, eyebrows raised.
“You know what I mean…” Sophie’s cheeks burned.
“This is rough though, and like very…I don’t know. It just feels more personal. Like I enjoy rough sex, that can be great. But it’s odd…with a stranger…you can’t talk about what you’re comfortable with in the same way, or actually make it feel good. Does that make sense? You only do the rough bits…I’m going to stop talking now. My publicist will kill me. Fucking hell.”
He laughed freely and rubbed the shadow of stubble at his chin. Sophie could hear the gentle scratching noise.
She was again floored by his openness and felt a warmth toward him that she hadn’t felt before. He was only human. A very beautiful human. A very beautiful human she was now picturing fucking…very beautifully.
“I like you talking. You’re so quiet usually.” She decided to brush over most of his comments, and tried not to dwell on ‘make it feel good’.
“You can talk! Literally. You’ve said like 10 words to me this week.” There was no malice in what he said, his smile remained and he edged his elbow out to nudge her playfully.
“Sorry…I thought you’d be a dick. A lot of actors I’ve worked with are, and it just seems easier to keep to myself.” His angle seemed to be honesty so Sophie tried to follow suit.
“Wow. Ouch.” His smile faltered for a moment.
“But you’re really not. Sorry. Or if you are you hide it well.” She nudged him in return, desperate to bring back that easy smile.
“Ok, let’s go.”
The directors voice snapped Sophie back to reality and she turned to see that the crew had long since returned and were watching the pair expectantly.
Shrugging off the robe once more, she stood at the end of the bed and waited. She knew what the scene entailed but as it was a little more complicated than some of the others, she knew there would likely be multiple takes.
“Stop me if I hurt you…and relax.”
James faced her now, away from the cameras so only she could see him. The microphones meant that the crew most definitely heard his whispered words, but for now, she let herself keep them only to herself. His eyes were soft and they drifted down to her lips for a moment before returning to her eyes. Sophie’s insides churned.