mirrors. The second we were through the door, several people started to attend to Ryan. He had barely a moment to introduce me to the special

effects makeup team. The people I met were polite, but they had a job to do and little time to do it. Everyone was in a rush.

First Ryan had to change into his wardrobe; he had to wear dark pants and a white button down cotton shirt that was pre-speckled with what

looked like blood. Then he was covered in a cotton shawl and several makeup artists went right to work on him.

He just sat there while they covered him in creams and pigments, using sponges and brushes and all sorts of items I had never seen before.

The one makeup artist, an older Asian lady wearing red, thick-rimmed glasses with her long ebony hair pulled back into a ponytail, started brushing

purple pigment below Ryan’s left eye. By the time they were done with him, he looked like he was on the losing end of a fistfight, down to the dried

fake blood coming out of his nostril.

He smiled and winked at me. “I look pretty rough, huh?”

Even though I just watched them transform him into this bloodied mess, I almost wanted to cry seeing him looking so beat up. Instead, I smiled and

nodded in agreement.

“Pete said he’d do this to my face if I ever broke your heart. Guess I better not do that then.”

I was glad to know that he was totally unaware of my eavesdropping during his conversation with Pete. I rolled my eyes at his comment,

pretending to have heard it for the first time.

Another male assistant was chattering back and forth over a hand-held radio. “Ryan, they’re ready for you over on set nine.”

Moments later, we were whisked away on the back of an ordinary golf cart, his bodyguard Mike dutifully by his side. Once we stopped, Ryan

quickly spoke into my ear.

“You’re going to see some stunts today and, at the end of this scene I have to… kiss…” His face twisted in disgust. “Her.”

We walked onto the set; I had to blink several times to realize that this ornate castle hall was actually built inside an ordinary warehouse.

“Jake, please send someone for my parents. I want them here with Taryn,” Ryan requested. “You should be okay here. No heckling!” He kissed

my forehead before rushing away.

I was hiding off to the side of the one wall, trying to stay out of the way. Thick black electrical cords twisted and twined all over the floors. There

were bright lights, scaffolding, and all kinds of gadgets everywhere. I was petrified that I might accidentally bump something expensive or someone

important. People were hustling all around me. Some were wearing headphones or carrying a piece of technical equipment. Clipboards, cameras,

lighting adjustments, it was like random chaos all around.

I felt a hand touch my back and realized that Ryan’s mom was next to me now.

“Overwhelming, isn’t it?” she asked. I was in a daze watching it all unfold around me.

A woman wearing headphones around her neck approached us. “Hi! Welcome! You may want to move over there to get a better view. Come

with me.”

I looked around for Ryan; he was standing with several men and they were all moving their arms in the air, like they were discussing how Ryan

should throw his punch. It appeared to be a rehearsal before they filmed the scene. An older man, who was short, almost bald, wearing headphones

around his neck and carrying some device that looked like a small telescope stepped over to talk to Ryan.

“That’s the director,” his dad said.

Ryan spent a good amount of time nodding and discussing how he was supposed to move.

“I think that guy to Ryan’s left is the stunt coordinator.”

I was glad his father was standing behind me explaining things. I had no idea who any of these people were.

I heard someone yell “quiet on the set.” I tried not to breathe.

I watched a man hold the clapper board out in front of the camera.

Ryan took his position in the fake room. I could see his image on three small video screens near the director.

“Rolling,” someone else yelled.

“Action,” the director called out.

Ryan took a few steps and then was attacked by a man in a cloak. Ryan threw a right hook and a cord pulled the man he punched back onto a

pile of foam.

Was that it? Everyone was mingling around on the set again. I looked at his father. “Did they just film that?”

Bill smiled at me. “I think so.”

Ryan had to get back into position and then he fought the same man again. It took them almost an hour to film this one particular scene. They

shot it from so many different angles.

The only time I knew when they weren’t filming was when the makeup artist was touching up his face. I was constantly wondering how everyone

knew what was going on. Either you had a job where you had to run around and scramble or your job was to stand around and look important.

“Hey girl! I heard you were here.” Kat gave me a hug.

“Hey Kat! Oh, it’s good to see you!” I was relieved to see another familiar face in this chaos.

“Hi Ellen, Bill! Here to see your boy in action, huh? What’s he doing now?” Kat looked around to see where Ryan was. “Oh, great. Make way for

the queen.”

I saw Suzanne walk through another entrance. Of course she glanced over to see that I was standing there. Her eyes opened wider once she

saw me.

“You’re going to be cool with this, right?” Kat bumped my arm. “He has to, um, kiss her now. Yuk! You don’t have to look if you think it might

bother you.”

In reality I wanted to see this. I needed to have this experience of seeing him… act. “I’ll be all right,” I murmured.

Suzanne seemed unfazed that I was there; actually she seemed to be in a good mood. She was laughing and sort of carrying on with Ryan. He

laughed too at whatever she said. It was a relief to know that their relationship wasn’t totally ruined because of me.

After what seemed to be an extraordinary long time they finally got into their positions to film the scene. Ryan’s eyes locked on mine for a

moment; it was like he was trying to send me a message telepathically. I knew what was coming next.

I was too far away to hear the dialogue that they exchanged, but the scene involved Ryan to still appear bruised and bloodied. He grabbed the

upper part of her arms and they seemed to fight each other. She wasn’t supposed to like the grip he had on her. She reached up to slap him in the

face and he grabbed her by the wrist. I remembered when we played pool that very first day; how I tried to teasingly nudge him and he caught me

the same way in mid air around my wrist.

With his other hand he grabbed her around the back of her neck and forcefully pulled her in for a kiss. After a brief second of her fighting it, she

surrendered to his lips.

I took a deep breath through my nose while he kissed her. It was harder than I thought it would be to see the man I was in love with kiss another

woman. I knew it was pretend but the burn of jealousy still pulsed through me. I unconsciously curled my fingers into fists by my sides; my fingernails

dug into my palms. His mother placed her hand on my shoulder as reassurance that it was going to be all right.

When I couldn’t take it anymore, I looked down to the ground then turned my gaze to the opposite wall. Something struck me as odd – why is that

man over there taking pictures of Ryan kissing Suzanne? He didn’t use a flash on his camera.

“How are you doing?” Kat whispered to me. I could hear the tension and concern in her tone.

Suzanne really played it up; my presence was encouraging her Oscar-worthy performance for sure.

“I want to peel her off of him and set her on fire, but I’ll get through it.”