Chapter 70

70 Heartbreaking Love Scene

Despite my brilliant display of courage in front of EROS, the issue of the script bothered me greatly. That night, I ate almost a pint of ice cream by myself as I sat on the floor of my room and leaned my back against my bed. I hated my stress-eating habits. Honestly, I’ve never succumbed to this before in years. It wasn’t even this bad when George passed away. I stuffed another spoonful of ice cream into my mouth before sucking on the spoon, feeling the cold stainless against my tongue.

That night I went to sleep with dreams of various scenes that might appear in the script that the director would mail over. I thought my imagination had run quite wild in my dreams as I dreamt up various classic romantic scenes from movies that I’ve seen before. However, I was about to find out that my imagination couldn’t beat that of a professional scriptwriter.

The next day was another day with EROS and his manager at the agency. Since I didn’t sleep very well the night before, I had a slight headache early in the morning. The second day with EROS was as packed as the day before. However, Mark had cleared EROS schedule so that we would get back to the office early in the evening. The reason for that was because EROS had to work on his acting practice.

“The script from the director has arrived and I’ve printed two copies for you two,” Mark said sternly as he handed us our copies.

“Thank you,” I thanked him with a small smile.

Now that I held the script in my hand, I had very mixed feelings. I was anxious and strangely excited to finally know what the scene was about. However, I also dreaded the fact that I had to help EROS practice soon later today.

“They’ll be some free time in our schedule and time in the car. You two should read up and familiarize yourself with the script to make the most of the practice later today. I also contacted a very talented acting coach help out as well,” Mark explained.

I glanced over at EROS and saw that he had already started flipping through the script. When it came to work, EROS was very focused, and he took everything seriously. I bit my lower lip as I started flipping through the script as well. The moment my eyes scanned through, I glanced over at EROS again and wondered how he could read it without showing any reaction. Did he expect the scene to be like this?

My hands clenched around the script as my eyes focused on the words printed on the page. How am I supposed to act this out with anyone? Let alone with EROS?

.....

...

EROS and I sat side by side on the sofa while we waited for the acting coach to arrive. According to Mark, she was one of the best acting teachers in the industry and the agency has hired her specifically to help EROS get into this role. She’s worked with him in the past when he first started acting but those were for action movies. This would be the first time that EROS would seriously take on a romantic movie.

EROS was silent and tense and I could tell that he didn’t look forward to the session. He probably has his own reasons while I had my own sets of reasons as well. Although I’ve told myself countless times that this is all just a script, all acting and all make believe, the contents of the script till bothered me immensely.

Before my thoughts could darken any further, the teacher walked into the room with a pleasant smile on her lips. I could sense the positive energy that seemed to be emitted from her presence in the room.

“Hello there. I heard you’ve got quite a challenge on your hands again, EROS. As always, I’ll be happy to help you out so don’t you worry about a thing,” the middle-aged woman said.

She was quite plump with a very curvy figure and a very wide smile. Her hair was short but permed and she work relaxing clothes as if she was about to head out for a night stroll. EROS did not offer any words of greeted as he just nodded at her.

“Hi, I’m Elena, EROS’s assistant manager. It’s great to meet you and thank you for helping out EROS on his new project,” I said as I stood up from my seat and offered her my hand for a shake.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Doreen, an acting coach...” Doreen introduced herself.

She shook my hand with a warm smile before we both took our seats. She sat on the sofa opposite from where EROS and I were sitting and then she took out the script and started flipping through it.

“I heard that the director chose this scene for your special audition, is that right?” Doreen asked as eyes settled on EROS.

“Yea...” he replied passively.

“Alright then. Let’s start by going through the context of the scene. It’s important to understand what led up to this scene. How the characters are probably feeling and all that before we start,” Doreen said.

I nodded and it felt like despite my discomforts, I might be learning a couple of new and useful things today. EROS didn’t say anything, and I wondered if he was even paying attention. This was part of his work so I doubt that he wouldn’t take it seriously.

“This scene takes place after the female lead, Naomi, goes home to find that her parents have hung themselves. She finds them both dead and is extremely shocked and saddened. She got scared and doesn’t know what to do. She calls the male lead, Dylan, and meets up with him at his house. The scene is when they meet up and she tells him what happened, and he comforts her. She is scared to sleep alone, and they end up sleeping together...” Doreen explained professionally.

“So, what do we do now?” EROS asked emotionlessly.

–To be continued...