“Sure I do, you look like crap,” he answers simply.
A laugh bubbles out of me, and I shake my head as I grab the drink.
“Stuff it, you little shit,” I joke, and he smiles. This is what I need–to get out of my head before the stunt today. Chancing a look toward Clover, I can see that she and Priscilla are engaged in a quiet conversation.Fine. Whatever.I’ve got bigger shit to focus on anyway. Like making sure today’s stunt goes well.
Set is quieter than usual. Only Clover and I were on the call sheet for today.
Tanya and her team are on the rooftop set pieces that were constructed, no doubt inspecting the safety checks and balances and making sure everything is ready.
I approach Arnold, who’s looking forward thoughtfully. His hand scrubs at his chin, eyes honed in on the space between the buildings, where Clover and I will be jumping.
“How you feeling about today?” He asks, as we watch some of Tanya’s team check the big blue mats on the ground. Seeing them sends a chill prickling down my spine. While I’m glad they’re there, I do not want to fall. I’m not a superstitious man, but I look away from them, as if giving them too much focus will mean something bad for our stunt.
“Feeling good, I know I can do it,” I reassure my director. Measuring the distance with my eyes reaffirms my position. I’ve been training my jumps and my sprints consistently since I knew stunt work would be a part of this role. My personaltrainer has had a list of all the stunts and their parameters, and he has been training me meticulously so that I’m able to meet the demands of each one.
“Good, good.” Arnold’s smile doesn’t reach his eyes. He’s nervous about today, and that puts me on edge even more than I already am.
While normally a stunt like this involves the performers wearing wires, our stunt leads into a chase with one continuous shot. Wires aren’t an option today. This is without doubt the most demanding stunt that we’ll be doing for the movie.
Trying to dispel the weird energy, I clap him on the back before heading over to a corner of the warehouse where I can get in the zone before filming begins.
A few minutes later, Arnold calls for everyone to circle up. Clover’s here in costume and, fuck me, now that I know what she looks like underneath, it’s torture to see her in that form-fitting suit. Knowing what her pussy tastes like, how it feels to bury my cock in her–
“Alright, everyone,” Arnold calls out. I shift awkwardly and try to think of anything unsightly to tamp down my excitement and make sure I don’t get a fucking hard-on in my super suit. Spandex is not nearly forgiving enough for that to happen.
“Now I know you’re all aware that this is probably the biggest stunt we have on this film.” A nervous chuckle comes from everyone in the circle. “I want everyone to have some fun today, and most importantly, I want us to be safe.” He glances over at Tanya and her team, who all give terse nods. “Let’s get it done!”
People hoot and cheer, and thankfully the energy picks up.
“Clover, Roman, let’s go,” Tanya says, jerking her head toward the entrance to the set piece we’ll be leaping from. As we trail behind, Clover still seems to be in her own world.
“Hey,” I say under my breath, trying to catch her attention without alerting Tanya. “You good?” I mouth.
She gives a quick thumbs up, refusing to look at me further.
Call off the stunt. The thought rings out like an alarm bell internally. But I know Clover’s not going to call it, and if I say anything to Tanya or Arnold, she’ll hate me for it. More than she already does, perhaps. And stupidly, selfishly, I don’t want her to hate me at all. Besides, I asked her if she was good to go, and she said she was, I’ll trust that she’s able to be the best judge of what she can and can’t handle.
Tanya stops in front of Clover and me and runs through the plan before we begin. We’re going to run the stunt once and then the cameras will roll. That allows us a chance to work out any kinks in the stunt before it matters. We both nod, and Clover and I go to take our marks where our stand ins were.
We stand beside one another, and Tanya calls out “run it,” which lets us know to begin.
I coil back into a starting position before allowing power to explode through my legs, sprinting toward the edge of the “building” that’s been constructed on set. Counting my strides across the pretend rooftop, I know that four puts me right at the edge, and then I give an extra burst of speed and strength to propel my body across the gap between the two buildings. I’m not going to lie, it feels badass every time I do this.
I fly through the air, my arms slightly wheeling to make sure I keep my balance as I soar toward the other “building” and the safety of the rooftop mat there. The landing is always the part I’m most nervous about. Luckily, all goes well, even though my ankles bark at the impact, and I transition the force into a somersault forward that took an embarrassingly long time to learn how to make look cool.
I come to a stop and turn around, gesturing for Clover’scharacter to run toward mine. I reach down over the rooftop edge, ready to help catch her. But something isn’t right. I sense it in the way Clover launches herself. She’s not pushing herself forward with enough power to make the jump.
Come on…I urge silently, outstretching my palm even further for her. It’s like it’s all happening in slow motion in front of me.
By the time she’s halfway across the rooftop, I can already tell this is going to go poorly. Fuck… I can’t call out and tell her to stop right now as she’s still speeding toward the edge. I don’t want to throw her off and do anything that’ll cause her to further botch this, but I’m not confident she’s going to make it. Her count must be off, because she starts her leap about two feet from the edge of the rooftop, giving up valuable distance that she could’ve used to get herself farther across the gap.
It’s clear to me that she knows something is off, and she went and pushed ahead with the stunt anyway. What a stupid and reckless thing to do.This is how people get hurt.On our first day of training with her, Tanya told us to pull the plug on a stunt if it starts off incorrectly, or if something isn’t feeling right. Pushing through is how people end up injured, and as Clover loses all her momentum mid-air, it’s very apparent that that’s the direction that this is heading.
Her eyes lock with mine briefly, and I see a quick flash of terror across her face when she realizes she’s not going to make it to the spot I need her to be in order to grab her arm. She begins to fall, and I reach out desperately in vain, knowing damn well that there’s no way I’ll reach her, but still trying somehow. I feel utterly fucking helpless watching her with that look on her face.
I need to stop this.
I need to prevent her from hurting herself.
