“What? No, it’s not that. We’re not in love. We just met.”
“I met Sophie one night and knew. It happens.”
“Not to me. I mean, it’s never happened to me before. We’re just…” She looked around to make sure Dana wasn’t standing there. “We’re just sleeping together. That’s all. Just sex because I’m here and wanted to have some fun.”
Bryce nodded, but it was clear that she wasn’t buying it.
“So, you hang out all the time, I’ve seen you laugh with her in a way I’ve never seen you laugh with anyone else, and you’re having sex, but you’re only sleeping together? Nothing more to it than that?”
“Bryce, can you let this go, please?”
“Samara, if it’s impacting the movie, I’m not sure I can.”
“Bryce, I’ve never been with a woman before, okay? She is my first, and it just started. Yes, I like her. I think she likes me, too. But we haven’t talked about it being any more than what it is right now, which was great sex.”
“So, you’re saying that you two had sex, and it was great. You like her. She obviously likes you back. The chemistry is definitely there between you. What’s going on tonight, then? She touches you, and you look stiff as a board, like you don’t want it.”
“Idowant it. That’s the problem.”
“Then, go have it, and let’s get back to work.”
“Are you trying to tell me to go have sex with her for real?”
“Yeah. I mean, maybe that’s what you need.”
“We did that already. To put it wildly inappropriately, we took care of that. I saw stars. Now, I look at her, and she has those really pretty eyes, and she’s staring at me like she’s you, falling in love with Stella, and it’s all just… too much.”
Bryce nodded again and said, “Ah… I get it now.”
“You do? Because I don’t.”
“Samara, you like her. And you two had sex, but my assumption here is that you haven’t made love.”
“Well, no.”
“And Bray and Stella are doing that for the first time in this scene.”
“Yes.”
“But you’re in this scene with the woman you obviously care about as more than just friends with benefits, whether you two have talked about it or not. It’s bound to be a little weird. You’re feeling the same feelings Stella has for Bray.”
“Stella is already in love with Bray. I’m not in love with Dana.”
“Notyet, maybe,” Bryce replied with a shoulder shrug. “Whether you are or not, it doesn’t change that it’s probably strange to have her nearly naked on top of you, pretending to touch you slowly and softly while a bunch of people are watching and critiquing your every move to get the right shot.”
“It’s confusing, yes,” she admitted.
“It sounds like you need to talk to her. Even if it’s just to discuss what’s going on with you two, it’ll help.”
“Will it? Bryce, I don’t know what I can even offer her. I live in LA. She’s here and keeps insisting that she wants to go back to catering. I’m not out yet. I want to be, and I plan to come out after this, but I wasn’t exactly expecting to find someone in New Orleans to come outwith. I’m a mess. I’m high-maintenance. She’d be better off without me.”
“Isn’t that up toher, though?” Bryce replied. “We need to get back. Are you going to be okay in there?”
“Yeah, I have to be.”
CHAPTER 28
Something was wrong with Samara, and she’d talked to Bryce instead of her about it. Dana only knew that because she had tried to find Samara during the break and had watched her talking to Bryce. She couldn’t hear much of what they’d been saying, and she had walked away pretty quickly, not wanting to get caught eavesdropping, but what shehadheard was her name and sex. Her eyes had shot wide open at that because either Samara had told Bryce about them or she’d been talking about their love scene and hadn’t used their characters’ names, which she likely would have done.
