I drop my jaw in horror; it practically unhinges like a snake’s jaw. “Crew!”
He sees my face, and his brown eyes widen in alarm. “I’m kidding. I’m kidding, Firecracker.”
My jaw immediately closes, and I come to my senses. “That’s fairly new.”
I instruct him to stand on his mark, which is a small neon green X on the ground.
Crew gets into position. “Well, if you won’t stop calling me Movie Star, then I might as well call you something else in return.” My heart flutters and my cheeks heat up at the thought of someone giving me a nickname. “Call it a fair trade.”
That’s more than a fair trade to me. Sure, I’ve had people call me iCarly in the past—because of my name and my love of filming—and other shortened versions of my name, but that’s where it usually ends.
I haven’t hung out with Crew outside of the bowling night and the one time he cornered me outside of the film building. But I didn’t think he could be as playful around me as he is now.
Be still, my beating heart.
After preparing the fake blood into little bags, I move over to my two amateur cameramen—Vinny and Ali—and instruct them on what to do for this. Ali, thankfully, is more familiar with this scene than her boyfriend, so she answers whatever question Vinny asks, which is a lot of them.
I decide that we’re ready after ten more minutes.
I close the clapper in my hand, shouting, “Action!”
Stella starts her Michael Meyers walk—as I have coined it—and Vinny follows behind at a slower pace with the camera, at an over-the-shoulder angle. She attacks Crew from behind, and the fake blood bag I taped to his back bursts.
The clip is good enough to the point where I ask Vinny to get another shot, gripping the clapper tightly in my arms.
Because I’m a perfectionist, I ask for two more takes of this, and we’re finished by nine o’clock, which is fairly good considering that I’ve been here since ten in the morning.
Once we settle down and Stella leaves, Crew and I are in the empty room. I’m looking away while Crew changes out of the crewneck that is now stained with fake blood. Some time passesbefore I allow myself to look and notice a speck of fake blood on his face.
“You got something right…” I gesture at his face.
He tries to wipe it off. “Did I get it?”
Crew did not get the speck of fake blood off his face.
I step closer to him and use my thumb to wipe the blood off his face. As I’m doing this, I feel a soft inhale of breath as my thumb makes contact with his skin. Whether it’s from him or me, I can’t tell. Maybe both.
“Thanks again for doing this,” I tell him, removing my hand from his face. “I owe you a big one, Movie Star.”
Instead of that gleam of annoyance I’m so used to seeing in those dark eyes of his, he nods, no clear sign of anything. For once, I can’t read his thoughts or predict what he’s thinking.
And it drives me crazy, because I can’t tell if he was as affected by that touch like I was.
9
Should I?
Crew
As my phone rings right after exiting my three-hour lecture in Anthropology, I answer it, expecting Vinny.
Since our midterms are close, I'm supposed to meet with him, Ali, and Carly at the library for a study session. Honestly, considering her major, I'm not sure Carly has a midterm exam in any of her classes, but I digress.
But when I glance at the caller ID, I perk up slightly to find my father calling me. This must be a special occasion because my father rarely calls first. Unlike my relationship with my mother, my father and I are on much better terms.
Once I answer, I hear my father's cheery voice.
"Hey, happy late birthday!"
