“I’m in this with you, babe, puke and all.” I move some hair behind her ear, and she cuddles into me as we head toward our bunk, all while I am thinking how very strange she’s acting.
Two Weeks Later
We pull up at the office a little over two months after we left.
It’s great to be back in LA after traveling all over the states, and Ria, even though her parents are sticking together for now and her stepdad’s recovery is going well, is still stressed. There have been moments when she feels nauseous and weak, which is more than a little concerning. She’s become slightly more distant, too, which worries me as she spends more and more time with Danger between interviews.
As we get off the bus, I stretch my arms out, taking in the sights of my surroundings—home.
“God, it’s good to be back,” Danger says.
“I can’t wait to be back in our own bed,” Lunar says.
“Yeah, me too.” Danger winks at her, and I look to Ria, who’s watching me with a sly smile. I’m not sure what she’s thinking, but suddenly all I can think about is that for the last two months, I haven’t been inside her, and right now my cock is begging for her. She seems to read my mind and giggles to herself as she turns to Tillie and starts talking to her. I shake my head and grin, knowing tonight’s going to be a damn good night.
Oliver steps off the bus and is talking on his cell. “Okay, we’ll have a look now and let you know what we think. This is just the pick-me-up we needed at the end of the tour, thanks, Grant,” he says while we all look at him.
“Was that Grant from the video production company?” Ryan asks.
Oliver nods. “Sure was. And if you guys aren’t too rushed to take off, we have a first copy of the edits to check out.”
“Shit! Really?” Danger asks.
“Yes. Shall we go have a look?” Oliver questions.
I tense slightly, glancing over at Lunar, who has the same apprehensive look I do. Seeing Danger and Ria’s time together live was hard enough. Now, watching it enhanced by production effects will be difficult. But this is what this whole thing was about, so I put on a brave face and pretend to be excited.
“Let’s see it,” I say with a little too much gusto and race toward the office doors.
Ria grabs my hand, and I turn to look at her. “Always you, remember that,” she whispers, and it’s enough to stop my heart from exploding with anguish.
I give her a warm smile.
We walk into the boardroom, and Matt turns on the projector. Tillie hooks up her MacBook and sends the video to the projector while we wait for the countdown. My knee bobs up and down in a bundle of nerves. Ria gently places her hand on my knee, and I chew my bottom lip. She squeezes gently for comfort.
The song plays, and Danger walks into the hotel room. It starts innocently enough, then it moves to him, encasing her against the window. I breathe a little heavier as I watch, but the sinking feeling I was expectingdoesn’tcome. The intensity I felt between them live doesn’t seem as obvious on screen, so I relax a little while I watch.
The film clip is actually good, great.
It keeps flicking between scenes of Danger and Ria and moments of us as a band, but it’s lacking… to me, in a way. For all the hype and buzz surrounding this clip, the energy in Danger and Ria’s parts doesn’t seem ‘on.’ We all sit back in our chairs, and as the clip ends, silence filters through the room.
Danger looks at Ria and exhales. “Zaria, you’re the actress, you tell me. Was that…” he screws up his nose, “…blandto you?”
It’s funny. At the time of filming, it felt anything but bland, but seeing it on screen, it’s exactly how it felt. The chemistry’s off. There’s no buzz to it. At all.
She shifts uncomfortably and looks at me briefly, then goes back to Danger. “I think the problem is that we didn’t know each other at all, and not being an actor, you didn’t know how to getin the zone, so to speak.”
He nods and exhales. “We’ve done all this hype, and I’ve fucked it up,” he says, running his hands through his hair.
Oliver chews on his bottom lip. “Okay, if we can re-shoot some of the scenes and get them to do some edits, would you both be willing? I know this is asking a lot of you, Zaria, but if you don’t ask, right?”
I tense up, wondering what kind of scenes he has in mind.
“I think that’s a great idea. Danger and I are way more acquainted. We should be able to get that chemistry buzzing, at least more than what we’ve just seen on the screen.”
“Yeah, I’ll be far more comfortable this time around. Knowing Zaria is going to help big time, and she doesn’t scare me anymore.”
She bursts out laughing. “I scared you?”
