Page 69 of Last First Kiss
The next two weeks went more or less the same. Nothing was amiss, everything relatively quiet on the set as rumors swirled all around the country. Rumors about their relationship, rumors about Julia, about financing, about riots and angry fans . . . she wasn’t sure what was fact and what was fiction anymore.
But she was impressed with everyone, Julia included. Paul came to the set a few times to make sure things were in order. Ben looked annoyed at Julia most of the time, but stayed professional and vigilant. Spelling was more cheerful than ever because they were actually on schedule, which meant that NHN was thrilled.
Annie kept a close eye on what was going on in Colombia. The movie hadn’t even been made yet, and they’d already banned it in a few provinces. There was also a big rally in LA at the NHN studios from anti-violence groups upset that El Traficante was sensationalizing violence. But everyone was ignoring it as if this was a normal Hollywood to-do. So Annie went about her day making sure that Rocco was safe, which was what her job entailed.
Today, however, the day was overcast and Spelling was uncharacteristically irritable. Rocco and Julia had shot one scene at least a hundred times and it wasn’t improving. Unfortunately it was a kissing scene and if she had to see Julia and Rocco kiss one more time, she was going to scream. And what made it worse was that their acting, being so phenomenal, made it hard to differentiate between acting and reality. The passion was there. Too realistic, in her opinion. But Spelling did not agree. Not at all.
As they set up to redo the scene yet again, a Google alert from her phone, one that she had set up as soon as she began working with Rocco, came up. She’d grown used to it, since he was always somewhere on the internet.
Sitting back on her designated chair in the front corner of the set where she could keep an eye on everything, she clicked on the link in the alert. Because of the poor reception it took forever to load.
Looks like the secret’s out. El Trafficante is being filmed just a few miles south of Florida City just off mile marker forty, according to Julia Vargas’s Facebook check-in. Maybe we’ll finally get to hear from Monroe and Vargas. Are they or aren’t they a couple? Is she referencing the characters or themselves?
Underneath the caption was a photo of Julia’s post, checking into the area with a selfie of her in her Victoria Mendoza makeup. She’d captioned the photo: Gabriel and Victoria true love.
If smoke could come out of Anabelle’s ears, it would have. She stomped to Ben and turned her phone his way. “Look. Your client just fucked us.”
He took the phone from her hand and looked at it and if smoke could come out of his ears it would have. He was livid.
There was a lot of mud from the recent rain and just from the natural conditions of the swampy park. The set itself, however, had layers of fake terrain. Therefore, when Annie found herself crossing over to Julia in the middle of the shoot, leaving a trail of mud on the fake floor and messing up the shot, no one was happy.
“Cut! Cut!” Spelling shouted. “What the hell is going on?”
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but it seems we’ve had a security breach.” Annie barked, walking right over to the stupid woman and shoving the phone right to her face. Rocco came quickly around to read it too.
“You stopped us for that? I was in the middle of the performance of a lifetime!”
“Oh, please. Give it a rest. You’ve kissed him enough for one day, don’t you think?”
“Keep your jealous girlfriend away from me, Rock.”
“Jealous? This has nothing to do with jealousy. I’m not going to jeopardize my client’s safety because of your stupid Facebook post!”
“Off my set!” Spelling yelled. “And if you ever think of interrupting—” He got right in her face and yelled loudly but before Annie had a chance to reply, Rocco pulled her by the arm behind him.
“If you ever raise your voice to Annabelle again, I walk. You understand?”
“Rocco—”
“No. You understand? She is doing her job. And you—” He turned around to Julia. “Are you that dumb? We’ll have a hundred people on set within the hour.”
Spelling walked over and put his palm out. Rocco took the phone out of Annie’s hand and placed it on Spelling’s hand. The director read it and scowled at Julia. “What’s the point of hiding out in the middle of this damn mosquito-infested jungle? Of paying for these bodyguards? Jesus, Julia,” he turned to Annabelle. “I’m sorry for losing my temper. You’re right. This is absolute stupidity. Back to work, people. This may very well be the last day we’re here. Janice, call the scouts. Get a backup,” he yelled to one of the PAs, who quickly ran into a trailer to start working.
“I’m sorry I interrupted,” Annie said to Rocco.
He kissed the top of her head and pulled her to his chest. “Don’t be sorry. You made the right call. We’ll probably finish tonight or pull a late night because tomorrow this will be swarming with paps. God, what was she thinking?”
“Let’s go! Let’s go!” Spelling yelled a moment later.
“I’ll go to the entrance and see if there’s anything going on. You stay here?” Ben asked.
“Yeah. Good idea.”
Where they were shooting was a clearing in the middle of the Everglades. To say there was an actual entrance was a misnomer. There was a swampy road lined by mangroves off the road. Half a mile later was the clearing. How they’d gotten permits to film in the dense, untouched land, Annie did not know.
It was still early, maybe they could get everything done quickly. There was only one more day of shooting left for Rocco and Julia. The rest of the crew would stay for stills and some extra shots, but Julia and Rocco and the rest of the crew would be flying out tomorrow to Colombia.
But as the day progressed, Annie grew more and more wary. What really worried her was that the Google alert was not timely. Plus, it had been over a couple of hours since Julia had made her post, which already had nine thousand comments, probably from the road and not the clearing. The exact spot they were in would be hard to locate since the reception was spotty where they were. She wanted to keep her eyes out but at the same time she tried to scroll through the Facebook post to see if there was anything alarming. She was getting frustrated with the internet speed and was close to losing her temper.
