Page 80 of Last First Kiss
Annie’s chest hurt.
When she’d been slammed against the building from the impact of the bomb in Kandahar, she’d felt a physical pain in her chest and thought she’d never be able to catch her breath. Then, when she’d realized that Yagana and Derek were dead, the pain tripled.
But even through all that, she’d never felt fear. She was trained to survive and even when she thought she would die buried in the rubble, she wasn’t scared. She had a lot of regrets, but she wasn’t scared.
Now, however, she was scared. She was scared of the actual situation at Villavincencio. Filming in the hostile province had been a terrible idea. While on the computer she did more research on Mendoza. It seemed that the highest concentration of protestors were in this area. Yet, this was not necessarily the area where Mendoza’s house was located or where his coca crop was.
So why here?
Now she was scared of going through her life never feeling that same passion and intensity she’d felt for the last three weeks with Rocco. Could she go back to her lonely existence? Pretending everything was fine when it was not even a little fine?
If they could just make it through this week, then they could sit and have a real conversation.
Annie quickly learned how intense filming a movie really was, especially when they had to acclimatize to specific working conditions. In this case, since the real-life scene occurred at night, filming was done at night. But that didn’t mean that they got to sleep in and stroll onto the set at eight in the evening. No, it meant that by the third day everyone was cranky, irritable, and exhausted.
They’d get back to the hotel right before sunrise at five in the morning and face plant into the bed until about ten when they headed back to Ilusiones. It was a grueling schedule. The protestors hadn’t been too bad, all of them standing off to the side holding signs and picketing. They’d had things thrown at their cars as they drove by but it wasn’t anything anyone couldn’t handle.
It was day four of the shoot, and Annie sat off to the side at one of the restaurant tables where she could see everything. She was sick of the way the cast and crew held their firearms. The first day, she’d been wary since they’d looked so real she actually picked up the weapon and analyzed it.
Spelling walked by her and picked up a water bottle from the cooler. “So what do you think so far?”
“I’m impressed. I think it’s going to be great.” She lied because she had no idea if it would or wouldn’t look great since she’d just seen small parts being shot. The magic of editing, she thought.
“I feel as if you have something to say?”
“Nope,” she said sitting back, and looking blankly at her computer screen.
“Say it. I won’t get offended. Is it about Julia? She can be a pain in the ass.”
She chuckled. That was an understatement. “Well, I hate to stick my nose where it doesn’t belong, but . . .” She reached behind her and took out her weapon. “You see this. This is the way you hold a gun.” Then, pointing the gun down and away from anyone, she slid the top back, racking it. “They’ve been watching too many gangster movies. This isn’t the hood. You don’t hold a gun sideways like that,” she said pointing to an extra who was practicing. “You hold it with arms stretched out, and straight in front of you.”
Spelling looked at the man and made a little “aha” sound. “Come with me.”
He led her to the set and called the cast over. “Annie, can you show them what you just told me, please.”
“Sure.” For the next few moments Annie showed them. As they practiced, she corrected their stance. “That’s good, Rocco,” she said, and repeated it to a few others who seemed comfortable with their weapons. “Now you all look legit.”
“Can you stick close by? I want this scene to look perfect. It’s the culmination of everything up to this point. This is where Mendoza got away and where we get a really good idea of how much bloodshed there actually was.”
“Yeah, sure.” She slid into a chair and sat next to Spelling.
She watched them work. Rocco was a natural. God, she missed him. They’d barely spoken. They were amicable toward each other and it wasn’t exactly as if they’d been ignoring one another, it was just that they didn’t have a moment to really talk. And they really needed to talk.
Every morning, she woke up blanketed by his arms wrapped tightly around her, and he kissed her cheek and even her lips. But they hadn’t had sex again and there was a clear distance coming from them both. Saying it didn’t hurt was a lie.
She leaned over to Spelling. “You see how Julia just fired? If she was a novice, which her character is . . . if the first time she holds a gun is to protect herself and her husband, then when she fires, she would not be prepared for the recoil.”
“Cut! Julia!” Spelling hollered. “Over here, please.”
He motioned for Annie to explain.
“Have you ever fired a real weapon before?”
Annoyingly she said, “No.”
“Okay, so when you shoot a weapon, especially something of that caliber, you’re going to feel a big recoil. So, maybe take a big step back after you press the trigger and remember that the force would propel your arms up.” They continued to practice and when they began to shoot the scene, Spelling had Annie look into the small screen next to him and give her input. When she made a suggestion he listened and asked her to help make it look factual.
And it was fun.
