NYC Midnight Challenge #3
Genre: Open
Location: garbage dump
object: laptop
Synopsis: When a Mafia hit goes wrong, Charlie must find his way out of becoming the mob's next victim.
Removed due to publication at Yellow Mamma Magazine.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
On to round 2!
Forgive me, oh precious blog. I know I neglect you. I don't spend the time with you I promised I would when we first started this relationship. I promised you several articles that may never see the light of day...
But look, I've shown up to tell you all the good stuff!
Involved in a couple of magazines in the Athens area (non-fiction, one is for Parents LOL and the other is for movie reviews), and finally submitted my fiction to small print publishers. Most of my time away from the root job is spent in the office with these stories and magazines. Not writing for them. That's easy. I can pump out 2,000 words in an hour or two. I spend more time networking than anything else.
Thankfully, for all you budding writers (and you too, Blog), here is a resource for all your short fiction needs. Like the Writers Market Guide, Duotrope lists almost every possible publisher for your work. But before you go out and spend so much money on that mammoth Writers Market Guide, listen to the benefits of Duotrope.
First, it's free.
Second, Duotrope utilizes a search function with various filters: Genre, Length, Payscale, Media, Reprints (matter if it's been published before?). They'll even tell you if a publication is temporarily closed, or how often Duotrope's users have found acceptance or rejection at these publications.
Otherwise, Hobbit and I are discussing tentative wedding plans (we agreed not to finalize anything until next year). We found a beautiful place called the Georgian Hotel where we can have a wedding for under $1,000. $1,000 you say?!?!?! YES, under $1,000 dollars. That includes the location, catering, a wait staff, parking, the preacher, and a Monte Carlo casino wedding theme. Best of all, the Georgian allows you to book well in advance. They require a deposit but will refund everything if you decide to opt out later with no time restrictions.
In case you haven't heard, check out the October issue of Static Movement to read their publication of my story Gone Tonight, But Not Today.
Time to take Hobbit in to class. Until we meet again, Blog!
But look, I've shown up to tell you all the good stuff!
Involved in a couple of magazines in the Athens area (non-fiction, one is for Parents LOL and the other is for movie reviews), and finally submitted my fiction to small print publishers. Most of my time away from the root job is spent in the office with these stories and magazines. Not writing for them. That's easy. I can pump out 2,000 words in an hour or two. I spend more time networking than anything else.
Thankfully, for all you budding writers (and you too, Blog), here is a resource for all your short fiction needs. Like the Writers Market Guide, Duotrope lists almost every possible publisher for your work. But before you go out and spend so much money on that mammoth Writers Market Guide, listen to the benefits of Duotrope.
First, it's free.
Second, Duotrope utilizes a search function with various filters: Genre, Length, Payscale, Media, Reprints (matter if it's been published before?). They'll even tell you if a publication is temporarily closed, or how often Duotrope's users have found acceptance or rejection at these publications.
Otherwise, Hobbit and I are discussing tentative wedding plans (we agreed not to finalize anything until next year). We found a beautiful place called the Georgian Hotel where we can have a wedding for under $1,000. $1,000 you say?!?!?! YES, under $1,000 dollars. That includes the location, catering, a wait staff, parking, the preacher, and a Monte Carlo casino wedding theme. Best of all, the Georgian allows you to book well in advance. They require a deposit but will refund everything if you decide to opt out later with no time restrictions.
In case you haven't heard, check out the October issue of Static Movement to read their publication of my story Gone Tonight, But Not Today.
Time to take Hobbit in to class. Until we meet again, Blog!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Embrace the Paradox
DRAGON* CON NOTES
Eventually, I'll finish typing these up along into articles. Too busy editing some stories for magazine publication at the moment.
Sarah Connor Chronicles
EMBRACE THE PARADOX
A panel of podcasters and writers from the original movies gather to discuss the new TV series: it's comparison to previous incarnations (films, novels, comics), and the future of the TV show and new film, TERMINATOR SALVATION.
*****
--
SC and T2 are separate realities. All movies and SC are seen as distinct realities. It's impossible to make all books/films/etc jive. It would be a massive undertaking to make sure all details ever put forth were consistent.
For example, in the initial Terminator part 1 novelization, it is said that a Terminator's biological components include minor organs, so that it could actually eat and digest food to fuel the living tissue and repair itself. This is clearly contradicted in SC, when a Terminator loses its skin, leaving only an exoskeleton, only to have it replaced by a chemical solution that forces skin, not organs, to grow.
One audience member put forth the phrase that symbolizes the show: EMBRACE THE PARADOX.
--
Show focuses on Sarah's journey as a mother to turn John not into a hero but into the leader of the human resistance. It's important he stop being the guy that will jump into the back of a truck to save the day and start ordering other people to do it. As his mother tells him, "John, you are too important to risk your life."
--
Steve Glosson: Show uses Sarah's beginning and end voiceovers to maintain the story is from her POV.
--
Audience: Why doesn't Skynet send Terminator's FAR back in time to destroy humanity before it has any kind of technology that gives it a chance?
Aaron: No way for it to keep up with humanity as a unit. One Terminator, whether or not humanity had technology, couldn't defeat them, nor could it kill them fast enough to overcome its reproduction rate.
Also, it understands how time paradoxes work. It wants to keep the current timeline intact to ensure its creation. The only exception is it wants this timeline intact WITHOUT John Connor.
Audience: Judgement Day is inevitable. The series will shift focus from rpeventing Skynet's creation to devising how to win the future war.
--
Audience member gave Steve a copy of "Love and Sex with Robots" because he opposes the "Robot Love Act of 2027." He is a charming but overweight man that claims a very low reproduction rate.
--
Does Derrick Reese have a definite agenda against Cameron, or just against Terminators because he knows they revert to their original programming?
--
Audience: Why did Skynet send back these lame model 101s when from T2 and T3 we see they had better models available?
Season 2 will show a progression of Terminators.
As for why that will take time to come out in the show, this show is very much a sequel to T2. It ignores T3. We don't see T-1000s because the T1000 was a prototype. One of a kind. When T2 occurs, Skynet had lost the war and sent this single unit as a last ditch effort.
--
Terminators aren't programmed to kill everyone. They have a mission and will do what it takes to fulfill that mission. Often, that mission means killing those that stand in the way, but it must avoid unneccesary deaths to avoid detection.
--
Cameron has some side-agenda. She said she is not programmed to obey John... YET. Implying he must first become the leader, not the hero, before she trusts his decisions.
SMALLVILLE
Michael Rosenbaum
--
Mike sat down already in a joking mood. He loves comedy and standup. He played with the desk microphones as though they were penises.
Will you return to Smallville this season at all? The CW reports you will.
No! THE CW LIED! HAHAHAHAHAHA. (raised the desk mike as though it gave him an erection) Next question?
--
Next, he did a dead-on Chris Walken impersonation.
--
Did he tryout for the Clark Kent part first?
NO! Because that would require serious acting. (in on some of Tom's bad acting and more in on some of the bad writing given to him) How many times could I come on set to say, "Stop lying, Lex! I'm going back to my barn and I don't want you to follow me! And stop spying on me. Aren't you, like, in your 20s? I'm in high school! It's just creepy."
--
Will you direct a S8 episode?
NOPE. I only use 35mm, and they use digital. *smile*
He only directed for Smallville because they compromised with him. CW wanted the publicity of him directing an episode. In return, they gave him his Director's Guild card.
In general, he hated directing Smallville because of complicated episodes like the Superbreath episode. He thought, "Ok, I've just going to do an episode," then he reads Clark has to make BREATHING dramatic. WTF?!
--
Came off the stage so he could be more intimate and walk through the audience. The staff ordered him back on.
Which he several minutes later ignored, saying, "Listen, I'm the guest! I get to do what I want! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
He had the audience in tears of laughter.
--
Someone asked him to re-act their favorite line spoken by him, "Kneel before Zod!"
He said he HATED that episode. He couldn't stand the clothes and the line. Every time it got to him to say "Kneel...!" he would crack up. What made it worse was wearing this huge, heavy, dark purple trench coat. The crew knew he hated wearing it and heckled him every chance, just making it worse.
Finally, he did a BAD impersonation of himself saying the line, and continued to tell anyone that asked him a question to "Kneel before Zod!"
--
Disappointments with the show?
Yeah, Lex didn't have enough sex with Lana.
And he was drunk too often! Every scene, I mean every scene, just having another drink. Clark comes to visit him in the morning. "Oh, Clark, just having a little scotch."
And he wore the SAME SUIT EVERYDAY. As rich as he is, couldn't he afford some more clothes?
--
Michael added the line in the S7 finale, "I loved you like a brother" because he felt that way about Tom and wanted to communicate his real sadness at leaving the show.
--
Came out into the crowd to sing Happy Days with a little girl and hug a female fan.
The little girl became a crowd favorite as Michael repeated into the microphone every chance the lyrics to Happy Days so she sing after him the line, "HAPPY DAYS".
The female fan hug lasted forever. She would not let go.
FIREFLY
Still Flyin'
Dick in a box.
Jewel put a valentine in Nathan's mailbox as a stalker letter like they knew where he lived.
The letter was a "Roses are red... If I don't have you, I'll kill myself."
Tucked behind ti was a photo of Jewel flipping Nathan off.
In return, Nathan cut a doll's hand up so it looked like it was giving her the finger and pushed it up at the end of the bloopers real.
To top it off, Jewel got all of Dragon*Con to flip Nathan off. She gave everyone at the panel a pamphlet that told everyone to give Nathan the finger when she gave the signal. Now, when she finished the story she lifted her hands for the crowd to stand and do the same thing. Everyone stood and flipped Nathan off.
--
What makes them happy?
Jewel: Shoes
Morena: Nathan. No, plays.
Alan: Skydiving
Nathan: outdoors
--
Nathan used an SFD device for epic fail+grasshoppers in the night+drumroll for questions.
--
Fav ep:
Morena: Out of Gas
Jewel: Jaynestown
Nathan: Out of Gas
Alan's fav episode was never filmed. He had an idea for an ep: Crew must go through a wormhole (which are real in the real world, k?) to do a job. This wormhole is like the Panama Canal, a controlled waypoint. The problem is that going through it scrambles your molecules temporarily and you must be patiet while you reassemble yourself.
Except the crew can't waste any time. They have to immediately complete the job.
Morenna has a beard. Nathan has a fat ass.
The point is they have to do the job all screwed up.
--
From Morenna to Alan: How did Wash and Zoe fall in love? Considering they hated each other at first.
Alan: Well, you know, the way you do... I mean, haven't you ever met someone that you just hated and never expected to like, but you ended up loving?
Nathan: Yes, Alan Tudyk.
--
To Nathan: What was it like working with Andy Griffith?
Eventually, I'll finish typing these up along into articles. Too busy editing some stories for magazine publication at the moment.
Sarah Connor Chronicles
EMBRACE THE PARADOX
A panel of podcasters and writers from the original movies gather to discuss the new TV series: it's comparison to previous incarnations (films, novels, comics), and the future of the TV show and new film, TERMINATOR SALVATION.
*****
--
SC and T2 are separate realities. All movies and SC are seen as distinct realities. It's impossible to make all books/films/etc jive. It would be a massive undertaking to make sure all details ever put forth were consistent.
For example, in the initial Terminator part 1 novelization, it is said that a Terminator's biological components include minor organs, so that it could actually eat and digest food to fuel the living tissue and repair itself. This is clearly contradicted in SC, when a Terminator loses its skin, leaving only an exoskeleton, only to have it replaced by a chemical solution that forces skin, not organs, to grow.
One audience member put forth the phrase that symbolizes the show: EMBRACE THE PARADOX.
--
Show focuses on Sarah's journey as a mother to turn John not into a hero but into the leader of the human resistance. It's important he stop being the guy that will jump into the back of a truck to save the day and start ordering other people to do it. As his mother tells him, "John, you are too important to risk your life."
--
Steve Glosson: Show uses Sarah's beginning and end voiceovers to maintain the story is from her POV.
--
Audience: Why doesn't Skynet send Terminator's FAR back in time to destroy humanity before it has any kind of technology that gives it a chance?
Aaron: No way for it to keep up with humanity as a unit. One Terminator, whether or not humanity had technology, couldn't defeat them, nor could it kill them fast enough to overcome its reproduction rate.
Also, it understands how time paradoxes work. It wants to keep the current timeline intact to ensure its creation. The only exception is it wants this timeline intact WITHOUT John Connor.
Audience: Judgement Day is inevitable. The series will shift focus from rpeventing Skynet's creation to devising how to win the future war.
--
Audience member gave Steve a copy of "Love and Sex with Robots" because he opposes the "Robot Love Act of 2027." He is a charming but overweight man that claims a very low reproduction rate.
--
Does Derrick Reese have a definite agenda against Cameron, or just against Terminators because he knows they revert to their original programming?
--
Audience: Why did Skynet send back these lame model 101s when from T2 and T3 we see they had better models available?
Season 2 will show a progression of Terminators.
As for why that will take time to come out in the show, this show is very much a sequel to T2. It ignores T3. We don't see T-1000s because the T1000 was a prototype. One of a kind. When T2 occurs, Skynet had lost the war and sent this single unit as a last ditch effort.
--
Terminators aren't programmed to kill everyone. They have a mission and will do what it takes to fulfill that mission. Often, that mission means killing those that stand in the way, but it must avoid unneccesary deaths to avoid detection.
--
Cameron has some side-agenda. She said she is not programmed to obey John... YET. Implying he must first become the leader, not the hero, before she trusts his decisions.
SMALLVILLE
Michael Rosenbaum
--
Mike sat down already in a joking mood. He loves comedy and standup. He played with the desk microphones as though they were penises.
Will you return to Smallville this season at all? The CW reports you will.
No! THE CW LIED! HAHAHAHAHAHA. (raised the desk mike as though it gave him an erection) Next question?
--
Next, he did a dead-on Chris Walken impersonation.
--
Did he tryout for the Clark Kent part first?
NO! Because that would require serious acting. (in on some of Tom's bad acting and more in on some of the bad writing given to him) How many times could I come on set to say, "Stop lying, Lex! I'm going back to my barn and I don't want you to follow me! And stop spying on me. Aren't you, like, in your 20s? I'm in high school! It's just creepy."
--
Will you direct a S8 episode?
NOPE. I only use 35mm, and they use digital. *smile*
He only directed for Smallville because they compromised with him. CW wanted the publicity of him directing an episode. In return, they gave him his Director's Guild card.
In general, he hated directing Smallville because of complicated episodes like the Superbreath episode. He thought, "Ok, I've just going to do an episode," then he reads Clark has to make BREATHING dramatic. WTF?!
--
Came off the stage so he could be more intimate and walk through the audience. The staff ordered him back on.
Which he several minutes later ignored, saying, "Listen, I'm the guest! I get to do what I want! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
He had the audience in tears of laughter.
--
Someone asked him to re-act their favorite line spoken by him, "Kneel before Zod!"
He said he HATED that episode. He couldn't stand the clothes and the line. Every time it got to him to say "Kneel...!" he would crack up. What made it worse was wearing this huge, heavy, dark purple trench coat. The crew knew he hated wearing it and heckled him every chance, just making it worse.
Finally, he did a BAD impersonation of himself saying the line, and continued to tell anyone that asked him a question to "Kneel before Zod!"
--
Disappointments with the show?
Yeah, Lex didn't have enough sex with Lana.
And he was drunk too often! Every scene, I mean every scene, just having another drink. Clark comes to visit him in the morning. "Oh, Clark, just having a little scotch."
And he wore the SAME SUIT EVERYDAY. As rich as he is, couldn't he afford some more clothes?
--
Michael added the line in the S7 finale, "I loved you like a brother" because he felt that way about Tom and wanted to communicate his real sadness at leaving the show.
--
Came out into the crowd to sing Happy Days with a little girl and hug a female fan.
The little girl became a crowd favorite as Michael repeated into the microphone every chance the lyrics to Happy Days so she sing after him the line, "HAPPY DAYS".
The female fan hug lasted forever. She would not let go.
FIREFLY
Still Flyin'
Dick in a box.
Jewel put a valentine in Nathan's mailbox as a stalker letter like they knew where he lived.
The letter was a "Roses are red... If I don't have you, I'll kill myself."
Tucked behind ti was a photo of Jewel flipping Nathan off.
In return, Nathan cut a doll's hand up so it looked like it was giving her the finger and pushed it up at the end of the bloopers real.
To top it off, Jewel got all of Dragon*Con to flip Nathan off. She gave everyone at the panel a pamphlet that told everyone to give Nathan the finger when she gave the signal. Now, when she finished the story she lifted her hands for the crowd to stand and do the same thing. Everyone stood and flipped Nathan off.
--
What makes them happy?
Jewel: Shoes
Morena: Nathan. No, plays.
Alan: Skydiving
Nathan: outdoors
--
Nathan used an SFD device for epic fail+grasshoppers in the night+drumroll for questions.
--
Fav ep:
Morena: Out of Gas
Jewel: Jaynestown
Nathan: Out of Gas
Alan's fav episode was never filmed. He had an idea for an ep: Crew must go through a wormhole (which are real in the real world, k?) to do a job. This wormhole is like the Panama Canal, a controlled waypoint. The problem is that going through it scrambles your molecules temporarily and you must be patiet while you reassemble yourself.
Except the crew can't waste any time. They have to immediately complete the job.
Morenna has a beard. Nathan has a fat ass.
The point is they have to do the job all screwed up.
--
From Morenna to Alan: How did Wash and Zoe fall in love? Considering they hated each other at first.
Alan: Well, you know, the way you do... I mean, haven't you ever met someone that you just hated and never expected to like, but you ended up loving?
Nathan: Yes, Alan Tudyk.
--
To Nathan: What was it like working with Andy Griffith?
Monday, September 8, 2008
The Next Big Whatever NYCMMM Round 2
Round 1 available here.
Genre: Romance
Location: Mountain summit
Object: Nail clippers
THE NEXT BIG WHATEVER
Behind her, the film crew prepped the final scene for tonight, something involving an explosion and a staged avalanche. What a fiasco. A film called the "next big romance flick", Titanic meets Mission: Impossible. In Hollywood, everything was the next big thing.
Megan needed to stop moping and just get over there. What if their big star needed another touch-up for his big scene? Apparently, the make-up artist was the star's favored tool.
She shook her head, took off the engagement ring, and held it in her hand. Her finger felt naked. She hadn't expected that.
She looked over the edge of the slope, past the hills of snow and rock to the bottom, where the rest of the film crew stayed in their trailers.
Tonight. She had to tell Hugh tonight.
They should never have seen each other again, not after the first film. But she'd accepted a job on another film and lo and behold, it turned out he was their stuntman. They'd continued their liaison, happy to have a familiar bedfellow. Then they had ended up on the next picture, together again, and for some reason, he'd decided after a year of working together he didn't want it to end.
Why now? Why, of all times, did he ask when she had just been offered the biggest job of her career as makeup artist on what studios were calling the next Lord of the Rings?
She gritted her teeth. So dumb. Why hadn't she just said--
The crew set off an explosion, rocking the mountain. She threw up her hands as she fell. She had to stop or slide off the edge of the slope to a thousand foot drop. Desperate, she grabbed at the snow, dug her hands in deep, and slowed herself.
Safe. If she had fallen over--
The ring glittered as it flew over the edge to the next level of the summit. It landed in the snow and disappeared.
"Oh, shit," she said. She started down the slope, careful not to lose her hold and fall again.
Once at the bottom, she dropped to her knees and clawed at the snow. The cold bit into her skin, but she didn't care. She felt her tears turn to ice as her hands came up empty. Nothing. She held up her hand, naked, and if there had been any hope of breaking the engagement but continuing to see him, it was gone now. Not if she couldn't find the ring.
On the way back to the film set, she stopped at the star's trailer. Bad enough "the next Tom Cruise" insisted on them hauling the trailer up the mountain every day of shooting. The least they could do, he had said. Well, he'd been pissed when they said fine, then doubled it as the makeup artist's and prop-master's office.
She had one hope. She pushed aside a slew of useless props and jumbled makeup tools: lipstick, a ski mask, nail clippers. Tomorrow morning's scene called for their star to propose to the film's love interest, and they'd spared no expense, leased a Harry Winston diamond ring, and YES, there it was. The lock box, and inside, the ring. She used the nail clippers to jimmy the lock, slipped the ring onto her finger, then left to join the shoot.
Hugh greeted her with a hug and a kiss. He wore torn jeans and nothing else, about to double for the hero as he jumped clear of an explosion. Megan gulped, shaking as much in worry as at the sight of his muscled, half-naked body.
Hugh's eyes lit up at the sight of her. "Where you been?"
She shrugged and gave a weak smile. "Just... thinking."
"Let me see that finger," he said.
Her stomach churned, but she held up her hand.
He didn't even look at it, just kept his eyes locked on hers. "Looks beautiful," he said. He frowned, noticing something in her expression. "When you said you were thinking... You didn't mean--"
She shook her head. She could have told him then, but she didn't want to. Maybe didn't want to tell him at all.
"Listen," he said. "I know it was sudden. But..." He closed his eyes. "I was jealous."
She cocked her head. "Jealous?"
He nodded. "You're moving on to the big job. I'll still be in the slums of the next big 'whatever.'" He pulled her to him. "I mean... Haven't you ever done something crazy because you loved someone?"
She looked at the ring, then back at him. "Never," she murmured.
He caught her glance at the ring. "I know it's not expensive," he said. "But you make it beautiful." He lifted her hand to kiss the ring, but stopped. "Something looks... different--"
She grabbed his face and kissed him. "I love you," she said.
He smirked. "You do?"
"Yeah. You're my next big 'whatever.'"
He laughed. "Gotta go," he said, and left to finish the scene.
They finished in three takes and called the day a wrap.
That night, in bed, Megan whispered, "Maybe you could come with me."
"What do you mean?"
"They're going to pay me a boatload of money. We could make do."
"What about afterwards?"
She smirked. "We'll figure it out. I know it sounds crazy, but..."
"Then I guess we're both crazy," he said. He laughed and kissed her.
Once he was asleep, she lay next to him, listening to his gentle snore, remembering that same question.
Haven't you ever done something crazy because you loved someone?
She slipped out of bed and back into her clothes. She had six hours before sunlight. Six hours before they needed the ring on her finger. She looked at the expensive diamond and shrugged. It didn't mean anything.
She just wanted the ring Hugh had given her. She grabbed a flashlight and started up the mountain.
In the end, she just wanted him.
Genre: Romance
Location: Mountain summit
Object: Nail clippers
Synopsis:
Hollywood's always looking for the next big thing, but Megan's just looking for the next big job. Little does she know, this film may deliver the biggest surprise of her life.
THE NEXT BIG WHATEVER
Behind her, the film crew prepped the final scene for tonight, something involving an explosion and a staged avalanche. What a fiasco. A film called the "next big romance flick", Titanic meets Mission: Impossible. In Hollywood, everything was the next big thing.
Megan needed to stop moping and just get over there. What if their big star needed another touch-up for his big scene? Apparently, the make-up artist was the star's favored tool.
She shook her head, took off the engagement ring, and held it in her hand. Her finger felt naked. She hadn't expected that.
She looked over the edge of the slope, past the hills of snow and rock to the bottom, where the rest of the film crew stayed in their trailers.
Tonight. She had to tell Hugh tonight.
They should never have seen each other again, not after the first film. But she'd accepted a job on another film and lo and behold, it turned out he was their stuntman. They'd continued their liaison, happy to have a familiar bedfellow. Then they had ended up on the next picture, together again, and for some reason, he'd decided after a year of working together he didn't want it to end.
Why now? Why, of all times, did he ask when she had just been offered the biggest job of her career as makeup artist on what studios were calling the next Lord of the Rings?
She gritted her teeth. So dumb. Why hadn't she just said--
The crew set off an explosion, rocking the mountain. She threw up her hands as she fell. She had to stop or slide off the edge of the slope to a thousand foot drop. Desperate, she grabbed at the snow, dug her hands in deep, and slowed herself.
Safe. If she had fallen over--
The ring glittered as it flew over the edge to the next level of the summit. It landed in the snow and disappeared.
"Oh, shit," she said. She started down the slope, careful not to lose her hold and fall again.
Once at the bottom, she dropped to her knees and clawed at the snow. The cold bit into her skin, but she didn't care. She felt her tears turn to ice as her hands came up empty. Nothing. She held up her hand, naked, and if there had been any hope of breaking the engagement but continuing to see him, it was gone now. Not if she couldn't find the ring.
On the way back to the film set, she stopped at the star's trailer. Bad enough "the next Tom Cruise" insisted on them hauling the trailer up the mountain every day of shooting. The least they could do, he had said. Well, he'd been pissed when they said fine, then doubled it as the makeup artist's and prop-master's office.
She had one hope. She pushed aside a slew of useless props and jumbled makeup tools: lipstick, a ski mask, nail clippers. Tomorrow morning's scene called for their star to propose to the film's love interest, and they'd spared no expense, leased a Harry Winston diamond ring, and YES, there it was. The lock box, and inside, the ring. She used the nail clippers to jimmy the lock, slipped the ring onto her finger, then left to join the shoot.
Hugh greeted her with a hug and a kiss. He wore torn jeans and nothing else, about to double for the hero as he jumped clear of an explosion. Megan gulped, shaking as much in worry as at the sight of his muscled, half-naked body.
Hugh's eyes lit up at the sight of her. "Where you been?"
She shrugged and gave a weak smile. "Just... thinking."
"Let me see that finger," he said.
Her stomach churned, but she held up her hand.
He didn't even look at it, just kept his eyes locked on hers. "Looks beautiful," he said. He frowned, noticing something in her expression. "When you said you were thinking... You didn't mean--"
She shook her head. She could have told him then, but she didn't want to. Maybe didn't want to tell him at all.
"Listen," he said. "I know it was sudden. But..." He closed his eyes. "I was jealous."
She cocked her head. "Jealous?"
He nodded. "You're moving on to the big job. I'll still be in the slums of the next big 'whatever.'" He pulled her to him. "I mean... Haven't you ever done something crazy because you loved someone?"
She looked at the ring, then back at him. "Never," she murmured.
He caught her glance at the ring. "I know it's not expensive," he said. "But you make it beautiful." He lifted her hand to kiss the ring, but stopped. "Something looks... different--"
She grabbed his face and kissed him. "I love you," she said.
He smirked. "You do?"
"Yeah. You're my next big 'whatever.'"
He laughed. "Gotta go," he said, and left to finish the scene.
They finished in three takes and called the day a wrap.
That night, in bed, Megan whispered, "Maybe you could come with me."
"What do you mean?"
"They're going to pay me a boatload of money. We could make do."
"What about afterwards?"
She smirked. "We'll figure it out. I know it sounds crazy, but..."
"Then I guess we're both crazy," he said. He laughed and kissed her.
Once he was asleep, she lay next to him, listening to his gentle snore, remembering that same question.
Haven't you ever done something crazy because you loved someone?
She slipped out of bed and back into her clothes. She had six hours before sunlight. Six hours before they needed the ring on her finger. She looked at the expensive diamond and shrugged. It didn't mean anything.
She just wanted the ring Hugh had given her. She grabbed a flashlight and started up the mountain.
In the end, she just wanted him.
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