Filming

by Doreen F.

Teresa always felt thrilled when she started to work at a new company. She would meet many people and would be shown around. Then her mentor would explain how everything worked and she'd get used to it. Then she'd stay until she found something more appealing. Her first jobs were being a waitress, but she soon got bored of that and only continued doing it as long as she was at college. Teresa often moved to other cities to get a job, she loved moving around and never had too many things to carry around. There was hardly any job which she had done for more than a year and many for a much shorter period of time.

In her late twenties she decided she had to find something steadier, something she would stay at for several years. So Teresa went searching for the perfect job. It was a hard thing to do. She was reading ads in her spare time and applied for several jobs until she found the right one. It happened by chance. A friend of hers had heard that there was a filming crew in town and that they needed some extras. So Teresa applied for that and got a small role. That was how it all started. The shooting was tiresome because the extras were to wait the whole day until it was their time, but Teresa enjoyed it anyway. It was something different and she could continue with her 9 to 5 job while they were shooting. Most of the shots were filmed in the dark. Teresa was really interested in filming and some of the other extras, who had been doing this before, gave her useful tips. So Teresa knew what she wanted to do next. She wanted to work at a production company or somewhere else which had the least thing to do with movies.
Teresa finally ended up at a small production company which had been short of staff. She had everything the job required. Her first day was even more spectacular than at all the other companies she had worked at before. She came there in the morning and was introduced to her future colleagues. They seemed to be nice and one of them was very handsome. Teresa smiled at him extra-long hoping no one, but him, would notice. That day was so special because their boss had an appointment with someone from Hollywood. Everyone was excited and hoping to get a deal and helping to produce a Hollywood movie. That would be a dream come true. One of the female staff showed her how everything worked. The job was quite a challenge; it was completely different from anything Teresa had done before.
The deal worked out and there was a celebration going on after work. Teresa was invited to join them, thus she got to know most of her colleagues. They were pretty laid-back and they had a lot of fun. Teresa was glad to have chosen this job.
On the next day the colleague who had shown her how everything worked called in sick. This was not a problem, Teresa knew what she had to do, but by noon she had some important questions to ask. Who should she ask? The handsome colleague, Nick, would have been her favourite choice, but she was afraid about the gossip - the new girl trying to win over the most handsome guy. So she asked the girl who was closest to her desk. To her delight she was sent over to Nick - what a coincidence?
"Uhm, Nick, sorry to disturb you, but I've got a problem and Katy told me to ask you."
"Oh, hi Teresa. No problem, I'll be there in a minute. Just wait at your desk."
"Okay, great."
Teresa went back to her desk and saw that Nick went to the bathroom. Then he came back and came over to her desk. She explained what the problem was and he explained exactly what she had to do.
"Thanks Nick."
"You're welcome. Feel free to ask me whenever you have a problem." Nick smiled and returned to his desk.
Weeks passed by and Teresa got used to her new work. To her disappointment there wasn’t anything anymore which she could ask Nick about. This was not only because she knew how everything worked, but also because her mentor was back and helped her whenever there was a problem. Teresa did not have many opportunities to talk to Nick, but plenty of moments when she would look at him because he was seated not too far away. Nick was a really busy worker as most of the others.
Time passed and Teresa still liked her job. It was a challenge and she loved her work. In January her boss told them that because of their Hollywood deal all of them were going to take a trip to the States where they would be allowed to watch some of the filming of the movie. They were all overwhelmed and really happy to be given this opportunity. They went to the US in two groups as they didn't get enough tickets for one flight. Teresa would have loved to be on the same plane as Nick, but she wasn’t. Teresa was on the second plane. When they arrived they were taken to their hotel and were told that they would be able to watch the shooting on the next day. So most of them went to bed early after they had been to a little chit-chat in the hotel's bar. Teresa and Nick talked a bit while they were at the bar, but soon decided to go to bed because of the jetlag. On the way to their rooms they found out that they were next to each other. They said good night and went to their rooms.
In the morning Teresa woke up rather early and prepared herself for a day of shooting. She knew that they'd be shooting outside and that it would be very cold this time of the year. At breakfast she met most of her colleagues and was sitting on the same table as Nick. At nine they were picked up by a bus which took them to the place of shooting. When they arrived their boss already awaited them.
"Guys there's been a problem with the extras. Would some of you mind stepping in? I'm sorry about that, but you'd be of enormous help."
Teresa immediately volunteered since she had done this before. Some others also agreed and soon they were sitting in strange costumes and were applied make-up. Teresa was glad to find out that Nick had also offered to be an extra. So a hard day of shooting in the cold began and despite the hot drinks they were offered in the breaks they felt like ice-blocks at the end of the day. However, they knew that without them there would not have been any filming that day. It was to be continued on the next day, but only a few scenes were left. Back at the hotel Teresa took a hot bath and did not want to leave the tub ever. Eventually she did because she and her colleagues were invited to dine at a fancy place. It was a great evening, but most of them went to bed early knowing that another hard day was awaiting them.
On the next day the shooting continued, but their part was finished by afternoon. When they were changing back into their normal clothes, their boss appeared and asked, "Does anyone of you know how to ride a horse? We'll need one or two riding extras." Teresa had always been riding - usually once a week, so she told him. Another colleague also said he knew how to ride a horse. So the two of them had to get new costumes and were shown the horses they would be riding. Their colleagues watched the scenes and congratulated them on their great performance.
By the end of the day they were told that on the next day they would be allowed to watch and would not have to be a part of the film. They went back to the hotel and after a hot bath they had dinner at a very expensive place. Teresa left rather soon because it had been a very exhausting day. Nick offered to accompany her. She enjoyed his company and they had a nice talk about various things. Teresa had to decline the invitation for a drink because she was too tired. So they said good night and went to their rooms.
On the next day they were allowed to watch the shooting of the movie and it was really fascinating. In the evening they went to another great place for dinner and this time Teresa accepted Nick's invitation to the bar. Nevertheless they didn't stay too long; they were still tired because of them being extras.
That night Teresa woke up because she heard the siren of the fire alarm. "Oh no, what the hell's going on?" She got up, put on a warm parka and shoes over her pajama and left her room. People were moving quickly towards the stairs and the terrible noise of the siren did not stop. Teresa tried to spot some of her colleagues and then she saw Nick moving not far in front of her. Her pace quickened until she reached him.
"Hi Nick! Do you know what's this all about?" Teresa asked from behind.
"Teresa? I don't have a clue. I hope there's no fire." Nick said and turned towards her. Teresa almost tripped, when she saw him. To her surprise he was wearing glasses and looked absolutely gorgeous. Her knees felt a bit weak.
"Are you alright."
"Yeah, just missed a step."
Walking next to each other they reached the emergency exit and left the hotel. Many people were already standing outside and watching. They spotted some of their colleagues and went towards them. They told Teresa and Nick that there had been a phone call saying that a bomb was somewhere in the hotel. That was what they had heard. After some time they saw that a special force team entered the building. One of the hotel's representatives told them that there had been a bomb warning and that they had arranged for their guests to go to the lobby of another hotel quite close to theirs where they could stay until they knew whether there was a bomb or not. That was good because it was still very cold and they were not wearing much.
Teresa and Nick sat down in a dark corner whereas most of their colleagues decided to get something to drink at the bar. Teresa was trembling.
"Are you cold?"
"Yes, it's really cold outside especially when you're in your pajamas. The thing is that inside the hotel room it was rather hot, so who'd be wearing warm clothes in bed?"
"That's true. We could sit next to each other, if you like, to warm each other." Nick smiled at her.
"That'd be great."
Nick sat down next to Teresa and she immediately felt a bit warmer.
"It's much better this way."
"I think so too because I was feeling cold as well."
Teresa tried not to stare at Nick's glasses, although she really thought that they suited him, but she did not want him to notice. He behaved rather naturally and they chatted about the day and their work. During their conversation Nick took off his glasses and inspected them and went on talking. Teresa felt the blood rushing through her body. She was really turned on by the knowing he did not see properly. "Calm down, don't let him notice your excitement", she thought, but her that she was blushing.
"You don't have a handkerchief, do you?"
"I'm afraid not."
"Well, doesn't matter, I just wanted to clean my glasses, but I can use my shirt anyway."
"Really? 'cause I could go to the bar and get you a napkin or something."
"No, it's fine, don't worry about it." Nick said and started to clean his glasses with his shirt. Teresa was watching him closely. When Nick had finished cleaning his glasses, he put them back on saying, "I can see you better now. My glasses were kind of dirty from the flight and I didn't have the time to clean them afterwards and haven't worn them much since."
"I didn't know you wear glasses at all."
"Yeah, well, I wear contact lenses most of the time, I only wear my glasses when I'm at home and no one's around and I've worn them for the long flight because I didn't want to sleep in contacts. Besides on the plane the air is usually very dry."
"Well, I didn't see you wearing them then because I was on the other plane."
"Oh, right, of course and I put the contacts back in after we arrived at the hotel. The others at work know that I wear glasses because I only started wearing contacts some years ago. You haven't been at the company for long, so you don't know. My girlfriend wanted me to wear contact as my eyes were getting worse and I would've had to wear glasses full-time. I gave in and I didn't have any problems with the contacts. My eyes got worse and now I'm really dependent on contacts or glasses. I can still see without them, but many things are really blurry. The problem is after you're used to be in contacts all the time you don't want to wear glasses much in public anymore - especially if your girlfriend doesn't like it."
Teresa was surprised at Nick's confession and felt that she needed to say something to encourage him, but what???
"I think that's understandable, but I really think that glasses suit you. I can't understand your girlfriend."
"She's my ex-girlfriend now. We split up not long before you came to work at the company. She moved to Ecuador to help the people over there. She's doing a great job, but I didn't want to come with her and she wanted to go there. Our relationship wasn’t the best anymore, so this was the perfect reason to split up without hurting each other. Since then I've enjoyed the freedom of a single life. What about you?"
"Me? You already know about my various jobs, but my love-life has been simpler. I've had many short term relationships, but only one serious relationship. He was a bar keeper and very adventurous. We had a great time together and went on exciting trips, but after 3 years I was sick of all the action. He was bored because I didn't want to have that much action in my spare time. So he applied for a job in Australia because there would be more challenging opportunities for him. I didn't want to leave the country and we both knew that that was the perfect time to break up. End of story. I missed him a bit at the beginning, but then I enjoyed being single."
"Interesting. Finally I know something about your private life."
"So do I. Are there any dirty secrets I should know?"
"No, actually, there aren't any. Well, there are, but I'll tell you another time."
"Okay. So you won't hear mine tonight either."
"Do you think they've already checked the hotel or how long we're going to have to stay here?"
"I really don't know, but let's go to our colleagues and ask them, if they know anything."
"Great, let's go."
They went to the others who told them that they didn't know when they would be able to return to their hotel. So Teresa and Nick returned to their place and talked about various things until one of the hotel's staff came and told them that they could go back to their hotel.
Nick and Teresa followed the others with some distance. Outside Nick's glasses reflected the street lights. It looked like stars were sparkling on his glasses. Teresa smiled at this thought. Nick saw her smile and wanted to know why. When she told him he pushed up his glasses self-consciously. Teresa knew that she had to say something nice to make clear what she meant.
"I didn't mean it as an offence, I thought this was really beautiful for me to watch. I think you look good without them, but with glasses you are really hot...err, handsome."
"Do you really think so?"
"Yes, I really do."
"I've never heard you say anything nicer to me." Nick turned towards her and gave her a kiss and Teresa responded.
"Wow, you are also a great kisser."
"Stop saying such nice things or I'll have to kiss you forever."
They smiled, when they reached the hotel and went up to their rooms. At the door Teresa turned to Nick and kissed him again.
"Why don't you come to my room?" Nick asked.
"I'd love to."
They went into Nick's room and had a great night together talking about almost anything and kissing each other a lot. Nick didn't remove his glasses until they decided to lie down. He put them onto the drawer and Teresa felt really turned on knowing that he could not see that much. Then they kissed good night. Neither of them fell asleep immediately. There was so much they had to think about, but finally they fell asleep.
Teresa woke up because she heard that Nick was having a shower. She waited until he got out of the bathroom styled as usual, but still wearing his glasses.
"Good morning. I didn't want to wake you. You looked so sweet when you were asleep."
"No problem, I woke up only a couple of minutes ago. I'll just go to my room and make myself ready."
"Alright, I'll pop in my eyes and knock at your door, when I'm done."
"Okay, see you soon." Teresa gave him a peck on the cheek and went to her room. She got dressed really quickly and went to the bathroom to make herself up. Only seconds before she was done, there was a knock at her door. Nick came in wearing contacts. Then they went down to have breakfast. Due to the night before, they had arranged to meet an hour later than it had been planned.
At 11.00 all of them left to see some of the filming without being involved. It was really interesting to watch, but very cold and they were glad when the director decided to continue shooting in the studio after the afternoon break. The afternoon passed really quickly and their final evening approached. Their boss had told them there would be a surprise, but did not go into specifics.
Teresa decided to put on a nice dress she had taken with her and Nick picked her up from her room wearing a suit. They went down to meet the others as they were supposed to be picked up at eight. But there was no bus there to pick them up, instead a couple of stretch-limos arrived and they were told to get in. The limousines took them to a mansion out of town. They were really impressed. Inside the building their boss was waiting, but not only him. The director of the movie and some of the actors were there too.
This was a huge surprise. They were led into a big dining room with a long table and sat down. Then dinner was served; it was delicious, but the atmosphere was a bit cold. No one knew how to start a conversation with the actors and neither did they. But after the dessert the director led them to the common room and said that all of them had to play a game called "Activity". It was a lot of fun and they soon got to know each other a lot better. The actors were really funny and after a while they were joking and laughing and having a great time. Even after the end of the game they continued their conversations and most of the employees were amazed how naturally the actors behaved. Teresa and Nick were sitting next to one of the actors Teresa had played with the scenes where she was riding and he complemented on her excellent skills concerning horses. She could see the Nick was a bit envious, but he did not really show that.
Time passed quickly and suddenly it was midnight. The boss and the director got up and raised their glasses. They had another announcement to make. "First of all I'm glad that all of you seem enjoy this great evening. We hoped that it would turn out this way, but we couldn’t be sure, could we? Now there's one last surprise, which we haven't actually planned, but I'm sure you'll like it. The limos can't come to pick you up because it has been snowing a lot ever since we arrived. Therefore the owner of the limousines doesn't want to risk that his cars getting harmed. That's why we've decided to spend the night here. The actors among you would have done this anyway and I think there's enough room for all of us. Just make sure everyone who wants to get a bed of his own gets one. I'm sorry about that, but as you're having such a good time, I don't think you'll care."
Teresa smiled at this announcement, but Nick did not look all too pleased.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, it's really great, but I don't have my contact paraphernalia with me, just the case. I'm not sure, if that's good."
"Oh, I understand. How stupid of me! I guess you have to try it like this anyway."
Suddenly the actor who they had been talking to said, "I hope I'm not intruding, but I have contacts as well and if you like, I can share some of my stuff with you."
"Wow, that's really nice, that'd be great, thank you. I didn't know you wear contacts."
"You're welcome. Yeah, well as an actor you have to wear contacts in the movies and I'm kind of self-conscious about wearing glasses, so I avoid wearing them in public."
After that Nick was pleased to spend the night at the mansion and they went looking for a proper room for them. It had to be close to the actor's and there was one right opposite the hallway, which they chose.
Around 2 they decided to go to bed and Nick went with the actor to the bathroom to remove his contacts. Of course Nick did not have his glasses with him, so Teresa waited in front of the door to guide him to their room. To her surprise the actor had really strong glasses compared to Nick's. Together the three of them went back to their rooms. Nick followed Teresa. He could still see a lot, but blurred. In the bathroom he had tried on the actor's glasses, but they were way too strong for him. He thanked him and then they said good night. Teresa and Nick went to their room and had a really great night together sharing a bed since it was really cold. In the morning Nick went to the bathroom with the actor and put in his contacts whereas the actor remained in glasses to give his eyes some rest.
Breakfast was served and they had a great morning together until the limousines came to pick them up. When they left Teresa said to the actor, "You shouldn't be so shy about your glasses. They suit you, you chose great frames."
"Really, do you think so? I feel so blind wearing them."
"I can tell you one thing: I really fell for Nick when I saw him wearing glasses. Think about that."
"I will. Thank you."
Then they left. At the hotel they had to pack their things because their plane was leaving in the evening. Nick took out his contacts which had been bothering him a lot that day and was relieved to be wearing his glasses for the rest of the day. This time the whole crew was on the same flight and Teresa and Nick sat next to each other.