Double Take: A Leading Man Romance by Harley Rayne

he’s a shit person who doesn’t know a good thing when he has it.
    It’s lunch and Melanie and I are still wearing robes. We’ve been filming a shower scene all day, and both of us look a little like pruned wet dogs. I’ve been picking apart a bowl of chicken breast and steamed broccoli for the last half an hour. Melanie was testing fate with the meatloaf someone’s mother brought in for food. I can’t help but glance around for Kylie, but I know she isn’t there. Lori is still in my trailer, no doubt taking too many pictures in order to blow up my social media accounts, and I’m glad that I don’t have to deal with her.
    Rob, meanwhile, is distractedly eating, fork in mouth then fork to plate then lather rinse and repeat , while his attention rests on his phone. Karen approaches to ask him something, but he holds up his free hand with a finger pointed up, one second , and then says something that I can’t hear. Karen looks a little surprised and disappears further into the house.
    Melanie has noticed too. “I don’t know what the deal is with him,” she murmurs, so no one else can hear but me. I do her a favor by leaning in further. “Why he’s so famous and shit. He’s fine, and he’s a good director, but he knows it. And he thinks he’s evenbetter than that. You remember him putting his hand on my knee? That was a total creepy uncle move.”
    I laugh as I stab a piece of broccoli and pop it between my lips. “Where do you think those creepy uncles learned it?”
    “You know, I auditioned for him before. For his last movie. Yeah. It got down to me and one another girl.”
    I turn towards her, my interest lifted along with my brow. “Really.”
    “Yeah. And here’s the thing, when I came in to audition for this film? He didn’t even recognize me. And we’d gotten coffeetogether, for god’s sake. ”
    Interesting. I turn my gaze back to Rob, watching him in his own little world. It doesn’t surprise me that he didn’t remember Melanie. It isn’t that she’s forgettable, it’s just that he’s got a very specific eye. He only remembers the things and the people who will get him someplace. If he didn’t cast Melanie, then she wasn’t a pawn for him to get ahead.
    “He’s got his own thing going on, sure.”
    Melanie looks around, then drops the diplomacy as she lowers her voice even further. “Honestly? We slept together.”
    That causes everything to come to a close. I have tunnel vision suddenly, and I look at Melanie, eyebrows knitting, unable to hide my shock. “What?”
    “Yeah, after my audition, we got coffee, then he hit on me and we went back to my place. It’s not that I thought it would get me the role or anything. I mean, part of me wondered, but I would have done it anyway.” She waves a fork around as she cuts into the mash of meat on her plate. “Anyway, so when he didn’t even acknowledgeme in the audition room or out of it, or on our first day filming, I thought it was so weird.”
    “Yeah, that is weird.” I’m aghast, actually. The situation is fucked, and I’m wondering how close I can get to this thing before I create more problems than solutions.
    “Now I guess he’s doing the PA.”
    “We don’t know that for sure.” I’m warning her against gossip, but I mostly don’t want to spread that around. Anyone who has seen Kylie and Rob interact knows exactly that they’re sleeping together, but I want to spare her the bullshit that comes with knowledge like that coming to light.
    If it’s scandalous on a porn set, there’s no way it won’t hold dirtier water on an indie film.
    Melanie continues speaking, but my laser focus has turned into white noise, and it’s ringing in my ears obnoxiously loudly. I finally can’t take any more of it, so I rise quickly, apologizing by saying, “I need to check on my agent and make sure she hasn’t gotten lost. Later?”
    I need some privacy to consider what to do with the information. I go into my trailer, prepared