Run Chapter 2

“And cut!” Graham Rollins yells, a chorus of bells following his command. “Great job everyone!”


I exhale deeply and climb out of the car, tucking my prop gun into the back of my pants. I start walking across the movie set, yanking off the latex gloves.

“That was pretty good.” I say, following Karen Garner across the set and watching her struggle to get the duck tape off her wrists.

“I’m just glad I finally got it together.” She sighs, turning to me. “Mike, help me out here!”

I untangle the tape binding her wrists together.

“If I have to spend any longer in this thing, I think I’m gonna get frostbite.” Karen nods down at the flimsy nightgown she is wearing.

“Hey! Hey!” Ryan Acle comes up behind Karen and drapes an arm round her shoulders. “Are you partying tonight Cookie?”

“Hey Ry!” I greet him and get a smile and a nod in return.

“Why do you call me that?” Karen frowns.

I discard the sticky tangle of grey tape and pick up a bottle of mineral water from a table where there is a collection of them laid out.

“Don’t you like it?” He asks, innocently.

I open the water and knock some back, strolling round the edge of the soundstage behind Ryan and Karen.

“It makes me feel like a first grader!” She pouts.

“Your hair smells like cookie dough.” Ryan says.

Stepping over thick cables and camera rails I manage not to fall over, as crew members flit around.

“It does not!” Karen exclaims.

Curious, I reach across and lift a handful of her long brown hair to my nose.

“Mike!” She cries out. “What are you doing?”

“Doesn’t it smell of cookies?” Ryan asks.

His tone shows he is expecting my support, but I can’t give it. “It smells more like roses.”

“Whatever!” Karen sighs, irritably. “Ryan your gun is digging into my hip!”

“That’s not my gun!” He whispers.

I can tell he’s fighting to keep a straight face and can’t keep a grin off mine.

Karen stops walking and turns to stare at him open mouthed, her face a picture.

I bite down on my lip, trying not to laugh and Ryan breaks into laughter.

“I can’t believe you’d say something like that to me!” Karen exclaims.

“Come on, it’s a joke Cookie!” Ryan chuckles. “Look how you’re dressed!”

“Look how you’re dressed, Officer Joseph!” Karen retorts, her index finger jabbing the air in front of him.

“I will see you kids next week.” Justin Clarke grins, strolling past us.

“Yeah, don’t get a divorce before then you two!” Jeff Maynard chuckles walking backwards as he points both index fingers at Ryan and Karen, as if they are pistols.

“See ya, guys!” I wave to them. Technically it’s just raising my hand, there is no waving involved.

“A cop should treat women with more respect, even a pretend one.” Karen continues, her voice thick with anger. With that she strides away.

Ryan hurries after her, putting an arm round her again.

I trail behind them, laughing quietly. God he loves winding her up!

“Hey, you’re not really mad at me are you?” He asks, sounding concerned.

“Gotcha!” Karen stops walking again and smiles at him. “You are just too easy.”

“You had me.” Ryan sighs, rolling his eyes heavenwards.

“The thing is Karen.” I say, putting an arm round her. “How do we know when we have upset you for real, if you always play him?”

“That’s a good point!” Ryan agrees, drinking from the bottle in his hand.

“Just don’t test me.” Karen says.

I push open the stage door and we walk out onto the lot.

“So, I have some good news.” Ryan says, looking pleased with himself.

“You’re moving to Michigan?” Karen quips.

“I’ve got a date.” He grins, proudly.

“Is it that hottie that gave you the come on in Creepers last weekend?” I ask, interested.

“I’m sure you bed a different girl every other day, Ryan.” Karen says, sounding bored. “What’s so special about this one?”

“Yep!” He looks at me sideways, still grinning. “You remember the Playboy cover girl from the last issue, Elle? That’s the hottie!”

“You got a date with her?” I gasp, my eyes widening. “No way!”

“She is not just any girl, Karen.” He explains, his voice taking on a dreamy edge. “She is an angel. I fell in love with her the moment I first laid eyes on her.”

“Right!” Karen snorts. “You fell in love with her rack more like. I can’t believe you buy that junk.”

“Playboy is art!” I protest.

“Her name’s Elle Monaghan and she gave me her number. We’re set up for tonight.”

“Oh man!” I shake my head. “You are so lucky. You know, I didn’t recognise her in the club.”

“That’s probably cause she had clothes on.” Karen sighs. “Which is more than I can say!”

We stop outside our trailers.

“So, you gonna watch me get changed?”

“Was that an invitation?” I question, giving her a lopsided grin.

Karen simply rolls her eyes and turn to step into her trailer.

I laugh and turn to Ryan. “See ya later, man!”

“Yeah.” He replies, stepping to the front of his trailer.

Before I step into my trailer I turn to him again. “Hey, don’t try to bone her tonight! It’s only the first date remember.”

“I’ll try to control myself.” He grins. “But judging from the way she behaved in the club, I might be the one fighting her off.”

In my trailer I knock back more of the water before setting the bottle down on the table. I take off my costume, laying my gun on the pile of clothes.

The table is cluttered with papers. Most of them these love letters I have been getting and they are not from my girlfriend. It’s more than fan mail because they are definitely from the same chick, whoever she is.

I fasten my pants up and sit down, lifting the newest envelope. Turning it over in my hands, I run my finger along the underside of the flap and pull out the sheet of paper inside. Scanning the neat handwritten page, I get the gist of it without really having to absorb the words. She loves me and wants me and knows I feel the same. I mustn’t forget that she is watching me. As if I could! Whoever this chick is, she has skipped into her own little dream world, where I return her feelings of adoration and it is normal to write long emotional letters to people you don’t know. It’s freaking me out!

There is a knock on the door.

“Yeah?” I call out, dropping the letter back onto the table.

“Excuse me Mr Miller.” A stagehand puts her head round the door. “I’m sorry; there is a woman at the gate, claiming to be your girlfriend and demanding to see you. I thought you’d like to know.”

“Okay, thanks.” I smile, reaching for my sneakers.

She closes the door again.

I go out to see who it is. You never really know. Wednesday there was someone here claiming to be Jeff’s girlfriend, but he doesn’t have one. We suspected she was actually a reporter or a fan. Who else would do something like that?

“Hey Karl!” I nod at one of the security guards manning the gate. “What’s up?”

“Do you know this woman, Mr Miller?” He replies, indicating the blonde stood behind the gate.

“Fleur, what do you want?” I sigh, folding my arms over my chest, my tone cold.

“Michael, don’t be like that.” Fleur Carmel replies, smiling. It’s the kind of smile you’d expect to see on a venomous snake, were such a thing possible, right before it sinks it’s fangs into your arm.

I can see her eyes scanning my body and I don’t like it.

“She’s a friend of mine.” I tell the guards and step up to the barrier. As reluctant as I am to admit that fact! I can’t just turn her away. You never know how she’d repay me.

“I heard that a couple of the actors working on the same production as you are associated with known criminals. Is that true?” She asks quietly, watching me intently.

“I don’t know anything about that and you know I can’t speak for other people, Fleur.”

“You share your house in New York with three females, is that right?”

That’s actually not true anymore, but I’m not gonna split hairs over something that personal with a reporter of all people.

“That’s a well known fact. What are you getting at?” I glare at her, wishing she wasn’t here.

“Is it true that you are sleeping with all of them?” Her gaze is intense, like she’s searching my face for answers.

“You used to be so nice, Carmel.” I stare over her shoulder at the neatly manicured green grass and trees on the opposite side of the street.

“Is she a reporter?” Karl questions, having overheard her last words.

“I’m just concerned about your reputation.” Fleur purrs, smoothly.

“Bullshit! You’re a vulture.” I reply, the venom in my words portraying my feelings towards her. “If you just came down here to grill me, you wasted your time!”

“Oooh, be nice Miller!” She smiles, placing her neatly manicured hands on the painted metal barrier between us and leaning forward. “Or I could interpret your attitude as an admission.”

“Get out of here you!” The security guards tell her.

“You’ll print what you like, it doesn’t matter how much truth there is to it.” I spit. “Do you actually want something, or are you just fishing?”

“I do have something.” Fleur says, dropping her intense eyes and focusing on the way her perfect hands sit on the white rolled steel. “Can we talk in private?”

“Absolutely not!” Security responds. “No press allowed on set!”

“She’s a personal friend of mine.” I remind them. “So why do you want to speak privately?”

“I just don’t think you want any passer by to hear what I have to tell you.”

“How nice of you to think of me.” I reply, my tone grim. “Okay, fine.”

“No it’s not.” Security insists. “She’s not allowed on a working set, you know that.”

“We’ll have a word in my trailer.” I tell them, resting a hand on my hip. “Please?”

Sighing, the guards hand her a visitor’s pass and hold out a clipboard for her to sign.

“Thank you!” She smiles sweetly at them and clips the pass onto the hem of her t-shirt.

“Follow me.” I say and lead her back to my trailer.

“This is nice!” Fleur says, looking around the inside of my trailer with interest.

“So what’s the big secret?” I demand.

“Eve’s pregnant.” She says, picking up the open script laying on the table and starting to flick through it.

“What?” I frown, taking the script out of her hands.

“You don’t know?” She smiles up at me.

“That’s a lie. I don’t know where you get such trash. Who have you been talking to?”

“You mean, she hasn’t told you?” I can see how much she is enjoying this.

“On what do you base this crazy idea? Where’s your proof?”

Fleur take something out of her purse.

“This is from the recent shoot she did at Long Beach.” She hands me a photograph.

It’s a shot of Eve McKenzie taken from the side, modelling a bikini and there is an obvious curve to her stomach.

“Nobody told me. I just used common sense. You have eyes the same as me. That photo has not been doctored in any way.”

“She’s just been putting on a little weight recently, that’s all.” I say, handing it back.

“Only on her stomach?” Fleur points out.

I realise what I just said and mentally kick myself. How could I be so stupid?

“Don’t you dare quote me on that, by the way!” I exclaim, my tone harsh.

“You don’t look very happy about it, Michael.” Fleur says, her attention on the papers accumulated on my table.

“I’m in shock, Carmel. It’s not everyday a reporter tells you that your girl is expecting.”

“She’s a few months along, I’d say.” Fleur leafs through some of my letters. “Maybe it’s not yours. That would explain why she hasn’t told you. Are you two having problems?”

“Not those kinds of problems.” I try to take the letters from her, but she holds them out of my reach. “What are you looking at?”

“Love letters, Mikey?” She smiles. “Looks like Eves not the only one cheating.”

“Yeah, I’ve had some weird letters recently. That doesn’t prove I’m cheating!” I fold my arms and glare at her. “Publish anything hinting at any cheating going on and I’ll have your ass, Carmel!”

“Sounds like you have a stalker, Miller.” She replies, looking more closely at the letters. “Unless you’re faking it to cover for this secret relationship Eve thinks your having.”

“Eve is just insecure, that proves nothing.” I respond. “And I did not let you in here to discuss my private life!”

“You’re a public figure, Miller. You have no private life anymore. You ever worry about the company Eve keeps?”

“You have turned Michael your girlfriend is pregnant into you are both cheating on each other. Nice work, Carmel. Now get out!”

“Not so fast Miller!” She says, handing me the letters back and touches the wound on my stomach. “That looks nasty. How’d it happen?”

“Why do you want to know, so you can spread it across the front page?” I know I also have fading bruises on my body.

“Is it newsworthy?”

“No, but I’m sure you’d print it anyway.”

“Come on, Mike. I thought we were buddies, you know?”

“Maybe she can’t control her temper.” I admit.

“Eve?” Fleur questions quietly, looking surprised. She surveys my body again.

“Stop looking at me like that.” I go over to where my clothes are and a put a t-shirt on.

“Are you okay?” She asks.

“Did I detect a hint of genuine concern for my welfare, Fleur?” I snap, not having forgotten that I don’t like her.

“Are you still mad at me for that assault story I ran last week?” She sighs.

“Why would I be mad?” I question, my voice thick with sarcasm and my body contorting unnaturally with concealed rage. “You only portrayed me as a brutal thug, but something like that well it’s not a big deal or anything, is it?”

“Someone else in the office had a source that painted things that way. My editor just put my story with his and you came out looking like public enemy number one. I can’t help that, Mike.”

“You’re words are poison!” I shout at her, my face twisted into a mask of fury. “I don’t care what your excuse is, you almost ruined my life!”

For the first time Fleur’s intense calm slips away and is replaced by genuine fear, as she takes a step away from me.

“I’m sorry.” She says, looking like she means it. “I’m really sorry Mike, okay?”

“It’s not okay!” I blast, feeling like smacking her. “I hate you. I don’t know why I even let you in here. You lied to me, you are just on a fishing expedition!”

Fleur stares at me guardedly in silence, her eyes flickering to the door behind me.

“Aren’t you?” I challenge her, still shouting. “Go on and deny it!”

“I think I should go.” Fleur whispers. “I have things to do.”

I stare at her in silence, my jaw clenched so tightly it’s starting to hurt. Yes, good god leave woman!

She inches round me, towards the door.

“I’d be interested to hear about what really happened that night sometime, how it started. But I know you don’t want to tell me.” Fleur says, her back to me.

I let out a deep, measured sigh. “Okay, it all started because Eve kicked off.”

Fleur turns, still looking at me guardedly. “Really?”

I don’t even know why I’m telling her this for. I run a hand through my hair and try to control my breathing. “Some chick came onto me and Eve saw me smiling at her or something and just hit the roof. This chick lets Eve have it right back, saying she can’t talk to me like that.”

“She was defending you?” There is surprise in her voice.

“Yeah. I was there with Ryan Acle and we tried to separate the girls at the same time club security appeared. I don’t know what the hell happened, but in the ensuing tussle I ended up giving this girl a hard elbow in the face.” I frown at Fleur, but the anger lingering on my face twists it into a hostile glare. “You made it look like I hit her for fighting with my girlfriend, Fleur. Do you have any idea what I have been through because of you?”

“I can only say I’m sorry so many times.” She licks her lips nervously, her hand resting on the door handle.

“Well say it again, I like hearing it.” I growl, my attempts to calm down having failed.

“I’m sorry, Mike.” She says. “I owe you.”

“Damn right you do!” I shout at her. “I felt bad enough about breaking Kelly’s face, without getting crucified by the media for it.”

“So Eve’s got a temper, huh?” Fleur murmurs thoughtfully, as she pulls open the door.

I follow her to the gate, to make sure she doesn’t detour.

Her eyes keep flickering nervously in my direction as she signs out. She silently hands over her visitors pass before walking away.

I wordlessly turn around and go back to my trailer. Well that could have gone better. I can’t believe the nerve of that woman. And I can’t wait to get out of here!

In my trailer I pick up my wallet and keys and cell phone. There are a few messages on my cell, but I can’t be bothered to look right now.

I put my shades on and head out to the parking lot, where I climb into my rental car. I turn on the radio and head towards Jen and Sam’s place.

I instantly recognise the opening guitar riffs to Snow Patrol’s Run playing on the radio.

“I’ll sing it one last time for you and then we really have to go.” The lead singer croons. “You’ve been the only thing that’s right in all I’ve done.”

I remember the first time I ever heard this song. I was with Chrissie. We’ve always only been friends, but something about that moment felt so special to me and I’ve never forgotten it. But I doubt she feels the same.

“And I can barely look at you but every single time I do, I know we’ll make it anywhere away from here.”

Just thinking about Chrissie’s pretty face and the happy sparkle in her eyes makes me miss her like mad.

“Light up light up as if you have a choice, even if you cannot hear my voice I’ll be right beside you dear.”

I should not have talked to Fleur. I may have known her since before I made it big, but she is still a reporter. God knows what will end up in the paper tomorrow!

“Louder, louder and we’ll run for our lives. I can hardly speak I understand why you can’t raise your voice to say.”

Journalists are dangerous. Tell them one thing and they will twist it to sound like something else. I am always reading shit about myself these days that is news to me.

“To think I might not see those eyes makes it so hard not to cry and as we say our long goodbyes, I nearly do.”

I almost miss being a mechanic. At least back then I wasn’t news.

“Light up light up as if you have a choice, even if you cannot hear my voice I’ll be right beside you dear.”

Nobody cared what I did and girls weren’t crawling out of the woodwork to claim sexual flings that never happened. Some people will do anything to get their five minutes.