Love Unscripted (22 page)

“
There was something on the news last night about some girls getting arrested? I was so worried about you!” I couldn’t control the magnitude of my concern.

“
Why didn’t you
call
me then?” he asked.

I didn’t answer right away. I thought about what I was going to say. “Ryan, I don’t want to bother you. You have enough to deal with.”

“
Huh. Taryn, you can call me anytime you want. Don’t
ever
feel like you’re bothering me. Just so you know, I turn my phone off when I’m filming, but as soon as I see I missed your call I’ll call you back.”

I shook my head in silence. Every time I initiated the telephone calls with guys in the past, eventually they would make me feel like I was pestering or smothering them. I had heard the words “I just need some space” mentioned before, and it was pretty much a guarantee that they would end up running in the opposite direction after that. Ryan would be leaving soon enough; I didn’t want to give him one more reason to run faster.

“
Taryn, are you still there?” He sounded annoyed.

“
Yes, I’m still here.”

“
You didn’t answer my question,” he stated directly. “Are you
afraid
to call me?”

“
I can’t,” I whispered. My reply was so truthful on many levels.

“
What do you mean
you can’t
?”

“
I don’t have your number.” I hoped my lie sounded convincing.

“
You’re a bad liar, you know that? Good thing you’re not an actress, ‘cause you’d be out of work.” He chuckled. “My number has been on every text I sent you. Huh, this is so strange. People I don’t want to talk to call me all the time but the one person I really want to hear from is afraid to call me. The next time I see you, I’m going to program your phone. I may even put in my own ringtone just to irritate you.”

“
Is that a threat or a promise?” I tried to lighten the conversation.

“
Oh, that’s definitely a promise! Then you won’t have any excuses,” he snickered. “So let’s practice today, shall we? I have to work the entire day. I’m scheduled to shoot until eleven o’clock but I have a dinner break around seven. I expect to hear my phone ring sometime between seven and seven thirty. That gives you a half hour window of flexibility to call at your convenience. Now, answer this question truthfully. Do you still have my text messages or did you delete them all?”

“
No, I still have them.” I smiled.

“
Then you, sweetheart, have no excuse… unless you just don’t want to talk to me? Shit, I didn’t consider that, but now that I’m thinking about it, I guess I should ask. Do
you
want to see me or not?”

I want to see you more than you could ever imagine.
I took a deep breath.
Keep it light, Taryn.

“
We’re friends, right? Why wouldn’t I want to see you?”

“
Phew,” he breathed. “That’s a relief. Good, so um, what did the news report have to say about what happened on set?”

“
The reporter said that the police had to remove a hundred or so fans from the set and two women were arrested. Apparently one of them threatened Suzanne? Were you there when it happened?”

“
Yeah, I was. We were shooting a scene on the beach but I was watching the playback reel when it happened. I heard someone yelling, but I had headphones on so I didn’t hear what was said.”

“
The news didn’t mention what was said either. Just that the one girl yelled some obscenities and threats at Suzanne. They showed footage of the two girls that were arrested.”

“
You’re kidding me?” Ryan groaned.

“
I hope you have extra security on hand, because some of these fans are terrifying,” I urged. “Wanting pictures and autographs is one thing, but death threats are completely another.”

“
Yeah, I was told last night that there would be additional private security brought in while we’re here.” I could hear the anger enter into his tone. There was a loud rap on his door. “Hang on,” I heard him shout out.

“
Tar – I got to go. Are you going to call me tonight?”

“
Yes. During your dinner break. I promise.”

I was too awake to try to go back to sleep. The sound of his voice had already stimulated my blood. I wandered out to the living room, sat down at my desk, and turned my laptop on. I had to reconcile the cash register receipts and enter it into my log.

My e-mail was filled again with thirty new messages, mostly from Uncle Al, who recently got his first computer after fifty-five years. Between him and a few other relatives, they were trying to corner the market on bad e-mail jokes.

There was one new message from Marie, with a tempting subject line: “Ryan in
Seaside
.”

“
You should watch this. This is one of the best scenes from his movie. And since you haven’t seen it yet, you should at least know how good of an actor he is. This is why all the girls want him.”

Inside was a link to a website to watch a video.s

My index finger hovered over my mouse.
Do I want to see this or not?
My finger had a mind of its own and it clicked the button.

The video loaded. Ryan was lurking around some dark hallways in what appeared to be a dismal castle. He had a large, silver gun in his hand with one of those silencer attachments; his gun was raised and ready to fire. Suzanne was wearing some tattered clothes and she was pressed to his side as they slid down the dark wall. It was apparent that he was protecting her.

“
I think they’re all gone,” Ryan said. “Gwen, what were you thinking coming here?”

Suzanne gazed up seductively into his eyes.

“
How can I protect you? Tell me!” Ryan begged urgently.

“
Just love me Charles,” Suzanne whispered.

He pressed her against the wall and kissed her passionately. The vision of him kissing another woman made me wince. She pushed him back, shoving him into the opposing wall while still kissing him.

Ryan’s kiss was hungry. “If you love me like you say you do, you’ll stay alive for me,” he breathed out.

It was hard to watch him like this. It wasn’t him… it wasn’t the same man who made toast for me or felt my forehead. I struggled with the thought of seeing Ryan this way.

I had seen plenty of movies over the years and the skill of the actors portraying the different characters was so amazing that you didn’t realize that you were watching “acting.” But every person who has ever been in a movie is still, at the end of the day, someone’s son or daughter, a husband or a wife, a lover, a sister, a mother or father.

There was no denying that Ryan was extremely good looking and the character he portrayed on the screen was definitely sexy and appealing. But the character was make-believe. Charles didn’t exist. He was created on paper and scripted to be alive. Ryan gave him life, but Ryan was not Charles.

Ryan was a guy from Pittsburgh who chewed on his fingernails and cared enough to prevent me from taking an aspirin. That was the man I was falling for.

I made good on my promise to call him.

“
Good evening, Mr. Christensen,” I whispered seductively in the phone. “This is Stacy from Housekeeping with your seven p.m. wake up call.” I figured I would mess with him.

“
Well, hello Stacy,” he snickered lightly. “Thank you for being prompt.”

“
Of course, sir. The management would like to know if you are enjoying your dinner this evening.”

“
Hmm, well I can think of a few things that would improve the ambiance. Perhaps you could put your manager on the line so I can complain.”

“
Sure, one moment please…” I tried to change my sultry voice. “Hello, this is Megan, the night manager. I understand that you’re very unhappy?”

“
Hello, Megan. By the way, I really like this game. Yes, I am very unhappy. I’d like to know what you intend to do about it?”

“
We could give you a cash refund or if you’d prefer we could extend some complementary poker chips to you?”

“
Er, not acceptable. What else are you offering?”

“
We are hosting an all-you-can-eat steak dinner this Sunday. Would you like a complementary ticket?”

“
I already have one. What else do you have?” he inquired.

“
Did I mention that the dinner comes along with front row seats to Sunday’s game between the Steelers and the Giants?”

“
Yes, and I’m looking forward to that!” he stated with much enthusiasm. “But I’m unhappy
now
!” The whining in his voice was amusing.

“
Well, sir, since your happiness is our number one priority, why don’t you tell me what would make you happy.” I was momentarily relieved to lob the ball onto his side of the court.

“
I can only think of one thing that would make me happy right now, and I don’t believe that some girl named Megan could satisfy that. You wouldn’t happen to have any Taryns there on staff, do you?” he asked.

I smiled. “Maybe!”

“
You really know how to make my day. Do you know that?” he asked. “I was not in the best of moods right before you called. Now I’m having a hard time remembering why I was in a bad mood at all.”

“
I’m glad. You want to talk about it?” I asked.

“
Ah, I’m just a little stressed. It’s been a long day. I’d like to leave here and relax on your couch but I can’t. Especially since the weather is pretty decent outside, we can get some additional night shots done. And I really just want to wash this crap off my face too!” he complained.

“
What crap?”

“
I have some stuff on to make it look like I have a cut lip. It itches. I really want to scratch it off.”

“
I’d like to see that. Were you supposed to be in a fight or something?” I asked. I was trying to imagine what he looked like.

“
Do you want me to send you a picture? I can take one if you’re that curious.”

“
Heck yeah! Is it just supposed to look like a cut or do you look like that idiot who didn’t run away from the lit dynamite?”

“
No!” He laughed. “I was in a fist fight. You should see the other guy.”

“
Did you pummel him?” I was trying to picture Ryan fighting with someone.

“
Let’s just say two of them won’t be bothering me anymore.”

“
That sounds like a movie line.” I chuckled.

“
It is,” he said amusingly. “Can you name the movie it’s from?”

I thought about his statement for a moment. He even repeated the line for me a second time and gave me another hint.

“
True Lies!” I answered enthusiastically, catching the inflection in his voice. “Bill Paxton says that to Jami Lee Curtis when he takes credit for killing those guys in the mall bathroom.”

“
I can’t believe you got that one!” He sounded proud. “So why is it that you know other movies by heart but you haven’t seen any of my movies yet?”

I was surprised he even asked me that question. “How will you ever know if I like Charles or just some guy named Ryan? Isn’t it better this way?”

“
Hah. You’re right. From now on you are hereby banned from seeing any of my movies.”

I knew he was kidding, but at the same time visions of me not being invited to any premiers flashed through my mind. I didn’t want the fame or the red carpet; I just wanted to be by his side, holding his hand, loving him, and being proud of his accomplishments – whatever they might be.

Once again I was setting my hopes up for nothing, longing for a relationship that could never be. His inevitable departure date was still looming.

“
Listen, Ryan, I have to go. Marie is all by herself behind the bar and we’re kind of busy. It was nice talking to you.” I had the sudden urge to flee.

“
Okay. Um, I guess I’ll talk to you later then.”

I don’t think I even said goodbye. I shoved my phone into the front pocket of my jeans and hurried back behind the bar. The sooner I could get distracted the better. I kept slipping up over and over again, letting my guard down with him and allowing myself to swim in dangerous waters.

A few minutes passed and my cell phone buzzed again. I opened the picture Ryan sent; he had a funny expression on his face while pointing to his fake cut lip. I couldn’t help but laugh.

I tried to convince myself that I wouldn’t get hurt if I kept this thing with him strictly platonic, but to do so I’d have to make sure that I didn’t let him touch me anymore. No more holding hands, or running my fingers through his soft hair, staring into his eyes. Hugging… that was dangerous too. Anything that involved physical contact must be off-limits. I even tried to force myself to have a dream where we were only friends, playing a game of softball with us on the Mitchell’s Pub team, but even my subconscious betrayed me.

The following day I tried to banish the lingering memories of the hot and steamy dream I did have about him, where I tore the baseball uniform off his body…