CHAPTER SIXTY TWO

look at me

cleaver park: the place where my first ever date was supposed to be, where i was ghosted, and now where the last scene of my first film was being shot. it was kind of a full-circle moment since the scene involved me kissing my real boyfriend -- who, contrary to a ghost, i could actually see, tangibly kiss, and who had a lovely, beating heart.

it also involved strategic timing and fervent prayers to zeus that the rain would arrive with just the right amount of aggression and only once we were ready. luckily, after the pre-rain lines were delivered, we were able to capture aurora reacting to the first few drops exactly as it was written. for a second, i wondered if maeve had the power to direct the sky.

walker and i practiced our next lines while maeve busied herself preparing her navy umbrella hat. she had sacrificed all hope of looking remotely normal for practicality, a choice i respected. after all, she lacked the luxury of waterproof headphones to monitor our dialogue through the sturdy, rain-resistant lavalier mics.

the first few drops began to transform into the cinematic downpour we were looking for. the relentlessness of it brought me back to the time we ran through the storm. and it was almost as loud as the storm, but the way we had to raise our voices a notch made the scene all the more dramatic.

we reached the last planned take. maeve and i had decided earlier to have the rest of the scene be handheld and uncut, and practiced how the camera would follow the subjects earlier. our characters were so tightly in front of the other that maeve could easily maneuver the close ups to fit our intentionally disorderly vision.

"there's nowhere for us to go under," said aurora in an uneasy revelation as she scanned the open park.

"we're already drenched, and it's just rain. might as well keep walking." the scene took place a couple weeks after the party, where caleb and aurora had already developed feelings for the other.

"i'm freezing!" she pulled her soaked cardigan around herself further.

"but you're not drowning! you'll survive," caleb teased.

aurora sighed reluctantly. "alright. i guess we should be used to things not going according to plan."

he laughed, starting to walk again. "that party couldn't have gone further off course."

"understatement of the century. you really know how to make an impression, huh?"

"not always a good one, but yeah."

they walked in silence for a while, the rain pattering softly against the gravel path. aurora's hair stuck to her face and caleb's footsteps slowed until he stopped entirely, staring down at the ground.

"i don't remember if i said this at the party," he began, his voice slightly unsure, "but you were right. about everything."

"you told me i was right multiple times." aurora stopped too, turning to face him. "so you're going to have to be a little more specific."

caleb looked up, his expression almost sheepish. "about emily. about trying so hard to be someone i'm not... all of it."

"i mean, yeah. but it still didn't work out how you wanted it to."

caleb shrugged. "i dunno... i think it did."

"how is that possible," aurora chuckled.

"well, i thought emily was going to be the solution to all my problems. turns out she starts a lot of problems," he said, jabbing at the fact that aurora was emily's ex-friend, "and i was into the wrong person. so, when i met you...i just never realized how right someone could be."

"you're really inflating my ego right now." she smiled.

"i'm just giving you some of mine."

whether it was the rain making it difficult to look up without getting a raindrop in her eye, or it was how nervous she was all of the sudden, she couldn't seem to lift her bowed head, watching the shoes beneath filling up with water.

there was a pause, caleb mustering up the courage to say what he said next. "but, aurora, you're right again. you are that someone. you are right...well, for me."

this got her attention, her head shooting up. "so you're saying..." her voice trailed off and she stepped closer.

he nodded, and that was when walker and i got to show off our practice. our characters leaned in slowly and the kiss wasn't rushed either, but still filled with an urgency neither of them had expected; it was giving them permission to stop pretending and holding back. and it didn't take long for the kiss to deepen. caleb's hands moved from his pocket to her waist like we had rehearsed, somehow pulling her in a little more.

i tried to imagine how the music would be swelling and where the camera was discussed to be at this point -- maeve was stepping back and zooming out slowly, concluding the film.

eventually, the distant sound of "cut!" being called out reached my ears, prompting walker and i to pull away. the rain continued to pour, but we both stayed there for just a second longer, feeling the weight of what we'd just done, both in the final scene and in that moment.

"that was perfect," i told him, still comfortably in his hands.

he just stared at me, and for some reason, i found that his gaze held a feeling the same color as his eyes. "it really was perfect," he said softly. what followed was him pulling me into a hug.

i hesitantly wrapped my arms around him in reciprocation, but before i could inquire about the sensed sadness, our camerawoman joined in on the hug. "can you believe we're done?" she asked while giving us some relief from the rain via her hat.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

we had walked maeve to her nearby house by the time the sky was pitch black and the rain's aggression had shrunk significantly. that meant that the streets were quieter now, so my rambling about how editing was going to go was easily heard in the damp night.

when we finally reached my house, the glow from the porch light casting a warm halo on the wet ground, walker paused beside me. "goodnight," he said.

i looked at the door, then back at him, feeling a tug i couldn't ignore. "hey, walker? could you stay for a while longer?"

"yeah, sure," he responded right away.

the roof of my porch served as a shield from the rest of the night's rain. i sat down on a dry chair, and walker pulled another one next to me. we just watched the raindrops fall for a moment, until i said, "all that build up and now it's over."

"hey, the process was worth it, though. it was super fun. we made a ton of memories."

"that's just it. i don't want it to be all memories," i said softly, then giggled. "i'm not holding you hostage anymore! you can go back into the world."

"that is only if our plan works and my parents let me go back early," walker said seriously.

i turned to face him now and forced myself to be direct. "i have this weird feeling it will work out. for your career, not for us."

"me too," he mumbled.

great. this is the one situation where i wanted him not to feel the same way. because time was still moving like a bullet, and i just had to hope it wasn't headed straight into my heart.

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thank you for reading chapter 62!