10

Anna put her arm around the younger woman and gave her a hug. "Hey, it's a foot in the door. I take it that, uh, Sophia doesn't know about..." She tilted her head in Ricardo's general direction.

"No," Laura said, shaking her head, "And I want to keep it that way for as long as I can."

"She would probably treat you better if she knew," Anna pointed out.

Laura rolled her eyes. "Ricky told me the same thing yesterday. But this is something I really want to do on my own, Anna. I need to."

"I know, chica," Anna said, smiling. "Why do you think I've kept quiet about who my cousin is?" Laura smiled back. It was good to know that Anna had made it on her own - maybe she really could do the same.

"Hey!" Ricardo barked, coming over to the trailer. He sounded gruff, but he winked at the two women in front of him. "Where's my star?"

"Right here, Ricardo, dear," Sophia said, stepping out of her trailer.

"Sophia! You look beautiful - come and sit in the light for me, so we can share you with the world," Ricardo said theatrically, offering his arm to the actress.

"That sounds like a lovely idea," Sophia replied, taking his arm.

As the director led her away, Laura looked at Anna and rolled her eyes again. Anna laughed. "Have fun! I'll be over at Stage B for a bit, then I'll come back to touch her up." "Thanks," Laura said wryly.

9

"Ms. Cornish?" Laura called, knocking once more. "Mr. Jarvis has called for places."

Inside her trailer, Sophia sat serenely as her personal make-up artist finished her work.

"Would you be a dear and tell that girl outside that I will be ready when I am ready?" Sophia asked the make-up artist, her voice almost too sweet.

"Of course," the woman replied, and stepped outside.

"Anna!" Laura jumped back as the door opened, surprised to see her cousin stepping out.

"She's in a mood today, Laura," the make-up artist warned after closing the door. "She's being really sweet..."

"Shit," Laura muttered. When Sophia started out sweet, things usually ended up being much worse than normal by the end of the day.

"Anyway, she's all made up, hair done, and she says she'll be ready when she's ready," Anna continued. "My stuff's still in there, so I'll just stick around until she comes out."

"Sure," Laura said, still somewhat distracted by thoughts of impending doom. "You aren't usually this late with her makeup - what's going on today?"

"I've got no idea," Anna replied. "All I know is taht Mikayla called me as soon as she was done Sophia's hair, and that was almost an hour later than usual. I've got no idea if it was Mikayla or Sophia getting in late, or if it was just a bad hair day."

Laura sighed. "Hopefully, it was just a slow morning."

8

As he walked away, Blake shook his head a bit. Sometimes, he felt a little guilty about leaving a girl hanging. However, if she couldn't pick up on the fact that he still didn't bother learning her name... well, she almost deserved it.

This intern thing, though, had caught Blake's attention. The girl didn't really give of an "I'm-sleeping-with-the-director" vibe, so it surprised him to hear that she was seen with him like that. He made a mental note to watch how the two of them acted - after all, food services girl didn't seem to be the brightest bulb, and it was entirely possible that she was wrong.

"Let's get rolling, people!" The director's voice interrupted Blake's musings, and the actor made his way over to his place, glancing around, trying to see where Laura was. He finally caught a glimpse of her over at Sophia's trailer, knocking on the door.

7

"That's her," the craft services girl whispered to Blake, pointing to Laura as she walked past.

"Really?" Blake asked.

"Really!" she replied. "I saw her last night, after we wrapped. She ran over and got into Mr. Jarvis's jeep - she put on some dark sunglasses and slouched down, like she was trying to hide, and he totally peeled out of here!"

"Really..." Blake said, this time sounding more thoughtful. The intern and the director? That was awfully cliche, but it did seem to happen all the time.

"Blake?" The craft services girl was looking at him, like she had just asked something.

"Sorry, baby, I missed that - what did you say?" He flashed her a smile, hoping it would keep her from getting upset with him.

"It's okay," she said, grinning. "I wanted to know if you were busy tonight?"

"Sorry, gorgeous, but something has come up," Blake told her, keeping his smile on. "I'll call you later, though."

"Okay," she said, giving a little giggle as he got up and left the cart.

As he walked away, Blake shook his head just a little. Sometimes, he felt a little guilty about leaving a girl hanging. However, if she couldn't pick up on the fact that he still didn't bother learning her name... well, she almost deserved it.

6

Laura waited until his door was shut, then breathed a sigh of relief. This job was way more stressful than she had expected it to be! Between Sophia's little fits and Blake's teasing, Laura was constantly on edge, waiting to see who was going to catch her by surprise next. After taking a moment to compose herself, Laura headed off in search of the director.

Ricardo was almost all the way to his car when Laura spotted him. She picked up her pace and arrived at the vehicle just as he put his hand on the handle.

"Laura!" he said, surprised. He hadn't heard her approach, although that didn't surprise him - he had been lost in though, trying to come up with some way to handle his two stars. He quickly looked around to see if anyone was watching, but it seemed that the coast was clear.

"Get in, and keep your head down," he told her, climbing into the red Jeep. Laura hurried to the other side and climbed in, pulling on a pair of sunglasses from her bag and sitting low in the seat. Ricardo fired up the engine and pulled out of the lot before he glanced over at Laura again.

"So what's up? I thought you wanted to avoid being seen together," he said.

"It's just been a bad day, Ricky, and I wanted to talk to you," Laura said with a sigh. "Between Sophia's sulking and Blake laughing at me... it's just sucked."

"I told you about Sophia before you started," Ricardo said. "I knew it would be hard to deal with - but you insisted that you could handle it."

"I didn't come here to have you say 'I told you so,'" Laura pouted. "And I can handle it. Usually. It was just today."

"You can always quit... I'm sure I could find someone else -"

"No! Ricky, please - I can do it! And if I can get through this, I can work anywhere in the business." She looked at him, her expression fierce.

Ricardo chuckled. "I know you can, kiddo. Don't worry, every day can't be this bad. Of course, it could be much better for you..."

Laura sighed as Ricardo trailed off. "I want to do this on my own, Ricky; I want to actually earn my respect, not just have people being nice to me because of you."

"I'm just saying, it's handy to know the director," he said with a shrug.

"Nepotism is not the way - I don't want to just be Ricardo's baby sister."

"So you'll just be 'that intern over there,'" he said, raising an eyebrow at her.

Laura sighed. "For now."

5

Laura did her best to keep her expression neutral until Sophia was inside the trailer. Laura shut the door gently, then stuck her tongue out at it - childish, yes, but it made her feel a bit better.

"Nice," said a voice from behind her. Laura spun around, mortified at the idea that someone had just seen that.

"Mr. Herrington!" she managed to squeak out, her cheeks growing red. "I, um... that is, it wasn't what it looked like..."

Blake grinned. "Oh?" he said, his tone playful. "You mean you didn't just -"

He stopped mid-sentence and laughed at the expression on the intern's face. It was clear that she was terrified that Sophia would hear him. Her eyes were wide and her cheeks had gone from bright red to ghostly white.

"Don't worry," he told her with a wink. "Your secret is safe with me." With that, he turned around and opened the door of his own trailer, disappearing inside.

Laura waited until his door was shut, then breathed a sigh of relief. This job was way more stressful than she had expected it to be!

4

"Really? Just to see me?" Sophia asked, suddenly looking sweet and innocent, every trace of irritation gone from her face.

"Just to see you," Blake repeated. He leaned in again, wrapping his arm around her. "Seeing you makes my day a bit brighter." He slid his hand down her arm, but left it on her elbow this time.

"You know," he said softly, "I'd really like to see you again... on purpose..."

She blushed and looked down, then laid her hand gently on top of his. "I'd like that," she said, looking up to meet his eyes.

Blake lifted his free hand and ran the backs of his fingers along Sophia's jaw, then gently turned her face towards him. Her gaze flickered between his eyes and his lips, her cheeks flushing with anticipation. Slowly, he brought his mouth towards hers.

Her eyes closed as their lips met, and after just a moment, Sophia lifted her hand to Blake's cheek.

"And cut!" Ricardo called out. "Beautiful! That's a wrap for today - we're out of light, so go home and get some rest."

Blake slowly pulled away from Sophia, still caught up in his character. It didn't take him long to drop it, though, and he nearly jumped up from the bench. "See ya tomorrow," he said with a grin as he started back towards the craft services cart.

Sophia blinked as Blake leapt up, once again irritated at how dismissive he was being. Taking great pains to keep from looking as irate as she felt, Sophia rose and walked back to her trailer, snapping her fingers at Laura when she saw that the door was closed. The intern barely hid her exasperation as she opened it, and Sophia frowned at her - the girl had a lot left to learn.