No Direction

The waiting irritated him which now resorted to him opening another can of 7up. This was a huge film and they served him 7up! Another thing which pissed his off about this film. He looked at the picture of his daughter on the table in front of him, the frame was made out of paper kisses she made. The brimming cheek to cheek smile on her face, the short black hair her mother brainwashed her into having, standing in a go kart racers jacket. That was her favourite day, when she won the go-karting. The twinkle in his blue middle aged, but still full of youth eyes was one of the things which made it clear his daughter got him through film sets.

His long six foot four frame sat in the make up chair, fed up. His mind was thinking about what shorts to buy for the holiday he was planning as soon as the movie was over. The make up artist was combing his unbleached light blonde hair in the style of a woman's: straight and reaching the shoulders, as he was playing a 1970's art teacher whom was confused with his sexuality. The make up artist frowned too much, her name was Fire, that was actually her name. She was too angry, moving heavy handedly and had piercings in almost ever part of her face. This annoyed him. He sipped his 7up and the ****ing lemon taste was so familiar he thought about crushing the can in one hand.

His name was Xavier and he stood up. Fire was already onto her Iphone flicking through her latest match suggestions on a dating site, and as usual, no offers. Xavier swore he saw Fire rip one of the piercings from her face out of anger... he looked again and he was right! She did! His costume: slim straw trousers, simple shirt which fitted him too well and brown loafers without any socks. Xavier was meditating almost, his eyes were closed, he was performing his ritual of getting into character. His South American rugged face stood tall above his well balanced shoulders. The young production assistant ran up the stairs too eagerly and fell over on the last step and then all the way to the bottom. Eventually he made it back up the steps, rubbing his anorexic like frame and telling Xavier he was needed for set. Xavier liked this boy, to him being forty seven and a professional actor for over thirty years, the boy was like any good ambitious runner starting out: eager, Duracell battery energy, tell them to be a slave for the day and they would probably take it as a compliment.

The set was a library and the film crew were everywhere. The lighting crew finished setting up the lights, turned them on and the set shone bright. Rocco, another actor, was standing around preparing himself for the scene and going over the lines in his head. He was like Xavier: South American and tall, but with the more traditional features such as his brown hair and eyes. Xavier was rare: a South American with European blue eyes and blonde hair. When Xavier arrived on set, they caught each others eye and for the briefest of moments each of them spat blood at the other. They didn't talk to each other at all. Xavier sat in the chair he was going to act in and kept the image of his daughter in his mind "I will see you soon baby, I will see you soon baby" he repeated in his head. Not only was the film business nothing more than a pay cheque to him these days, he had to put up with pretentious jumped up actors like Rocco.

Cat arrived flamboyantly onto set. She was as skinny as a garden rake, middle aged like Xavier and Rocco with electric blue hair which was a part of her character. She was American, the accent annoyingly too American and proud and her attitude was as a disaster.The runner boy leaped to her with a cup of tea, it was obvious he fancied her and Xavier watched him do this. Xavier thought he looked like one of those too excited puppies jumping to the occasion, and thought if he wanted to climb the film profession ladder he should stop becoming star struck like a member of public. Cat was forty five minutes late and she went to her position on set like she arrived early. Fire touched up Cat's face heavy handedly. By this time she had covered up the bleeding on her own face from the piercing she pulled earlier. It made Xavier laugh at the thought of Fire having no more piercings left by lunch time. Xavier huffed as Cat was jabbering away at his brain about being underpaid for the film and Xavier felt like telling her to shut up.

As difficult as it was for Xavier and Rocco to be in a ten mile radius from each other, when all three actors were sat ready to begin work, they put their differences aside. All of them were playing teachers: Cat a drifting slut who couldn't grow up, Rocco the married man whom became bored and Xavier the recently bi-curious. The scene was a discussion about students work. Xavier's character had a suspicion the other two were ****ing and it made him envious because he couldn't choose which one he wanted, he became bitter and jealous. It was deep bitterness too, like how he generally felt about this film. However he thought about his daughter to stay happy and the way she cursed at people who told her she couldn't accomplish certain things. That thought made him smile.

The director was once Hollywood's dearest, but now a somewhat has been and this film was his last chance at a comeback. Another middle aged person, named Matti from Finland but brought up in LA. He was like any other established film director with a signature look: his was a plain shirt with the sleeves rolled up. He liked to dress smart, but with a bit of edge. He had a large and long full set of hair blonde hair (a bit like Xavier's) his features that of a teenage boy. It was like his development as a person refused to age. He was talking to his camera crew with assertiveness, but with a hint of uncertainness like this film being his last chance saloon worried his mind constantly. The fact he knew Xavier and Rocco didn't get on because Xavier was jealous of Rocco for having the lead role (that was the truth) and Cat was notorious for being a diva, didn't make his mind rest any better.

Matti shouted "action" and the actors began work. It was Cat who was the centre of the action talking about which students had promise of getting into Harvard, Princeton etc. The supporting role of a librarian who wore glasses that were too big for his face and got a power trip off being recently promoted as the supervisor, every now and again said "sssssh" for comedy. Rocco's character agreed with everything Cat said. By this time in the film they had had a steamy encounter, but hadn't kissed yet, he was preparing his move. Meanwhile Xavier's character was fantasising about Cat, and at the same time fantasising about getting love letters from Rocco's.

Xavier and Rocco continued to remain professional as the scene progressed. The way they were able to completely shut off a part of their brains which hated the other whist they were in character showed their experience. Until... Rocco touched Cat's leg, which was a part of the script. And then started kissing her, which wasn't apart of the script!! Matti shouted "CUT." Cat jumped up like the world had ended, shouting theatrically like she was performing for an Oscar, but forgot enthusiasm wasn't just about shouting loudly. She stormed off set, probably to have a quick sex break with a producer. Xavier and Rocco were at each others throats, close to throwing punches. Xavier had a decent argument against Rocco this time, but Rocco repeatedly said the kiss would be more realistic, more beautiful. Not only was that such a European thing to say, Rocco was one of the most stubborn people Xavier had ever met.

Matti was close to tears, he was like a baby in some ways. Instead of getting a grip on his movie, he felt sorry for himself. Momentarily he let his first assistant director sort the problems out by barking at everybody like a dog you wanted to tame but couldn't, whilst Matti had a few minutes to tug on a cigarette in the corner of the library. His energy was heading him towards failure, he felt the desperation eating away at every bone in his body, his comeback movie seemed on it's way down. His head hung to the floor, the cigarette smoking into the butt.

In the make up room the yelling carried on between Xavier and Rocco. Cat appeared somewhat mysteriously from a room no-one really used and tried to blend in. Another head popped out of the room a few seconds later like a jack in the box checking if the coast was clear. Eventually Matti arrived with the aid of his colleagues and producers of course, and as a team, brought the actors together. Fire watched on with intrigue, it was the best bit of action she saw all day as she finally found people on set angrier than she was. She still hadn't had any match offers on her dating site yet and it was almost lunch time.

Xavier grabbed himself another ****ing 7up because he had no other choice. He drank it in one go and then picked up the picture of his daughter which gave him a feeling of hope. His phone rang and it was her! She called to ask how his day was and that she told her teacher to kiss her cute little white *** for saying she would only manage a 'C' on her geography assignment and she ended up getting an 'A'. This completely made Xavier's day and thought "that's my girl."

When everything calmed down Matti let his colleagues do the talking. The actors saw this as severely cowardly and their respect for him sunk. Matti did manage to say a few things though; they were all agreeing words like "OK" after his first assistant director spoke. If a parrot were a human, blonde and from Finland it would be Matti thought Xavier. However by that point Xavier's mind was made up and he had just about enough of the whole film circus.

Xavier's daughter waited with her suitcase and bag, sitting in her go-karting jacket. Her all black hair had been even more cropped. Her Brazilian mother waited next to her with exactly the same hair cut, they were like mini and mini me, identical except in years. Her mother was very protective over that hair cut, she combed her daughters hair like it was a work of art. Xavier pulled up in his yellow Ferrari. Melaka (daughters name) jumped up and ran to the car... passing Xavier and sat at the wheel pretending to drive. Xavier didn't know why she loved cars so much, but thought it was cute.

The ex partners had a moment to talk about things, which kicked off with small talk and then progressed to Xavier looking after Melaka on the holiday he was taking her too. The mother looked great for pushing fifty: the Brazilian sass to her sex appeal as hot as it were at her sweet sixteenth, the smile so bright and eternal it didn't show a sign of a crack, the fit body it was still made for a man's sins. She told Xavier to look after their baby and to have a good time in Miami. Xavier gave her a kiss on the cheek. She always despised the Hollywood world and at that moment Xavier felt the same. He didn't miss not turning up for work that day, he'd rather spend it with Melaka in Miami for three weeks.

On set Matti was actually crying and to the film crews horror they thought it was, inappropriate. The producers were jabbering frantically into their phones trying to find out where the hell the three actors were. Other producers were on the phone in a state of life or death trying to find replacements, fearing the worst and being proactive at the same time. It was a disaster, there was a whole film crew but the actors! It seemed they had had enough of each other and not turned up. The runner boy was sitting saddened and dejected at the thought of possibly leaving it too late to give Cat his mobile number, as that was the day he was going to ask her out.

As it was approaching the two hour mark when shooting should have started. One producer asked Matti what they should do and Matti said he needed a few minutes to clear his head. So he went outside. And never came back.

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