This series was a nightmare. It was one of his biggest successes, yet he felt he was being paid too little for all the troubles he got into.
The action scenes were cruel - he always used a double even if he preferred to do it on his own -, the wig he had to wear was itching like crazy, the costume was too tight and too warm for freaking July, and Camilla was still winking at him at every chance.
He wished they wouldn't get a renewal. But he wasn't going to be that lucky.
He was trying to cool down in his trailer when Lexi entered. Christmas popped up behind her - like a duckling behind mama goose.
She did everything to avoid his gaze. And for some peculiar reason, he did the same.
"Luca, production asked me to bring you this," Lexi said, handing him a cooling vest.
"Finally… I was thinking they believe I can work without melting."
He took the vest and its temperature was perfect. So refreshing! He clutched it without a second thought.
"Get a room buddy…" Lexi mocked him.
"You wouldn't understand my feelings for this equipment even if I explained them to you," Luca replied.
It was a spontaneous response, the type of sibling banter he shared with Lexi. Yet, something felt off.
There was someone else with them.
The girl whose eyes were fixed on the floor.
He frowned, unsure why the absence of her laughter bothered him at all.
He cleared his throat and set the vest on the sofa.
"When do I have to be ready?" he asked.
"Ten minutes they said," Lexi informed him.
Her phone started buzzing. "Hello?" she said, opening the door and walking out of the trailer.
Where is she going? Why is she leaving me alone with… her?
His eyes were darting around. Anywhere but Christmas.
He couldn't resist though. He had to see what she was doing. Was she about to attack him? This was what she threatened to do, right?
If she had seen something that night she was going to use it now.
He slowly raised his gaze and looked at her. She was looking the other way, all to the right, the inside of the trailer, where the changing area was.
"There is nothing interesting there. Just costumes. You won't find anything," Luca said.
"I'm not looking for anything," she replied, her voice flat and drained. It wasn't what he was used to.
"Are you sick?" he asked.
"What?"
She turned to face him, annoyed and alive again. Her eyes finally met his. There she was!
"You seem ill," he said, trying to make sense of the bizarre question he couldn't stop himself from asking.
"I'm not ill," she replied but her gaze shifted again to the floor.
What's wrong with her?
Maybe he shouldn't be curious about that.
"I have to change. Please tell Lexi to wait for me outside," Luca said. "Well, that goes for you too!" he added in a beat.
He definitely didn't want her in the trailer while he was dressing! He had to make it clear.
"Of course," she replied and turned around.
"Good girl," he said casually.
It must have been a trigger.
She glanced over her shoulder with a murderous look on her face.
Was she now to attack him?
No. She just walked out. The sound of the door slamming made him blink.
Is she slamming doors now?
He undressed and put on the vest. It was so cool, that was the only kind of hug he needed at that moment.
When he exited the trailer, his dear associates were nowhere to be seen.
Good help is so hard to find these days!
_________________________
In the evening he was expecting Noah to drop by his house. His dear friend made time for a visit! He should write down the date and honor the anniversary.
The cooling vest did an excellent job and he didn't pass out. He had to change vest in the middle of the shooting. That second time, it was Christmas who brought him the new one.
She was as before. Distant, professional, a different intern from the one who had said that she had tricks and was ready to use them.
Maybe she had accepted defeat. That was a good thing, right?
The doorbell rang.
"Finally... You're late! As always," Luca complained the moment he opened the door.
"Fashionably late is the term. It works when you have the looks to back it up," Noah replied. As if he were in his own apartment, he headed straight for the fridge to grab a beer.
"I'm not interested. Save that charm for your fangirls," Luca shot back, joining his friend and taking a beer as well.
"I only have a few nowadays. I lost most of them when I left the band. Do you remember the desperate messages on our social media back then? I was the soul of Prime 5," Noah said.
He moved to the living room and sprawled on the sofa, stretching like a contented cat.
"You wish you were. If you remember, we kept going for a whole year after you left, always in the top 5!" Luca defended his past, sinking into the opposite couch.
"Exactly. Only one year. That's how long they managed to deal with you without me as a buffer," Noah corrected him playfully.
"You know well what happened. So don't blame me," Luca said, his voice dropping an octave. He was his friend. He should never blame him for the brakeup.
"You should've contained yourself. Business and women don't mix," Noah advised, casually tossing the grenade.
"That was treason! The son of a bitch..." Luca growled, the old anger surfacing instantly.
"Women, women, women... They ruin our lives," Noah sighed, taking a sip of his beer.
"Is that why you don't keep them for long?" Luca asked.
"I don't keep them at all, to be precise. You know commitments aren't for me. I want to be flexible. I like people who don't expect too much," Noah explained.
"Mr. Charmer..." Luca scoffed.
"Collector, if you please. I am looking for rare gems," Noah said, his voice taking on a seductive, velvet tone.
Luca didn't reply. It wasn't the first time he'd heard this rationale. He didn't even bother asking who Noah was seeing; it was usually someone new every week.
He hoped that one day he would see Noah happy next to a girlfriend, smiling innocently like he had when they first met. But as they grew up, that boy had turned into a different man. Luca only saw a shadow of him now. To everyone else, Noah was just the cold, calculating PR manager.
"I missed a gem recently... A European gem," Noah continued, staring at the ceiling.
"Who?" Luca asked, mild curiosity in his tone.
"In my collection, I have English gems, Italian gems, Swedish gems, even Romanian gems. But I've never had a French gem," Noah mused.
French? Luca froze. He shook his head slightly as if to clear an obstruction from his ears. He must have misheard.
"What? She's not bad..." Noah said with a sinister, knowing smile.
Luca opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. He closed his lips and blinked rapidly. "Christmas?" he finally managed.
"Haven't met any other French girls lately, have we?" Noah confirmed.
Luca's ears began buzzing. A low-frequency warning signal. "You're joking. Obviously," he said, his grip on the beer bottle tightening.
"No. I did try to see where she stands," Noah said calmly.
Luca felt the heat rising to his head. He felt he could lose his grip at any second. "Of all the women in the world... Why her?" he asked, a look of pure disbelief carved on his face.
"Relax... She's definitely not interested. Anyway, she's too serious for me. It wouldn't be any fun even if she were," Noah replied, waving his hand dismissively.
That was not a good answer. No, no, no... He shouldn't be having this conversation.
"You know... You know I want her out, and you... hit on her?" Luca said, the words feeling awkward, foreign.
"It has nothing to do with you," Noah replied. He paused, then looked straight at Luca. "Or does it?"
"It does! Of course it does! I don't want my friend and PR manager making a move on my enemy!" he snapped. But even to his own ears, the excuse sounded thin.
"You could gain something from a possible relationship between me and her. Pillow talk is the best source of intel. Women are… unguarded in bed. I could learn her secrets. Also..." Noah began to explain, leaning forward.
Luca's heart was racing. He was breathing heavily, a visual glitch in his carefully controlled system. He couldn't stand to hear another word on the matter. The image of Noah and Christmas together made him sick.
"Stay away from her..." he commanded. The voice wasn't his stage voice. It was deep, dark, and absolute.
Noah stared at his friend, his playful expression vanishing. He looked shocked, then serious.
"Yes, sir. I had no further intentions anyway," he said softly.
"You are my only friend. Don't go around messing with things that are dangerous for me," Luca said, trying to steady his breathing.
Noah laughed, and that old, hidden-from-the-world smile appeared on his face. He had gotten his answer.
"It's all good, pal. I won't do anything to stress you out again," he replied, standing up. "Shall we play that new game you bought?"
Luca needed a moment. He needed to reboot. But slowly, silently, he stood up to get the console. He would need the distraction to pretend he had never heard any of this.
To pretend he didn't care. He almost believed it.