Away From the Spotlight (27 page)

“Have you
ever done anything like that?”

“Oh, that’s right, you only saw
Midnight 1
.”

I was embarrassed to realize that I hadn’t taken the time to watch a
ny
of Will’s movies
other than
Midnight 1
. 
Will
certainly wasn’t pressing me to watch them.  I hoped
that
he didn’t think
I didn’t care enough to do so.

“There were a few stunts in
2
and
3
. 
T
here will be even more in
4
. 
T
hen it looks like I may do a more traditional action movie after
Midnight 4
.  Broaden my appeal.”

“You already appeal to me,” I whispered
as I kissed him on the neck.

“We don’t really need to see the end of this movie, do we?” he asked as
he focused on what I was doing.

“No, I’d rather we didn’t.”

We said our goodnights quickly
and almost ran to Will’s room.

Will woke up before I did and, by the time I awoke, he had already repacked for the trip to Europe
and beyond
.  I
crept
into the bathroom f
or my morning clean-up when he left
the room to
get
something.  By the time he returned, I was lying in bed again.
He was dresse
d and appeared ready to leave.

“I really don’t want to go, but I have an interview this morning.  Will you wait for me?  I should be back around lunchtime and will have a couple of hours before I
have to leave for the airport.”

“O
f course.”  This was just one more instance of breaking my promise to treat studying for the
B
ar
Exam
like a job.

Will
sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over to kiss me.  I grabbed his neck and pulled him closer to me a
lmost pulling him on top of me.

“That’s not fair.  As it is, it
’
s taking all the willpower I can muster to get out the door.”  He got up.  “See you in a
few hours.  Go back to sleep, a
n
d don’t get dressed.  Promise?”

“Promise.”

I showered and threw on some jeans
and a shirt to go out into the kitchen
to get something to eat.  I was startled to see one of the guards
sitting
at the dining table sh
ooting the breeze with Stephen.

“Hungry?” Step
hen asked as I approached them.

“A l
ittle.  Mostly thirsty though.”

“Help yourself.  We should have some cereal in the pantry and milk and orange juice in the refrigera
tor.  Or I can go
down to the shops and get you
something if that doesn’t
sound good
.”

“No
, n
o.  This is fine.”  I found a bowl and poured myself some dry cereal.  I never liked cereal with milk.  I wasn’t much of a milk fan in the first place and hated soggy cereal.  I grabbed a spoon out of the drawer and a
d
iet
iced tea
from out of the refrigerator.

“Stephen?”  I
asked,
embarrass
ment
reflected
in my voice
.  “While I wait for Will, I thought I would watch a movie in his room.  You don’t happen to have DVDs
of any of his movies, do you?”

“Yeah, we do.”  He chuckl
ed.  “What do you want to see?”

“You tell me.  I’ve been in
l
aw school
for the last three years.  I haven’t paid much attenti
on to movies during that time.”

Stephen opened a cabinet under the counter behind the dining table.  He rummaged arou
nd and pulled out a few movies.

“Here’s
Midnight 1
and
2
,
Maida Vale
, and
The Funeral Party
.  There are others, b
ut that should do you for now.”

“Thanks.”  I took them, along with my cereal and
iced tea
,
back to Will’s room.

I changed out of my jeans and into
a
dark green
short
s
ilk
nightgown despite
my
promise
to
Will that I wo
uld not get dressed.

I took a look at the DVD covers and
considered
what Stephen had said
about there being others
. 
I wonder how many films he’s done?

The DVDs
Stephen gave me
did not include
Will’s
first
British
film.  I was a little disappointed.  I had already seen
Midnight 1
.  I decided on
Midnight 2
, but wanted to look at the DVD covers of the other two movies first.
 
Maida Vale
appeared to be
a
British period piece and
The Funeral Party
appeared to be a big-
budget American ensemble piece with some of today’s most well-regarded actors.  I wondered, possibly aloud, whether he attempted an American accent for that one.  I was going to have to check it out when I finished
Midnight 2
.

I
had been
so upset when I watched
Midnight 1
a few weeks back
that I don’t think I fully appreciated it.
At that time, I thought that Will was a liar
and was cheating on his co
-
star
/
girlfriend with me.  Watching it had been a painful experience.  It made me believe that Will could not possibly have cared for me
a
nd I hurt as a result.

My experience w
atching
Midnight 2
was just the opposite.  I could fully appreciate this time how good the movie was and how good Will was in it.  Although I
believed
Will was the most gorgeous man on the planet all of the time, he took my breath away in this film.  I could see why all the women swooned.  His hair, his body, his clothing, his voice and his body langua
ge were all pitch-perfect.

Although
Midnight 1
had ended with the characters finally coming together in
a
sort of happily ever after,
Midnight 2
set up another obstacle to overcome a
t the outset of the film
and the
main characters
spent the
majority of the
film in attempts to overcome it. 
A
s in the first film,
Will’s character spent most of the film brooding over Katherine Sullivan’s character. 
H
e was
very
sexy when he brooded.

Time flew by as I remained mesm
e
rized by Will’s performance. 
I wanted to reach out a
nd grab him out of the screen.

At the end
of the movie,
there was another happily ever after, with another obstacle looming on the horizon that
served as
the set up for the plot of
Midnight 3
.  I was going to have to go to the movies soon because I was dying
to find out what happened next.

I was just about to check out Will’s accent in
The Funeral Party
when Will walked in the door.
I was so wound up after watching him in
Midnight 2
that, when he sat on the
bed, I practically jumped him.

“What brought this on?” he asked as I was a little urgent in my attempts to get what I wanted.  He looked over and saw the DVD for
Midnight 2
and said, “Oh,” with a little disappointment in his voice.  As I continued, he perked up and said, “Well, I’m not going to complain.” 
H
e
rolled
me
over
on the bed.

As we were sprawled across each other afterward, Will said in my ear, “Well, if that’s going to be your reaction, I’m going to have to let you watch my movies more often.”  He smiled at me and he seemed torn between happiness at what
had been
the best time we had been together and a sadness that I couldn’t
understand until he spoke.

“You know I’m not
that
guy?” h
e
asked
quietly and indicated the DVD cover.

“I know.”

“People have trouble differentiating
me
from
him
.  You were the first person I’ve met in a long time
who
knew
me
before knowing about
that
.  I want
you
to love
me
.”

“I do love
you
.”

“Then why did you just react the way you did?  That was about
him
, wasn’t it?  Not
me
?”

I found it interesting how he spoke about his character like it was a different person, but I unders
tood what he was trying to say.

“I promise it was about you and not your character.  I just spent the good part of the last two hours watching you
,
watching your face, watching your body, watching you move. 
U
nlike
all
the other times when I’ve watched you whe
n
you’ve actually been with me, I couldn’t touch you.  I felt impotent, if you’ll excuse the term.  By the time you got here, I thought I would explode.  So you see, it
was
about you and had nothing to do with
your character in that movie.”

“I’m glad.”  He s
eemed satisfied with my answer.

“So what would you have done if I hadn’t been here?”
H
e raised one of
his bushy eyebrows.

“I
’m sure you can figure it out.”

“I would have liked to watch
that
.”

“I’d rather have
you
do it.”

“
Your wish is my command
.”

As Will got ready to
leave
yet again, he tried to keep it light so there w
ould be
no tears as there had been
before.

“So if you watch any of my movies while I’m gone,
call me.  I’d like to listen.”

“
Funny
.”  I was very likely blushing.  “Besides, not g
onna happen.  I have a roommate, a
nd we share a be
droom.  No privacy whatsoever.”

“I wasn’t being funny.  I was being serious.  I have to have some way of getting through th
e next few weeks
.  P
hone sex
might just do the trick.”

“I wish you didn’t have to go.”

“Me too.”  He kissed the top of my head
as I leaned it into his chest.

“I’ll let you know the
specific
plan
for coming home
when we’re finished with everything.  If there is any chance I can get back here to see you
on a break
, I will.  Otherwise, I’ll see you in
a fortnight
.”

“You shouldn’t worry about me.  This is your time in the spotlight.  Enjoy it.  I don’t want your thinking about me
to
ruin it for you.”

“You’re
not
ruining it for me.  I’ve been doing this since I was
nineteen
, remember.  It’s not new and exciting anymore.  I do it because it’s a necessary part of the job and because I owe it to the fans who allow me to make my living this way.  But it’
s not my favorite thing to do. 
Although you might think this is
strange
coming from an actor, whose profession is rampant with narcissism, I actually don’t like all the focus on me.  It makes me uncomfortable.  I think it’s funny that my costars always think I’m so generous trying to pull them into the spotlight with me.  I’m really not so generous.  I’m trying to
get
the spotlight
off
of
me
.”