Hearts' Desires (19 page)

             
Meanwhile at the hotel, a thunderstorm of another kind just unleashed its force against Thabo, who had knocked at Lauren’s door to give her his little gift. It was obvious; HE was
the last pe
r
son she wanted to see. Observing the ongoing ‘things’ between Vance and Alison, Lauren was not only in a bad mood, she was i
r
ritable like a snake in a trap.
             
“What do you want?” she snapped, staring at the unwe
l
come guest. Hadn’t it been enough she had to embrace this kid three times during the filming today?! Did he have to bot
h
er her even now with his presence?!
             
“Good evening, Lauren.” Thabo gathered all his courage. “I…
uhm
… bought you something.
Thought you might like it.”
He stretched the hand with the bead pendant. “It would look nice…
uhm
… I think.”
             
Lauren was so
annoyed,
she would’ve loved to shut her door in his face. However, she still tried to keep things civil. “I don’t want any gifts from you, okay? The fact I’ve talked to you does not mean I’m your girlfriend! And I don’t want you to hang around in front of my door like last night!” She grabbed the door knob.
             
And a little devil grabbed Thabo. “But you would’ve liked gifts from Vance van Sorel, right?” he called.
             
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
             
“Everyone knows you’re running after him!”
             
Now, all her precious aspiring-
moviestar
-manners were gone in an instant, and she was the girl from the New York slums again. “Fuck off, do you get it?!” How she would’ve loved to shout that into Alison’s face right now! “Just fuck OFF!!!”

The next day, a scene with Thabo was scheduled early in the mor
n
ing. Originally, the boy was supposed to sneak through high grass. Now, on location, that turned out to be a bad idea. It was too windy, and the camera only caught moving grass and foliage, and not a glimpse of the actor. They considered cutting some of the grass and then try again. But in the end, they chose another spot to film the sequence. Cameras and light had to be reinstalled. Alison glanced at her watch ner
v
ously. If Thabo made any mistakes - and he seemed quite preoccupied today - they could hang it up! The familiar sharp line showed up between her brows, while the scene was u
n
folding. Yes, the new spot away from the grass was definit
e
ly better… The boy walked forward, occasionally glancing b
e
hind and acting nervous. The idea was to make the audience think Louis going to do something bad in his desperation.

             
Alison gave Jake a silent sign to switch to the second camera, when Thabo made the wrong move. She suppressed a loud sigh. The boy turned towards her, sorry written all over his face.

             
“Thabo, what’s wrong with you today? You need to co
n
centrate!”

             
“I’ll talk to him,” said Jake, securing his camera. “I have an idea what’s going on.”

With that, he walked over to the young man, who stood apart from the team now, shoulders and head hanging.

             
“Hey! Girls are not worth so much stress, remember! - Look, I
wanna
tell you something! When I was a bit younger than you – and a lot more stupid, at least I think I was more
stupid…” He laughed, thinking of the lawsuit awaiting him back in L.A.  No, he definitely was not the right person to give advice how to work things out! However, perhaps he could prevent certain things from happen at all?! He gestured Thabo to sit down on a cable box.

             
“Anyway… I fell totally in love with a girl from across the street. I literally thought I would die if she wouldn’t respond to my advances!” Jake cleared his throat. “Well, the little bitch ignored me, and obviously she had quite a good time seeing me get more miserable every day. I so wished she would feel at least a little bit of the pain she was inflicting upon me wit
h
out realizing it! I sat around for weeks like that… until one day, I found a way to get her attention!”

             
Thabo looked at him as if a revelation of religious impo
r
tance was going to follow.

             
“I pulled myself together and acted as if I didn’t have a care in the world. I figured she would get upset once she thought she had lost her doormat! I went to parties, the mo
v
ies, football games …
well,
eventually I actually started to feel a lot better for real.”

             
“And she noticed you, then?”

             
Now Jake laughed and patted on Thabo’s shoulder. “You know what, pal, I don’t even remember! It didn’t matter an
y
more. I had a marvelous time. I met new friends, new girls, and some months later I graduated and moved away. Just try to feel better, even if you have to fake it in the beginning! Don’t let her get to you this way! Maybe you’ll crack her shell if she thinks you’re not interested anymore. In any case, it will be much better for you!”

             
Waiting for Jake to finish his little talk with Thabo, Alison took a walk across the area to calm down a bit and center
herself
. Near the Bungalows, she discovered Vance, who was occupied explai
n
ing to one of the smaller village kids how a
movie production worked, literally using his hands and feet and producing some special sound effects. Alison had to smile, seeing how closely the little one paid attention to this rather boring subject. Vance had a way with children, obviou
s
ly!
Seeing her approach, the little girl ran away.

             
“I’ve scared her away, I’m sorry!”

             
“Oh, no problem, I had reached the end of my technical knowledge anyway!” Vance replied and stood up.
“
Unbelie
v
able how curious kids can be!
”

             
Alison discovered the child now some distance away b
e
hind a tree, watching
her a
bit anxious –or was it jealousy that someone else got the attention of the ‘fairy tale uncle’?

             
“Look, there she is! There must be something very unse
t
tling about me!
I suppose I
’m simply no mother-and-family-type!”

“Maybe you just didn’t get the chance to find out if you are.”
             
“Well – I don’t know, maybe my family’s constant peste
r
ing about the subject made me dismiss it forever!” She drew a deep breath. “
All my
father wanted was for me to get married and raise a bunch of kids and later take over the horse ranch. And he hated that I had other plans for my life.”

             
“Would that have been so bad? Getting married and ha
v
ing children, I mean.” Vance regretted these words imm
e
diately, but it was too late to take them back. Nervously, he searched her eyes. Alison avoided his gaze and let her eyes wander over the surroun
d
ings instead. She felt uncomfortable.

             
A moment passed in silence, then she answered with a forced little laugh: “I’m a director; here today, there tomorrow, with often a 16-hour day.
When on earth would I find the time?!”

             
Although she unwittingly used almost the same words as his late wife in dismissing the subject, it did not even sound remotely as cold from Alison.

             
“If you put as much commitment and energy into being a mother as you do being a director, you would be a wonderful one,” he said.

             
By chance, their eyes met again. The wind was playing with a strand of her hair, making it dance in front of her face, and Vance reached out to tuck it back behind her ear. His mind was lost in lovely visions of Alison with a child in her arms,
when Jake called from the set; Thabo was ready for another take.
 

The next weekend, while Alison was busy making flight a
r
rangements for her crew and equipment to the next filming location, Vance used the opportunity to make some ‘prepar
a
tions’ of his own. He needed Max’s help, so he had to let him in on his plans, and they huddled together for some time like two conspirators, before Vance vanished inside the hotel with a list and settled down next to the phone. When filming started that afternoon in the ga
r
den he arrived late – one of the rare times that ever happened in his career so far.
             
“Where have you been, man?!” whispered Jake in his d
i
rection. “Everyone is waiting for you!”
             
“Sorry,” Vance answered with equally low voice and grinned to his friend.
“Working on the ‘Iceberg-melting-project’!”
He signaled Chang he would be with him in a minute.
             
“Looks as if you’ll need some extra fire, Alison is a bit mad at you! If she hates one thing, it’s being late!”
             
“She’ll forget all about it!” He hurried to Chang.
 

The day dragged on, at least in Vance’s opinion. Would ever
y
thing work out as planned? He had been up since 4 in the morning ge
t
ting everything ready before Alison could catch on that anything unusual was going on. He was so nervous that
he even messed up his dialogue and said “Avocados” instead of “Ammunition” which caused some laughter. But Alison was not in the mood for having fun!
             
“Vance,” she asked after she had set everything on pause for the second time. “Aren’t you feeling well?”
             
“No no! I’m sorry! Only a bit tired. I try to pay attention next time, I promise!”
             
She stepped back to her place and looked around in the faces of the actors and crew. “I know the stress of the past days is ge
t
ting to us all! But we are on schedule. Every one of you has done a great job so far! I just need you to hold on for a few more hours, and then everyone will have two days off! So pull yourselves t
o
gether and give me all you got!”
             
Someone clapped hands. They all knew Alison worked as hard as every member of the crew, maybe harder. To disa
p
point her was out of question!
             
“Raise your banners and swords, comrades!” Jake joined the speech.
“Once more into the
breech
!”
             
Finally, at 9 PM, the work was done. Alison was tired and did not feel like doing anything but put her legs up and close her eyes, when Vance asked her to follow him into the hotel.
             
“What’s going on?” she asked, curious.
             
“I want to show you something.”
 
             
I hope it’s not a problem with the electricity somewhere that could affect us… or anything we could be held respons
i
ble for.
She was close to saying he should just take care of it and leave her alone.
             
But then he opened the door to one of the rooms. “We
l
come to the paradise-suite!”
             
The place was a charming mixture of nature, craftsma
n
ship, and sublime style represented by the porcelain dishes on the little table besides the window. A carpet with a tribal pattern covered the floor. Candles were burning and the light
danced over the scene, enhancing the overall feeling of coz
i
ness.
             
Alison stopped in the doorway, not really daring to look at the lovely scene.
             
“What…”
             
“I thought you deserved some down time Alison, after all your hard work.”
             
“Vance, our contract stated we are not allowed into the hotel rooms!”
             
“I spoke with the owner in Cape Town. I rented the room just like any tourist. - You may enter.”
             
She was still hesitating. “We cannot do this. We are on the set. The crew will talk. They will think…”