Eavesdropping

“What about him?”

Riley lifted his head, surprised at hearing anyone else’s voice round his corner of the set this early in the morning. He picked it because it was quiet, secluded, and he could study his lines in peace.

It took him a moment, but then he recognized the voice - Asia, the new stunt girl.

Riley wasn’t sexist, but that they had a stunt girl blew his mind.

“Yes, he’s as handsome and golden and glorious as ever,” Asia said. She sounded neither dreamy nor sarcastic; without seeing her face, Riley was hard pressed to gauge her emotion.

“No, I’m not going to say anything to him that isn’t perfectly polite or strictly professional,” Asia said. Now there was a touch of impatience to her voice. “I can’t begin to understand why you - or any of the others - would encourage me to engage in such unethical behavior.”

Golden and handsome - she had to be talking about James. To whom? Riley felt guilty for listening in, but Asia was such a cypher, and he was curious. And what could she possibly do with James that would be unethical, besides the obvious? Only maybe that wasn’t unethical, exactly, because she wasn’t James’s boss or his subordinate.

“I’m not in love with him,” Asia snapped. “It doesn’t work that way. Look, I have work to do. If you breathe a word of this to any of the others, I swear I’ll kill you.”

Riley swallowed hard. She sounded serious.

“Can this be the end of the discussion, please? I - no. I won’t say it. Don’t even - don’t you dare! Fine. I am not in love with James Mallory. Are you happy? Well, that’s the truth.” There was a long pause, and then Asia said, softly, “You never stop loving someone, not when you loved them the way I loved him. I really have to go now, Angel. Good luck.”

Riley hunched over his script when he heard her start to move. His heart was pounding. Asia was in love with James. James was mad for her. What could he do with that?

(350 words)