“So hey,” I said, changing the subject because, seriously, Grant really wasn’t helping me at all in the pretending-to-be-in-love-with-him department. “What did you and Amanda do after I left yesterday?”

“Not much. She thought I needed kissing tips. You’ll have to tell me today if I do.”

If I rolled my eyes anymore they might roll onto the floor.

Remy stepped over to the desk behind us. “Did someone mess with the hot set?” The art director scurried forward and rearranged a few items on the desk.

“This has to look exactly the same every time for continuity,” Remy announced.

“We’re missing the ink and quill,” the art director said.

Oh crap. “Sorry, I borrowed it. I’ll go get it.”

I didn’t wait to see Remy’s reaction to that statement, just left quickly. I got to my trailer, found the items, and then leaned against the counter by a mirror on the wall. “Okay, Lacey, you can do this. You may not like Grant James romantically, but Scarlett loves Benjamin. You are Scarlett.” My stomach churned uncomfortably when I realized that wasn’t going to work. “How about this, then?” I said to my mirror self. “Pretend he’s Donavan.”

A small smile touched my lips, and I watched as color came into my cheeks. “Are you happy, self? You finally admitted it. Amanda was right. You like Donavan. Too bad there’s nothing you can do about it.” Aside from my self-imposed ban on boys, Donavan didn’t date actresses. It was just my luck that the first guy I ever liked wasn’t interested.

Back on set, I gave the ink and quill to the obviously irritated art director.

“Sorry,” I said.

She didn’t respond but took them to the desk, where she placed them carefully onto their spot.

“You’re in trouble,” Grant whispered.

“I know. I should’ve told them that you were the one who gave them to me. Nobody gets mad at Grant James.”

“This is true.”

Remy stepped out of the library and behind the monitor. “You two ready?”

I nodded.

Grant said, “So ready.”

This was the scene that took place two days after I was bitten and it was obvious I was slowly turning, just like the others Scarlett’s father had tried the cure on. I closed my eyes and put myself in that situation. How would I feel if I knew that unless my father produced a miracle, I was going to slowly forget the person I liked? How would I feel if I never got to see Donavan again? A surprising weight of sadness settled on my chest. I hung on to that feeling.

“Quiet on set,” Noah called. “Slate in, sound rolling, camera rolling.”

“Scene nine, take one.”

“And action,” Remy called.

“Come here,” Grant said. He took my hand. “Everything is going to be okay.”

I pulled my hand away and turned my back to him. “It’s not. It will never be okay again. I should leave, me staying here, you watching this, will only make it harder.”

Grant wrapped his arms around me from behind and put his face in the place where my shoulder met my neck. “I don’t want to have to live without you.”

“I don’t want to make you live with what I will become.”

He put his hands on my hips and turned me to face him. My arms were trapped between his chest and mine. I let my eyes flutter closed so I could imagine Donavan there, his brown eyes, his lips about to meet mine. His lips on mine. My breath caught and I rose slightly on my toes, pushing my lips more firmly against his. His hands traveled to my back, steadying me. My hands inched up his chest and then gently followed the line of his collarbones.

“And cut!” Remy yelled, startling me. My eyes flew open and our lips separated, but Grant kept hold of me.

He leaned his forehead against mine and whispered, “Wow.”

“That was perfect,” Remy said. “Let’s reset for a wide shot.”

Eighteen times. Between the establishing shot and the mid-shot and the close-ups from each side, that’s how many times I had to kiss Grant James. And as nice and “perfect” as that first kiss had been, we had to replicate it eighteen times. Eighteen.

I walked off set opening and closing my mouth to stretch it out.

“Lacey,” Grant called, catching up with me. “Guess we didn’t need practice after all. We’re kind of naturals at that.”

Was he fishing for a compliment?

“Yeah, it went well.” A smile played on my face. It went well because of Donavan.

He continued to follow me. Where was Amanda? I thought she’d have been watching the kissing scene but I hadn’t seen her anywhere.

“Don’t you have a scene with Lord Lucas right now?” I asked. I was done for a couple of hours.

“After lunch.”

“Okay. Well, I’ll see you later. I have some homework I need to finish.” In my completely hopeful and very optimistic heart, Donavan would be waiting in my trailer. He would’ve read my mind, realized I liked him, ditched school, and come to see me. Then I would . . . I would what? Tell him I liked him but couldn’t date him because I was in the middle of making my dreams come true? Ask him if he’d wait a couple of years for that to happen?

Even if I found a way to make this work . . . somehow . . . I knew Donavan. Not only would he not ditch school and be in my trailer, but he would also never date me. He had a future career to think about too.

I went to my very empty trailer.

My phone was sitting on the table where I left it during filming. I picked it up to see if Donavan had texted. It went straight to the home screen without making me enter my passcode. Which meant it had been on recently. I checked my morning alarm. It was set for 6:00 a.m. like always. I checked my calendar. It didn’t look like anything was missing. I clicked off my screen, then clicked it on again. The prompt for a passcode came up. I entered it and was admitted to the home screen. My head snapped up, and I looked around my small trailer. I went still, listening. I couldn’t hear anything. I walked slowly to the bathroom and checked the shower. Nobody was there. I shook out my hands. Who did I think would be here? A zombie hunter?

I laughed a little, then exited the trailer and walked down the row to knock on Amanda’s door. I stood there for several minutes. There was no answer. I moved to walk away, when I heard Amanda call out from behind me, “Are you looking for me?”

“Where were you today?” I asked as she let us both into her trailer. “I thought you’d want to be there for the big kiss.”

“You really thought I’d want to be there for that?”

“No. I don’t know.” I sat on her couch and leaned my head back against the cushions.

“Grant and I had our own really good kissing session yesterday. I didn’t want a new image in my head. How did it go?”

“Good, actually.” I sat up.

Her eyes went down to the floor.

“Because I did that thing you told me to.”

“What thing?” she asked.

“I imagined someone I really liked.”

“Oh yeah?” A slow smirk came onto her face. “Who?”

“You know who,” I said grudgingly.

“Tutor boy?”