‘Oh, nothing,’ Ivy said, lowering her eyes.
‘Are you OK?’ Sophia asked.
‘I – I’ve got to go find Olivia,’ Ivy blurted, trying to get up from the chair. She couldn’t let her sister fall for a vampire. Olivia wouldn’t want that at all; she’d said so herself. Ivy had to tell her before it was too late.
But Spencer put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Slow down, honey. You’re not going anywhere until you’re camera-ready.’
‘But I –’
‘Ah, ah, ah!’ Spencer wagged his finger right in her face and wouldn’t let her go.
Ivy sighed and sank back into the chair.
‘What’s wrong?’ Sophia hissed, leaning over the side of her chair.
Ivy swallowed hard and tried to give her friend a smile. ‘Nothing!’ she said brightly. She wouldn’t be able to share her fears until they were alone again. ‘Everything is just peachy!’
Chapter Five
I hope Ivy’s having as much fun as me, Olivia thought. At first she’d been really freaked out that Ivy had left her alone with Jackson, but he was making her feel so at ease.
‘And this is Craft Service,’ Jackson said, standing at the opening of a huge eighteen-wheeler which was well lit with flood lamps and smelled delicious. ‘Translation: the cafeteria.’
It was much warmer in the truck than outside. Long tables were set out with enough food to feed four hungry high schools. There was a line of people carrying steaming plates and cooks tending to various portable stoves. It looked like a mobile gourmet restaurant.
‘I thought we’d stop for a snack,’ Jackson said. ‘It’s almost my call time, and it might kill the mood if my stomach growls during filming.’
‘You’re the tour guide,’ Olivia said, ‘where you lead, I’ll follow.’ Then she blushed as she realised that she sounded stalker-y again. But Jackson didn’t seem to notice and he directed her to a line behind some crew members.
The chefs were serving out everything from duck salad to pasta with truffles to fancy-looking mini-pizzas, and even rows of sushi on ice.
‘You can have whatever you like,’ Jackson offered, but Olivia still felt full from last night.
‘Maybe I’ll just have a fruit cup,’ she said to the grey-haired cook with a wrinkly but friendly face, whose name badge said ‘Curtis'. ‘I had a big breakfast.’
‘As you wish.’ Curtis shrugged and handed over a small plastic bowl filled with fresh, colourful fruit pieces.
When it was his turn, Jackson pulled down his shades so Curtis could see who he was. Curtis laughed. ‘Right on time, as usual.’
Curtis turned the dial on a small microwave nearby. ‘You know,’ he said in his gravelly voice, ‘people will catch on to your disappearing act eventually. Your manager has stormed through here twice looking for you.’
‘You wouldn’t give away my secret, would you?’ Jackson replied.
‘Course not,’ Curtis said. ‘How else would I supply my daughter with Jackson Caulfield memorabilia?’
The microwave dinged and Curtis pulled out a burger in a little paper tray. He leaned over and mock-whispered, ‘One hunk of cow smothered in cheese waiting just for you.’
Olivia crinkled her nose. It was the only thing about Jackson this whole morning that surprised her; it looked like Jackson’s taste buds were more in line with Ivy’s than her own. She couldn’t help feeling it made him a little less . . . perfect.
They sat down at a table between some crew members and a group of younger girls and Jackson tucked into his burger. Olivia didn’t want to watch him eating, so she looked around at all the people munching away in the back of this gigantic truck: people in all black, people in full make-up and tired-looking people poring over stacks of papers.
‘Tell me about you,’ Jackson said, between mouthfuls.
‘What do you want to know?’ Olivia asked. She plucked a juicy piece of orange from her fruit cup.
‘What’s your favourite movie?’
Olivia looked back down at her bowl to hide her face. She didn’t want to confess that it was one of his. ‘I, um, love so many. I couldn’t pick just one.’
‘What about books, then?’ he asked, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth.
That one was easy. ‘I’m a huge Count Vira fan,’ she replied.
‘I love those, too!’ He put on a thick Transylvanian accent. ‘Come to me, my darling, and I will take your breath away.’
Olivia recognised that line from Thrice Bitten. She knew the next line, too. ‘But what about my employers?’ she said breathlessly.
Jackson smiled as he played along. ‘They will not miss you, my love. I am your destiny!’
Olivia giggled. ‘I love that story.’
‘Me, too,’ Jackson said.
Olivia bit her lip. We like the same books! she thought.
The girls next to them burst into squeals.
‘I can’t believe we’re extras on the same movie set as Jackson Caulfield,’ the one with brown pigtails said. ‘He is sooo gorgeous!’
‘What if we get to be in a scene with him?’ replied the girl with a blue streak in her hair.
‘I know how we can definitely meet him,’ said the third girl wearing a cute bucket hat. ‘We should wait around outside his trailer and pretend to be lost when he shows up.’
Olivia had to shove a piece of watermelon in her mouth to stop from laughing. The girls had no idea they were sitting right next to Jackson. He looked at her over his sunglasses and winked.