The Rendezvous Ch. 03

Disclaimer: This story contains graphic sexual situations and adult themes and is therefore not suitable for those under age 18 or the close-minded. It may be illegal in some areas too. :( Please also note that it is not a true story, instead merely a fantasy. Real events may be referenced and real names, likenesses, and other personal details of celebrities and other real people may be part of the story- however they are used in a fictional manner styled to the author's liking that may be satirical at times. The author has never met any of the celebrities used herein, so he has no way of knowing if they really act the way they do in the story, and is confident that they probably don't. One hopes that these facts do not keep you, the reader, from enjoying the story.

Acknowledgements: Thanks as usual to all who have aided in the creation of this story, even those who have done so without knowing it. Thanks also to those who maintain sites for stories like this, and to all those who write for them, read them, and otherwise keep them alive. Thanks especially goes out to those who have sent this author feedback. If after reading this story you desire to do the same, please email feedback to me. All feedback, with the exception of flames and spam, will be answered and appreciated. I hope you like this story. If not, please tell me why you didn't so I may learn of my mistakes.

Copyright: This story is my creation. All other stories which are referenced or otherwise paid homage herein belong to their respective creators. This story may be posted anywhere on the Internet that is free to access and has my permission- please email me for such. The inclusion of this disclaimer and proper credit will be all that I ask.

Notes: This story takes place during the making of the 2005 movie "The Upside of Anger." You may want to see that movie to get some of the in-jokes. It's also a pretty good movie, so you might be entertained, who knows? The story is related to the movie, but it is not based on it. Instead it's just a story where four young actresses begin a project together, resolve their differences, and then do some other things. ;D Special thanks to Nero, Victoria, and others for help with the story when needed.

That said, on with the show!

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"Anger and resentment can stop you in your tracks. That's what I know now. It needs nothing to burn but the air and the life that it swallows and smothers. It's real, though - the fury, even when it isn't. It can change you... turn you... mold you and shape you into something you're not. The only upside to anger, then... is the person you become. Hopefully someone that wakes up one day and realizes they're not afraid to take the journey, someone that knows that the truth is, at best, a partially told story. That anger, like growth, comes in spurts and fits, and in its wake, leaves a new chance at acceptance, and the promise of calm. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child."

- Lavender "Popeye" Wolfmeyer (Evan Rachel Wood), The Upside of Anger.

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The Rendezvous.

London, England. Late September 2003.

"There's something you all should know," Alicia Witt read from the script.

Evan Rachel Wood smiled at her. "You're pregnant and you're getting married."

Alicia gaped at the young girl. "How did you know that? Who told you that?"

"I guessed?" Evan said, her face full of surprise. "Really? I guessed that? I was right?"

"You know," Erika said to Keri Russell, "this movie is kind of confusing. It skips around a lot."

Keri nodded in agreement. It was a few hours now since she and Alicia had returned to the sitting room. They'd been talking with Evan and Erika Christensen, rehearsing lines, getting to know each other. She was still coming down from her high points earlier in the day, trying to build her energy up again. She had eaten several pieces of fruit and a sandwich, taken restroom breaks, gone back to her room and replaced her underwear. Most of all, she'd paused several times and thought about things.

What had happened with Alicia was good, she'd decided, but she knew it wasn't all she wanted to do. They'd been talking since then, but the subject of what happened between her and Alicia had not been discussed openly. Keri thought maybe it was because of the other girls with them, or maybe something else. She really didn't know. Whatever the case, an opportunity to bring Evan or Erika into things had not arisen as of yet. Even if one had, Keri wasn't sure she would have taken it. For now she was just glad they were all getting along.

"There's a lot of subplots in the movie they don't develop," Evan said. "Some unrealistic things too. I mean, her husband disappears and she doesn't even look for him. None of them do. One girl writes a letter, but she wouldn't even know where to send it. They don't go looking for their father. They don't even call the police."

"The mother's reaction is hurtful and disgusting," Alicia opined, putting the script down. "I can't believe anyone in real life would act like she does."

"Oh, I don't know," Erika said. "You've gotten that bad sometimes."

"Don't you try psychoanalyzing me, girl," Alicia snapped, smiling. "There's a lot of things about me you don't know."

"Whatever," Erika shrugged, looking back at the script. "Really, this movie isn't all great. I mean, it's going to be fun, there's no denying it, but are we going to learn anything from doing this? Are we going to be remembered?"

"We might be," Evan shrugged. "We might not get any awards, but you never know."

"Bigger things will come later," Keri smiled, picking up on the line. "Right now, fun and new friends is all I want."

"Amen," Alicia beamed at her from across the table. Both Evan and Erika caught the look, their faces slightly confused. Keri smiled, thinking things were shaping up nicely. Then Alicia broke the glance, frowned, and pushed back her chair.

"Why don't we break for lunch?" she said. "It's already almost two. I need to call Myron."

"Alright," Erika said, standing up. "Meet back here in an hour? I need to make some calls myself." She looked at Evan. "Did you want to join me for lunch?"

"No thanks," Evan said, looking at Alicia and then at Keri. A strange look was on her face, something hidden behind her eyes. "Keri, can I talk to you for a while? I don't think I've really gotten to know you this morning."

Keri smiled, glad for the question. Another opportunity, here already. She hoped she was ready for it. "It's my fault," she told Evan. "I keep seeing problems."

"And don't think we're not grateful for your insights," Erika said. "You've helped us all today, Alicia especially."

"Yeah," Evan chimed in. "You got her back in here, and she's been smiling a lot. You must really be a good breakup counselor."

"I try," Keri shrugged, thinking back to the experience. This one had thankfully been better than most.

"You did good," Alicia told her. Then she looked away, her expression changing. She turned back to Keri. "I just need to think about it a little more, okay? I'm not sure about everything yet."

"That's fine," Keri replied, ignoring Evan and Erika's confused looks. "Just let me know if you need anything else."

"I will," Alicia said, then looked away again.

"I'll tell you what you need to do, Keri," Erika said, shoving the script across the table. "Go tell Mike to work a little more on this thing. Get a better premise, cut out some of the opportunities for over-acting. It's a good script, but it needs revising, or it's not going to deserve many awards."

Keri blinked at her. "You really think so? I didn't think it was that bad."

"It is bad," Evan said. "It contradicts itself a lot. In the beginning, my character says her mother is the nicest sweetest person. Then everything in the movie shatters and denies that image, especially what we see of Terry and her relationships with the people around her. She never appears sweet or nice, she's always angry. She even says niceness is not in her nature. What is this woman really like?"

"I don't think any of our characters know what she's like," Alicia said. She picked up a banana and started chewing on it. Her face grew darker as she spoke. "We all have some ideal of a person, and we ignore things that don't live up to that. Dealing with anger shows us the truth of people. I think that's the point Mike is trying to make."

"Then why doesn't he just make his point?" Evan asked, flipping through her script, looking back and forth at her lines. Her face grew colder as she looked at them. "Why does he keep dancing around, leaving things out and drawing allusions? You can't push three years into two hours and leave out all the stuff he does here. It doesn't work. There are some good scenes in here, but overall..." She dropped the script on the table and frowned.

"Hey," Erika said, waving her hand. "We're just actresses. We don't write, we don't critique. We just do what they tell us. And for that we get our rewards."

"And we're insulted," Alicia said. "Insulted by scripts like this." She picked up Evan's copy and flipped to the back. "Just look at this implausible ending! They think their father ran off to Sweden with his secretary, but lo and behold, all these years he's really been dead! Meanwhile the children are all grown up and trying to move on. My character's married with babies. Keri's is hospitalized. Erika's has a career and lives through, then rejects, a bad relationship. Evan's... what happens to your character anyway, Evan?"

The young girl shrugged. "Not much, really. She gets a best friend, but he's kind of an idiot. He can't even do bungee jumping right." She rolled her eyes. "And he rejects her advances. Why does she stay with him?" Suddenly she dropped her eyes, then looked at Erika. "Sorry, I forgot I was talking about your brother."

"It's okay," Erika shrugged, frowning herself. "You make good points. This role is important to Dane, but he could have a better one." She stared at her script, then put it down. "He needs a better one," she declared.

"Hey," said Keri. An explanation for Evan's earlier behavior was now in her mind. A rather obvious one, now that she thought about it. "How many roles did you have to take before Traffic, Erika? How many good roles have you had since?"

"You're right," Erika said, glaring down at the script before looking up and sighing again. She turned to Evan. "Sometimes I'm surprised at the awful concepts that get turned into movies, aren't you?"

"They inspire some people, right?" Evan pointed out. Keri nodded in agreement. She still wondered why some of them inspired anybody, but obviously they did. Otherwise such movies wouldn't keep getting made.

"I suppose," Erika frowned. She looked at her lines again. "Still, Mike does need to work on this script. It's good, but your friend Nikki could probably have done a better job of things."

"Maybe," Evan grinned, thinking happily back to Thirteen. "I agree the script could use some ediitng. But I'm not sure Nikki would take out the drug stuff. I did that once, and now I want to get away from it. I don't like it."

"Amen," Erika said. "If there's one thing Traffic taught me, it's that drugs destroy lives."

Amen, Keri thought to herself. Better get them off this subject. Rachael Leigh Cook can talk about it, but not me. "Guys," she said, "the ending to this movie is tacked on. There's no denying that. None of our characters really develop. But there's not much we can do about these things. Except of course write a better script ourselves."

Erika chuckled. "I've thought about doing that a few times. I'm not just sure I could come up with anything that would get past the censors." She sighed. "Maybe someday. In any case, let's get back to this after lunch. See you guys later?"

Alicia nodded and stood up. "See you." She brushed past Evan and Erika, looked at Keri and smiled for an instant, then turned away and headed out the door.

"What's with her?" Erika asked. Keri thought over her response, then shrugged, deciding to play the fool for the moment.

"I have no idea," she said, hiding a bemused grin. Erika stared at her, looking confused. Evan, however, was raising her eyebrows, staring at Keri. Crap, Keri thought. I'm not that great an actress after all. "Maybe it was something I said or did," she quickly amended.

"Whatever it was, thank you," Erika said, smiling again now. "I can't think of the last time I've seen Alicia get over a breakup so quickly. See you two later." She stood up, walked past them, and out of the room, not looking back.

"See you," Keri said, then turned to face Evan. The young girl was looking strangely at Keri, a pensive look in her eyes. Keri frowned as she noticed it. "Don't get me wrong, Evan. I don't think she's out of it yet. Alicia's just taking her time."

"Yeah," the young girl said. Then she suddenly smirked. "Look, Keri, I think I know what happened."

"What do you mean?" Keri asked. Suddenly her emotions were rumbling again. She can't know... Oh crud! She can't know. She has to have guessed the wrong thing. Explain it to her! "I do things like this all the time," she said, trying to keep from breaking out in a rush. "You've heard about them, right? Earlier you were telling me how our shows had so many crew members in common."

"They told me about you," Evan nodded, crossing her arms. She looked around the room, then back at Keri. "They said you often brought drinks to the set, made friends with everyone, let people cry on your shoulder. Inspiring tales. I don't think I ever got the truth of them, though. Not until now."

"What do you mean?" Keri frowned at her. Had Evan guessed? Did she know what had happened? How could she possibly?

Evan shrugged again. "As an actress, I'm a good observer of human behavior. I notice things." She looked around the room. "Can we take this somewhere private?"

"Sure," Keri said. "How bout my dressing room?" Evan smiled and Keri stared at her, still feeling a bit confused. Let her take the lead, her instinct decided. She may be young, but maybe... She pushed the thought away. Best to take things as they come, play it by ear. Maybe they could work things out, maybe... Oh wait, she realized, remembering the other girl was only eighteen. What am I doing?

Evan smiled at her expression, then stood up and walked past Keri towards the door. Keri followed her, thoughts racing. "Evan," she said.

The other girl looked back at her but kept walking. "Yes?"

Keri hurried after her, turning a corner and walking around a catering lady pushing a snack cart. "Your parents," Keri said. "There's something we discussed earlier that I'd like you to expand on. How can your parents let you do all the movies you've done?"

"You mean the weird stuff?" Evan replied, smiling. "The things that aren't 'normal' for girls my age? Keri, can you even define normal?"

"That's not what I meant," Keri frowned at her as they walked along. She looked away, then at Evan again. "Look, I don't know much about you, okay? But the typical family life the media tells us about..."

"Isn't very typical," Evan cut in. "At least not in my house. My parents own a theater, they've been active in the movie business a long time. I have been too, ever since I was a kid. My parents know about all the weird things that go on behind the scenes. They're into a lot of them. They're different from most parents. They don't encourage decadence, but they're honest about it. They say as long as I'm aware of the consequences and remain ready for them, know when to look for help when I need it, I can do whatever I want."

"Unusual parents," said Keri. I wish mine were like that, she added to herself. "So they're letting you do the lovescenes you got coming up in that, what was it, 'Pretty Persuasion'?"

Evan laughed. "Those aren't my first lovescenes." She shook her head. "And don't worry, I'm not insane like Erika. I'll never actually have sex on screen like she did."

"Right," Keri laughed. She was still shaking her head about that too. "So what was your first lovescene, Evan?"

"Down in the Valley," the young girl answered, smiling fondly. "I did a lot of kissing in my show and on Thirteen, but nothing else was ever actually shown. The sex was left to the viewers' imagination. This movie, though- well, it's the same thing, only a little closer. Makes the fact that sex happened between the characters a little more obvious."

Keri frowned. "I haven't heard of this movie."

"It won't be out for a while," Evan dropped her hand and sighed. She stopped walking as they reached the dressing rooms, looking around as she talked. "The director wanted to wait till I was eighteen to release it, and then put it out in Europe first, just so there'd be less chance of people saying the wrong things about me being in there. When we were making it, there was a lot of flack about them possibly using older actresses. Some auditioned, but the director preferred me. My co-star did too. The movie's about a delusional cowboy in a relationship with a much younger woman. Edward Norton's playing the guy."

"Norton," Keri smiled, thinking back to the few times she'd met the actor. "He's good."

"Yeah," Evan said. "Real nice. We got real close during filming. I almost wanted him to be my first, but then he turned me down, saying he was too old for me. Thinking back, I have to agree. He's cute and nice, but he is old. He's a good man, though, a real gentleman. So was the director. They helped me out with the scenes, using shadows and moleskin. It was fun, but just too unlike the real thing. You can probably say the same about most lovescenes, I guess."

"Yeah," Keri nodded, thinking about the few she'd done. Definitely not like the real thing. Sex, like life, was often better left unscripted. "Is the film any good?"

"Not really," Evan sighed, running a hand through her hair. "It's better than another perverted cowboy movie I heard Ang Lee's making, though. The emotions are nice." She looked back and forth at the dressing rooms. "Which one's yours?"

"This one," Keri caught herself, pointing at a door and remembering their surroundings. Thank goodness I cleaned up in there earlier, she thought. Wait, she told herself, then looked back at Evan. The other girl was still looking contemplative, her young cherubic features wearing an expression of hope and shame. Her long blonde hair hung loose over her shoulders, the flourescent light overhead catching and accenting it. Evan was still dressed in the blue T-shirt and jeans she'd worn all throughout the day, though the lavender cardigan was absent. It had been discarded earlier when Evan said the sitting room was too warm. She was sweating now too, Keri suddenly realized, looking her over. She found herself frowning at the flush on the young girl's skin, the patient look on her face. And those eyes. It was like they were seeing right into Keri, pulling out each of the thoughts in her mind and evaluating it, then setting it aside. What could she be thinking?

Concentrate on the now, Keri reminded herself. Keep the past in mind, and the future, but mainly the present. Concentrate on the now.

Opening the door, Keri stepped into her room, Evan following. The young girl shut the door and, after a gesture from Keri, turned the deadbolts. Keri sat down on the couch and motioned to Evan to sit beside her. The young girl did so, then gave Keri a smile. My goodness, Keri thought, there's that look again. No, stop it. That was just a fantasy, it can't happen. Concentrate on the now.

"Why do you do those scenes?" she asked Evan, thinking over the conversation. "Usually actresses wait till their twenties or thirties to get into that stuff."

"What are you talking about?" Evan asked. "You did lovescenes with an older man in your first big TV movie. You weren't much older than me back then."