The cabin was bigger than I was expecting. Expecting it would be actually small was probably silly, but the script said small, so I thought small. Turns out movie small is real life big. A spacious central room attached to a kitchen made up the downstairs, while the upstairs was a balcony that ran all around the main room with two bedrooms and a bathroom. At the time, I lived in a studio apartment in the part of Hollywood that still looked like
Assault on Precinct 13
, the cabin might as well have been a palace. It was almost enough to distract me from who I had just spent four hours in a car with to get here.
"We're shootin'
here
?" she said dubiously, pulling her sunglasses down to appraise it with her ocean blue eyes.
"It's nice."
"Yeah. Way
too
nice," she huffed, moving past me. I did my best not to stare at her heart-shaped ass, rocking to and fro in skintight jeans. Not ogling the talent was one of the main duties of a Production Assistant.
Her name on the call sheet was Anna Call, but I knew her by another name. Another name I didn't dare repeat for what it said about me, though it damn near slipped out of my mouth when she answered the door. "They said you can stay here. I think they actually want you to get a feel for the place. I'm...uh..." I glanced at the map. "Well, I'll find it anyway. I'm on the walkie if you need anything."
She turned and gave me a look. It was easy to forget she was only twenty. But look at her rounded face, her freckles, her smooth skin, it was there. Right now, her glossy red hair was pulled into a high ponytail. Her impressive breasts were barely corralled in a peasant top, and then there was the jeans, some knee-high boots, and a brown leather jacket. "Like what? What do you do?"
"Whatever you need." I went to the fridge and checked it, then the pantry. "You've got food, but if you have a special request or anything like that, I can drive out to town for you."
"You're a gofer."
"Yeah, basically."
"When's production getting here? I'm supposed to have an assistant."
"Day after tomorrow. I guess Sterling is wrapping another film." I named the "star," though that was being generous. Kurt Sterling hadn't been a star in fifteen years, reduced to doing the kind of movie that had a script like the one I had rolled my eyes through.
She sighed. "Thank you." When she said it, I heard the traces of a Kentucky accent she was desperately trying to suppress.
"No problem. Call if you need anything." I turned to go.
"You have a name?"
"It's Ash."
"Ash?"
"Short for Ashley."
She giggled. "Ain't that a little girly?"
"Everyone in gym sure thought so," I said, and the memories made it come out harsher than I'd intended. "If you don't need anything, I'll see where they have me."
"No," she said, quietly. "Thank you again."
I left, mentally kicking myself. Anna Call, or whatever she called herself, was the most gorgeous woman I'd ever seen. And I'd managed to make it awkward. At least it was only two days. This wouldn't linger. When the rest of production made it up here, she'd forget all about me.
I went up the dirt driveway and around a corner. After some hunting around, I found my cabin. If this was where I was spending the shoot, I was cooked. This thing was a shack and not a particularly nice one. One room, a cot, and I'm pretty sure no insulation in the walls. The one bathroom was a walk to a central area in between a collection of these torture rooms. I looked up at a leaden sky and shivered at the bite in the air. At least the weather said the storm would pass us by. It'd get cold, but not bone-chilling.
I didn't find that terribly comforting when I was freezing my ass off overnight in the shack. I didn't even get undressed, just wrapped myself in the one blanket the place had. I don't think I had more than thirty minutes of sleep. When I opened the door the next morning it was into two feet of snow. I stared at it in disbelief, then in mounting irritation as I realized I was going to have to make it to Anna Call's cabin somehow. I was a city boy, born and raised in Los Angeles, so getting through snow wasn't exactly my strong suit.
What had taken me five minutes the previous day took me two hours that crystalline morning. I figured there was an easier way but I had no idea what they might be. By the time I was knocking on Anna's front door, I was shivering helplessly and soaking wet from the knees down.
Anna opened the door, her eyes widening. "Ash! Are you okay?"
"Freezing," I managed.
"Come in, come in," she said, standing aside. She was wrapped in a furry robe. Cozy, unlike me. "What happened?"
"Snowed last night. Had to walk here. See if you wanted anything."
"You poor thing! Get your wet things off, I was just gonna start a fire."
Obediently, I took off my shoes and socks. They weren't built for the snow and had entirely soaked through. My pantlegs were just as bad, but I didn't figure she wanted me to strip down. I settled down on the chair closest to the fireplace while Anna knelt before it. I was impressed at the way she quickly got the thing going, then sat back with a proud sigh. She looked over at me and her expression changed. "
All
your wet things. I don't need you catchin' cold." The more she talked, the more her accent came out.
I raised my eyebrows in a
You sure?
and she nodded, so I stood up, undid my jeans and stripped them off. She smiled when she saw my crocodile boxer shorts. "Cute."
"I wasn't expecting to show them off." I picked up a blanket and wrapped it around myself while she set my things to be dried by the fire.
"I didn't think it was supposed to snow," she said, looking outside.
"The storm was supposed to pass us by," I said. "Guess not."
"What'd you come over to ask?"
"If there was anything you needed, but I don't think I can make it down to the market, even if you did want something. Can I make you something to eat?"
"You cook? Sure. Hold on, there's another one of these robes. Let me get it." She fetched a warm robe from the closet and when I had it belted I felt truly warm for the first time. My feet were still cold, especially against the hardwood, but after the walk over, I'd take it. With my body heat at a respectable level, I went into the kitchen and got to work. I was already looking forward to telling Natalie about this. She'd find it hilarious.
Anna followed me in and watched as I used what was in the fridge to make us omelets and potatoes. We ate in front of the fire. "They'd kill me if they saw I was eatin' this."
"Why?"
"Gotta stay thin for the cameras."
I snorted. "Fuck 'em."
"Easy for you to say. Your career ain't based on how well your tits stay up."
"Suppose not."
"It's good though. Where'd you learn to cook like this?"
"Taught myself mostly. It's a hobby."
"Good hobby," she said. "Maybe I'll get them to make you my assistant." She looked at me keenly. "What do you do really?"
