About twenty minutes later they join us in the kitchen, both looking a bit disheveled.
“Must have been quiet a reunion,” Damian says under his breath, looking a little jealous.
Riley giggles.
Yes, he giggles.
What the hell were they doing in my hallway?
I get up and give Ariela a welcoming hug and offer her some of Aiden’s pasta.
“She’s not hungry,” Riley says a little too quickly.
She folds her hands over her flat stomach. “I swear, I won’t be hungry for a week. I ate so much over Christmas.”
“And we’ve got to get up early tomorrow. Probably should all be getting to bed,” Riley suggests, as he places his hand over Ariela’s ass. You can practically feel the sexual tension in the air.
“Yeah, we should,” Damian says, dropping his fork and agreeing the second he sees Peyton wander into the kitchen in a silky bathrobe.
Cooper stands up and starts clearing the table and stacking dishes in the sink. “How about I clean up, since Aiden cooked?” he offers.
I smile at him. “That’d be nice. I have serious jet lag.”
“Me too,” Aiden says, throwing Cooper a dishtowel. “Thanks, Cooper.” Then he turns to everyone and says, “See you all bright and early.”
“Not that early,” I say. “We’re planning to leave at nine, right, Damian?”
“The band is on the red eye from L.A. tonight, so let’s plan on ten.”
I brush my teeth and slide into a silky black cami set that Kym gave me for Christmas.
I make a sexy entrance, only to find Aiden completely crashed out, lying diagonally across my bed.
I slide in next to him and go to sleep.
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28TH
Cotton candy. Ferris wheel.
10:30am
We meet the band at the video shoot location. Troy gives me a big hug, as do Ethan and Billy, and I introduce them to everyone.
Very quickly, Riley gets down to business. He’s even more prepared than I expected, with little drawings of each scene he wants to shoot.
Lying on our stomachs in front of the beach backdrop, facing each other.
“You’ll need beach towels,” Ariela chimes in. “And sand.”
“Sand is being delivered shortly. Can you make a list of what we still need?” he asks her sweetly.
Running through the sand, laughing and holding hands.
“What are you going to wear?” Peyton asks me.
“I brought a couple of bikinis and some little dresses, but I wasn’t sure what you wanted, Riley.”
“We’ll look at the costumes later. Let’s make sure the scenes are what the band wants, first.”
He continues showing more boards.
On surfboards, in front of the ocean backdrop. Big, corrugated cardboard waves in front.
Eating ice cream together.
Riding on the back of a scooter, my hair blowing behind me.
The band, all in Ray-Bans.
In front of the amusement park backdrop, me feeding Damian cotton candy.
Riding a Ferris wheel.
“That’s going to be a tough one,” Riley admits. “I don’t know how we can recreate a Ferris wheel.”
“You don’t need the whole wheel, just a seat from one,” Aiden says. “Surely, we could find one somewhere.”
“I’ll put you in charge of that,” Riley tells him.
Sitting around a bonfire, Damian and the rest of the band performing the song.
In the moonlight on the shore. The big moon backdrop behind us.
Kissing.
Looking in love.
“So those are the date scenes that we’ll intersperse into the video. We’ll also shoot the band playing the song in front of all the backdrops,” Riley says. “I thought we’d start with those shots while the girls get together the other props and wardrobe. What do you think?”
Troy slaps Riley on the back. “I think it looks like a whole hell of a lot more fun than the video they wanted us to shoot.”
“I agree,” Ethan says, grabbing his guitar case. “I’m ready to get started.”
The band gets set up on the sound stage. A few of the crew members from the Retribution set show up, ready to get going, and I take Ariela, Aiden, and Peyton to my dressing room.
“So, we need two beach towels, cotton candy, a big sparkly heart, five pairs of Ray-Bans, and clothes for Damian and Keatyn,” Ariela says.
“And a Ferris wheel seat,” Aiden adds.
“Let’s split up. Peyton, you make the heart. Aiden, you find the Ferris wheel seat. I’ll get cotton candy, sunglasses, and beach towels. Let’s see what you brought for clothes, Keatyn.”
I try on the bikinis I threw in my bag this morning and model them.
When I’m in the last one, Aiden says enthusiastically, “That one. Definitely.”
“Are you sure? I thought I looked better in the blue one.”
He cocks an eyebrow at me. “Why don’t you show those two to Riley and the band and see what they think?”
“Uh, okay.” I put the blue one back on and sneak into the sound stage.
When Riley says “Cut,” at the end of the song, I run up, model this selection, and ask them to wait for me to try the other one on.