"Eric, you know how crazy my schedule has been," Victoria said quickly, her voice becoming more distant.
"I've been working non-stop. But I sent you all those gifts through Edward – the wine, the chocolates, that beautiful scarf."
"Gifts through a middleman don't count, Victoria."
"They don't?"
"No, they don't." Eric's voice was firm. "To make things even, how about dinner tonight? Just the two of us. Like old times."
"Oh, Eric, tonight is not good," Victoria said, practically searching for an excuse. "The whole film crew is going out for dinner tonight. It's like a bonding thing. Very important for morale."
"The crew dinner is tomorrow night," Donald's voice interrupted quietly.
There was dead silence.
"I mean," Victoria said hurriedly, "we're having pre-dinner drinks tonight. Before the actual dinner tomorrow. It's a two-night celebration."
"Right," Eric said, and the disappointment in his voice was unmistakable. "Of course. The two-night celebration."
"We'll definitely do dinner soon though," Victoria added quickly. "Maybe next time?"
"Maybe next time," Eric repeated flatly. "Sure, Victoria. Maybe next time."
The conversation died right there.
A moment later, Eric emerged from behind the trailer, and looking genuinely dejected.
His earlier confidence had been replaced by something that looked like resignation, as if this outcome had been expected but still painful.
He walked across the set with his hands shoved deep in his pockets, nodding goodbye to a few crew members before disappearing through the studio exit.
---
Two hours later, as the day's shooting wrapped up, Hailey found herself walking toward the parking area where her car was waiting.
The sun was beginning to set, casting long shadows across the studio lot.
She had changed out of Victoria's costume and back into her own clothes, feeling more like herself again after a day of playing someone else.
As she approached her car, she noticed a familiar figure standing by the curb.
Eric was there, clearly waiting for transportation, his earlier dejection replaced by a kind of resigned patience.
The sight of him standing alone while traffic moved past triggered an unexpected wave of sympathy.
She pulled up beside him and rolled down the passenger window.
"Need a ride?" she asked, her voice friendly and casual.
Eric looked up, clearly surprised.
For a moment he just stared at her, as if trying to place her in this new context.
"Oh. That's... that's kind of you," he said finally, "but I can handle it. Cab should be here soon."
Hailey glanced up at the sky, where dark clouds were beginning to gather with the promise of rain.
"It's going to rain soon," she pointed out, "and that's the worst time to be standing around waiting for a cab."
As if summoned by her words, the first drops of rain began to fall, light but persistent.
Eric looked up at the sky, then back at her car. She could practically see him weighing his options.
He glanced at the busy street and then back at her again, and seemed to make a decision.
"Alright," he said, moving toward the passenger door, "when you put it like that, I'd be crazy to refuse. If you could just drop me at the next station, that would be great."
"Sure thing," Hailey replied, unlocking the doors and waiting for him to settle into the passenger seat.
He settled into the passenger seat, and Hailey pulled back into traffic, grateful for the excuse to be helpful.
For the first few minutes, they drove in the kind of awkward silence that happens between strangers who suddenly find themselves trapped together.
Hailey found herself stealing glances at him when she thought he wasn't looking, trying to reconcile the confident man who had embraced her in the makeup trailer with the dejected figure who had been standing alone on the curb.
At a red light, with rain now falling steadily against the windshield, Hailey decided to break the silence.
"My name is Hailey, by the way," she said, turning to give him a friendly smile.
Eric nodded politely but didn't offer his own name in return.
"I know," he said simply, his attention focused on the rain pattern on the windshield. "We met this morning, remember? In the makeup trailer."
Right. The hug. The case of mistaken identity. Hailey felt her cheeks warm slightly.
"Of course," she said. "Sorry, it's been a long day."
"Tell me about it."
Another stretch of silence.
Hailey tried again, hoping to draw him into conversation.
"So, are you, like, a celebrity or something? You seem to know everyone," she asked, genuine curiosity in her voice.
The question seemed to surprise him, and for the first time since getting in the car, Eric looked directly at her.
"Celebrity? No," he said with a slight laugh that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm not."
The response was simple.
The awkwardness was becoming more pronounced, filling the car with an uncomfortable tension that Hailey desperately wanted to break.
"Would you like some music?" she asked, reaching toward the radio controls.
Before she could change the station, Eric's phone buzzed with an incoming call.
The sound was sharp and intrusive in the confined space of the car, and Eric's expression changed immediately when he saw the caller ID.
"Hello?" he answered, his voice carefully neutral.
"Victoria?" The name came out with a mixture of surprise and hope that was impossible to miss.
He switched the call to a video call.
"Eric! There you are!" Victoria's voice was bright and clear enough to be heard through the phone speaker.
Hailey could see her face on the screen – perfectly made up, even though it was evening.
"Where are you? Are you in a cab? Please tell me you're not walking in this rain."
Eric glanced at Hailey, seeming to remember for the first time that he wasn't alone.
"I'm... I'm heading to Edward's place," he replied, his voice becoming more guarded.
"Perfect! That's actually why I'm calling," came the response, Victoria's voice bright with excitement.
"I called to invite you to a party. I wanted to surprise you. Guess what? I'm at Edward's right now!"
The phone was apparently turned toward someone else, because a male voice came through clearly.
"Hey there, Eric!" the voice said warmly. "Hope you don't mind the ambush."
Eric's expression changed completely.
In the span of two seconds, his face went from hopeful to something that looked like betrayal mixed with resignation.
Without a word, he ended the call, his finger pressing the button with more force than necessary.
The silence that followed was deafening.
"I've changed my mind," Eric said suddenly, his voice tight with controlled emotion. "About the subway station."
"Oh. Okay. Where would you like to go instead?"
"You can take me anywhere you want. Anywhere," he turned to look at her directly. "Literally anywhere that's not Edward's apartment."
Hailey could feel the tension radiating off him. Whatever had just happened, it wasn't good.
"We could grab some food?" she suggested carefully. "There's a nice little restaurant a few blocks from here."
Eric was quiet for a moment, staring out at the rain-soaked streets.
Then he turned to look at her directly, his eyes holding a strength that hadn't been there before.
"You know what," he said quietly, turning to face her with an expression she couldn't quite read, "if you don't know where to take me, you could always take me to your place instead."
The suggestion was delivered so casually that it took Hailey a moment to process what he had said.
When the meaning hit her, she felt a rush of flustered embarrassment that made her cheeks burn.
Did he just...? Had he really just...?
In her flustered state, she reached for what she thought was the radio volume control but instead hit the windshield wiper speed dial.
The wipers, which had been moving at a steady, reasonable pace, suddenly sprang into hyperdrive with an enthusiastic THWACK-THWACK-THWACK, racing frantically across the windshield as if trying to fend off a hurricane instead of the moderate rain actually falling.
"Oh, for crying out loud," Hailey muttered, fumbling with the controls while trying to keep her eyes on the road and process what Eric had just said and figure out if her face was as red as it felt.
Eric watched her struggle with the wipers for a moment, then started to laugh. Not the bitter sound from earlier, but genuine laughter that filled the car with warmth.
The expression that transformed his entire face and made him look younger and more approachable.
"I'm sorry," he said, still chuckling.
Hailey fumbled with the controls, trying to slow down the wipers while at the same time managing her embarrassment and the traffic around them.
She finally managed to return the wipers to their normal speed, which settled back into a reasonable rhythm with one final, emphatic THWACK.