“Is there any way I can stay for a little bit longer and go over my solo scene?” Nicole inquired, glancing from the script in her hand to Donald. ”I think being in the environment will really help me nail it.”
“I’m sure you’ll do fine, Nicole, but if it will make you more comfortable, you can stay and go over it a few times,” Donald relented.
“I’m going to stay with Nicole,” Britney said, coming up next to her friend and client. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t stay too long.”
“I think that task would be better left to me,” Matt stated with a sigh. “You’ll get distracted by something and completely lose track of time. I’ll make sure my star client gets back to the resort safe and sound.”
“And I’ll have the crew leave you a set of snowmobiles for your return trip. Don’t wait too long though. This snowstorm is supposed to be a doozy,” Donald explained as he climbed onto the back of one of the vehicles.
She nodded, causing her blonde ponytail to graze the middle of her back. “We won’t be long.”
Donald took off with the majority of the crew. A few members of production stayed around, putting the last of the cameras and lights onto the backs of the final snowmobiles.
Nicole walked over to grab a bottle of water and a snack from the back of one of the vehicles. She overheard two of the production staff discussing the progress of the film and her impact on it. She ducked down, worried they might see her.
“I can’t believe Donald hasn’t recast her yet. She’s dragging down the quality of this movie,” one of the women whined. “This is the first big production I’ve assisted on, and after she’s done with it, it’s going to set back my resume by years.”
“You may not even want to list this one,” the other woman stated with a snort. “Unless it can be salvaged in post-edits, it’s going to flop. No one is going to want to watch Nicole West stumble through a dramatic crime drama when she should be sticking to rom-coms.”
Nicole’s mouth went dry and a lump formed in her throat. She knew Tayla didn’t think she was doing a good job, but she hadn’t known this opinion was shared by the entire crew. While the women continued to poke fun at her, she slipped back over to the spot where she would be filming her monologue. It was the pivotal scene where she would trudge through the snow-covered forest to find the killer.
“What’s wrong, Nicole? You look discouraged,” Britney asked with a concerned expression on her face.
“It’s nothing. I just want to work on my scene. Do you mind watching me while I work through it? Let me know if I’m doing anything that looks weird, or say my lines wrong.”
“You could never look weird,” Britney stated with a shake of her head. “But I’m here for you, so I’ll let you know if I see anything you can maybe perfect a little bit more.” Britney glanced out of the corner of her eye and scrunched up her face when she realized that Matt wasn’t paying attention. She elbowed him in the side, gesturing with her head. “Don’t you agree, Matt?”
He glanced up from his phone, mumbling, “Yes, yes, whatever you need, Nicole. I was just checking the weather and that storm that was supposed to hit in the middle of the night looks like it will be arriving here in a couple of hours. We need to be back at the resort before that happens.”
“We will,” Nicole promised. “I just need like an hour out here, and then we can be on our way.”
The rest of the crew took off over the next half hour, asking if Nicole needed anything before they went. She told them she was fine and would see them back at the resort. It was easier to work once the final crew members left, knowing that she could experiment with how she did the scene without prying eyes critiquing her every choice.
Nicole went through the scene three times, and during each attempt the snow started to come down harder, but it didn’t keep Nicole from doing it again.
Before the fourth time, Britney reached out and stopped her. “I think you should stop for the day. We need to head back now. The falling snow is really thick now,” she shuddered, rubbing her hands over her arms. “Even with my thick, winter coat, I can feel the chill setting in.”
“She’s right,” Matt added, glancing around with apprehension. “We don’t want to get caught out here in the dark. We’ll never find our way back if that happens.”
“Just one more time,” Nicole begged, still worried that she didn’t have the right movements and inflections down for the scene. “I want this to be my best performance ever.”
Matt let out a sigh, then gestured towards the woods. “Okay, one more time, but that’s it. We have to go back after that.”
Nicole smiled and reached out to squeeze his arm. “Thanks, Matt, I really appreciate you understanding.” She started back through the scene, this time adding more stumbling into her movements and stress in her voice. She could feel the emotional words of anger and desperation spilling from her lips, and she used them to make tears form in the corners of her eyes.
“That’s it, that was…amazing,” Britney shouted with excitement. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such an impactful performance as that. You need to do that tomorrow and you’re going to wow the socks off everyone.”
Nicole stopped and turned around, pride pouring from her. “You really think so?”
“It’s the best acting I’ve ever seen you do,” Matt confirmed. “It was top-notch.”
Nicole was blown away by their reactions. Britney could be over the top, sure, but if Matt agreed it was her best performance, she knew she’d finally had her breakthrough.
“I don’t mean to ruin this moment, but I’m freezing. Can we head back to the resort now?” Britney begged. “The sun is hidden behind the mountain, and we’ve lost almost all the daylight.”
“Yes, let’s go,” Nicole agreed. “I don’t want Donald to panic if he hears we’re not back yet.”
“Nicole, why don’t you hop on behind me,” Matt suggested. “And you can follow behind us on the other snowmobile, Britney.”
“Want to protect your biggest asset,” her friend teased. “I see where I rank in things. At least, I’ll be in a dry, warm bed in a couple of hours.”
The trio climbed onto the vehicles and headed back towards the resort. As they made their way, however, the snow started falling harder and more rapidly, and the wind kicked up. Within a few minutes, it was pounding against them, causing Nicole to tuck her face against Matt’s back. Maybe it was a bad decision to stay out as long as she made them.
“I’m going to have to slow down. I can barely see in front of me,” Matt yelled over his shoulder. “I don’t want to hit a tree or a snowbank and flip the vehicle.”
Nicole knew he was right, but with every minute they were out there, the storm was getting worse. If something happened to them, it would be all her fault for pushing them to stay. Donald told them not to be out too long.
They continued down the road that led back to the resort, or at least, Nicole hoped it was the road. She wasn’t sure where they were with how much snow was blinding their path.