Generations 2.7 kindle (4 page)

With Jackson’s redirection, Ben started thinking about fabric. Soft, velvety fabric. And then he had it. “Suede!” Ben said.

“Perfect!” Jackson exclaimed. Then he started using it in sentences. “Oh, look at that girl over there: isn’t she suede? … Did you see Elizabeth Cardon’s newest movie? She is so suede.”

Ben spoke up, adding more sentences to the queue. And as he talked, he realized that the term could be enhanced. “Oh, and if she’s extra hot, like a supermodel, you could say she’s ultra suede.”

Jackson sat up straight in his chair, like he was getting excited about this. His eyebrows seemed to sit up excitedly as well. “And if she’s just kinda cute, she’d be micro suede.”

Ben laughed. That was perfect. He hadn’t thought that far yet. But he quickly thought of this one: “And if she’s a plastic hottie, then she’d be …”

“Faux suede!” both he and Jackson said at the same time.

Katrina rolled her eyes and sat back in her chair, folding her arms. “Nice guys,” she grumbled. “I’m going to come up with some terms for guys. We’ll see how you like it.”

“Like what, Kat?” Jackson asked. “Boogertown if they’re a geek? And Yazoo City if they’re hot?”

“No.” She looked a little offended. “It will be better than that. And way better than yours.”

Ben wanted to laugh at her juvenile response, but he didn’t. He didn’t want to tick her off. She was ultra suede, after all. He wasn’t going to say that to her though—at least not yet. “Those really towns too?” he asked. He hoped to show her that he wasn’t making fun of her like Jackson was.

“North Carolina and Mississippi,” she answered.

“I really need to get out more,” Ben said. And then he stuck up for her, “Yazoo’s actually not that bad. How ‘bout you use that one for guys and I’ll use suede for girls. We’ll see whose catches on quicker.” He just meant to encourage her, but he saw from her reaction that he had said the wrong thing. It’s not like she was someone who had any kind of platform. Or any kind of fan base. He’d forgotten who he was talking to. She was just an average teenager. A nobody. She couldn’t make a new slang word popular. Ben wasn’t used to hanging around nobodies. Everyone he knew was a somebody. They, like Ben, could make any slang word popular. Katrina couldn’t.

“Right,” she said with her eyebrows scrunched a little. She wasn’t accepting his challenge. Why would she?

Ben needed to change subjects. Actually, he needed to get out of here. So he made up some excuse about having to go back to costuming for some final fittings. He stood to leave. Jackson asked him something about the storyboard ... again. Ben told him that he’d take a look later, when he had a spare second. Meaning that the storyboard shouldn’t take up more than another second of Ben’s life.

Ben noticed that Katrina looked less vivacious than she had at the beginning of the conversation. He felt a little bad for putting her off. “Hey, you coming back tomorrow?” he asked her.

“Um, no,” she said. She was already smiling again. “Jackson said I could only come once.”

“I … we have a really big family,” Jackson explained. “Everyone wants a turn. She can’t take another turn, or someone else will miss out.”

“You’re family can’t be that big. Just bring her back. There will still be time for everyone else. We still have a good week of shooting.”

Ben had a thought as he left. Maybe Jackson’s family was like the Duggars. Then there wouldn’t be time for everyone else to come. But he didn’t care if someone else missed their turn. He wanted to see Katrina again.

Chapter Three ……

“Y
our sister’s pretty cute.” Ben’s statement came out of nowhere. It was totally off-subject. He was supposed to be looking at the storyboard, but obviously he was thinking about her instead.

Ben must have noticed Jackson’s disapproval, because he amended, “Does that bother you? You probably have guys crushing on your sister all the time.”

“Yeah, way more than I would like.” Jackson kept his tone flat, not wanting to give the secret away.

“But you’ve gotta see it too … even though she’s family. Don’t you think she’s cute?”

A nervous laugh escaped from Jackson. He stole a glance at Kat. She was talking with some of the crew over by the break table. Making instant friends, like always. “I dunno,” Jackson shrugged. “She’s just Kat.”

Just then, Katrina laughed at a joke. She threw her head back and the room filled with the sound of laughter. Jackson again glanced at the scene by the break table. At that exact moment, Kat’s eyes danced across the room in his direction. But she didn’t look at him. She looked at Ben. Then shyly she looked away.

Jackson tried to bring Ben’s focus back to the storyboard. But Ben was more intrigued with what Kat was doing. His eyes had this far-off twinkle. “She’s adorable,” Ben said. It seemed more like an escaping thought than an actual article of conversation.
 

Jackson had tried to discourage Kat from coming back today. But it was like trying to keep flies off a turd. Jackson worried about the secret. He didn’t want to keep it up a second time. Kat could only pretend to be his stepsister for so long. Neither of their parents had even been divorced.

Trying to sustain the lie
had
been his worry before they arrived at the studio today. But when Ben sought them out immediately and spent a good fifteen minutes talking to Kat—while Jackson tried to discuss the flow with the director—Jackson knew that they had another problem. Ben liked Kat. Who would’ve thought?

 
Jackson wished he could have heard that conversation between Kat and Ben, but he didn’t need to listen to know that there was plenty of flirting going on. Every time he looked over at them, Kat would be laughing. Like Ben Wilder was so funny. Right. And he saw Kat reach out and touch Ben a few times. Those friendly, I’m-totally-engrossed-in this-conversation, arm pats. But did Ben know that she would probably never wash her hand again? She would go around, holding that hand up, saying, “This is the hand that touched Ben Wilder.”

And even more frustrating was the fact that Ben seemed like he could have cared less about the problem Jackson saw with the second half of the video. In fact, when Ben had finally come over to look at the revised storyboard, he had said, “I don’t see the problem.”

Didn’t see it? Jackson had been up all night worrying about it. He’d seen every hour pass on the clock as he fitfully tried to sleep.

Jackson re-approached the problem by pointing to the exact two frames on the storyboard. He said a silent prayer that Ben would takes his eyes off Kat long enough to see the problem. “This is where it doesn’t make sense to walk backwards. The lyrics in these verses all have the connotation of moving forward. Learning from the past. So I think we should have a few scenes of you walking forward through time. Just to balance it.”

Ben’s finger was on his chin. Jackson was happy that Ben appeared to be deep in thought. “I don’t know if I like the imagery of moving in two different directions. But maybe … it might make more sense with a few of the verses. We’ll toy with during edit. We can reverse the image in those scenes if we decide that it works.”

Not exactly what Jackson wanted to hear. Especially since Ben had said just yesterday that wanted everything authentic—and that some of the scenes had objects that wouldn’t translate well if flipped. Jackson wanted it settled: he wanted it to look perfect on paper. How could they shoot it perfectly if things were still up in the air? He said something like that to Ben.

“Relax,” Ben said. “The storyboard is an outline. Not a commandment made of stone. A lot of what happens during the filming process is spontaneous: impromptu. Sometimes the best things turn out to be the unscripted ones.”

Great. Now Jackson was getting directing advice from Ben. Who wasn’t even a director. But he was the creative genius on board this shindig. Jackson didn’t quite understand that logic. It was Jackson’s idea. Jackson’s perfectly detailed treatment. Yet Ben was the one everyone turned to with questions and problems. The one everyone praised for the promising awesomeness of this video.

“Right. Thanks,” Jackson forced himself to say. Rule number five of the contract: always be polite and respectful to His Highness, Ben Wilder.

Ben said, “Anytime,” and gave Jackson a small smack on the back. Ben turned to leave, but then took a back-step toward Jackson. “Hey, would it be awkward if I asked Kat out sometime?”

Jackson had to work hard to keep his face from obeying the law of gravity. He didn’t want Ben to see him look upset … about Kat. He kept his face upbeat, smiling. “Um, no. Not at all.”

“Cool.” Ben gave Jackson a complacent half-smile. “I’ll go catch her.”

“Right now?” Jackson heard his voice give a pathetic crack. Like puberty all over again.

“Is that a problem?’

“Well, no. It’s just …” Jackson hesitated, wondering if he’d gone past the point of indifference. Irrevocably into the realm of “Don’t get to know my sister any better because then you’ll know that she’s really not my sister.” He scratched at his head and thought quickly. “It’s just that you don’t even know if she likes you. Usually, guys get a feel for her … receptiveness before they set themselves up to be rejectamenta.”

“Rejectamenta?” Ben seemed to inwardly laugh. “You think she’d reject me?” And then a brief sentiment of insecurity passed through his eyes. “Why? Did she tell you that she doesn’t like me?”

Jackson felt omnipotent, albeit briefly. He wanted to say, “I saw that, Ben Wilder. You’re not immune to insecurity, are you?” But instead, he said, “No, of course not. It’s just that most ‘average’ guys would want some vindication before they opened themselves up. You know … all the games we’re required to play when we date.” Jackson turned his voice all squeaky and imitated the immature babble of his female friends, “Oh, yeah, he totally digs you. I could like, totally tell. Plus, he told the entire team that he like totally thinks you’re hot.”

Ben’s smirk was more sanctimonious this time. “Games are for kids,” he said. He walked away with his hands in his pockets, the embodiment of style and poise. Away from a chastised Jackson. Straight to Kat.

“Vlad,” Jackson muttered beneath his breath.

……

“H
o Lee Crap!” Kat exclaimed when she and Jackson were out of the studio. “I think he just asked me out.”

“Who?” Jackson played dumb. “That carpenter you were talking to? Isn’t he a bit old?” The guy had a pot belly and a balding head. He was probably older than her dad.

She smacked Jackson hard on the shoulder. “Not the carpenter, you yutz. Ben.”

“Ben? Ben who?” Jackson flinched when she poised for another smack. It was painful to tease Kat. He held his hands up in surrender. “I know. Ben asked you out.”

Kat’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean
you know
?”

“He told me he was going to. Kind of asked for my blessing, actually.”

“Your blessing?” Clearly Kat was baffled.

“Yeah. Being that you are my sister and all ….” Jackson gave her an encouraging, knowing look.

“Oh, right.” Kat caught up. Then her eyes grew huge. “What did he say?”

She had that tone that Jackson had used with Ben not that long ago when he made fun of those who used that tone. The ones who Ben had called juvenile. But Jackson felt rather child-like at the moment, so he played along. “Oh, nothing really. Just that he thinks you are cute.”

“Cute?”

Jackson stopped at the rear of her car. He turned to face her, struggling to keep his face impassive. “I think that’s what he said.” Then Jackson snapped his fingers. “No, that’s not the word he used. Adorable. That’s what he said. You … are … adorable.”

“Shut. Up!” She smacked him with both palms, square on his shoulders.

“I’m serious. That’s what he said.”

Kat spun a full circle, pivoting her Mary Jane’s on the concrete. “Adorable? W-o-w.” She let out this squeal that was nearly at dog whistle decibels. Jackson wished that it had been only the dogs that heard it. His ears would be ringing for at least an hour.

Her eyebrows raised and she gasped. “Then he
was
asking me out.” And then she groaned. Her eyebrows furrowed. “Cr-ap.”

Jackson was a little delighted in her torment. Whatever it was. She was upset about something that had to do with Ben. That was good. “Was he too forward?”

“No.”

“Arrogant?”
 

“No.” Kat grabbed her head like it ached. “I just didn’t realize ...” she grabbed Jackson by the arm, “I thought it was just a hang out thing. He asked if I wanted to go out for ice cream tomorrow, after filming—since it’s Friday and all. He made it sound like it was a bunch of people going. You know, like a cast party or something. I told him I couldn’t go.”

Phew,
Jackson thought.
And ha, Ben. Rejectamenta.

“Oh well,” Jackson said. “I’m sure he’s used to being turned down.” Smack. “Stop that! It’s sibling abuse!”

Now Jackson felt a little bad. He could tell Katrina was really in anguish. “I turned down Ben Wilder,” she said numbly.

“Don’t sweat it, Kat. It was a good move. You don’t want to go out with a guy like him.”

She groaned again. “No! I totally do. I would die to go out with him. But I have a dance performance. I didn’t feel so bad when I thought I was missing a group thing. But it was a date! With Ben freaking Wilder. And I said, ‘Maybe some other time.’” She leaned on the back of her Beetle. The sloped hatchback was a mistake for someone looking for support. She nearly slid to the asphalt. “What do I do, Jack? Should I go back in there and tell him I changed my plans? I can skip the performance. “

Jackson squatted to her level and gave her a hand. “No, Kat. You can’t do that. You’d look like you don’t have any convictions. Like you’re willing to give up anything just to be with him. He’d lose all respect for you. Don’t go there.”

Katrina grabbed the offered hand and let Jackson pull her up. “Your right.” Then she groaned again. “But Ben Wilder, Jack! Holy Hoople!”

Kindly putting his arm around her shoulder, Jackson said, “Kat, he likes you. He’ll ask you again. Let it go.”

Her face softened. “Really? You think I’ll have another chance?”

“Sure.” Jackson gave her shoulder a squeeze. “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure you’ll get to come back with me next week. He’ll see you and … bam! He’ll be crushin’ all over again.”

She wrapped her arms around Jackson and held him tight. “Thanks, Jack.” She stopped hugging him, but still held on to his arm. “You’re the best brother ever,” she said with a smile.

“Right back at ya, sis.”