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adidastain · 11 months ago

Text

love to hate you

90s matt stone x fem!reader (named Sadie)

warnings: arguing, suggestive themes if you squint really hard

notes: first person perspective (I, me, my, etc.), this is part one of a series mwahaha cliffhanger

word count: 2539

—

The time was 7:54 PM. That marked six hours since I’d last sat down.

It got to the point where I could barely move more than three feet in any direction. I was perched next to the camera, watching each take while the director spectated from the monitor, just a few feet away.

We were on Take #5 of the second shot of the entire scene. I knew at this rate, we would still be here shooting the tail end of this scene at 9 o’clock. But Trey was picky, and it was my job to make sure he got what he wanted out of each take.

“Cut!” he shouted, exhaling heavily. I trudged over to where he was standing, keeping my back straight so as to not look so tired in front of all my colleagues.

“What do you think?” I asked him, standing at his side just a few inches away. Trey stared into space, gnawing on his fingernail as he thought deeply.

“What’s the time looking like?” he asked me, words muffled by his hand.

“We should wrap up this scene by 9 and be done for the night,” I sighed.

He stood in silence, staring at the actors on set as they waited for his call.

“Okay,” he sighed. “Let’s move on.”

“Moving on!” I echoed. Thank God. Trey walked onto the set, standing in front of the actors to explain what he wanted for the next shot.

I moved as quickly as I could over to the table off to the side, grabbing a water bottle for myself and chugging it. I so badly wanted to sit down for just a minute, but I couldn’t. I wasn’t going to let myself.

“What’s going on?” I heard a voice behind me. I turned my head, seeing our producer with his big silver glasses and curly hair, towering over me. He had his skinny, muscular arms crossed over his broad chest. He was obviously peeved.

“Setting up the next shot. Where have you been?” I asked, subtly leaning against the table. Matt and I didn’t really get along most days. We didn’t get along at all, actually. I didn’t really understand why, but as long as he stayed out of my way, I couldn’t care less what he thought of me.

“Signing your checks,” he spat. I turned my back to him, walking away towards the set. I approached the cinematographer, before Matt put his hand on my shoulder to prevent me from moving any further.

“Did we get the shot?” Matt asked me, raising his eyebrows.

“What does it look like?” I hissed, gesturing to our surroundings. I turned my back to him again to help the camera crew move around.

Matt disappeared shortly after. For someone who was nowhere to be found during rehearsals and shooting, he cared an awful lot about what I was doing. I knew he was busy with scheduling and budget stuff, but he was Trey’s right hand man on most of their projects, so it didn’t make sense why he wouldn’t make time to see it all happening.

Perhaps that’s why he was always up my ass on set. Even then, he had no reason to get such an attitude when talking to me. So many people told me how professional he was on set before I started shooting with them; if he was so professional, then only God might know why he treated me the way he did.

While I waited for Trey to finish running a rehearsal for the camera, I kept a close eye on the time. 9 o’clock was a huge stretch at this point. Granted, we did make a lot of progress for one day.

I noticed Matt talking to a lady in the corner. She looked professional; she had on a black blazer and held a binder tucked underneath her arm. I stared for a moment, thinking about what they could be talking about. It was almost quiet enough to hear, since all the buzz from PAs and crew members had died down for the rehearsal. Matt was leaning down slightly so he could hear whatever the woman was saying. He was… looking at me.

I looked away. Are they talking about me? God. He better not be saying anything bad. I was good at my job and he knew it. I knew it.

Soon, we called for quiet, and we were back to shooting. Trey opted to do a continuous take and have actors run their lines multiple times, so they could just pick up if they forgot. The scene was almost three pages long, so there was a lot of dialogue and no doubt that they would slip up.

And of course, as expected, one of the actors called for a line a few times. I was actually really happy. Doing a single continuous take would save us so much time.

After we wrapped up the shot, Trey called for everyone to take five.

“‘Scuse me,” I heard a voice next to me. It was the lady that Matt was talking to just a few minutes ago.

“How can I help you?” I asked, giving her a smile.

“Can you come with me for a moment?” she asked.

I followed her to an empty portion of the room where most of the gear was camping out, waiting to be used. Matt was standing there next to a door to another room.

“It would seem that you and Mr. Stone have been having some problems, no?” she said, gesturing towards Matt. He stared me down, chewing on the inside of his cheek. I felt my body burning under his angry and slightly intimidating gaze.

“I guess,” I said. “I’m not sure why.”

“Me neither,” she said, sporting a fake smile. I could see now how caked her makeup was when her skin wrinkled with her grin. “Care to explain, Mr. Stone?”

I was honestly shocked. I guess she was acting in my defense. Perhaps his unprofessionalism stood out to her; I realized that she was probably a supervisor from a big production company.

“I think Sadie is slowing down production. That’s all,” he said calmly. I hated the way his voice sounded. It was deep and nasally and he always had such a snobby tone.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” I argued, furrowing my eyebrows. “My job is to keep things moving. We would’ve been stuck shooting that same shot over and over if I hadn’t said anything.”

“Well if you would just let Trey get what he wants, we wouldn’t have to take time every day to reshoot scenes from the day before,” Matt said, raising his eyebrows.

“There’s clearly a misunderstanding here,” the lady huffed, rubbing her temples. “I want you two to work it out between yourselves. Right now. Personally, I’m embarrassed for you. Fix it.”

Matt sighed, looking down at his feet. I laughed on the inside.

The woman took a step closer to me to whisper, “I don’t know what his problem is. I think you’ve been doing just fine. But the way you’re reacting to him isn’t helping anybody in this situation, so figure it out.”

I nodded. She walked away, leaving the space between Matt and I filled with nothing but silence and tension. His glare was throwing daggers at me. I couldn’t lie and say that he wasn’t scary most of the time. I swallowed, trying my best to keep it subtle so he wouldn’t notice.

“So what’s your deal?” I asked calmly, shifting my weight from one heal to the other.

“I told you what my deal is,” he said. He licked his lips. “Not very good at listening, are you?”

“Did I say or do something that’s been affecting you outside of work?” I said, laughing. I was truly at a loss for words. What on Earth could I have done to make him hate me so much? I’m not friends with anyone in the cast or crew outside of shooting, so why did it matter? Trey seemed to be fine with me. Maybe Matt was jealous?

“You’re fucking up our project, Sadie,” he hissed. “Not to mention you just fucking humiliated me in front of the exec from Universal!”

My jaw dropped open. He sounded like such an idiot. I humiliated him? “You started it! I was just doing my fucking job, Matt!” I exclaimed, keeping my voice as hushed as possible. “When have I ever gotten in your way, hm? Give me an example. Go ahead.”

“Every single day,” he laughed. “You won’t let Trey just do his thing. This thing’s gonna turn out to be shit by the time we’re done and it’s gonna be your fault.”

“Who hired me, Matt? I wanna know,” I said. He hired me. I knew that. He knew that. “I think you ought to have a strong word with him. He looks like an idiot right now.”

“You’re lucky you were even considered,” he said. Matt crossed his arms and leaned closer. “You don’t have shit in your portfolio.”

“If you don’t back off and let me do my job, there’s only gonna be more shit,” I said lowly, gritting my teeth.

“That won’t happen. Don’t forget who signs your checks, sweetheart,” he growled.

He was just a few inches away from me now. At this point I could feel his breath covering my face.

“Fire me,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “If I’m such a nuisance to this project, fire me.”

“Alright, then. Leave.”

“Say ‘you’re fired,’” I instructed.

“Get the fuck out of here,” he said, laughing softly. “Be my guest.”

“You’re scared, Matt. I know you are. I can see it in your eyes,” I grinned. “You’re scared you’re gonna look bad in front of the execs for firing me without reason, hm? Say it.”

“You’re fucking fired,” he said, raising his voice. He had no need to; my face was less than a foot away from his. I jumped slightly, not expecting the sheer volume with which he spoke.

The entire set went quiet for a brief moment. I felt my face start to burn as I realized that every single person in the building probably heard that. Now I felt like an idiot. Matt leaned away from me, crossing his arms and staring me down. I could see a smirk curling on the side of his lip. Never in my professional career did I want to hit anyone more than I did in that moment.

I swallowed back tears, trying to compose myself before I actually turned to walk out. I could see Matt’s broad, muscular chest rising and falling rapidly. Perhaps he felt a rush of adrenaline for finally putting me in my place.

“Good luck finishing this scene by the end of the hour without my help,” I muttered, ramming my shoulder into his body as I pushed past him to get through the exit.

I grabbed my backpack from the hallway and stormed outside. Of course, it was raining. How cliche.

Once I was in the safety and quiet of my car, I burst into tears. I couldn’t believe that asshole actually fired me. I know I encouraged him to do it, but I didn’t think he actually would. He was so fucking confusing all the time; I trusted my judgement and my judgement was wrong.

I put on a crewneck over the tank top I was wearing as I tried to take deep breaths and calm down. I was confident that they wouldn’t get the rest of shooting done within the next two weeks without my help. Fine, they could suffer all they wanted. They only had one person to blame and it sure as Hell wasn’t me.

Just to make my life even better, the location of the set was a good forty minutes away from where I lived, so the drive home sucked. It was late, I was exhausted, I was cold, it was raining, Matt was an asshole, Trey was probably in shambles. The whole sundae with the whipped cream, chocolate syrup, and the cherry on top.

It was well after 9 PM when I got home. I looked at the clock in my kitchen and wondered if they’d finished filming as I watched the second hand tick. Whatever. I shouldn’t care.

I set all my stuff down in my bedroom and turned the water on for a hot shower. I felt really gross, from sweat, tears, snot, and rain water. I thought about the Universal lady giving Matt a verbal beating about his unprofessionalism. The thought made me smile as I got undressed and stepped into the shower, every bit of tension and stress in my body melting away as the hot water poured over my skin.

I pictured his face turning red with embarrassment as she told him how immature and unprofessional he was. Call it cruel, but imagining him getting verbally beaten by a big company really relieved my stress.

My mind circled back to our dispute from before I left. I didn’t understand why he got so fucking angry at me for no apparent reason. Maybe after I started teasing him, sure, but before? I was defending myself. If he was so worried about me sabotaging his and Trey’s project, then he was far from ready for working in Hollywood.

It was ridiculous, honestly. I couldn’t even do anything to ruin the creative aspect of the film with the position I held. I was the 1st Assistant Director, for God’s sake. All I was there to do was prevent people from wasting time and keep things moving. I couldn’t fathom what Matt would have had such a major fucking problem with.

I found myself less relaxed again. Weirdly, I wondered what Matt was doing right now. Maybe he was getting scolded by the exec, maybe he was getting scolded by Trey. They’d probably (hopefully) finished loading out by now, so maybe he was driving. Maybe he was in the shower too. Maybe he fell asleep at the wheel and drove off a cliff and ended up in a fiery car crash on a remote beach. Maybe they were still filming. Maybe he was in the shower, washing his hair or his body, just like I was…

I cringed and turned the water off, ringing my hair out. I shook my arms and legs and stepped out of the shower, quickly grabbing my towel and smothering my head with it. Matt had been on my mind the entire night since I left, but truthfully, I didn’t care that much. I was way too tired and honestly relieved to not have to get up at 6 AM the following morning and film for another 15 hours again. I smeared the rough fabric all over my body as I walked down the hall to my room.

That’s when my doorbell rang.

I froze. What time is it? Who the fuck could possibly at my door this late anyway?

I ran to my room, throwing on a baggy T-shirt and some fuzzy pajama shorts and running over to my door to peer through the peephole.

A loud groan escaped me when I saw who it was.

The last person I wanted to see at my door at any hour of the day, let alone past 10 PM.