Summary: Audrey has a bad day, and Seth cheers her up in a somewhat unexpected way.
I know I said Monday sucked, but today is officially the worst.
Audrey fires the text off, feeling a little better already just being able to say it. Well. Type it, anyway. She takes a sip of her coffee and tilts her head back, soaking in the sunshine for a few minutes before she’s called back on set.
She can hear Markus shouting for Teja inside, something about requiring his favorite dish from his favorite restaurant in London, and winces in sympathy. He’s been in fine form today, irritable enough that she’s been biting back her natural instinct to smile at many of his remarks. Her phone pings merrily as the sunlight warms her face, and she glances down at Seth’s response.
Sorry, Iowa. If it makes you feel better, my day has been awful too. Probably worse.
She’s typing out a response when another text comes through from him.
Definitely worse.
Not possible, Audrey sends back.
I listened to someone scream about her Yorkie’s haircut for 30 minutes.
Audrey snorts out a laugh before replying.
Markus threatened to rewrite the entire script. And fire me. Actually he threatened to fire almost everyone.
Didn’t he threaten that last week too? He won’t. You’re way too amazing for him to let go.
Audrey laughs. Flatterer, she sends back, then adds, Still a bad day.
I bet mine’s still worse. Are you sitting shirtless in traffic?
Audrey nearly chokes on her coffee as she reads the text, sitting upright on the bench.
No, I’m still fully dressed. Why are you shirtless?
He takes a few minutes to reply. Audrey should review her upcoming scene again, but instead she gets distracted by thoughts of Seth without a shirt on. Hugging him. Kissing him. Her face warms, but this time, it has nothing to do with the sun beating down on her.
Oh, they’ve kissed again, many times since that first one in the secret museum, though that’s as far as it’s gone. She’s okay with that, doesn’t want to rush what they’re building, but she can’t deny that she’s thought about more with him.
Audrey’s phone pings again as Seth answers.
I was dropping the limo back off. One of our clients showed up, mad at another driver for something, and her latte went flying. All over me.
A laugh bubbles out of her at the mental image of an angry woman hurling a latte, and her mood lifts a little.
I feel like you’re making this up to make me feel better.
I wish I was.
Another text comes through as Teja comes to get her, and Audrey glances down at a photo now popping up on her phone as she walks back inside. Teja glances at her when Audrey stops suddenly and sucks in a surprised breath.
“I’m fine,” she says hastily. “Just Seth.”
Teja grins knowingly. “Sure.”
She looks down at the picture again. He’s sitting in his car, a few strands of his wavy hair flopping on to his forehead, and sure enough, he’s shirtless. Audrey stares a minute too long at the picture, taking in the way his muscles pop out on his arms and the faint dusting of hair across his chest. Vaguely, Audrey wonders if she’d find the picture less distracting if she didn’t have direct knowledge of how his lips felt on hers and how solid he felt when he held her, but she doesn’t think she would.
She’s about to send a reply back when Markus suddenly claps loudly, announcing that he requires filming to begin, and it startles her out of her staring. She quickly tucks her phone back into her bag and sees that Seth has texted her again.
You okay over there, Iowa? You didn’t pass out, did you? ‘Struggling comedian causes rising star to get a concussion’ doesn’t have a good ring to it.
A grin stretches across Audrey’s face as she hurries over to stand on her mark next to Matt. Her character is supposed to be irritable in this scene, not fighting back a smile, so she purposely tries to think about things that annoy her.
It works, for the most part. She nails her lines, even though Seth’s face pops into her mind when she flirts with Matt’s character. She and Victoria’s characters bicker, and Audrey’s brain insists on replaying the time she and Seth had accidentally fallen asleep on her couch, and she’d woken up with his arms wrapped around her and his face buried in her hair.
On her next break, Seth texts and asks if she needs a ride home that night. She tells him yes, grinning when he tells her not to worry, he’ll show up fully clothed and then sends, Glad to see you’re not concussed.
When he picks her up, Audrey laughs as Seth hops out of the car and gallantly opens the passenger door as she walks over. She pokes his arm playfully.
“No lasting injuries from the latte incident, I’m assuming?”
Seth glances down at his chest. “I think I’ll live. I may have a few bald patches for a while though.”
“I don’t know, you looked pretty good to me,” she says casually.
They both realize what she said at the same time.
“I-I meant-“ she stammers, right as Seth says, “Only pretty good?” with an exaggerated gasp.
It lifts the faint hint of mortification she felt immediately, and Audrey grins.
“Pretty good,” she says teasingly.
She can see him fighting back a laugh as he starts walking around to the driver’s side. The sun’s rays illuminate his face, highlighting the blond streaks in his hair and making his eyes look even bluer.
Audrey darts her hand out, snagging the hem of his shirt before he gets too far. Seth stops, turning back towards her. He looks a little surprised but leans in when she releases his shirt to rest both hands against his chest.
He dips his head down when her hands slide up the back of his neck and into his hair, and Audrey presses her lips firmly to his. She knows there are people still milling around set, knows some of them live for any chance to gossip and speculate and can see them kissing, but right now, she really doesn’t care.
When she pulls back, her cheeks flushed, Seth is smiling, his eyes shining in the fading daylight. His chest rises and falls slowly against her.
“Not that I’m complaining,” he says, “because I’m definitely not, but what was that?”
Audrey grins, unable to pass up the chance to tease him. “Seth. We’ve done this before. It’s called kissing.”
He chuckles. “Of course. How could I forget?”
“And…I just wanted to kiss you,” she says, shrugging.
Seth looks at her like he doesn’t quite believe her as they get in the car.
“I had a bad day. You made me feel better. So I wanted to kiss you,” she elaborates as he pulls out of the lot.
Of course, she also wanted to kiss him because he’s a really good kisser and that shirtless picture was really distracting and she kept thinking about him on set, but that, she decides, is something she can tell him later. Maybe when he’s not looking at her with a little smirk, like he knows she’s not telling him the whole reason.
“Happy to help, Iowa,” he says as they stop at a light, and he gives her such a happy, genuine smile that she thinks, Oh, why not?, and decides to tell him all of her reasons behind that spontaneous kiss anyway.