Snippet 6d

The room went silent.

Christi's excitement was visible. "It was one of the top things requested from the fans." she hinted, waiting another moment before her arms dropped to her sides. "Really? No one?"

Luke raised his hand slowly, his expression unreadable.

Mel pointed eagerly to him. "Yeah?"

"Romance, right?" he said, slowly lowering his hand again. "...guy-on-guy?"

The room went even more silent than before, if that were even possible.

"Yes!" Christi congratulated him, clapping her hands happily. "That's correct, and THAT is what is going to make this movie better than it ever would have been before."

"You're not serious," Jon said, his face looking a little less tan than before. "Who's - I didn't see it in the contract -"

"Oh it was there," Christi said, pointing her pencil at him. "Trust me. I made triple sure."

Several people made automatic grabs for the folders they'd brought with them.

"Oh, relax," Mel said, waving her hand with a grin. "It's not everyone. Just a select few couples."

Everyone immediately started looking around, and Christi exchanged a smile with Mel.

"Am I one of them?" Jon asked, his face almost already accepting.

"Uhhh - nope. Nope, you're not," Mel said, grinning at him. "Though that can be arranged, if you'd prefer it."

"Who are the couples?" Zoe spoke up, something dangerously close to a smirk coming to her face. "Or do we have to start stealing each other's contracts to find out?"

"You're funny." Christi said jokingly. "But I'm afraid the contracts don't tell you that. It's all up here." She tapped her head. "You will of course know one way or another, and it's up to you if you want to hear it now or later..."

The room was silent for a moment as people looked around.

"Well I don't care," Jon said, again the spokesman as he sat back, looking very happy that he wasn't a part of the nervous silence. "I'm not paired, so...yeah."

"I vant to know, too!" Anton said, practically bouncing up in his seat. "Tell us! Tell us!"

"Get it over with," Chris said, giving the pair of sisters a grimly accepting smile. "I think I already know what's coming, anyway."

Christi grinned, smiling excitedly at Mel. "Alright then. Pair number one is..." she waited, enjoying the suspense on their faces. "Chris and Karl!"

Karl blanched. "Wait - what?"

"Seriously?" Chris was grinning, chuckling as though it were all a joke as he glanced over at Karl. "I mean, really, he's totally hot - but - me?"

"You okay, Karl?" Mel asked, chuckling as he looked at the Southern actor with great affection. "Feeling all right?"

"Just a little surprised," Karl said, glancing over at Chris before looking back at them. "I didn't think I was one of 'em."

Christi laughed. "Oh you silly." she said fondly as she looked back at her list. "Next is...Zach and Keanu!"

The eyebrow that Keanu managed to raise was very impressive. And Zach

...looked vaguely taken off-guard, but only for a moment.

"You two will be so CUTE!" Christi squeaked, shivering with excitement before looking back down at her binder. "Then we have...Jake and Luke."

"Seriously?" Jake asked in surprise, staring at them before his eyes found Luke. "Whoa."

Luke glanced back at him, his eyes slightly widened. "Seriously?"

"Oh yes," Mel said giddily. "We do indeed plan to surface a relationship between the older brothers in the Star Trek series. Mwahahaha!"

"That's hot," Zoe shrugged with a smile, earning several stares from the actors around her.

"Yes, it is," Mel said matter-of-factly, before looking back down at her binder. "Aaannnd, I think that's it! So!" She looked back up again, beaming. "How do we all feel?"

"When do we get a script?" Jake asked, raising his hand curiously.

Christi opened her mouth for a moment before stopping, frowning as she looked over at Mel. "Did they even come in yet?"

"Sure they did!" Mel said, giving her a light smack. "They came yesterday. You guys will all have a copy by tonight so you can read through it. For now, though, I would say get to know each other and the area. Your trailers are all outside. And tomorrow morning, we do the first read-through at 9:00!"

Everyone nodded and started moving even though they seemed hesitant to get up.

"So...until tomorrow then?" Jon asked, lifting his arms in question.

"That's right." Christi said, grinning. "Ya'll have a good night now! We'll see you tomorrow."

Exchanging glances, the group muttered curiously to themselves and each other as they all rose from theirs seats, and began to leave the room.

"What do you think?" Chris murmured to Zach as they walked through the doors. "You up for this?"

"We signed the contract knowing this might happen," Zach said, sounding nonchalant as they turned to follow the crowd. He glanced up at him briefly before picking up his coat and slinging it over his arm. "Are you?"

"Hell yeah," Chris chuckled, seeming amused that Zach would ask him that. "I just figured, you know - since you're the more quiet type you might be dealing with some stretching issues - but I guess looks can be deceiving." He glanced over his shoulder. "You and Reeves ever worked together before?"

"I have admired his work, but I have never met him." Zach replied, wrapping his scarf around his neck.

"Well, that's definitely changing now," Chris said with another chuckle that - to Zach - told multitudes about the sort of personality that Chris had. "Hey - you wanna go out with us tonight? I know a few of the guys are going out for drinks. Wanna tag along? Look over the script, maybe?"

Zach raised an eyebrow at him. "I do not believe we are allowed to take our scripts outside the building."

"I've always taken mine out," Chris said offhandedly as the group headed toward the other side of the building, where the hotel rooms were situated. "I mean, what are they gonna do? Fine us or something? Come on - either way you've gotta come. Reading all night isn't good for you."

Zach looked over at him with a queer expression on his face.

"Hey," Jake caught up to them, patting Chris on the back. "We goin' out tonight?"