The Big Time Pt. 09

Michael was leaning against the wall, waiting for the crew to set the cameras up. He was thinking of complaining about his ridiculous wardrobe. The clothes made it blatantly obvious a makeover scene was going to happen at some point later in the film.Michael could deal with the simplicity of the plot, but he did not want to be seen by millions of people looking like a Saturday Night Fever reject. This is what Jen thinks young people wear?

Before he could do any more brooding his phone rang. "Yeah?"

"Hey, what's up? Keira wants to know who the girl was that we saved," said Thomas.

"Natalie Portman." Michael envisioned the double take and waited an appropriate moment. "Yes Natalie Portman. I gotta go." He hung up.

***

Hotel Allegro.

"He said it was Natalie Portman," said Thomas as he put the phone down.

"Natalie? He's not the type to lie about these sorts of things is he?" asked Keira.

"Absolutely not, not something like this."

"Come on let's go see her," said Keira, going towards the door. Thomas followed. "She shouldn't be alone right now. Where is she staying?"

"I don't know, I didn't ask."

"Let's find out then." They got into the elevator and went down to the lobby. "I wonder why he didn't say anything about her before," said Keira as the doors opened. They walked towards the front desk.

"Ah who knows," said Thomas.

"You're his best mate, shouldn't you?"

"Probably." A man came out of the back and took his station behind the desk. "Well, looks like you're asking."

"Why me?"

"Obviously because you're a very attractive woman. You won't have a problem getting whatever information you want out of him," said Thomas. "Now if it was a girl at that desk, then I would be the one asking."

"Because you're a very attractive man?"

"Obviously."

Keira grinned at him before looking at the front desk attendant. "Hi, I'd like to ask you about a friend of mine who is staying in this hotel?" The man nodded. "Well, I was just up to visit her but it appears she's changed rooms on me. Yesterday afternoon I spoke to her and she said she was in room 8042. I would just love if you could tell me what room she's in now."

The man cleared his throat. "I can't give out that kind of information miss. Our guest's privacy is very important to us."

Keira batted her eyes as subtly as possible. "Oh come on, I'm not dangerous. I'm a very sweet girl once you get to know me."

"Sorry," said the man. There was, however, the slightest of hesitations and Keira jumped on it.

"Perhaps you can give her a ring and let me speak with her. That way you're not the one telling me where her room is." The man looked down at his computer screen. "I promise I won't even watch you dial the number." He looked over his shoulder and then tapped away his keyboard. When the appropriate information came up he handed Keira the phone and dialed the number quickly. "Thank you so much," said Keira sweetly.

The man smiled and nodded.

"Hello Natalie?" said Keira. "This is Keira…I think that's something we should talk about in person, can we come up…yes, we, um it's me and the man who helped you out…okay, we're coming." She handed the phone to the attendant. "Thanks."

Keira and Thomas made their way up to Natalie's new room. "I hope you two are good friends," said Thomas as Keira knocked on the door.

Natalie opened it slowly. "Hi Keira."

"Natalie oh my god are you okay?" asked Keira as she hugged her.

"Yes, yes I'm fine," replied Natalie, returning the hug uneasily. She looked at Thomas. "I thought you said you were with the one who helped me out."

"This IS the man who got rid of Connor," said Keira.

"I'm one of the guy's who got rid of Connor. You already met Mike," said Thomas. He extended his hand. "My name is Thomas. It's really cool to meet you."

"Hello." Natalie shook his hand then turned it to the side and examined it. "It's clean."

"Hmm?" said Thomas.

"I'm sorry, I mean of course it's clean," said Natalie. "Come in." She stepped to the side as Keira and Thomas entered the room. She shut the door. "Michael's hands weren't when I saw him."

"Oh," said Thomas. "Well, Mike was the one who really let the guy have it. I just helped him drag the guy into the elevator."

"Drag him?" asked Natalie.

Thomas gestured with his hands. "It's not like he was dead or anything," he said. "He was pretty messed up, but not dead."

Natalie turned around. "Good, I guess."

"Natalie, what happened?" asked Keira.

"You know Mike didn't even ask me that." Natalie sat down on the bed. "He wouldn't even look at me."

"What do you mean?" asked Keira.

"He wouldn't look at me. That's what I mean."

"Alright Natalie," said Keira. The edge in Natalie's voice told Keira that she should change the subject. "How come you're in Chicago? Aren't you still shooting Star Wars?"

"They gave us a week off, I was coming to visit Kirsten and have a look around the city," said Natalie. "I must have gotten the date wrong."

"You didn't. There was some last minute schedule shuffling, she'll be here soon," said Keira. "Are you still planning on staying? I mean, with Connor and all that."

"Yes. I'm not going to change anything because of him. Not anymore," said Natalie. "Keira, I really appreciate you coming by, but I want to be alone, okay?" She stood from the bed.

"I thought you weren't going to change anything because of him," remarked Thomas.

Natalie glared at him. "I'm not. But I'm not fond of having a stranger in my room, even if he did do me a favor." She turned to him. "That being said, thanks for helping me out."

"Hey no problem, what are heroes for if not saving the damsel in distress?" said Thomas. "Come on Keira, let's go."

"You're sure Natalie?" asked Keira.

"Yes, I'll be fine."

Keira hugged her again and followed Thomas out of the room. When they got into the elevator she pressed the button marked L. "I'm off to work Tom. What are you going to do?"

"Prowl the streets. Some hot girl must need saving in this city."

"Oh no she doesn't!" said Keira. "The only thing you're saving is a seat for me at the pub tonight."

"Superman never had to save seats for anyone," said Thomas playfully.

"Who?"

8:35 pm. Trailer.

Jen cracked open a can of soda and handed it to her editor Bill. Then she opened her own as she sat down next to him. They were going over the dailies, the film that they had finished shooting that day. She pointed to a man on the screen. "That guy is so drunk."

Bill sped through to the next take. "Alright, he's gone in this one." They watched take after take roll on the video screen. Bill read through the script as he listened to the dialogue. "This is interesting."

"What is?"

"Listen," said Bill. He handed the headphones he was wearing to Jen and played clip after clip of Michael's scenes. "Have you noticed that?"

"Noticed what?" asked Jen.

"Listen to Mike," said Bill. He went to a different reel and played a few more of Michael's scenes. "Isn't that a little odd?"

"I'm not following," said Jen. She finished off her soda.

"I don't think Mike has screwed up his lines once this whole shoot."

"Yes he has," said Jen. She thought about the first day but technically he did not mess up his lines. "He MUST have, at some point."

"I don't know," said Bill. "But something always bugged me about him whenever we would go over the dailies and I think that's it. He hasn't botched a line once."

"That's gotta be some kind of record," said Jen.

"Think we should tell him?" asked Bill.

"Oh god no, all we need is for him to start screwing up EVERY line he has," said Jen. "Maybe once we wrap for him we'll say something."

"Okay."

2:12 pm. Thursday, July 3. Joe's.

The man winced and sucked on the tip of his thumb, a tiny trickle of blood flowing from the small cut. He wiped his hand off as he finished hammering the board into place. "Manny! Are you done yet?!" yelled out his boss.

"Yeah! It's all set up!" said Manny. He got off his knees and began putting his tools away.

Jen was sitting on a stool with her back to the bar talking on her cell phone exasperatedly. Her producer was not happy about the location change. By Hollywood standards Chicago Style Romance was a low budget film and a few thousand spent here or there raised red flags. She leaned forward. "Cut me a little slack! I can't make this film with an empty wallet alright!" snapped Jen. "I'm shooting here, and that's it. You won't be disappointed, alright?" She flipped her phone closed.

"Trouble at the office?" inquired Steven, standing behind the bar.

"No, everything's just great," said Jen sarcastically. "Why did I listen to Mike?"

"Because this place is worth it right?"

Jen spun around in her seat. "Of course it's worth it. But sometimes it's not, you know what I mean?"

"I sure do." He poured a drink for her. "Here, compliments of the house. It'll help you relax."

"Mmm, the best thing about shooting on location." She gratefully accepted the glass and gulped down the brown liquid. "Thanks Steve."

"That stage looks pretty good from here. I don't suppose you could leave it when you're done?"

"Sorry, we don't have the permits for that," said Jen. Steven gave her a look that always worked with his wife Lisa. "But maybe I can work something out. Thanks for the drink." Jen got up and went over to the hastily built set. The crew had cleared out small section of tables and erected a small stage that rose eight inches off the floor. Sitting in the middle of the stage was a black baby grand piano and microphone.

"Do you want us to set up the sound for the piano?" asked a crewmember as Jen passed by.

"Depends." Jen looked over at Michael. "Mike! Can you play the piano?"

Michael cleared his throat. "Um, sort of."

"'Sort of' meaning what?" asked Jen.

Outside the bar, Natalie checked the slip of paper in her hand and then looked up at the sign above the door. She took her sunglasses off and entered. Inside, people were moving back and forth, running wires or setting up lights. Steven spotted her looking around anxiously.

"Excuse me miss, but we're closed!" called out Steven.

Natalie looked at him. "Hi, I'm Natalie Portman, could you tell me where Jen Pish, the director, is?"

"JEN!" said Steven, startling Natalie. "Someone's here to see you!"

Jen nodded at Michael before walking over. "Hi Natalie. Have any trouble finding the place?"

"A little, I'm not familiar with these streets," said Natalie. "Is Kirsten here?"

Jen stepped closer. "She is, but I'm the only one who knows. Apparently there's still some issues between her and Mike so she's waiting for him to leave the bar before we do her scenes. She's down the street at a coffee shop. I'm sure she won't mind seeing you."

"Okay, thanks a lot Jen," said Natalie. She headed for the door.

"Let's do a sound check!" yelled out a crewmember. He pulled Michael over to the piano. "Can you play something so we can get an idea of what we've got?"

"Uh, okay. What do you want me to play? I only know a few things," said Michael nervously.

Natalie stopped and turned around. Jen walked towards the stage. "You said you could play, right?"

"I said I sorta could. I mean I-"

"Mike, no one's going to hold it against you if you miss key here or there. It's just a sound check," said Jen.

Michael sighed and sat down at the piano. "Okay." He adjusted his seat so his feet rested on the pedals comfortably. Michael stared intensely at the keys. He hit the first note, then the second and third and slowly shocked everyone in the room. The crew stopped in their tracks. A camera was pointed at the keys and Jen stared at the monitors with her eyebrows raised. The only person moving was Natalie, slowly approaching the stage, listening to every note. Five and a half minutes later Michael struck the keys one final time and looked up.

Natalie began clapping first but everyone quickly joined in. Michael turned red and stood up so quickly that the seat fell over. "Uh, thanks," said Michael as he set the seat upright and got off the stage. "Was that okay?" he asked the sound man.

"That was amazing."

"I mean, did you do the sound check or whatever it is you needed to do?" The man nodded enthusiastically.

"Wow Mike," said Jen as she approached him. "I'd say that's a little bit more than 'sort of' being able to play the piano. What is it called?"

"Fantaisie Impromptu," answered Natalie. "By Beethoven, I believe."

Michael cleared his throat. "Chopin actually." He stared uncomfortably at Natalie.

"Are you sure?" asked Natalie.

"Quite."

"If you can play some modern stuff for the scene that'd be great," said Jen.

"You'll have to give me some time to learn it."

"How much time?"

"I don't know."

Jen rubbed her chin. "We'll try and work it out." She glanced around. "As soon as sound is ready, we're going to shoot, okay?" Jen went over to the monitors and sat down.

"That was impressive Mike," said Natalie.

Michael at the floor for a moment and then up at her. "It was clunky."

"What other pieces do you know?" asked Natalie.

"If it's a semi-famous chunk of classical piano, I probably know it. If not, than I don't," said Michael. "What are you doing here?"

"I came here to-" She stopped, remembering what Jen had told her about Kirsten. "-to see you."

"What about?"

Natalie adjusted her purse on her shoulder. "I never properly thanked you."

"You don't owe me anything," said Michael.

"I knew you were going to say that," said Natalie.

"Then why are we even talking?"

Michael's coldness confused her. "Do you know what you did for me?"

"Yeah. I know what I did," said Michael. "For you, I put a guy in a hospital."

"You saved me," said Natalie.

Michael tried not to laugh. "Saved you? How old fashioned are you?"

"Enough to know that you could have just kept on walking but you didn't. You chose to help," said Natalie. "Not many people would have done that."

Michael looked away from her. "That doesn't mean I'm proud of myself for doing it."

"You shouldn't feel bad about it, it was the-"

"I'm ashamed about it!" snapped Michael. "I almost killed him!" People started to look in his direction. "Look, this isn't the time or place for this. I have work to do." He walked away from her.

"Mike?" called out Natalie. Michael stopped and faced her. "I'd love to hear you play again sometime." Michael turned around without answering. She briefly contemplated Michael's reaction and then left the bar. Natalie walked down the street to the coffee shop where she saw Kirsten sitting at a table next to the window, reading a magazine. She made her way inside and got in line behind another familiar person.

"Oh hello Allen," said Natalie.

Allen turned around. "Natalie?"

Natalie tried to push his large frame around. "Hey don't be so obvious Allen, I want to surprise her."

"Oh. Sorry." He turned around and ordered. As soon as he got his coffee he handed the other cup to Natalie. "Your usual?"

Natalie smiled at him. "Thanks Allen." She took her coffee and headed for Kirsten.

"Oh my god it's you! Can I have an autograph?!" exclaimed Natalie.

"Um, I'm not who you think I am," said Kirsten without looking up.

Natalie chuckled. "Neither am I."

Kirsten looked up and cracked a grin. "Hi!" She stood and hugged Natalie. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to see you of course," said Natalie as they sat down. "I got some time off and thought, what better way to spend it than with my best friend in the city of broad shoulders."

"Thank god. Spending the next few weeks hanging around with Allen would've driven me insane," said Kirsten. Allen was sitting near the door keeping a watchful eye on Kirsten. "No offense Allen."

"Well you're only going to get a few days reprieve from Allen's company. I'll be going back to Sydney on Monday," said Natalie. "How have you been?"

"Fine, things have been great," said Kirsten. "What about you?"

"Good, Sydney is just as much fun as I remember it," answered Natalie. She sipped her coffee. "Have you found a house yet?"

Kirsten's face lit up. "Oh yeah, I've found it alright. It's perfect. It has a backyard big enough for a softball game, a big deck, swimming pool, a bunch of bedrooms, it's going to be so great!"

"I get to come furniture shopping with you right?"

"Of course Nat," said Kirsten. She reached inside her purse. "I think I've got a picture of it in here. Ah, here it is." Kirsten handed a small photo to Natalie.

The house was two stories tall and painted a dull white. Natalie could see a huge living room through the front windows. "Looks like a great place." She handed the photo back to Kirsten. This break in the conversation was good as any other. "I talked to Jen a few minutes ago."

"Oh yeah? What did she say?"

"She said that there were still issues between you and Mike," said Natalie. "I thought that was over and done with Kiki."

Kirsten's mood changed noticeably. "It is. But that doesn't mean I want to see him if I don't have to."

"Oh. Okay."

"Was he there when you talked to Jen?" asked Kirsten.

Natalie nodded. "They were setting up the piano scene when I came in. He's pretty good."

"Good at what?"

"Playing the piano," said Natalie. "I guess you've probably never heard him play."

"No. I haven't," said Kirsten. "He probably didn't want to show off."

"That's exactly how he acted when Jen asked him to play. He was so embarrassed when everyone started clapping." Kirsten just nodded and sipped her coffee. "There's something else you should know too Kiki."

"What, can he play the flute too?"

"No. It's about Connor. We're through."

Kirsten's jaw dropped. "Aww why? What happened?"

"He…" Natalie sighed. "He lost his temper and…then he really lost his temper."

"You mean he-" said Kirsten. Natalie nodded. "Oh my god! When did this happen?"

"Last night."

"Last night?! Where?!"

"My hotel room."

"What happened?!"

"Considering what could have happened, not that much. He did hit me a few times but that's all," said Natalie.

Kirsten was deathly concerned for her friend. "Hit you?!"

"He wasn't able to do very much," said Natalie. "Before you ask, I'm okay, really. He didn't have the chance."

"What did you do? I mean I couldn't even tell anything happened to you. How did you stop him?"

"I didn't," said Natalie. "Mike did."

"What?" asked Kirsten incredulously. "Mike?"

"Somehow he was on the same floor that I was staying on. For some strange reason he was looking through the peephole and for an even stranger reason the peephole was put in the wrong way," said Natalie. Kirsten blinked and wrung her hands. "He broke the door down and dragged Connor out of the room. I didn't see what happened after that."

"What did he do to Connor?"

Natalie shook her head. "I don't know. But the blood on Mike's hands was rather telling."

"Oh my god," said Kirsten.

Allen stood up from his table and walked up to Kirsten. "They're ready for you," said Allen as he put his cell phone away. "Mike is with the second unit a few blocks away." Kirsten sat there silently. "Kiki?"

"Allen, I want you to stay with Natalie."

"Kiki, I'm paid to keep you safe. No offense Natalie," said Allen.

"None taken."

"And I can't do that if I'm not with you," said Allen.

"I don't need a bodyguard Kiki," said Natalie.

"What if Connor finds you? I'm not arguing with either of you," said Kirsten. She got up. "You can come with if you want Natalie."

"Fine." The three of them left the coffee shop and walked down the street towards Joe's. "So, what are we doing tonight?" asked Natalie.

"I've got a bunch of scenes to do today," said Kirsten. "I probably won't be done until late."