Ruth Writes

‘I’ve never been kissed,’ she blurts out with her eyes closed. Mary, her makeup artist, lifts the brush from her cheek and stops blending her foundation. She doesn’t say anything. Faye opens one eye tentatively to gauge her reaction. Her mouth is slightly open, and she can see it in her face as her brain searches for the right thing to say. Mary looks at Faye in the mirror.

‘You’ve never been kissed, and you think thirty minutes before your first kissing scene is the time to tell somebody?’ she says. She moves her hands to her face and Mary slaps her wrists away.

‘Don’t ruin my beautiful base,’ she warns, with a smile.

‘Oh God, Mary, I haven’t felt this anxious before in my whole life. I threw up this morning. Twice. I haven’t eaten all day. I keep forgetting my lines. I think this is going to go horribly wrong,’ Faye rants, her eyes starting to water. Mary moves in front of her, placing her hands soothingly on her shoulders.

‘Faye, I need you to take some deep breaths for me and suck those tears back in. I don’t have time to redo your foundation,’ she says lightly, trying to make her laugh. They take some deep breaths together and blink the tears back.

‘I keep thinking about my parents watching this on their little television in the front room. They’re going to see my first kiss on a TV screen. How weird is that?’ she cries.

‘They rarely use the first shot, honey. It’ll more than likely be your fourth or fifth kiss that your parents will see.’

Faye groans and Mary rubs her shoulders thoughtfully.

‘Gimme a minute,’ she says, squeezing her shoulders and leaving the room.

Faye sits waiting anxiously in her chair, alternating between picking at the loose skin around her nails, running her hands through her hair and twisting each ring on her finger. When Mary returns, she’s done each anxious fidget three times. She’s not alone. Mary steps aside to reveal Faye’s co-star and first kiss to be, Ryan. He seems relaxed despite being debriefed by Mary about Faye’s discomfort. He doesn’t seem embarrassed or awkward unlike Faye who is now wishing the ground would open up and swallow her whole.

‘I’m gonna give you two a minute,’ Mary says and slips back outside closing the door behind her. Faye’s face burns under her makeup as Ryan takes a seat beside her, smiling. It doesn’t help that he is drop dead gorgeous. It just makes her feel more awkward.

‘Hi,’ he says as he gets comfortable.

‘Hi,’ she says back, trying to relax a little.

‘I get this is weird but if it would make you feel better, I’d be happy to do some practice scenes with our intimacy coordinator before we film?’ he asks. So now, she’s got two options: have her first kiss filmed and possibly broadcast worldwide or have her first kiss in a supervised makeup room. How romantic!