Chapter 174: Eenie Meenie

[Edward POV]

"Yo! Money Bag!" Sean Kingston cheerfully greeted me as I arrived at the film set today. He grasped my hand, and we bumped chests before he let go.

Finally, I reached Hollywood Hills, where we would film the music video for our collaboration song, "Eenie Meenie." It was a massive mansion atop the hill with infinity pools and mesmerizing views of the Pacific Ocean.

Initially, I was a bit irritated when the filming crew changed the location at the last minute. However, considering that the new place was closer and the mansion was the original one from the music video in my past life, I simply acquiesced to the change.

"What's up, Sean? Dude, how the hell did you get bigger?" I jokingly asked. "It's only been a few weeks!"

Sean laughed for a moment and said, "You want a hotdog?"

"Ah, so that's why…" I joked, causing him to roll his eyes at me.

There was a hot dog stand nearby, sponsored by members of my fan club, before the shooting started today. Their thoughtful gesture made me appreciate them even more.

"Yeah, put everything on it," I replied hungrily, licking my lips.

After meeting for the studio recording of the song previously, Sean and I hit it off and became friends. Despite his appearance suggesting he had two baby mamas, Sean was actually 19 years old. When I first told him this during our initial meeting, he nearly rolled around on the floor laughing.

Numerous people were involved in the filming today. We had nearly 50 dancers and background actors, the video's heroine, a filming crew of 25 people, the director, and staff members from our agencies dispersed around to protect both of us.

We quickly proceeded to the clothes fitting and tried out a few outfits for the music video. Sean easily found his clothes based on my advice, but I encountered a problem.

"You can't wear a suit!" Renaldo said.

Both Sean and I were confused. "Why not?" I asked.

"Same reason all the girls here are fully dressed, and nobody is showing excessive skin. It's targeted for kids! You should look like their peers," Renaldo explained, frustrated.

"But I want to do an Iron Man entrance. We even have an Audi here!" I whined.

Sean nodded in agreement and said, "Look, I even brought the sunglasses for him!"

He took out the same type of sunglasses RDJ always wears in interviews and showed them to Renaldo. "Oh, that's nice," I said, taking them politely from his hand.

Renaldo ignored me and asked, "Should I call Haley?"

I scowled and replied, "If you keep using that tactic to avoid arguing with me, then... I would have no other choice."

This wasn't the first time he had done this. Whenever I complained about an outfit I didn't want to wear, he would call Haley to get her on his side. 

Since she was 'unofficially' my fashion coordinator, I wouldn't argue with her. It's not that I couldn't argue with her, but for some reason, I didn't want to give her any grief. I had no qualms about arguing with my dad or my aunt if Renaldo had them as his allies.

Renaldo looked a bit concerned. "Are you firing me?"

"No, I'll just talk shit about you to Dwayne."

"NO! Ugh. Alright, you can do whatever you want!" he said dramatically. I smiled and said, "Thanks. Now, let's take a look at the outfits you prepared today."

Renaldo rolled his eyes and said, "If you were going to agree with me anyway, why waste our precious time!?"

Sean and I both laughed, having successfully tricked Renaldo. The reasoning was simple: I wouldn't tease someone I wasn't close with.

"What about pink?" He handed me a pink jacket, which I immediately threw into the pool without even checking it out.

"The dark green one from Old Navy looks nice," I said, ignoring the sinking pink shirt.

Renaldo hesitated and said carefully, "It's... Calvin Klein."

"Really? Why does it look so cheap?" I asked, confused.

"We need something that'll make you stand out in the crowd. See, even Sean is wearing a silver one," Renaldo tried to convince me, ignoring my question. And since he already anticipated my actions, he took out the same pink jacket from the style bag.

I grimaced and coyly said, "It doesn't matter much. No matter what I wear, when I want people to see me, they will see me."

Renaldo was taken aback but eventually agreed with what I said. Even the aesthetics of my image in the live concert videos taken by fans couldn't capture my bad side. (Thanks to Barney)

Pepper always joked that I was born to be loved by the camera, and Renaldo finally admitted the truth.

"Nice! The uglier he looks, the more I can stand out," Sean said enthusiastically. I patted his back and gazed at him pitifully. "It was nice of you to have ambition."

"Mannn, go do your hair. We need to get started soon," Sean retorted irritably before going to get his makeup done.

I chuckled and replied, "It's easy for you to say. You don't have anything on top of your head."

"I am bald by choice!"

"Are you sure it's not male pattern baldness?"

"Imma throw you down this hill! BELIEVE ME! I WILL DO IT!"

While I was getting my hair done, the hairstylist commented, "Hmm... You really don't look like a teenager. Is there a particular hairstyle you want?"

"Hmm... Wait, I was wondering if you could do it like this," I said as I googled a hairstyle I wanted, but all that came up was a cartoon character's hairstyle. It was a parted hairstyle with waves, inspired by some Korean manhwa I had read in my past lives.

The hairstylist's eyes lit up, and she exclaimed, "Good! This will suit you well if you want to look more like a teenager!"

"It'll also give me a more approachable vibe. Alright, let's get started, or else Sean's hair will start growing," I joked.

"I CAN HEAR YOU!" Sean shouted from out of nowhere. I turned left and right in shock, but I couldn't find where he was.

…

After changing into my new outfit, I admired myself in the mirror, satisfied with the look. With confidence, I joined the rest of the crew on set. The dancers were already in action, showcasing their moves in front of the camera to capture the vibrant party atmosphere.

"Hey, D-Gate! You're looking good!" greeted a male hip-hop dancer, whose name was Ed. We had a friendly rapport since he was part of the dance crew with Kaya and Anna.

"Ed! Come join us and dance!" he invited me.

"Sure!" I readily agreed.

Renaldo, who was concerned, shouted worriedly, "Ed, don't ruin your makeup and clothes!"

I waved off his concern, assuring him that I had it under control. Ignoring his warning, I started dancing to the beats of 2Pac's "California Love."

♫♪ California love! ♫♪

With smooth yet sharp movements, I glided towards the circle of dancers. They cheered with excitement, and the girls around the house quickly turned their attention towards the dance floor.

♫♪ California... knows how to party ♫♪

"They sure do!" I joked, making a wave from my left hand to my right and then using the momentum to create a wave with my whole body.

♫♪ California... knows how to party ♫♪

The B-Boys joined in, dancing around me, and the crew accidentally captured the moment on film. We had an unspoken understanding, making it look like a perfectly choreographed routine to the audience.

♫♪ In the city of L.A. ♫♪

The girls cheered, and they also wanted to join in to dance together. Unknowingly, I turned a fake party into a real one in just under a minute, causing the floor director to have a headache arranging the positions later on.

♫♪ In the city of good ol' Watts ♫♪

Sean Kingston muttered to himself, "Damn, Ed! Don't dance too much. Otherwise, my agency will want me to dance too! I don't want that!"

♫♪ In the city, the city of Compton ♫♪

♫♪ We keep it rockin'! We keep it rockin'! ♫♪

Laughing, I struck a pose with the B-Boys before leaving them to rejoin Sean. As I approached, a girl whom I had never met before, leaped towards me with excitement.

"KYA! Edward, you're awesome!"

"Thanks... and you are?"

"Oh, right! I'm Jasmine Villegas. You can call me Jasmine."

Sean explained that she was part of the music video today, introducing us. However, she wasn't the heroine, and was just making a special appearance as she was invited by Sean. 

I was taken aback when I first saw her. If I didn't know any better, I would have thought Phil had another family in a different part of town, where he was married to a beautiful Latina woman, and they have a teenage daughter together. 

She stood before me, dressed in a stunning low-cut white dress. As we were high up, her long, straight brunette hair danced in the wind. 

However, what caught my attention the most was a peculiar accessory that raised suspicions about Phil. No sane person would ever wear such a critically unusual item, unless it was a family heirloom —a feathered earring.

Similar to Penny, Jasmine was still an aspiring actress at this stage. Uncertain of what the future held in this world, I couldn't help but recall her limited success in my previous life. She had mostly been cast in supporting roles and hadn't received many opportunities to shine.

Perhaps she had declined Weinstein's advances on one occasion, resulting in missed chances to promote her for various roles.

Then, I finally met the heroine of the video. 

Ashley Leanne. She had a slightly tanned skin, and a seductive expression on her face. She behaves a bit coquettishly, and quite brazen. She touched my biceps and complimented me about my muscles the moment we met. 

Ashley has wavy, long brown hair. She was wearing a short top, revealing her stomach, and paired with short jean booty shorts. She was playing with the general audience and the mature video rating with her outfit, and she was proud of that.

When Ashley was talking with the staff, I asked the director slowly, "Why are you making her wear the 'Where's Waldo' clothes?"

The director smiled excitedly and said, "You got that huh? What do you think it means?"

Sean, who was standing beside me answered, "Hmmm… She's hard to find?"

"Or, she kept going missing, and we need to find her?" I shoot my guess.

The director pointed at me and said, "Ed is right!"

"Damn it!" Sean exclaimed in disappointment while I laughed proudly.

"Make her walk around in the ordinary scenes. See if the audience can find her." I joked, but the director's expression froze.

"Why…didn't I THINK OF THAT! THAT'S GOLD! HOLD ON CAMERA CREW!! We need to reshoot some stuff!"

Renaldo glared at me as he knew I didn't have much time to shoot the music video today, but I kept delaying the process. I smiled wryly at him and then said, "Just cancel my plans for the night. I can do it in the early morning tomorrow."

It wasn't urgent anyway. I had planned to integrate a few helpful programs for the company, both in software and also the company's development plans, but I decided to just relax today. 

Sean had been asking me consistently to stay behind because he had a big party planned after the filming was done, and he had also invited a lot of celebrities to introduce me too. 

It was both an opportunity and a risk for me to join the party today. Especially because I knew that this type of party wouldn't have any bottom line, and I was currently an underage singer that had just debuted plus I was kind of by myself before the whole country right now.

We officially started filming the scenes. I started first by filming alone at the piano. The plot of the music video was simple. Both Sean and I were to be played by the same girl. And when we knew that she had been moving between the two of us, we decided not to fight for her and got acquainted instead.

As I shot the scenes with Ashley, the director couldn't help but scream 'cut' a few times.

"CUT! Ashley, you're supposed to be playing HIM, not giving him everything he wants! Tone down the lust in your eyes!"

Jasmine said agrievingly, "I can't help it! Just look at it! Look into his eyes, and tell me that YOU can keep your hands away from this man!" She pointed at my innocent face. The director was helpless and said, "Take 13! Come on! And Ed, don't wrap your hand around her waist this time!"

I was confused, "Why? I don't think that's too much?"

"It's not too much, but she won't be able to act after that!" 

"Ahh…right…" 

Renaldo rubbed his forehead in frustration and muttered, "You can only blame yourself–"

"For being too sexy right? I know it." I interjected to finish his sentence for him. 

Renaldo was exasperated from my shamelessness, ignored me, and warned those around me, "And you girls, don't make googly eyes at him! He's supposed to only be looking at Ashley! "

"Awww!" The group of girls around let out a collective sigh before they went to do their job.

Even Sean was a bit jealous from the attention the girls were giving me. But I couldn't help it. They were like a moth drawn to the blazing fire that I am. 

As we moved the filming along, and finally got to the part that Sean and I were shooting together, suddenly a baby hawk landed on my shoulder.

"What the fuck!" Sean screamed in horror. I was excited and I rubbed the bird's head before saying, "This is not a place for you to rest baby bird. Go on."

Then, the baby hawk flew away reluctantly. The crew were looking at me in disbelief. Someone whispered in the background, "The Pied Piper."

After that small episode, we finally finished the filming for today.

"Want to check out the full video?" The director asked after a short break.

"I'd love to." I replied to him. Sean, Renaldo, Jasmine and I stood behind the director. Jasmine was hugging my arm shamelessly, but I didn't have any problems with that as she was kinda cute and a little bit silly.

'Wait…I'm not falling for a contemporary female Phil right?' I thought in shock before I moved an inch away from Jasmine. But that just made Ashley, who was standing beside me, misunderstand my intentions.

The director then clicked the space key and played the video.

It started with the scenes of Sean pulling into the block in an Audi car. I followed behind soon after in a Lamborghini car. We played Rock Scissor Paper to decide who got what car, and I won.

Sean sang first in the clip, "♫♪Eenie, meenie, miney, mo! Catch a bad chick by her toe! If she holla –If, if, if she holla, let her go♫♪"

Sean met with Ashley in the video. She lowered her sunglasses and looked at him with a look of intrigue before slowly moving towards him.

"Really, they look like father and daughter-"

"Shut up!" Sean cursed me before I could finish. Yeah, she was 1.63 m, and he was 1.88 m. They really didn't look good together. 

Sean continued singing in the video, but at the same time, the screen split into two, and I entered the scene.

 "♫♪She's indecisive, she can't decide

She keeps on looking from left to right

Girl, come a bit closer, look in my eyes

Searching is so wrong, I'm Mr. Right♫♪"

I met Ashley at the snack bar, and we flirted a little. The director furrowed his brow as he looked at the scene and commented, "Ed really doesn't look like he's getting played huh."

"I can't help it. My ego won't let me." I muttered helplessly. As Ashley left me in the video with a lingering touch, my eyes stayed on her for a little while, which made the director nod in satisfaction as his aim was complete. 

"♫♪You seem like the type to love 'em and leave 'em

And disappear right after this song

So give me the night to show you, hold you

Don't leave me out here dancin' alone♫♪"

The scenes alternate between the dancing, and Sean singing the song alone. But for people with keen eyes, they could notice that Ashley was in the background in various scenes, just like in the game Where's Waldo.

Finally, we got to the chorus!

"♫♪You can't make up your mind, mind, mind, mind, mind

Please don't waste my time, time, time, time, time

I'm not tryin' to rewind, wind, wind, wind, wind

I wish our hearts could come together as one♫♪"

"Oh! That's me." I muttered in astonishment as the clip of me dancing with the B-Boys was shown shortly on the screen. The director smiled and said, "It was too good to be left behind."

♫♪'Cause shorty is a eenie, meenie, miney, mo, lova

Shorty is a eenie, meenie, miney, mo, lova

Shorty is a eenie, meenie, miney, mo, lova

Shorty is a eenie, meenie, miney, mo, lova♫♪

Finally, it was my turn to sing the song. With a deep and seductive look on my face, I sang charismatically.

"♫♪Let me show you what you're missing, paradise

With me you're winning, girl, you don't have to roll the dice

Tell me what you're really here for

Them other guys? I can see right through ya♫♪"

"Damn boy! Why are you stealing all of the limelight?" Sean jokingly cursed. 

I was sitting with Ashley near the piano, and my hand were wrapped around her. She bit her lower lips as she gazed into my mouth, which made the director paused the mv for a while.

The director said, "I put in the wrong clip."

"..."

He fixed it quickly and continued playing the song

"♫♪You seem like the type to love them and leave them!

And disappear right after the song~

So give me the night~ to show you~, hold you~

Don't leave me out here dancing alone~~♫♪

♫♪Can't make up your mind-mind-mind-mind-mind

Please don't waste my time-time-time-time-time

Not trying to rewind-wind-wind-wind-wind

I wish our hearts could come together as one~♫♪"

I smiled as I watched the video, "It is pretty great." The quality, the videography, all of it was upgraded from the original. I especially cut out the cringe part compared to the original one, so that it wouldn't be era specific.

♫♪'Cause shorty is a eenie, meenie, miney, mo, lova

Shorty is a eenie, meenie, miney, mo, lova

Shorty is a eenie, meenie, miney, mo, lova

Shorty is a eenie, meenie, miney, mo, lova♫♪

Sean rapped a bit. In the scene that was split into two screens, Sean started doubting about why Ashley kept disappearing, and I was with the girl in the other picture. And when Ashley went to Sean, it was my turn to doubt.

♫♪Eenie, meenie, miney, mo

Catch a bad chick by her toe

If she holla

If, if, if she holla, let her go♫♪

While Sean finished, in the clip, I went to the poolside to seach for Ashley, and finally caught her playing with Sean. 

♫♪Eenie, meenie, miney, mo

Catch a bad chick by her toe

If she holla, lolla, lolla

Let her go♫♪

We glanced at each other with hostility, before we decided that the girl wasn't worth it, and shook hands together. Ashley was fuming when she saw that we weren't going to fight for her, and left.

We duet together in the clip, standing side by side in front of the pool. It showed that it was almost sunset in the video, but honestly that was just a filter. 

♫♪Shorty is a eenie, meenie, miney, mo, lova

Shorty is a eenie, meenie, miney, mo, lova

Shorty is a eenie, meenie, miney, mo, lova

Shorty is a eenie, meenie, miney, mo, lova♫♪

After we were done with Ashley in the video, I was talking with Jasmine who had took off her feathered earring, and Sean was talking with another hot girl. The girls were better than Ashley, and they didn't try to play us around. They also seemed kinder than her, which made it seem like we had gotten an upgrade. 

♫♪Can't make up your mind-mind-mind-mind-mind

Please don't waste my time-time-time-time-time

Not trying to rewind-wind-wind-wind-wind

I wish our hearts could come together as one~♫♪

♫♪Shorty is a eenie, meenie, miney, mo, lova

Shorty is a eenie, meenie, miney, mo, lova

Shorty is a eenie, meenie, miney, mo, lova

Shorty is a eenie, meenie, miney, mo, lova♫♪

Then, before the ending, both of us left the scenes with our girls in our arms. 

"YEAH! WE DID IT!" Jasmine and Ashley said excitedl before they each kissed me on the cheek at the same time.

I smiled and said, "Yes–"

"NOW, WE PARTYYYY!" Sean screamed, making the crowd cheer enthusiastically. He wrapped his arm around his current girlfriend, an african american girl, and they left the area to go to get some drinks.

Jasmine and Ashley looked at each other's eyes, before they said to me, "Ed, do you want to make out with us?"

"Umm…It'd surely be impolite to say no."