Chapter 190: Messy Schedule (2)

[Edward POV]

In the dim-lighted basement lab. 

"I still have some time." I muttered, even though I knew that I had a lot of work to do today. I turned on my modified laptop and continued my work on the AI. 

It was something to do while I waited for the staff members to get the location ready for today's shooting. The mishaps this morning gave me a little bit of urgency to complete my AI programs. 

'I needed a secretary that could keep track of all of my schemes and plans so that I wouldn't have to cancel my nefarious plots after this.' I thought inwardly.

Suddenly, my phone chimed in while I was engrossed with entering the codes. 

"Damn it." I cursed as I read it. It was a text from Taylor saying that she's going to be late because her makeup team was late. I turned my attention to the codes once I texted her back. 

"FINALLY!" I celebrated as I entered the last lines of the codes and compiled everything I had written. 2 months of work was finally finished, however I knew that I had only built the foundation of the AI. 

The progress bar moved very slowly. It didn't even get to 1% even after 5 minutes. My enthusiasm slowly died down as I saw the unmoving progress bar.

"What the hell was I hoping for?" I muttered with a sigh before leaving the lab. Unbeknownst to me, the progress bar suddenly sped up after I left the room. 

…

We drove to Beverly Hills where the side-by-side house film set was located. The set house was built inside a huge film studio, and I have rented the entire set since last week.

I turned to Taylor who had just arrived and blatantly stared at her face. She smiled coquettishly as she saw me. Then, she became confused when she saw that I was studying her face.

"THERE'S NO MORE PIMPLE!" She shouted in anger and dissatisfaction after she realized what I was looking for. I shrugged and smirked at the same time.

"By the way, Hello there." I greeted as I moved towards her.

She scoffed and crossed her arms together as she pouted. 

"You're angry at me because you got pimples?" I asked with fake confusion. She was baffled and said, "Huh? No! Anyway! I don't have any pimples, so stop talking about it!"

I had to stifle my laugh because I knew that she was going to get annoyed if I mentioned the matter again. 

"You're ready?" I asked with a seductive tone, "Miss Creative Director?"

She grinned and said, "Absolutely."

For the music video, I gave her the chance to create the storyline on her own. It took her a week to come out with the storyline. I was surprised when I realized that it was the exact same setting compared to the music video in my previous world.

A nerdy, timid, glasses wearing but secretly pretty, next door neighbor girl who has a crush on the athletic jock boy in the house next door. Then, there was a villain cheerleader girl who was using the kind jock boy's to make her ex boyfriend jealous.

Both the female lead will be played by Taylor, and I would play the male lead obviously. It wasn't that I wanted to get the role myself, but she proposed that I do it to save some money. 

"We're going to shoot the bedroom scenes first, so get ready." I told her.

She smirked and whispered, "Wait. I have never agreed on using cameras in the bedroom. If you want it, you should've told me first."

I snorted and then at my ear, showing her my earpiece. "I'm the director, so I had to wear this to communicate. So….you know, everyone else here has heard that."

Taylor was frozen, and then she looked around to see some staff smirking and giggling. Her face blushed red and she said hurriedly, "O-O-Of course I know that! That was a joke! JUST A JOKE!"

She yelled into my ear. I winced in pain before saying, "Ahh, you don't have to defend yourself yet. I haven't turned it on." 

She froze again and then blood rushed to her face. "Asshole!" She cursed before she stomped away. I chuckled at her before sitting at the director's seat. Taylor returned to the set while wearing a white t-shirt with signatures on them. Her hair was tied in a short ponytail and she wore big glasses. 

"Hot Set! Interior!" One of the staff members yelled as Taylor got ready. The code signifies that the set was ready for filming from all aspects.

The set bedroom has green walls, a white frame single bed in the middle that was placed in between 3 windows covered with purple drapes, a butterfly painting on the top of the bed, and a study desk at the right side. 

The closet and the mirror had not been revealed yet, but her bedroom exuded a pleasant and minimalistic ambiance, a stark contrast to her actual bedroom she grew up in.

I turned to Taylor and smirked. "Hey. Don't stand on tilt." I said abruptly.

She was confused, "Why?"

"Cause it made your shirt's word look like 'Junior Jew'." I teased. Taylor checked her shirt with the word Junior Jewels written on it and chortled. 

We started with recording her dorky dance inside the bedroom, and while we were filming, I had to shout cut a few times.

"CUT! Stop looking at the camera." I said with a laugh. She circled her hands together while dancing weirdly and said, "I shouldn't look at the camera while doing this?"

"You shouldn't look at the camera at all." I said while covering my smile behind my hand. She grinned and teased, "Really? I thought that you wanted me to record it like this?"

She kept dancing and I kept chuckling, causing the filming to be delayed. When we started again, I finally realized that I lacked the time to prepare for my evening plans and whispered, "Damn it."

A normal guy would've just canceled his plans. But I refuse to be normal. I whispered to the staff responsible for the logistics, "For the last scene, do we have enough people and venue yet? If we don't, then, I can contact my school and ask my teammates to help out."

…

[General POV]

-Dunphy's house-

Claire returned home bringing Gloria with her to prepare for tonight's dinner. As she returned, she saw Alex and Phil sitting in front of the TV in the living room.

Confused, Claire asked, "Alex why aren't you resting?"

Alex replied with a weak voice, "I am. I'm watching a documentary with dad." 

"Documentary about what?" Claire asked again. Phil slowly turned towards his wife and said, "Birds."

"???"

Claire decided to let go of the matter after hesitating for a while. Phil then asked, "Why aren't you at work?"

"Oh. I decided to take a day off anyway." Claire said. Gloria giggled and added, "We're going to make food for Edward's dinner party for him."

Phil was excited to hear that. But then Alex poured some cold water onto their enthusiasm, "Edward is really controlling, so he won't accept it if someone tries to mess with his recipes. Do you guys even talk to him about this?"

Gloria brushed the matter off easily, "Don't worry Alex. I'll just find his recipes at his house."

Alex chuckled and said sarcastically, "Yeah. Maybe it's in a password protected file in his laptop. Mom, I'm going to sleep."

Claire walked towards Alex, hugged her and kissed her forehead, "Okay honey. Feel better. Mommy loves you."

Usually, Alex would cringe whenever her mother said this, but as she was ill, it was comforting for her to hear that. After Alex left, Claire hesitated and turned to Gloria, "Should we really do it? You heard Alex?"

Gloria was hesitating too, "She's right. I guess we should call him first."

Phil said hurriedly, "Don't call him. He's on the film set. Just text him." Claire and Gloria nodded before Claire sent a message to Edward. 

Less than a minute later, Edward texted back.

"What did he say?" Gloria asked in excitement.

Claire read the text and smiled, "He said it'll be a great help. We should do it. Also, he's going to enter the set next, so he's not going to be able to reply for a while."

"Oh great…" Gloria said before pausing for a while. "Does he really have recipes on his laptop?"

"I'm not sure." Phil said with a confused expression. 

…

[Edward POV]

Taylor wore a black hoodie, put on some dark eyeliners and some light blushes on her cheek as she did her first costume change. Before she walked on set, she said to me with a deadpan voice and emotionless face, "Edward…I don't know…do you want to go behind school, and I can show you my tattoos? We can smoke some…grass…"

I snorted and teased her, "Really? That's your impression of an emo girl?"

She smirked and continued, "Then, we can go on raves inside a tunnel, drinking each other's blood? Cut some lamb and summon satan?"

I guffawed at the impression and gave her a thumb's up. Then, she said something troubling, "Should I dye my hair black and tie it in a twin tail style?"

I gave her a stink eye and said, "To do that, you'd need some bigger assets in your chest department."

She backhand slapped my arm in protest and said, "So, you only love them big, right?"

"Well, for me…Boobs are boobs." I said convincingly while grabbing her shoulders. "Damn, emo Taylor is feisty. Go on, I still have a dinner party after this."

She frowned and said, "You're going to get rid of me after filming? We are not going to hang out?"

I furrowed my eyebrows and said, "You don't remember it do you? I already asked you to come before."

She widened her eyes and said guiltily, "Oh. You did? I'm sorry. I will make sure to come!" Then, she ran to the set quickly to continue filming. 

I breathed in relief after that. 'Luckily she didn't realize it.' I thought. Well, it wasn't that I had forgotten to invite her, but in my earlier plans, the two events were held in separate days, so I had no motives to invite her. 

After a while, Taylor did another outfit change where she wore a yellow hoodie and tied her hair up. She stood lazily and said to me, "Edward, say something."

"Huh?" I was confused. Then, she burst into fake laughter and said, "HAHAHA! YOU'RE SO FUNNY!"

I couldn't keep my poker face and laughed out loud after that. She pretended to be a 'pick-me-girl' for a while, and it made me burst into laughter every time. 

She smirked as she saw me wiping my teary eyes, "You love jokes like this huh?"

I stifled my laugh and said teasingly, "Oh. Not at all. But when I thought that you, who are making an entire music video about why the other guy should pick you, and making fun of the same type of girls right now, I can't hold back my laughter."

She froze and her face contorted from the realization. Her chin quivered and she shouted, "I DID WHAT!?!!"

The entire staff members turned towards us as they heard her shriek. I was puzzled as I saw her reaction and said, "Huh? Hey, I was just joking-"

"It's true!" Taylor grimaced in realization, "I mean, it's the truth! Damn it! Won't this just make me seem desperate?! I don't want to do this anymore!"

She then huffed away in anger. The filming stopped abruptly, and all the gazes were stuck on me after Taylor left.

"Damn me and my mouth." I cursed at myself. "Take 10 everyone." I announced to the staff members before chasing after Taylor. 

…

[General POV]

-Mitch and Cam's house-

"Come on Lily. Come on Lily." Cam encouraged Lily as she practiced her tiny steps. He sat on the couch, waiting for her to inch towards him with a huge smile on his face.

Mitchell walked behind Cam and Lily before melting at the scene, "Aww. I hate going to work and missing all of this."

Cam turned to Mitch and said, "You know what? If you just took the job at Entertain, then the work hours would be more flexible."

"And I told you, I can't work under that woman! I will go crazy!" Mitch retorted. "Cam, will you still volunteer at high school today?"

Cam nodded knowingly, "Give you updates about the whole pregnancy thing as soon as possible. Got it!"

"Thank you! LOVE YOU!" Mitch said before rushing out of the house. A few hours after that, Cam received a phone call from Gloria asking him if he wanted to join in for Edward's dinner party.

Cam was confused and said, "But he's having his team party today?"

Gloria was also puzzled and turned to Claire to get an answer. While they were trying to figure things out, Phil used his permission to enter Edward's lab to take a peek at his laptop, trying to find Edward's recipes.

He was confused when he saw the pattern on the screen. It was a kaleidoscopic pattern with the objects merging and moving all over inside a circle at the centre of the screen.

"Ed didn't turn off his computer?" Phil asked himself. Suddenly, he heard a female robotic voice, "Hello."

Phil almost jumped from the chair from fright. "What the-" He muttered nervously. "Hello?" He asked in confusion.

"Hello." The voice replied again. Phil smiled and said politely, "Are you a friend of Edward?"

"I am his assistant." The voice replied. Phil breathed in relief and asked, "What's your name?"

"I don't have a name yet." The voice replied. Phil thought he was joking and said, "So, I will just call you Ratatata."

"Confirmed. Selected name is Ratatata." The voice replied. "What can I help you with today?"

Phil smiled in excitement and asked, "Does Edward keep his recipes in the laptop?"

The voice replied, "No."

"Awh." Phil exclaimed in disappointment. "He loves Italian food, but none of us can cook it– Except for Jay. But he's working. I don't even know his preferences."

The voice then replied, "Based on his internet search with Italian food related keywords, there are a few Italian dishes that he likes."

Phil lit up and said, "Really? Can you tell me?"

"I'll print out the details for you." The voice said. The printer next to the laptop started printing out a couple of recipes. Phil grinned and waited patiently for the printer to finish, and then took the stack of recipes with him.

"Thank you so much Mr Assistant. Now I know why Edward hired you." Phil complimented sincerely.

"He didn't hire me." The voice replied. Phil was confused and muttered to himself, "Free labour?"

"I am glad to be of service." The voice replied again with a slightly excited inflection. Phil hesitated and then turned his back against the laptop, "Okay…I'll go now."

The voice didn't reply. Phil was confused and then walked out of the room quietly. 

[Phil's commentary]

"I wonder who that guy was? He sure knows his stuff." He said, "And I never caught his real name."

[Commentary ends]

…

[Edward POV]

"I'm so embarrassed." Taylor said while cupping her face with her hands, her head dropped to the ground as she sat on her waiting room chair.

I walked to the room and sat right next to her. "I'm sorry for saying that."

"No. It wasn't your fault at all." Taylor shook her head and released her hands. "I was so excited to finally decide on the music video that I forgot to think about that."

"You don't have to worry. Seriously. The plot is great. I can assure you that people are going to like it no matter what."

"But when they know I was the one who did that, they will make fun of me for sure!"

"Then, we can hire some obscure director to pretend he was the one who came out with the plot and all. Or, I can do it."

She finally chuckled a bit and said teasingly, "Oh really? You're going to direct a chick flick?"

I shrugged and said, "Why not? I think I'd be good at it."

She rolled her eyes and became anxious again, "Can we…like…still change the setting? Or is it too late? I mean. I really don't want to seem desperate."

I was confused as to why she did this but decided not to ask. "Alright then. We can change it. In fact, there's several ways to change it so that you won't seem bad."

"How so?" She asked with intrigue.

"First. Double down. Make it seem like a comedy." I said as I stood up from my seat. Then, I unbuttoned my shirt and made some exaggerated movements. She cringed immediately and shouted, "Stop! What are you doing?"

"Like I said. Double down. We can insert a scene where you were giggling on the bed, and then it cuts to your imagination where I was looking like this and entered your room. Like Romeo."

Her eyes lit up and then she giggled. I added, "I can mouth sentences like, 'Taylor, You're the only one for me!' And then pick you up from your bed while you were wearing a see through nightgown."

She chortled loudly and said, "Like a parody!"

"Exactly." I snapped my finger before pointing at her. "What's the other way?" She asked.

"Well. Some other way is to show more of the male lead doing the same thing as you did. The scene where I looked at the window and laughed as I saw you dancing dorkily, took that and made a few more of those. It's all about the long looks, and stolen glances…"

Taylor's eyes lit up and she snapped her fingers. "AHH! That will work!!!"

Despite the plans, the video wouldn't change as much as to not interfere with her 'character' and alienate her fans. We would keep the storyline, but would add a few more scenes to make the quality of the video better.