The Blame Game

'Thanks.' Itika muttered.

'Sit.' Shawn's half-assed command took her by surprise. She looked up at him with her brown eyes wider for a second that quickly subsided to their normal, sharp form. They were strikingly attractive, weren't they? How could they be so innocent and sexual at the same time? Shawn waited for her to sit down beside him on the couch.

His eyes roved around her curves-just the right kind of thick and soft as they wedged on the couch a foot away from him. He made sure she didn't catch him checking her out, but Itika rolled her eyes and that confirmed that she had.

Careful, Shawn. Don't make it obvious, he said to himself.

'So, are you going to speak, or are we waiting for Jacob to get here?' He threw a dig at her to which Itika responded with a little shake of her head and a smile. Earlier today the only time she had communicated with him was when Jacob was around. Shawn had caught on that. Itika's discomfort eased around their director.

'Yeah. Well the thing is… You were right. We are unable to work together and it's best if we got to know each other a little…you know, for the sake of the video.'

'Ah? For the sake of the video?' His mockery palpable.

'It's not nice seeing so many people disappointed by us.'

Itika had a point, a sweet one at that. But Shawn wasn't done with the mock. 'By us, you say?'

'By you…?' She narrowed her eyes at him and pouted her lips but her flaring cheeks gave away her amusement.

'Oh? You think I was the problem today?' How could she even… Shawn sighed. 'Lady, it was you who couldn't act. Jacob even suggested we put you in an acting class.'

Itika bobbed her head to the left. 'Really? I would have agreed with you if you were right. I'm pretty sure today we didn't even get to the part where my acting mattered. We'd only circled around you.'

'Wow. That was only because you were staring at me with those… that…those dead eyes.' That's not what he had wanted to say. Yes, he had realized during the shoot that the problem wasn't just with her reacting, but also that Shawn had a few times paused gaping at her deep, brown eyes. How weird. But Jacob had said that it had helped with his character. The second time was worse because the shyness in her had turned him on. A lot. Retention of the previous day's incident had helped get over the stiffness down there.

'Alright. See, that's the thing. We're still unable to tell with each other and what our faces mean. Don't you think?' Itika made another attempt at suggesting they spend time together. Shawn was enjoying that. How rational she was now. A little desperation would have helped her case faster, he thought. But that wasn't going to happen. He had known that by now.

'Hmmm. Once we figure out who was worse today, we can go get a cup of coffee.' He said playfully. 'By the way, they don't want the word out that you might be in this video. So we can't go to any public place, for now.'

Itika rolled her eyes again. Damn! He felt his confidence dribbling at that face she made. There was something more than utter flawlessness in it and now he knew exactly what was so special in her – the depth. Minimum makeup and that tied up bun gave her a weighty appearance. She didn't care about how she looked, like the ones who had too much on their plate, too many responsibilities or... the ones who were committed in a long term relationship. Oh Shit.

'Or we can just sit here and talk?'

'Here? No way. That's not pretty. Okay, I'm going home now to work on my music, and some other shit that I need to take care of. You can join me at Favija's at seven?' Will you be free? I can have Richard pick you up at six?' He was about to add 'You can come with me if you want.' He knew how that was going to end, better to refrain.

Itika locked her hands around her right leg that she had elegantly crossed over her left. 'Umm. Yeah, I'm free. There isn't much to do here anyway. What's Favija's though?'

'It's a cute little Italian restaurant that pretty much serves everything if I ask. And don't worry about the crowd. It's mostly the big names that frequent it. They don't give a tiny fuck to whom I go there with. Did you get the Platinum card yet?'

'I did. Haven't quite read what it's for. It came with a bunch of leaflets and a few brochures.'

'It had I think about ten grand limit. You can go wild with it. All bore by Allura, of course. Isn't that cool?' Shawn said.

'I guess. I don't really have much to buy.' Itika replied.

'Well you should. It's more of a gift coupon. If you don't use it, the points will simply go to somebody else.'

Itika nodded. 'Okay. I'll go look around.'

'Great.' Shawn got up and reached out for a hand shake. 'I'll see you at seven?'

'Yeah. Sure.' Itika rose from her seat and matched his hand with hers.