WestFiction- "If You Love Something" by Mary

“Well, for starters, this was the…let me see…nineteen, twenty, twenty-one…Yes, twenty first time you went out with him since he bumped into you last month,” elaborated Ashley, “plus the roses that he sent you this morning.”

“We were close friends back in Ireland! You know that. And it has been a while since I last saw him. So we went for movies for a couple of times. What’s the big deal?” asked Samantha.

“The big deal is, you are so cherry in the mornings that it makes me sick and nothing can bring you down the rest of the day. This Rowen must have some affect on you.”

“Get real,” said Samantha.

“Sam,” Ashley tried again, pointing her spoon at Samantha, “No make-up in the world can claim to make your skin glow as you are glowing right now!” Samantha tried to dismiss the remark but her blushing cheeks betrayed her.

“Oh my God!” exclaimed Ashley. Samantha went into the kitchen and came back with a bowl of ice-cream.

“Well?” urged Ashley. Samantha took a deep breath, “I don’t know,” she paused for awhile thinking, “He’s a very, very nice guy…”

“And not to mentioned cute,” added Ashley.

“I am shocked,” said Samantha looking at her best friend.

“Hey, I know a good-looking guy when I see one. Just because I’m in love with Bryan doesn’t mean I’m oblivious to the rest of the male species” Ashley defending herself, “Back to Rowen.” Samantha continued to eat her ice cream.

“I really don’t know,” repeated Samantha with a sigh, “By the way, I hate you, you know” Samantha always tells her that whenever Ashley knows what she’s feeling even before Samantha has time to realize it. Sometimes she wished Ashley didn’t know her too well.

“I love ya, too” Ashley said.

“What time do you leave tomorrow?” Samantha asked. Ashley was retrenched last week from the place she was working and before looking for a new job she decided to go on a vacation with Bryan. The guys were at their last leg of their Asian tour and Ashley was off to Hong Kong tomorrow.

“Flight is at 5 p.m.” she replied, getting the message that Samantha wanted to drop the Rowen topic.

“Send the lads my regards, okay.”

“So…how is it between you and Mark?” Ashley asked her cautiosly.

“Okay…I guess…we talk a little, you know the hi-how-are-you-doing-nice-to-see-you-catch-you-later talk,” she told her, “It’s not easy you know, trying to be friends again.” It was hard, they share the same set of friends. She can’t ignore the fact that they will bump into each other, whether she liked it or not, be it face to face or through the mass media. During the first few times they met after their breakup, she had to every fiber in her body to act as if she was fine about the whole thing. Then after some time she really was fine about the whole thing, after all they didn’t bump into each other all the time. After a pause she said, “I met Judith the other day.”

“What do you think of her?” Ashley asked. Samantha shrugged, “I can tell she doesn’t like me.” Judith was the girl Mark was currently dating. She’s a new American singer in the U.S.

“Since when does a person like your boyfriends’ ex? That only happens to Ally McBeal!” said Ashley. Samantha laughed, “Quite true,” then she added, “yeah well, whether she likes me or not, it doesn’t matter. I’m happy for them anyways.” She got up, “Love to chat with you, but I’m beat. Nite.”

“Good night,” Ashley replied as she turned on some music.

~ ~ ~

As Samantha was getting ready for bed, she still couldn’t shake away Rowen’s image from her mind and the night they had. The truth was Samantha was beginning to like Rowen. A lot. She remembered the way his light green eyes lit up when he laughed. That thought alone made her heart skip a beat. For the first time in a very long time she fell asleep with a smile on her face.

CHAPTER 20

“You do realize I didn’t understand a single word in that movie,” asked Nicky when the credits began rolling. Rowen nodded in agreement.

“I think that’s the point of the subtitles,” supplied Georgina with a grin.

“Which did you expect me to do? Read the subtitles or watch the movie?” asked Nicky.

“Both.”

“Well, what do you think?” Ashley looked impatiently at Mr. Lee, Samantha, Rowen, Bryan, Nicky and Georgina.

“Wow,” Samantha replied speechless.

“You did the stunts yourself?” asked Rowen.

“Most of them,” Ashley replied. The day Ashley reached Hong Kong, she visited one of her relatives there. Her cousin was shooting an experimental video as his school project and needed a lead, as the appointed lead had a bad case of cough. Ashley gladly obliged his offer. Bryan had no problem with it as long as he could just be with her and since shooting was on a beach and that gives him a chance to work on his much wanted tan.

As luck was always on Ashley’s side, it just so happens one of Hong Kong’s up coming film director was at the beach with his family. He approached Ashley after the shoot was wrapped up and offered her a chance to audition for a movie which he was planning.

Ashley went, just for the kicks, and the director was impressed with what he saw, he gave her a second audition. He offered her the supporting lead on the spot. This was a once in a lifetime chance. With Bryan’s help, she secured an agent and a lawyer and in 48 hours the contract was signed.

For Ashley, the only problem was brushing up on her Cantonese and some martial arts moves. Memorizing scripts was child’s play for her and she had no problem acting as she had done lots of it in Ireland. The major problem was when Ashley conceived the inane idea of wanting to do the stunts herself. Neither Bryan, her agent or the director was happy about it. The director had a long talk with the stunt director and reluctantly relented Ashley to do the stunts but drew the line at the dangerous and complicated ones.

Four months later the movie was wrapped up and three months later they were watching it exclusively at the Lee’s residents, fresh from the production room. Nicky and Bryan joined in since they were on a two-day break.

“The one where you jumped from the chopper onto the moving train?” asked Georgina.

“Yep.”

“Which I wish she didn’t,” said Bryan, “You have no idea how many times she nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“I was Ok, they had a wire attached to my back,” replied Ashley.

“Physicist turned Hong Kong actress, Ashley Lee,” said Rowen out loud.

“Sound good,” agreed Nicky.

“Don’t encourage her,” said Mr. Lee and Bryan simultaneously.

Funny. She never thought them as ‘Actress Ashley Lee’ or ‘Westlifer Bryan and Nicky’. It was just Ashley, Bryan and Nicky to her.

“And now,” announced Ashley, “I have one offer from U.S and another from Hong Kong.”

“You mean you are going to do those one of those again?” asked Mr. Lee in disbelief, pointing to the TV set. Ashley just nodded. Mr. Lee wasn’t thrilled in the first place when he learnt Ashley was doing a movie in HK.

“Are you really serious about this?” asked Bryan.

“Yes,” she said simply, “I loved it…every minute of it. So I get bruises and cuts here and there, now and again,” tactically avoiding the fact of broken bones, ”but I just loved it. And I’m not going to do action for the rest of my life. There would be other things. If things don’t work out I have a degree to fall back on. And I could also go back and study again.”

“And if I refuse to let you do any of this?” asked Mr. Lee. Ashley’s face fell, she was crushed.

“Uncle Leslie, she did one movie, at least let her do it for a few years,” Samantha tried to convince him. Bryan gave Samantha an evil eye. For as long as Samantha knew her, Ashley didn’t know what she wanted to do in life. Ashley had the brains and she knew it. And she pushed it to the max. To find what’s her limit. She can absorb knowledge like sponge in a fraction of a time. She could have done anything she wanted. Plus she was a wizard when it came to computers, but the thought of sitting in front of a PC and writing program code didn’t appeal much to her. She picked up Quantum Physics in U. not because she was interested in it but the challenge. And in two years, she found out it was not as challenging as she expected plus it was dead boring for her, but she stuck with it till the end, as not to disappoint her parents.

Now, she found the challenge. Doing gravity defying mid air sequence. Ashley called up Samantha up in the middle of the night numerous times during shooting. And there was excitement in her voice, something which she never heard when she was working on an experiment or doing any research. When Ashley’s peers found out that she was doing a movie, they ridiculed her, saying it was a waste of her resource, they tried to talk her out of it, but to no avail. She found what she wanted to do.

“Well…you’re my only daughter, my only child, and I don’t want you hurt,” said Mr. Lee looking at Ashley, then he sighed, “Ok, you can do movies,” Ashley brightened immediately, then he added, “AND…and if this thing doesn’t work out in ONE year, I’ll want you to come back and get a less ‘accident prone’ job.”

“Thank you Daddy,” she said as she hugged him, “If I ever win any award, I’ll thank you first for forcing me to learn Cantonese.”

“I beginning to regret that,” he replied laughing. Ashley turned to face Bryan, who had the look of a man badly defeated in a battle. He hoped Mr. Lee would be able to talk Ashley out of it. He didn’t want Ashley to be involved in anything dangerous. Everyone was waiting for his reaction.

“What are you looking at me like that for?” Bryan asked everyone defensively. Turning to Ashley, “If I pleaded, begged you not to do it?” asked Bryan, “You’ll still go for it anyway, right?”

“Well…yeah,” she finally admitted.

“Then what’s the difference?” he asked dejectedly.

“That I have your support,” she said to him. It was his turn to give out a long sigh, then he pulled her close, “as long as you stay in one piece.”

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