Chapter 2  Distractions

August 2020 (A week later)  Manchester, UK

Ding! Ding!

Camille turned the kitchen faucet off glancing over at the phone on the counter. Florian's name blinking back at her, slipping the yellow cleaning gloves off both of her hands she reached for the phone and opened his message.

Florian:
What are you doing?

Camille:
Cleaning.

Florian:
Weren't you cleaning two hours ago? How long does it take to clean a studio apartment?

Rolling her eyes she answered back: I'm thorough.

Florian: 
Wait, have you been cleaning the kitchen sink this whole time?

Camille frowned even though he couldn't see it. Fine, so she had been cleaning the kitchen for the past two hours. But she had been cleaning the kitchen sink and counters for the past hour. So he was wrong about that! Cleaning was a coping mechanism when she was stressed and anxious. And at the moment she was both.

Camille:
I told you I was thorough. And it's only been 1 hour for your information!

Florian:
LOL. You need a break.

Deciding to change the subject she texted: Aren't you supposed to be in a middle of scene or something?

It was only 9:30 in the morning, but Camille knew he had been on set since 4:30am. They had been trying to get some of scenes done before it got light out.

Florian:
Done baby!

Florian :
Don't change the subject, you need a break. I'm sure your kitchen sink is nice and clean now. Put the cleaning supplies down Cam and open the front door.

She wrinkled her nose, placing the gloves on the edge of sink. What the hell was he up to?

Ding! Ding!

Florian:
OPEN.THE.DOOR.

A few moments after receiving his text, she heard the door buzzer. Camille couldn't help but smile to herself when realized he was standing on the other side. The buzzer rang once, twice, three times now. The smile slowly fading and a hint of annoyance replacing it. Sometimes he could act like such a man child. Placing the phone on the counter she walked toward the door hearing the buzzer go off again.

"I'm coming!" she yelled.

Swinging the door open, Camille was ready to scold him but quickly pressed her lips together when he handed her a Venti size iced-coffee. God damn him for always being so thoughtful. And god bless him for looking so fucking adorable even at 9:30 in the morning. He stood there in a pair of dark jeans and white v-neck shirt, his hair hidden underneath a baseball hat, grinning from ear to ear, despite the fact that he had been up for hours now. Who looked this good this early in the morning anyway? She sure as hell didn't.

"Chi for you." he said in a sing song voice.

Camille took the drink into her hand taking a step back as he stepped inside her apartment. "Chi?" she repeated with a pout.

"Yes."

"I was hoping for an iced-espresso..." she teased.

He furrow his brows together sitting down on the bar stool by the kitchen counter. "'Thank you so much for the drink Florian. You really shouldn't have. Especially after being on set for the past 4 hours busting your ass, and falling on it.'" his mocked in a slightly higher tone.

"Oh no, did you trip again?"  she snickered.

"Just once." a sheepish smile forming on his lips. "Twice. I tripped twice." Camille couldn't help but giggle. One of the things she had come to learn about Florian in the last few months was how clumsy he could be. He raised an accusingly eyebrow at her. "Don't change the subject. How many cups of coffee have you had this morning? Two? Four?"

"Two and half..." pause. "Fine, I've had four...and a half."

"That's what I thought." Florian said with a knowing look.

Wrinkling her nose she placed her lips on the straw of her tea and shut the door behind her taking a sip. "You can't cut me off." 

"Watch me." he retorted back. "Besides Liz told me to keep an eye on you."

"Liz has a big mouth." Camille mumbled as she sipped again and walked toward him. The Chi was amazing, she knew she needed a break from caffeine at least for the next few hours. She had been drinking it since 5:30 that morning, and she was starting to feel a bit jittery. "You have nothing keep an eye on Flo." she tried to reassure.

She was just obsessively cleaning before her fiancé arrived later on that night because she was nervous of how the next few days were going to play out. She had been able to take off Wednesday (worked a 15 hour shift the day before) Thursday and Friday along with Saturday and Sunday and had planned a trip to have David come up and see her and she was a bundle of nerves. This was the longest they had ever been in apart in their 6 year relationship, and she knew they had hit a rough patch ever since she had gotten this job.

"It's okay to be nervous. Especially when you haven't seen each other in months." Florian said knowingly. "But I can guarantee he isn't going care about how clean that sink is. All he is going to care about is seeing you." he muttered softly.

Florian was right. Or she hoped he was right, but she was still nervous. It had been 4 months since she had gotten to hug, cuddle and kiss David. And she missed that. Missing being able to reach out and feel the warmth of his body when she rolled over in bed. Yes they talked on the phone, but it wasn't the same, plus the phone calls and Skype sessions in the past few weeks had gotten shorter and almost forced. Which is where the idea of the trip had come about. She needed to see him to reassure herself that their relationship was still strong, that they could get pass this. A part of her was terrified that all they were going to do when he arrived was fight. 

"Take a break Camille."

Camille sat on the bar stool next to Florian. "Four months is a long time." she whispered.

"Yea I know it is." a knowing smile on his face.

"How do you and Amy do it?" referring to Florian's girlfriend.

Florian chuckled. "Amelia."

Cringing she mumbled. "Shit, sorry." She could never seem to remember her name. But then again Camille had only met her once-in passing- at the beginning of filming. She had flown in to be with Florian for the first two weeks. Apparently she was a well known actress from a TV show-at least that is what Camille had been told by the crew on set.  Truth of the matter was Camille only knew her as Florian's girlfriend.

He smirked.

"I said I was sorry!" she mumbled. He brought his lower lip between his teeth, not saying a word. Great. He was enjoying this. Little shit. "I'm sorry. " she repeated. "I'm horrible with names. It took me like 3 weeks to remember Henry's." she defended.

"What? I didn't say anything." 

"You don't have to." Camille stated shoving a finger into his chest. "You're face says it all."

"I just feel better now." a teasing tone in his voice. "Because now I know it wasn't personal that you didn't know who I was when we first met." Reminding her of their first encounter.

Camille groaned resting her head on his shoulder, putting down her Chi. "I'm never going to live that down I am?" closing her eyes. She was guilty. She hadn't known about Floridn Schümann as the actor until after they been officially introduced by the directors. Her idea of watching television shows included things like: I Love Lucy, The Brady Bunch, A Different World. She really was not into the new shows out. But maybe it was time to expand her television taste...

"Never." 

"I'm sorry I didn't know you were the one and only Florian Schümann." she said sarcastically, lifting her head enough for her eyes to meet his. "Actor from such amazing movies as Modern Spies -ahhh!" she yelped when she felt his hand cover her mouth.

He was blushing but was smiling at the same time. "Fuck you Camille." She mumbled something under his hand, her eyes gleaming with laughter. "What's that doll? I can't hear you." It was his turn to yell. "Jesus Christ!" snatching his hand from her mouth. "You bit me!" he accused.

She pushed herself from him, walking to the other side. "I was just defending myself. I didn't bite, you big baby. I just licked." she stated innocently, pulling her curly hair up into a messy bun and quickly snatched her drink back up. She hadn't meant to lick, but it was pure instinct. She locked back eyes with him and found those blue orbs staring her down across the counter. And there it was again that small pull of electricity between them. "What?" she managed to spout out, trying her best to not melt underneath his glare.

Licking his dry lips, he clenched and unclenched his shaven jaw. "Nothing...I just pictured you more of biter than a licker." he mused lowly.

Camille swallowed the lump in her throat feeling the heat rise to her neck and cheeks. Did it just get a little too hot in the apartment? And maybe it was a good thing she did not know he was an upcoming actor, because it would have intimated her more to be around him. Because those boyish good looks would put any girl under his spell without him even having to try.

"I guess you'll never know Blue Eyes." she retorted catching her breath, leaning into the counter to face him.

"Hmm." was his only response, as the familiar smug smile tugged on his lips. Instead he said,  "Wait, hold up a second-" raising his hands up. "Have you've been watching my movies?"

Rolling her eyes she stood up straight. "If you must know- I had planned on it. And I started with Modern Spies but that was mostly because I wanted to see if Juliette's and Henry's onscreen chemistry is as good as offscreen. You just happen to walk around in it." She cackled when she saw his arm reach out for her, but she was quicker and took a step back out of his reach. His cheeks were now bright red. It was adorable when he was flustered. Usually he had everyone around him looking that way with only a fucking smile.

"Cute Cam. Cute." he muttered.

"So I've been told." she giggled. "I'm kidding by the way. You were amazing in it. Now I'm watching the new Power Rangers series on Netflix. I've been told that's how you and Amelia met?" Making sure to emphasize her name correctly.

"Told by whom?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"People."

Florian pouted his lips together and nodded slowly not saying a word.

"What is it?"  Camille knew he was pretty private about his personal life. He did not like people poking their heads where it didn't belong. Not that she blamed him. She was the same way. But in the short time they had known each other, Florian mentioned her, just like she talked to him about David. In fact they gave each other advise about their separate romantic relationships. "Is she still upset with you for missing that party?" she guessed. The last time Florian had brought her up was a week ago when they had gotten into a screaming match on the phone during a break of filming.

"No...no not upset anymore." the tone of Florian's voice changing. "You know how you asked how we do it?"  Raising one eyebrow, she waited for him to continue. "Well..we don't." he paused. "At least not anymore. We broke up."

"Oh Flo...I'm sorry-"

He shook his head. "No, no, it's okay. You didn't know." he pursed his lips together. "We-I knew it was coming. As horrible as that sounds. It wasn't really that surprising..." trailing off, taking his hat off.

"It still sucks."

Florian gave a small shrug. "Yea..I'm not going to argue with you there..." Rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. "It's not like we didn't try you know? But things really began to get worse around April and well...here we are." a bitter smile on his handsome face.

Camille wanted to reach out and give him a hug. She had a feeling this was the first time he was saying all of this out loud, which now made it real. Which probably meant it stung. 

"Having a long distance relationship is hard-" he stopped himself looking wide eyed at her. "Not that it can't work though! Plenty of long distance relationships work out great!" he said a little too enthusiastically. Camille hid her smile, waiting for him to continue. Florian shut his mouth, silence hitting the room. After a few moments he finally spoke. "We're you just going to let me dig a hole for myself?"

Shrugging nonchalantly she pretended to think about her answer for a moment. "Hmm, yea kind of."

He frowned. "Obviously I'm not the poster boy for how long distance relationships should work." scrunching up his nose. "So maybe ask someone else for that advice?"

"Noted." Camille said with a small smile. She knew it was his way of letting her know he wasn't ready to delve into his feelings about the break-up. And she was not going to push it. If wanted to talk he knew where to find her.   

Pushing himself off the stool he took a step toward her. "But... I am the poster boy for helping friends take breaks..." he teased the grin back on his face, facing her.

Camille rolled her eyes, tilting her head to the side. "Florian, no."

"Florian, YES." he mocked giving her those puppy eyes. "You can't make this place any more cleaner if you tried. Because newsflash Liebling this is the cleanest apartment in the whole building and we both know I can vouch for that. You've seen mine and Chris'." he teased.

One of the perks of working on this movie deal was that Camille had been put up in a nice studio apartment about a 6 blocks from where they did most of the filming. And her upstairs neighbors just happened to be Florian, Chris and Henry. The studio decided to put the actors in apartments rather than hotels since they were going to be on set for more than 2 months.. At first she had been a bit intimated at the idea of having these good looking men as her neighbors, the feeling had slowly started to fade the more time she spent with them on set. Because they were the dorkiest dudes she had ever met.

"I think you win that one." she mused.

"Thanks, jerk." he elbowed her gently. "C'mon, come out with me."

She grunted. "Flo-"

"Just for a few hours? We can go to that museum you've been talking about with that new exhibit." he urged. "What's the name again? Whit-whitty-something-"

"Whitworth Art Gallery." she corrected.

"Yea that one."

God that smile, that fucking smile was everything. That smile could be trouble.

"Only for a few hours right?" she asked cautiously, not wanting to say yes-just yet. He nodded. "Will I still be cut off from caffeine?"

Florian licked his lips, narrowing his eyes. "Well played." He looked at her for a split second then glanced away as if he was thinking of how to respond. "It can be discussed." he said in a serious tone. Camille gave his stomach a light punch. "Ow! Jeez! Fine. Caffeine is reinstated-ONLY if we eat as well." 

Camille grinned wickedly. "Okay, then I'll go. God Flo you are such a great negotiator!"

"And you're a big bully Cami." he grumbled.

'Cami' no one had used that nickname in years. In fact the last person who had called her that was her dad and that had been over 15 years ago. In reality she didn't let anyone call her that, and people had tried, but she always corrected them. Even David. And all of a sudden she remembered why Florian was there in the first place.

"Was this Liz's idea? To drag me out of the house?" She squinted her eyes at him. "Also how the hell do you have all this energy right now? You've been up since like 4 this morning!"

"Adrenaline my wonderful Camille." he responded in that smooth voice. Then added. "Liz just told me to watch how many cups of coffee you've had. That way you wouldn't jump out of your skin as you cleaned. Dragging you out of the house was all my idea."

"Okay fine." she said in an exasperated voice. "I won't have any more coffee for the rest of the day. Happy?" She really needed to stop drinking it anyway. Liz was right she had started to feel like she would jump out of her skin.

"Hey, you know my stand on coffee." Florian said. "But you should probably eat too."

"Can we eat first? Then do the gallery?" Getting excited at the idea of getting to go see the art exhibit.

"Works for me. I'm starving anyway." He reached for his hat. "Let me go clean up and then we can head out. 20 minutes? Sound good?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I'll change too."

Florian leaned in a placed a light kiss on her forehead. "Okay, I'll be back."  He narrowed his eyes down at her and placed each of his hands on her waist. Camille eyes grew wide at his sudden touch. He gave her another one of those smug looks turning her around and facing her in the direction of large bookcase that separated her bedroom from the living room. "Go in there and change. Don't even look in this direction when you're done. Got it?" he instructed. She swatted his hand away from her hips. He tossed his head back and laughed, making his way to the front door.

Camille looked over shoulder. "Hey."

"Hmm?" Florian asked adjusting the hat on his head.

Smiling shyly she murmured. "Thanks." And she meant it. Camille needed to get out of her head space for a bit. Because if she didn't she would drive herself crazy with the what if' before David arrived.

Winking he opened the door and said. "I told you I was the poster boy for this!" shutting the door behind him...