Cut to the Chase by Lisa Girolami Page B

see how scared she was.
    While the camera crew adjusted the rigging of one camera on each side of the front windows—one to shoot directly at Avalon in the driver’s seat and one to shoot her forward point of view and the car she was to chase—she tried to ready her own camera through hands that shook so badly, she dropped her lens cap. Mack climbed in the backseat and sat beside her.
    He must have read her look of horror as one of confusion because he said, “We’re not in the shot. And I’m here to help if Avalon gets into trouble.”
    Her fight-or-flight response had already chosen the latter. “What kind of trouble?”
    He shrugged. “If she swerves out of control or hits her head and gets knocked out.”
    She knew her face hadn’t changed, but Mack must have finally noticed the meaning behind her true expression.
    “Don’t worry. This car has roll bars built in. If we go over, just hang on and go for the ride.”
    Was he serious? She still had time to back out. But before she could grab the door handle, Avalon turned around and said, “This’ll be a blast!”
    She knew immediately that the smile she attempted looked more like she’d passed gas because Avalon laughed.
    “You’ll be fine! I swear!”
    “I’m not sure my pants will be.” She looked around for something to hang on to but realized she’d need both her hands for shooting. Marlene’s cruel words came back to her . If you hadn’t been so fucking boring in bed, and out…
    Well, fuck her. She clenched her jaw and decided to prove her ex wrong.
    The director came over to talk to Avalon, and sooner than Paige wanted, she saw the director back away, yell for the cameras to roll, and Avalon hit the gas.
    The car sped up rapidly and she was pushed against the backseat. Avalon followed the car in front of her, turn for turn, and Paige thought she was getting a bit too close.
    She got some shots off, glad to have adjusted the shutter speed because she was bouncing around pretty well. She was just starting to feel a little more relaxed when the car in front slammed its brakes and Avalon followed suit. Her car spun three hundred and sixty degrees, the tires screeching in what sounded like angry pain. Page closed her eyes, waiting for impact.
    The car came to a stop and the first thing she heard was the radio sitting in the front seat cackle. “Cut! That was great!”
    “Whooo-hooo!” Avalon yelled. “Fucking awesome!”
    “Zero to sixty in three point six seconds,” Mack said, as if he were sitting on a couch having coffee with friends instead of in a car that had just spun around faster than Michelle Kwan on Olympic ice.
    “Mother of God,” Paige murmured as Avalon drove back to their starting point.
    “You okay?” Avalon asked when she’d shut the engine off.
    The director and some other crew members were walking over to the car while Paige was trying to discern whether her pants were still dry.
    “Yeah.”
    “Get any good shots?”
    “I’m not sure.”
    “Let’s get another take of that for good measure,” the director told Avalon.
    “That’s my cue.” Paige got out of the car, turning to thank Mack for his help.
    “How was the tornado?”
    She turned to see Avalon’s white teeth gleaming. She was certainly in her element, one so foreign to Paige and one she had just experienced, though she still wasn’t sure what she thought of it.
    “I can say that was a first.”
    “Wanna go again?”
    “No, no, I got more than I bargained for! Plus, I’m meeting Tawnya in her trailer for an interview.”
    Avalon’s smirk was endearing. “Don’t believe everything she tells you.”
    Paige steadied her still-shaking legs as she walked away. “I will.”
    The short detour to the craft service table to grab a bottle of water provided a moment for reflection. Never before would she have even considered taking a ride like that. That kind of escapade was for crazy, spontaneous people. But she’d allowed Avalon to coax her into the