Virtually Mine: a love story Read online

  VIRTUALLY MINE: a love story

  Written by Susan Rohrer

  Adapted from Susan Rohrer’s original screenplay

  Kindly direct all inquiries about this novel or screenplay to:

  [email protected]

  Readers may contact author at:

  shelfari.com/susanrohrer

  Excepting brief excerpts for review purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form without written permission from the author.

  This novel is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are drawn from the public record and used in a wholly harmless and fictitious way. Any resemblance of this fictional work to actual locations, events, organizations, or persons living or dead is coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or publisher.

  Cover Image: Courtesy of Indigo Valley Photography

  Author photo: Jean-Louis Darville (with permission)

  ISBN 10: 148110800X

  ISBN 13: 978-1481108003

  Copyright © 2013, Susan Rohrer, all rights reserved.

  Published in the United States of America

  First Edition 2012

  To every reader

  who looks beyond the eye-candy coating

  to the heart that beats underneath

  ♥

  contents

  one

  two

  three

  four

  five

  six

  seven

  eight

  nine

  ten

  eleven

  twelve

  About the Author

  one

  ♥

  Her heart skipped a beat. She had thought the troupe of thespians had left, that she’d been alone, retrieving plastic prop apples on the darkened stage, but no. There he was, lingering.

  She glanced up with a quick smile, in a futile attempt at nonchalance. A small town import to the big city, she could pull it off with other guys, but for some reason, even a glimpse of this particular actor’s rakishly handsome face tipped her off balance, a great deal more than she ever dared to admit.

  She reminded herself that there were protocols to observe. In the politics of the theater, she knew that he was light years out of her league. He was the headliner, the leading man, and she was just the lowly prop girl, and a first-timer even at that.

  It’s not that she hadn’t given in to fantasy. She’d played this scene out in her mind more times than she could count, ever since the first day he’d sashayed into view. She’d rehearsed what she’d do, exactly how she’d respond in an imagination rife with possibilities. But this was no dream, no flight of fancy. What had seemed utter whimsy had suddenly burst into wide-awake life.

  It was her moment, alone with him.

  Jauntily, he moved in from the wings.

  She stashed another apple into the crook of her arm. “Oh, hi. I’d really... I thought I was alone.”

  “Would you rather be?”

  This guy had a way of getting under her skin and tickling every cell inside of her. From the mischievous sparkle in his eyes, she could tell it was his objective to achieve precisely that. She resolved to mask the fact that he was succeeding. “No...I just thought I was. Alone.”

  “Because I can go,” he offered, an assured expression betraying his confidence that she wanted him there.

  “It’s okay. Really. I’m practically—”

  She wasn’t normally a clumsy person. But being alone with him rocked the modicum of balance she clung to completely off center. Oh no, she worried. She could feel her grip loosening, but somehow she couldn’t stop it. Faux apples avalanched out of her grasp.

  They bounced. They clunked. They rolled.

  Instantly, she could feel her face redden. Rampant blotching around her throat would come next. It was one of those ways she was wired that was completely beyond her control. She could only drop to her knees awkwardly and gather the fugitive fruit.

  She stopped, suddenly sensing his nearness. She had never been so close as arm’s length from him before. But now, even before she braved to tip her eyes up, she could tell he was there. Right there.

  So, this is what it’s like, she thought.

  Slowly, she lifted her head. She startled to find herself nose to nose with him. Swallow, she reminded herself.

  What exactly is his intent? She couldn’t help but wonder. It seemed impossible, but it was happening. Her breath short, she bravely held her ground. She would not let the moment escape her. She would not back down from this dream come true.

  “Are you going to help me?” she managed, not knowing what else to say.

  “Do you want me to?”

  “I’m not sure,” she whispered, dazed by his proximity. There he was, his impossibly adorable face mere inches away, those dancing green eyes looking deep into hers. His breath was warm. He smelled of peanut butter, she realized. She liked peanut butter.

  He closed his eyes and leaned toward her, ever so slowly. She couldn’t believe it was happening, but then again, it was. Her lids fluttered to a close, as they moved together for a sweetly uncertain, tender first kiss.

  Suddenly interrupting, scene study teacher Antonio Spirelis rose to address a sizable class of on-looking thespians. He clapped his hands sharply. “All right, that’s the scene. Disengage, people.”

  On stage, Kate Valentine and Dustin Hunt obediently curtailed their scripted smooch. Kate gave Dustin’s hand a fond squeeze. The acted kiss had come naturally, since he was her real-life beau.

  Antonio turned to his class. “Let’s dissect. What exactly is this about?”

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  “It’s about commerce, Darling,” Samantha Raznick intoned as she toured Eric Bender through a high-tech office pool. “No matter what anybody tells you, romance is a commodity, a multi-billion dollar industry, ripe to be bought, packaged, and sold.”

  Eric scanned his surroundings. A sign high on the wall announced that these were the headquarters of a burgeoning business: Virtually Mine. Poster-sized photos of eye-candy models hung on the walls, the faces of this flourishing enterprise.

  An up-and-coming actor and model himself, Eric noted the marked contrast between the company’s Imaginary Boyfriend figureheads and the dozens of ordinary-looking guys who populated Virtually Mine’s work force. All across the room, the ordinaries pecked relentlessly at their computer keyboards, even more diligently as their distinctly sultry supervisor approached.

  Eric sized up his employer. Smoothly domineering, Samantha Raznick was a man in a remarkably well-preserved, decidedly female body. “So, Ms. Raznick—”

  “It’s Sam to you. I insist,” she purred, seemingly undaunted by their apparent age difference.

  “So, these guys here, they’re actors, too?”

  Sam smiled coyly. “Let’s just say it wasn’t in the genes for them. They simply facilitate behind the infinitely more marketable facade that insanely good-looking men like you provide.”

  Samantha glided to a stop at an underling’s station. “Eric, meet Charlie Butters, master of my computer domain. Charlie, meet Virtually Mine’s newest Imaginary Boyfriend, Eric Bender. I need him set up in the system by day’s end.”

  Eric watched as Charlie’s eyes momentarily bugged. It seemed that Charlie’s merits were hidden under an unremarkable face.

  Charlie bit his lower lip skittishly before a torrent of words burst forth. “Actually, the server has been inexplicably testy; I’m replacing four hard drives, unless the whole network crashes for the third time since lunch, which would pretty much splatter me till at least midnight; but after that—”

  �
��Today, Charlie,” Sam pressed, with a don’t-trifle-with-me tone.

  “Absolutely, Ms. Raznick,” Charlie complied. “Today.”

  As Charlie obediently scurried away, Sam turned back to Eric smoothly. “Ready to rattle some hearts?”

  Eric assessed the situation thoughtfully. He was accustomed to being in control, particularly with women, and he wanted to get off on the right foot. “Just so we’re completely clear: I’m just a face here. No in-person dates, nothing off-color, no contact with me, nothing whatsoever that bleeds into my actual living-breathing life?”

  Sam presumed to take Eric’s arm, guiding him toward her posh executive office. “Your ‘Virtual Girlfriends’ won’t even know your real name. There’s the overall license for your face, plus per client commissions, which you’re welcome to drop by and pick up daily. The Operators out there—think of them as my worker bees. They make all the calls. They send cards and gifts, all simulating the Imaginaries’ relationships from here.”

  “And as far as the real love thing goes, it’s just an act,” Eric confirmed.

  “Isn’t it always?” Sam replied.

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  As Kate and Dustin sat cross-legged on the stage, Antonio swaggered before the class. “All right, let’s break this down. What is the event of the scene?”

  “The kiss?” Kate guessed.

  “That’s there in the text,” Antonio reminded. “What subtextural event brings about the kiss?”

  Smolderingly savvy, twenty-five year-old Wissy Frank piped up. “Change of relationship.”

  Antonio nodded. “Very good, Ms. Frank. Why did it change? Dustin?”

  “Because she’s hot,” Dustin observed, clearly enjoying the laughs he elicited from his peers.

  Antonio raised his hand, quieting the class. “Was she hot before? Fifteen minutes ago? Why now? Kate?”

  Kate glanced at Dustin for help, but he just shrugged, stumped. Engagingly bright, but fairly new to the acting process, answers sometimes evaded Kate. Charmingly, she grimaced. “Because, well, the writer wrote it that way and—”

  “And left you to discover what’s underneath,” Antonio finished. “What made this particular encounter different than any prior one? Not the words. What goes on inside of us, and then manifests itself in radically altered behavior? What quietly happens when one person looks at another, even a complete stranger, and the way they relate to one another is forever changed?”

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  Meter Maid, M.J. Poster, keyed in a parking ticket. Were her beat not in sunny Santa Monica, California, the job would have seemed less tolerable. As it was, she’d acclimated to the low-grade contempt most people automatically had for anyone in her line of work.

  As many cute guys as were regulars at the bluffside Palisades Park, M.J. knew that citing them with tickets wasn’t exactly the optimum kind of how-do-you-do. Besides, she reasoned, her uniform made her look chunky. Not that she actually was chunky, she reassured herself. It was an optical illusion. She was, in fact, just petite—and respectably attractive—both attributes she knew her boring, standard-issue man-shoes did nothing whatsoever to elevate.

  Suddenly, there he was. Yow.

  M.J. had no idea who he was, but she’d seen him the day before, the same new guy. With that bouncy head of tawny-red hair, he wasn’t hard to notice. There he was, jogging on the sandy path again, past many a parked car, in stride with that same golden retriever.

  Unexpectedly, he stopped, pulled out a bottle of water, and squirted some into the panting dog’s mouth. He hadn’t even taken a swig himself first.

  Aw, how sweet was that?

  Something shifted in M.J. when she saw that rusty-mopped guy and his dog, lapping the water up thirstily. This one was special somehow. He was different and M.J. knew it. Still, there was no way she’d approach him in uniform. In fact, she quickly stuffed the ticket she’d written under a nearby windshield wiper and ducked into her trusty Meter Maid Mobile. No, he hadn’t seen her, but she had definitely seen him. And she was truly undone.

  ♥ ♥ ♥

  The Third Street Promenade was rife with activity as Antonio’s acting class dispersed. Kate stepped aside with her cell phone as shoppers mingled past street performers, vying for a break in the business, or at least tips in their cups.

  Kate scooted by a talent scout with a clipboard.

  “Excuse me,” the scout said. “I’m casting for a reality dating show.”

  Kate smiled back at him cheerily. “Thanks, but I’m in a relationship.”

  Wasting no time, the scout turned to another prospect. “Hey...looking for love?”

  “Yeah, who isn’t?” the prospect groused.

  Kate turned up the volume on her cell and plugged her free ear with her left index finger. She enjoyed the fact that she could be in the middle of a California crowd, but at the very same time, she could be across the country in her mother’s kitchen, near the foot of Afton Mountain, in sleepy little Crozet, Virginia. She could see the real apples her mother was peeling. She could smell the fresh daisies on the counter. She could hear the lilt of her mother’s voice and suddenly feel at home.

  “So, tell your mom. How’s progress.”

  Kate waved goodbye to Antonio as he threw on his designer sunglasses and turned to leave. “Great, I think. My teacher really liked the work.”

  “I’m talking about with Dustin, Baby. He say the ‘M’ word yet?”

  “Well, the ‘L’ word usually precedes the ‘M’ word,” Kate whispered, not wanting Dustin to overhear.

  “He said the ‘L’ word?”

  “Sort of.”

  “I knew it!” Kate’s mom exuded.

  “At least I think he’s going to.” She adored the fact that her mom was just that way, as excited about every detail of her daughter’s life as she was about her own.

  Kate kept an eye on the object of her affections as he chatted with Wissy nearby. “Listen, I’ve gotta go. Love you, Mom. Hugs to Daddy.”

  Kate hung up and made her way toward Dustin, just in time to see Wissy hand him her card.

  “No, really. It’s incredible, isn’t it?” Wissy flirted. “But this could be my break, and my break could be your break, making it by extension our break, so think about it.”

  Dustin smiled broadly. “Definitely.”

  Wissy glided away as Kate reached Dustin. Kate wrapped her arms around his middle, reclaiming her steady guy.

  “I don’t care what Antonio says,” she assured. “I think you were great.”

  “I fizzed you, didn’t I?”

  “Always do.”

  Kate drew Dustin into a real-life kiss. Usually, he did have an effervescent effect. But this time, as Dustin pulled away, Kate distinctly saw him check to see if a departing Wissy was watching. In three months of dating Dustin, it wasn’t the first time Kate had seen a pretty girl make a play for him. It was the hazard a girl accepted when she dated a cute guy like Dustin, and she reminded herself that she was the one he actually called his girlfriend. “So, you want to start on the next scene tonight?”

  Dustin sputtered, this time glancing squarely in Wissy’s direction. “Okay, otherwise, I completely would, but see, this is really outstanding. Get this. You know Wissy—just left—well, she gave me her card.” Dustin showed off the prize.

  Puzzled, Kate examined it. She caught a whiff of night jasmine and noted the local number. Not wanting to betray how vulnerable she felt, Kate played along. Dustin scored higher on looks than smarts, so she wanted to make sure he really got what Wissy was doing. “And okay, why would I think it’s a good thing that an attractive, albeit synthetically enhanced person is throwing herself at my boyfriend?”

  “Because she wants to do a scene with me,” Dustin dimly enthused.

  “Still looking for the outstanding part.”

  “Big picture, Kate. Wissy isn’t really an actress. She’s only in class to inform herself. Do you love that? That’s what she said. She’s informing herself as
a casting director to be.”

  “Uh-huh.” Kate took it in, trying her best stay calm.

  Dustin’s animation grew. “Anyway, Wissy, she completely flipped over my work today, but bottom line—are you ready, Kate? Wissy just got a job as an intern to an assistant to this semi-monstrously important casting director who she’s considering pitching me to soon. Only she wants to work with me personally first. You know, she wants to see how I create chemistry with someone other than you. Because after all, we’re already bringing in three months of real-life sparks, which tells her nothing about what I can do craft-wise with a more random person like herself.”

  Kate felt her jaw go slack. Her knees wobbled beneath her.

  “I know! Amazing, right?” Dustin exuded.

  She stood there, flabbergasted. He had told her about Wissy’s wiles with his own sweet lips, so breathlessly that tiny bubbles of spittle formed in the corners of his mouth, as if there wasn’t a thing in the world registering inside his delightfully clueless head.

  “Okay, well...I’ve gotta run to...my apartment and, uh...balance my checkbook.” Kate knew how ridiculous that sounded when she said it, but that was all she could come up with given the way her mind was reeling.

  Back in the privacy of her kitchen, Kate chopped veggies with her wily roommate, M.J., who was still clad in her Meter Maid uniform. Kate sliced and diced with unusual vigor, taking out her frustrations on the produce.

  M.J. popped a carrot slice into her mouth. “And he bought that tripe?”