First Day of School

“For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Penny Redstar, the creator of this great series. And I’m excited to be working with each and every one of you to make this successful. I’m eager to learn from you and to teach you at the same time. I want to absorb this experience and I hope you do the same. Now, let’s do this and make the best damn show possible!”

Phew! It was a pretty nerve-wrecking first day on the set. Miriam had let me take the day off so I could really focus on the show and get to know the staff and crew. I was also pretty nervous given the news of my ‘affair’ hitting the media last week. Sunny had done an amazing job issuing a statement on behalf of Trent, explaining that he was in the process of finalizing his divorce. And just as Jimmy and I had suspected, once my name was out there, it was trending for a while. Buzz was out about the show. I guess it’s true what they say, there is no bad publicity sometimes. In this case, it worked out — at least for now.

Friday was a glorious day.

“I’m a free man,” Trent said when he came by to pick me up for dinner.

“Oh that’s good. I’ve been meaning to tell you this isn’t working out, so you can let your other girlfriends know you really are a free man,” I said, giggling.

“Hardy har har,” he said, grabbing me and kissing me.

“That’s my line!” I said, still laughing.

“Now you’re gonna get it,” he said, slapping my ass and chasing me into the bedroom.

“We have to go to dinner!”

“We’re ordering in. I want you now.” And with that he pushed up my dress, ripped off my panties and went to work between my legs.

When he finally sunk into me, it was just as amazing as earlier in the week. As I said, something changed that night he told off Melanie. We were truly no longer fuck buddies. We were lovers, as cheesy as that sounds. And now that his divorce was final, it was like a weight had been lifted off our shoulders. Granted, I knew there’d still be issues with her and their son, but I knew we’d all be able to handle them.

***

“Shit!” I said, as we walked outside the next day.

There were a few paparazzi hanging out outside my front stoop.

We ran back inside.

“How the hell did they find out my address?” I said, shaking a little bit.

“Let me call the cops and Sunny.”

Within the hour, the cops got rid of the group, but I was still shaken up. I spent the rest of the weekend dressed down and wearing a hat and sunglasses. So cheesy, but I also spent the weekend looking over my shoulder. I ended up hiding out at Emily’s on Saturday night. We drank wine and watched our favorite movie, “I Love You, Man.”

“So what are you gonna do? I mean, you can definitely stay here forever and be my permanent sitter…” she asked.

“I don’t know. Sunny is going to handle it. Or so she says. This just sucks though. Something so good is turning into something so stressful.”

“At least your name is out there, so when your show finally launches people will be curious about it.”

“That is the silver lining. More wine please,” I said, holding out my glass.

“Are you nervous?”

“Is that a serious question? Of course I am! Especially now. I want everyone to take me seriously. Not look at me as the town slut.”

“Maybe not a slut, but possibly a homewrecker.”

“Shut up cooter!”

I spent most of Sunday playing with Jayden until Trent convinced me it was safe to go home. I knew at that point I was overreacting and needed to be a grown up about it. Plus I needed to go over my first day speech with him.

***

I didn’t have much to worry about though. After my welcome speech, I toured the set with the designers and floor manager. I met most of the crew and then we did our first read-through of the first episode. The whole thing was so surreal. But everyone was super friendly and really pumped to be working on the project. Aubrey Plaza made everyone comfortable. And it helped to have Matt there with me.

It was a long day, but we did manage to block a lot of the scenes. And when the director yelled action for the first taped scene, it brought a tear to my eyes. This was actually happening. My dream of having my own show was coming true. All that stress and worrying was worth it because there wasn’t any other place I’d rather be right now.