Her Superhero Lover

*****

“Wow, you’re early. That’s a rarity.”

Renee didn’t like the director of the photo shoot from the beginning. She had that sort of condescending tone that said she thought her opinion was the only one that mattered, and she’d be a tyrant on the set. Still, she’d dealt with people like this before in the industry. It was eight in the morning, and she was at one of the branches of Sun Cliffs, which had been closed for the day to do the shoot. “Well, I didn’t want to hold you guys up. Where would you like me?”

The director looked her up and down, chewing her well glossed lower lip. “Well, first head over to makeup. Tell me, is that your normal hair color?”

Renee patted her hair, with her red extensions that she’d had put in two weeks ago. The blood red streak went all the way down to her shoulder over her right ear in a three inch wide stripe. “They’re extensions. I have a DJ gig that is doing a lot of red on the motif right now.”

“Hmmm…. well, maybe wardrobe has something that can cover that. Worse comes to worse, I guess we can position the shots to stay mostly on your left side. All right, well, get over to makeup and wardrobe, and get ready. We’re supposed to start in a half hour.”

Thankfully, the wardrobe people had a wig she could wear. It itched like crazy, but made her look like what the photography director wanted. The suit they’d gotten for her was actually well made, and fit her frame well. She thought the skirt was just a bit tight across her hips, but the director thought it gave her a bit of sexiness to the otherwise stoic outfit. Not that it matters, Renee thought as the director stormed away to yell at a lighting grip about something. I’m supposed to be a loan officer. I’m sitting at a desk most of the time.

Just then, someone came in the bank, catching Renee’s eye. Tall, she judged him at least six three or six foot four, he was obviously one of the other actors. His body was amazing, even through the expensive Italian suit he was wearing, and his face was simply gorgeous. With piercing blue eyes and light brown hair, he looked like the sort of man that Oscar De La Renta would drool over to have walk the Paris runway for him. Hell, he’d give a young Brad Pitt a run in the looks department.

“Mr. Voelker!” the photography director said, coming over and shocking Renee by practically simpering at the man’s presence. “Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to do the shoot today. And of course, for letting us use your bank for the whole day. We could have set up a stage you know.”

Renee missed Voelker’s reply, she was too shocked. This guy was the owner of the bank? He didn’t look much older than her. How’d a guy who was in his twenties get to be the owner of an entire bank? Turning her eyes away, she looked in the mirror in front of her while the makeup artist went back to work. “Who is that guy?” she asked as the artist applied some foundation.

“Grady Voelker,” the artist replied, fussing over the shininess of Renee’s cheeks. “He’s the owner of the multi-national that just bought this place. He lives in San Diego too, I heard. Grew up in Imperial Beach. Handsome, isn’t he?”

Renee snorted at the understatement. “You think? That man could be on an IMAX screen looking like that, and nobody would bat an eye.”

“Got that right. Okay, I got the cheeks, the wig’s in place, and your suit looks perfect. You ready to rock?”

“Hey, it’s all voice over stuff, right? I just have to mime it all?”

“That’s what they told me. Although, I think Voelker has a few lines at some point.”

Renee nodded. “Then I’m ready to go.”

The shoot started right at nine thirty, and as she suspected, the photography director was a total tyrant. There were four other people involved in the shoot besides Renee, a white woman and man that were supposed to play your typical suburban middle class family that was seeking a loan from Sun Cliffs, a Asian girl who played a customer at the walk-up counter, and a middle aged white guy that was supposed to be the counter clerk. She didn’t know anyone else, and with the stress and domineering nature of the director, she barely had time to even have a nodding acquaintance with the other actors, other than the pair that was supposed to play the couple she was working with. The woman, who had just enough tan and tilt to her looks to make her look Hispanic enough for the large Latino demographic of the San Diego area, was actually from North Dakota. Her name was Kristy. “I just do this to have fun while my husband’s at work,” she confided in between shots while the director yelled at the Asian girl. “He’s in the Navy, out at sea for another few months.”

“I can understand that,” Renee said. She watched as the Asian girl stood stone faced in the director’s wrath, and shook her head. “I hope to God that our half goes better.”

“Me too.”

Just then, Grady Voelker walked up, his arms crossed over his powerful chest. Up close, he was even more impressive, and Renee felt her throat go dry. It’d been a long time since a guy had made her feel so nervous. “Is it like this on all film sets?” he whispered, his face concerned. “I didn’t expect this at all.”

“Depends on the set, Mr. Voelker,” Renee replied, finding her voice. “I did one shoot with a guy who was an extra on a Michael Bay movie, he said it could be even worse. He said Bay had people in tears almost constantly. On the other hand, I’ve heard that Tarantino is actually really cool to work with.”

Voelker nodded, and touched his lips. “Okay. Hold on just a minute then.” He walked over to the director, tapping her on the shoulder and leading her away. Their conversation was short and quiet, until the director’s face broke, and she walked out of the bank branch, trying to control her tears. Grady went over to one of the cameramen, spoke to him quietly again, and smiled, patting the man on the shoulder. He came back to Renee and Kristy, a satisfied smile on his face. “Thanks. By the way, call me Grady. My dad was Mr. Voelker.”

He turned to the assembled group. “Okay, everyone, can I have your attention?” he called, his voice easily carrying through the group. “If you guys don’t know, I’m Grady Voelker, and I guess I’m the guy paying for all of this today. Anyway, I made a decision, and our director has been replaced. I’m putting the lighting director and lead cameraman in charge. Guys, raise your hands please?”