Ex-tras
'Jake, I don’t get it. You were the one who broke up with me.'
Photo by peter bucks on Unsplash
The room they entered was dark, compact, and hollow, located in a former warehouse. It was Andy’s first time visiting this building, as it was on the other end of the city, though Jake and Darcy had been there before. The factories that used to operate here were eventually replaced by hipster cafes and alternative music concert halls, as the scrappy architectural buildings and facades became trendy after the underground and rave culture took hold since the mid-2010s.
The three of them were put to work this gig, where they were hired as extras for a music video. Apart from them, there was a bunch of twenty, thirty, and forty-somethings, all dressed in black and wearing makeup that made their complexions seem overly pale, if not translucent. So were Andy and her friends, matching the vibe of the video they were about to be a part of.
Andy was feeling excited (practically elated) for three reasons: first of all, her best friend, Darcy, had finally come back from overseas, and she’d missed working and hanging out with her. Secondly, it was Jake’s first gig, and she was happy that she and her ex-partner were finally on good terms; she was the one who got him this job. And lastly, she was excited to be part of this project, to be filmed for a music video for an up-and-coming local rock band.
There were light projectors in each corner, cutting through the somber atmosphere of the dark space with a blinding wall of light. The set props for the video were almost non-existent: mostly some folding black chairs here and there. The director of the video kept walking around frantically, adjusting the equipment and the people; the camera operator was fixing one of the projectors; the makeup girl, too, was rushing around, checking if anyone needed some more white powder. No one from the band had arrived yet, but the extras were asked to take their positions. Darcy, Andy and Jake decided to stick together in the middle, looking lost.
After a few minutes, the band—four skinny, tall guys in their mid-twenties—entered. They came prepared, dressed in the style of old-school rock bands: uncombed hair, funky T-shirts, cheap fake leather jackets, and old, slightly ripped jeans. In her head, Andy praised them for their efforts to look the part. Though they tried hard to be like another Nirvana, it was very clear they were, in every possible way, too Gen-Z.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the director who practically ran in between them.
‘This right here is not working for me!’ he shouted erratically. ‘You,’ he pointed to Darcy, ‘will dance with him.’ He then pointed to the lead guitarist.
‘This one,’ he went on, as he took Andy’s hand, leading her away, ‘will dance with the singer.’
And suddenly, Andy stood right in front of the band’s singer, who smiled at her in a charming yet timid manner. She overheard Jake’s voice in the background, as he was loudly expressing his confusion as to where he needed to stand, and the director, in turn, dismissing him by saying in an irritated manner that he could ‘stay wherever the hell he wanted.’ (The director was not that concerned regarding the positions of male extras, but luckily, the makeup girl grabbed Jake and asked him to sit on the chair near Darcy and the guitarist).
‘You seem distracted,’ the shy singer finally said and smiled, looking at Andy.
Andy turned her gaze back toward him.
‘Sorry! I didn’t mean to be rude. How are you feeling? Excited?’
‘Yeah, it’s good fun,’ the singer said. ‘That means a lot that you guys are helping us out. Otherwise, it would just be the four of us again, just like all our other videos! What’s your name, by the way?’
‘Andy,’ Andy said, smiling back. She felt like a cliché: yet another girl charmed by a sweet musician. Yet she couldn’t help but want to continue talking to him.
As the filming process started, Andy realized her part didn’t actually involve that much work; the extras were just supposed to dance with the musicians briefly as the latter lip-synced their new song, and then, after the break, the band would leave, and the extras would stay for additional brief scenes. Andy and the singer continued chatting here and there, though they could not get in much talking, as they continued to receive side-eyes from the director whenever they got carried away with their conversation for too long or raised their voices a little too high. She managed to learn that his name was Clint; he was the one to write the new song about his recent breakup, and he was a cat person (she figured that out when he mentioned he was glad his ex did not take away the cat when she moved out, and the way he spoke about it gave away a true cat lover).
The time flew at the speed of a comet, as everyone was called to take a quick break because the band had to leave. Just before they did, Clint and Andy exchanged Instagrams, with Andy then immediately running off to find Darcy to tell her all the details.
‘He was really sweet and not arrogant at all as I’d imagined,’ she was telling Darcy with her mouth full, munching on a mini-sandwich and trying to recount everything that just happened as fast as possible before they were called back in. ‘He told me there was an event later tonight that the band was going to, and that he’d send me the details.’
‘Great! Let’s go!’ Darcy exclaimed. ‘We’re both single, what the hell! This is our moment! I’ve been invited too by Paul, their guitarist.’
‘Don’t mind me,’ said Jake, who apparently stood nearby the entire time, which Andy completely failed to notice.
‘Of course you can come as well!’ Andy said quickly. ‘I am sure some of the other girl extras will join, and some of them are pretty cute.’
Jake sighed. ‘I think I’ll just head home after this. It’s been a long day.’
Andy forced a smile. She didn’t know what to say, so she felt incredibly relieved when the director called on everyone to take their positions. She abruptly waved to both Darcy and Jake and rushed back to her spot.
As she left, Jake quickly glanced in her direction, making sure he was out of her vision. Next, he reached out for her phone she’d left on the bench, unlocking it.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’ he heard Darcy’s voice behind him. He jumped.
‘Ah…’
Darcy gave him a long, hard look. ‘Are you serious?’ she asked, annoyed.
‘Darcy and the new guy, do I need to repeat twice? In your positions, now!’ the director shouted in fury.
‘Please don’t tell her, I’ll explain later,’ Jake whispered to Darcy, his eyes pleading with her.
Darcy frowned. ‘You better,’ she said.
***
The crew had almost finished packing up their equipment, and Jake and Andy were among the last ones remaining there. Darcy had had to leave earlier.
Andy kept checking her phone; there were no new notifications.
‘It’s weird,’ she said, shaking her head as she looked at Jake. ‘Why did he say he’d message and then he never did?’
‘Well,’ Jake replied. ‘That guy is just stupid.’
Andy realized he was staring at her without breaking eye contact. Then, he came closer to her and pulled her in for a gentle kiss. Andy leaned in for a second, lost in the moment, but quickly enough, she snatched herself from his arms, taking a step back and frozen in shock, like a fearful gazelle that just saw a lion hiding in the grass.
‘What are you doing?’
Jake sighed. ‘Nothing, I just thought… It’s nothing. I thought I felt there still was something between me and you.’
‘There was… WAS,’ Andy said, her voice sounding a little louder than she expected.
‘Wait…,’ she went on. ‘You said something about me to Clint, didn’t you? Is that why he never messaged me?’
‘No,’ Jake replied. ‘I never talked to him. But I did remove him as a follower from your Instagram and deleted his message. I also turned off your data so you wouldn’t get new messages from him. I knew you wouldn’t realize it because you often miss little details like these.’
Andy felt a sharp sensation in her chest.
‘Jake, I don’t get it. You were the one who broke up with me.’
‘Maybe I shouldn’t have,’ Jake said.
‘Well, you won’t get me back through manipulation.’
With the modern dating scene as it was, she had already gotten used to walking away on short notice once a date had gone wrong. Yet, as she strolled down the street at dusk, packed with old warehouses and quirky coffee shops that were preparing to close or transform into bars and discotheques, wound up and muttering to herself, she wondered about one thing: whether Darcy knew about Jake’s plan, and if she was the one who left them alone on purpose, without telling her anything…