A Cake for Christmas
by 4321Sleep
Author's note: This is a bit of an oldie. I wrote it in 2018 for a contest, but given that cheesy holiday movies have only gotten even more silly since then, it's worth throwing out here again for your enjoyment. :-)
He recalled the day he’d learned that most important of Hollywood lessons, on the second day of shooting for “Veronica’s Heart.” How he’d marched right up to Vince Steele’s trailer and opened the door, only to find himself staring directly at Macy Shuttleworth’s boobs. Yep, they’re real. That was right before Vince started tossing him around the set like a chew toy, which was precisely one week before Alana Steele filed for divorce, which itself was about four months before Macy Shuttleworth became Macy Steele.
Ever since that day, Clay had reminded himself to knock. Early. Often. Loudly. He did so now, hammering on Amanda Sorrento’s trailer in a manner bordering on bludgeoning.
“Who’s it?” came a voice from inside. Soft, feminine, with just a hint of a New York accent. Amanda Sorrento was a California girl now, through and through. Almost through and through. She still had a weakness for bagels, and Clay knew the one place in L.A. that actually made them the right way.
“Bagel boy,” he announced. “Fresh from Murray’s.”
A pause. “Did you go to the one in Santa Monica? I saw a rat there once.”
“Sepulveda,” he said, hoisting the paper bag into the air. “As always.”
The door creaked open, and a blonde head appeared in the gap. “You are granted permission to enter, Sir Bagel.”
He bowed graciously. “Lady Sorrento, I humbly present to you a sesame bagel and lox, as you like it.”
She happily took the bag from his hands and headed for the trailer’s spartan kitchen, dumping the bagel onto a paper plate and refilling her coffee mug from the hotel-sized percolator. “Okay,” she said, dropping half-heartedly onto the tiny couch. “The bagel is delivered, but you’re still here. So what do you want?”
“Just thought I’d stop by to see how you’re doing. And maybe to see if you’d be up for practicing tomorrow’s lines.”
“The hypnosis scene? What’s there to practice? You’re getting verrrry sleeeeepy.” She held her arms in the air, like a sleepwalker. “Yessss, master. I’m madly in love with Julian now.” She fell back into the couch, feeling defeated. “A real stretch of my acting abilities. So glad I’ve ended up here, in this…” She swept her arm lazily in front of her. “This palatial backlot trailer.”
“Amanda, it’s just a stupid movie.”
“They’re all stupid movies, Clay! They make what, like eight thousand of these a year? It’s the middle of summer, for crying out loud, and I’m trying not to die of heatstroke while I’m dressed for a snowstorm. This isn’t what I wanted. Selena Corbett just landed a role in the new Captain Hero movie, and I’m still stuck here making dumb holiday movies for soccer moms. What does she have that I don’t have? I could act circles around that girl! I won an Emmy, for fuck’s sake!”
“Come on. You’ll feel better once you work through it and come out the other side. The more exposure you get now, the more roles you’ll land. Yeah, it’s cable, but it beats doing commercials for Sal’s Auto Body. Just stick with it.”
“No, and no. I mean it. Clay, this is the dumbest scene in the movie. How does she even get hypnotized?”
“Um, she’s on stage at a hypnotist act. Did you even read the script?”
She stretched out on the couch, propping her shapely legs up on the armrest. “It’s just dumb. Nancy’s not going to be just magically hypnotized into falling in love with Julian. Or even… hypnosis is stupid, anyway.”
“You’re a ray of sunshine today, aren’t you? Look, I’m just going to go.”
“Clay, wait!” She awkwardly shifted herself on the couch until she was lying on her stomach. “Give me a backrub. You’re the best at it. I’ve been up since five in the morning and I am dead exhausted. Roger had me doing that horse scene all freakin day, over and over again.”
He began working her shoulders, and she groaned appreciatively. “You know, it’s not all stupid.”
“Mmmm, right there. Keep going right there,” she said. “What’s not stupid?”
“Hypnosis.”
“Oh come on, Clay!” She began to roll over to argue the point, but his hands gently pressed her back down, and she relented. His hands gently worked their magic. “Mmmm, fuck. You’re hired.”
“I was at a county fair once. I was dating this blonde girl. You’d hate her.”
“I hate everyone you date.”
“Exactly. So there’s a hypnotist show at the pavilion and Farrah’s dragging me onto the stage with her, because she thinks it’s going to be fun. ‘Come on, come on, don’t make me do it alone,’ she says. I’m eighteen and I want to get into her pants. Of course I said yes.”
“Little lower, please,” she said. “You dated a girl named Farrah?”
“What can I say? Her parents really liked Charlie’s Angels.”
“God, you’re the lamest corn-fed dork I’ve ever met. What’s the point of your story?”
“Well, we get up there, and the guy comes out, right? And he’s got a top hat on and everything. And… ooh, you’re tight right there… he brings out the pocket watch. Starts swinging it back and forth.”
“Does this end with you as a chicken? Not buying it. Just keep…. yes. Mmmm. God Clay, you’ve missed your true calling in life. That feels amazing. Do it again.”
“It was more about his voice,” said Clay, sliding effortlessly into a softer cadence. “About how I was going to watch the watch and fall asleep. How tired I was after a long day. You know, when you wake up so early in the morning, and you work all day, you just get so, so tired. I felt that. So tired. Like I could close my eyes and just fall asleep right there in front of other people.”
“Mmmmhhhmmm.”
He could feel Amanda’s body start to slacken beneath his hands. “My girlfriend went under so quickly, not even resisting at all. Just a few words in, and she was already deeply asleep. She was really tired, too. Her eyes got so heavy, she said, like she couldn’t even keep them open. So relaxed and heavy. Heavy. Like lead weights pulling down, down, down. So deep. Down.”
Amanda sighed heavily. “You’re try… tryin… t’hyp…no…”
“So deep, Amanda. Like falling into a deep, deep hole. All I heard was the sound of his voice, the sound of his voice, telling me how sleepy I was, how tired I was. How I just wanted to give in and fall asleep, deep into a relaxing sleep, where I would hear only his voice. Deeper and deeper, like all of the other sleepy people on stage, deeply hypnotized, deep into a hypnotic trance. Just listen, and fall into a deep sleep. Deep sleep, Amanda. Deep sleep.”
“Sssleeep…” she whispered.
“So sleepy, after a long day, so tired, so ready for rest, just relax and slip into a deep trance, hearing only my voice, and falling into a deep sleep. Your eyes are so, so heavy. Your muscles are completely relaxed. Under my hands, completely relaxed. Hearing my voice, completely relaxed. Counting down from five, so sleepy. Four, deeper and deeper. Three, eyes so heavy, so hard to keep open. Two, ready to fall into the deepest sleep, hearing only my voice. And… one.”
My magical Christmas crystal has put you into a deep hypnotic trance. You must do exactly as I say, Nancy.
Yes. I will obey.
Clay let the crystal hang in front of the beautiful blonde for a few seconds, admiring Amanda’s glazed green eyes and the soft glow of her pretty face. Washed-up actress or not, she still looked incredible. His eyes drifted to her cleavage and the gentle heave of her breasts. They were just as mesmerizing as the crystal pendant, and he let them entrance him for a moment before resuming.
Clay lowered the pendant and stuffed it back into the pocket of his jeans. He moved back to his position behind Amanda and tried to stifle his raging erection- the actress barely tolerated him now, and her thinking that he got a hard-on from giving her massages would almost certainly put an end to any future trailer visits. Think about old man Edwards. Old man Edwards in a hot tub. Old man Edwards naked in a… ew. ugh. He waited for another minute to be certain, and snapped his fingers. “There,” he declared. “Feeling a little better?”
She rolled onto her side and stretched, sighing happily as she did so. “Yesss… thank you, Clay. You’re a good egg. And we really don’t need to rehearse the hypnosis scene. Dan is the one who does all of the work, and most of your lines are with him anyway.”
“You’re right, said Clay, “I’m going to head over there now. You need anything?”
“A better agent?”
“I’ll get right on that,” he laughed.
The stage set was madness. Makeup people, script people, lighting people, extras, cast, even the poor girl assigned to look after Miriam Wallace’s corgi, because Miriam Wallace was an annoying diva who needed her dog near her at all times. The corgi’s happy barking had ruined more that one shoot so far, and the production still had two weeks of shooting to go. Clay threaded his way though the throngs of extras and tried his best to smile at all of them. Some of them even recognized him, a fact that warmed his heart far more than the half-witted Christmas movie he was busy making. He found Dan Tyson among the crowd, and tugged on the older man’s shoulder.
“Hey, Dan. Are we good?”
“I brought your prop, sure. It looks good. Gordon even did some closeups of it in case we want to highlight it spinning around. Where’d you find it?”
“Costume jewelry shop.”
“Yeah, well. Anyway, I’ll put it to good use. Let’s go see if I can get a concussion today.”
Clay bounded down the stage steps and over to his assigned seat in the audience. He waved to Gordon and the new guy running the second camera, and waited while the other cast members and extras took their places.
“Now just watch and listen, all of you!”
Dan pulled out the crystal, and everyone on stage followed it with their eyes. Evelyn, Terri, Sherman, Yuki, and especially Amanda. Clay watched with satisfaction as the blonde’s eyes instantly glazed over. Her body slumped in the chair, leaning heavily against Yuki. The latter was clearly annoyed, but kept a straight face and focused on pretending to be hypnotized by the Great Zabo. Clay smiled. He liked Yuki. Always a professional.
Dan walked to his mark at the center of the stage, and raised his hands into the air. “Aaaaannnnd….” -he paused for ‘dramatic’ effect- “SLEEP!”
Five heads dropped down. Only one for real. Maybe two, Clay later decided. Terri looked a little dazed right before Dan said his lines. For the time being, he straightened up in his chair, and prepared for his next scene.
Clay left his seat and followed a well-practiced path to the stage. He put on his best ‘embarrassed to be here’ look and sheepishly faced Dan. Amanda sat just behind them, her green eyes looking right through the two men into nothingness.
“Just stand right here,” said Dan.
“Cut!”
Dan sat up and brushed the dirt from his suit. “How’d we do, Roger?”
“Good enough, you guys,” said the director. “Nice work, Dan. Yuki, Amanda? Nice job, you really sold it. Clay, move faster up the steps next time. You looked like you were climbing Mount Everest.”
Clay felt a pair of arms wrap around him. Instinct kicked in and he attempted to jump backwards, but the arms held tight, and he went nowhere.
The blonde holding him smiled and cocked her head. “Are you okay, Clay? You did great. You looked great.” Amanda stared at him as if she’d never met him before.
“I’m fine,” he said, trying and failing to sound bored with it all. “Hey, you did good, too. You really looked like you were hypnotized.”
“ACT-ING!” she said, beaming with pride. “Stick with me, kid. I’ll show you the ropes.”
“Mama always said to learn from the best.”
“Your mama was a smart woman, then.”
“Hey,” he said, as he mentally crossed his fingers. “Do you want to come by my trailer for a bit? Just to shoot the shit. No acting, no lines, just you and me and maybe a whiskey.”
“Oh.” She gave him a sly look. “Trying to get the lead into your bed? Nice try. I’ve seen your trailer, and it doesn’t even have a bed.” She placed her hand on his shoulder. “I’m actually feeling really tired. I’m going to go catch a nap. See you later?”
“Yeah! Yeah sure.”
Clay watched, feeling disappointed, as the object of his hottest and dirtiest dreams walked off the set. Even the sight of her ass in the tight cocktail dress she’d worn for the scene failed, for the first time ever, to excite him. He’d gambled on a stupid idea and failed, and it felt stupid. It felt terrible. He thought about the whiskey waiting in his trailer, and decided to make a quick date with his shot glass.
The knocking sound woke Clay from his nap. Loud, careful, and continuous. A Hollywood trailer knock. As always, Clay’s mind immediately thought of Macy Shuttleworth’s boobs, and he laughed to himself. Totally worth the beating I took! He opened the door, expecting to find either Amanda in a skimpy nightgown, or a weary assistant with a stack of script revisions. Instead, he got a bit of both- Amanda, fully dressed, with a handful of papers.
“New script revisions came in,” she explained.
Even in jeans and a t-shirt, she looked great, but Clay couldn’t shake that awful feeling of disappointment. It all looked so real. She really was a better actress than anyone gave her credit for. Even Roger appreciated her ability to look hypnotized, and Roger generally hated everything about Amanda.
She tapped the doorframe of the trailer. “Can I come in? I want to run over the lines for the ballroom scene.”
Clay groaned. The ballroom scene had been revised four times already. A fifth one wasn’t going to fix the glaring plot holes any more than the other ones had. “Yeah,” he said, “come on in. I’ve been working on my Pauline scenes and I could use a break.”
“She’s pretty,” said Amanda, settling into a chair. “Do you like her?”
“What, like romantically?” He rolled his eyes. “Like, do I like her-like her? No, and anyway she’s dating that guy from The Virtual Detectives last I heard.”
“Too bad,” said Amanda. “She’s pretty hot. Nice tits, cute ass…”
I guess that makes me the lucky girl, then.
What? I thought that we’d do a little real-world practicing. We’re supposed to be lovers, so…
They lay on the floor of the trailer, gasping for breath. Clay was certain that half the backlot had heard them. They’d probably catch an earful from Roger, who frowned on stars hooking up on set. At the very least, he should have sprung for a hotel room.
Amanda purred happily and nuzzled against him. “What are you thinking about? Another role in the hay? Because I sure am.”
He tried to ignore the effect her soft kisses were having on his lower body. “Hey, can I show you something? It’s over in my pants pocket. Something I picked up recently.”
She kissed the fingers of his outstretched hand and smiled. “Of course. Show away.”
Clay adjusted his tie for the fifteenth time, or maybe the fiftieth. He’d long ago lost track, so it was probably closer to fifty. It wasn’t like him to be nervous. This was just a low-budget quickie, not a blockbuster like Alien Galaxy, or even the reality TV hardships of Last One Off the Island! Still, his heart was beating twice as fast as he wanted it to be. The other cast members filed into the ballroom, except for Dan, who was done except for reshoots now, and Miriam, who kept insisting that her corgi was suffering from a cold.
Pauline nudged him. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Or eaten a ghost. What’s the matter?”
“Noth…nothing,” he stammered. He smiled as Pauline gave his hand a quick squeeze. Here he was, a farm boy from Indiana, holding hands with a woman whose face was known around the entire world. Him! Now! Bad movie or not, just the fact that he got to work with amazing people was worth all of the hard work and long hours.
And then there was… oh, wow.
Amanda looked like a princess. Long, flowing ballroom gown, hair done up in a way that looked like it took hours to prepare (and almost certainly did), perfect makeup, perfect smile, perfect body, perfect everything.
“Hey, Clay.” Her green eyes sparkled. “Ready to dance?”
“Ready when you are,” he said. He took her by the arm and walked out onto the dance floor.
You showed me that there’s more to life than money. I’m going to fly back to Chicago and tell them that the deal is off. MegaCorp can find some other place to put their new headquarters!
Clay and Amanda remained in place, arms locked around each other, swaying in time to imaginary music. The blonde looked into his eyes. ”I love you, Clay.”
He pulled her close as she closed her eyes. He gently touched her face and kissed her softly. They remained that way even after the rest of the cast left, and the stagehands began to dismantle the set around them.
A Cake for Christmas (2018)
Predictable holiday fare starring former Mulligans heartthrob Clay Charles as a workaholic businessman who arrives in Falls Corner with his wife (Tonya Thomas) looking to buy up farmland for a new corporate headquarters. He clashes with the town’s beautiful, snarky cake shop owner (Off a Short Pier star Amanda Sorrento), until she is accidentally hypnotized into falling in love with him. Complications ensue. The amazing chemistry between the two leads, and particularly Sorrento’s turn as the sexy girl next door, set this film somewhat above others of its kind. Charles and Sorrento, due to marry in February, have already signed on for a sequel.
(3 stars, worth a look)