Lights, Camera, Kiss Me (Original): Epilogue
"Say yes!"
Mac looked around the dressing room she’d shared with Jazz for the past five years, taking in the shelves and counter tops devoid of their usual perfume bottles, photo frames and knickknacks. Jazz had taken all of her bits and pieces home with her last night, and today Mac had spent the better part of the afternoon packing her belongings into boxes. Now the area was ready for the next actor to move into and decorate however they saw fit.
It was never easy saying goodbye, but Hart’s Valley had had five spectacular seasons before Blainesworth had pulled the plug.
“It’s better to go out on a high note,” Blainesworth had said when he’d informed them of his decision. “Leave the audience wanting more. Never make them happy to see the back of you.”
The ratings for the show had broken records throughout each season, and so had the DVD sales. The characters of Hart’s Valley wouldn’t leave people’s hearts anytime soon. The writers had ensured each character had grown and changed and found their happy ending. Mac smiled as she thought about the emotional finale they’d just filmed, in which the now happily married Stone and Brianna had given birth to their first child.
Just as Jazz had predicted, Stone and Brianna were endgame.
And even though real life never guaranteed a happy ending, Mac couldn’t help feeling like she and Ryan were endgame, too. They’d been together for three and a half years now. It hadn’t been smooth sailing all the way. Between the press and the men and women who had done their best to come between them, there had been some difficult moments. Not to mention managing his mother’s care had been a constant strain on Ryan. Two years ago, Mindy had taken up part-time work in Morwell, so she was only part-time carer to their mother, and Ryan had hired a lot more help. Ryan was also making more regular trips to support his sister in looking after their mother.
But for the better part, the past three years had been filled with a lot of joy and too many happy memories to count, including moving in together and adopting a Dalmatian they’d named Loopy.
Ryan had brought up the topic of marriage several times over the years, but they’d both agreed that while they both liked the idea, they just didn’t have time right now. Not only had Ryan been busy with Hart’s Valley, he and Brad had written a few episodes of a TV show – a satire centred around the lives of six actors who starred together on an Australian drama show called “Sunset Dreams.”
While Ryan and Brad were currently busy trying to source money to make the pilot for their show, Vanessa had landed a role on the newest “twenty-something” drama show on TV. Jazz had been offered several television roles, but had yet to accept any of them. In fact, she was talking about taking some time off. Mac suspected that might have something to do with the fact that Jazz was four months pregnant and still suffering terribly with morning sickness.
After years of dancing around the attraction between them, Jazz and Brad had finally given in to what they felt and gone for it. Both were over the moon about the fact they were going to be parents in a matter of months. Well, Jazz was over the moon when she didn’t have her head stuck in the toilet.
Matt’s character was killed off in the third season. He was currently in Los Angeles and had been a sidekick in a B-grade action movie. He kept in touch regularly and always assured them that the next role he landed would be ‘the big one’.
Lyndel had opted to leave Hart’s Valley half-way through this final season so she could travel. She’d grown close to Jazz, Vanessa and Mackenzie over the years and they’d missed her terribly when she’d left.
Lyndel and Matt weren’t the only stars who had come and gone over the years, but the original cast members had always remained close, and they all felt as though they’d been part of something special.
No matter how sad she was to see the end of Hart’s Valley, Mac knew this change was merely the opportunity to take another path and see where it went. And even though she didn’t know what the future held for her yet, she was excited. She’d won a Logie last year – a career highlight – and could probably find another job easily enough when she was ready to look. She had friends – friends who would last a lifetime – and she was with the man of her dreams.
“Mac! You’re needed on set right now.”
Mac looked up to see Jazz standing in the doorway, as breathless as if she’d run the whole way from the set to their dressing room.
Ex-dressing room.
“What…?”
“Mitch doesn’t like the last scene we shot yesterday. We have to re-shoot it.”
“But-”
“Just come on,” Jazz demanded, motioning for Mac to follow her.
The urgency behind Jazz’s words and actions was more than a little puzzling. They were done with shooting. Yesterday had been it, the finale had been finished, and the staff party was tonight. Everyone who had been part of the Hart’s Valley team over the years was invited. Moreover, yesterday Mitch had said that they’d absolutely nailed the last scene.
“Wait a minute,” Mac said, coming to an abrupt halt. “Mitch liked the scene yesterday, and my clothes are in wardrobe, and I haven’t had my hair and make-up fixed.”
Jazz turned, and this time Mac didn’t miss the twinkle of mischief in her friend’s eye.
“Jazz, what’s going on?”
“Don’t make this any more difficult for me, please,” Jazz pleaded. “You’re needed on set right now. Just follow me and don’t ask any more questions, okay?”
Feeling even more confused than she had been a moment ago, Mac silently followed Jazz. Her confusion only increased further when she walked into the darkened studio and saw Ryan standing on the stage, bathed in the golden glow of a solitary spotlight. Every member of the cast and crew was gathered around him, but they all parted as Mac walked into the room.
The moment Ryan saw her standing there, he smiled. It was a smile which looked far too nervous for Mac’s liking. Like a volcano, nerves erupted inside her and her stomach suddenly felt as though butterflies had taken over and were trying to wing their way through the rest of her body. Ryan crooked his finger at her and motioned for her to join him up on stage.
Mac looked at Mitch, wanting to know if he’d asked her to come here, but their director just shook his head, grinned at her, and waved her up to the stage. Clearly, there wasn’t going to be any more filming today. So why was Ryan standing on stage? And why was everyone here? Why was everyone watching them?
Anxiously, Mac made her way through the crowd and up the steps at the front of the stage. The combination of the large spotlight and the fifty pairs of eyes trained on her made her thankful she’d put deodorant on this morning. She was starting to feel the heat.
As soon as she was in front of Ryan, he caught both of her hands in his.
“What is this?” she asked breathlessly. “What’s going on?”
“I thought you and I had one final scene to play out in this studio.”
The intensity of Ryan’s gaze made her whole body tingle and her blood pound so hard she felt dizzy. And when he dropped down onto one knee in front of her, she felt dizzier, still.
“Mac,” he said, still holding her hands. “Before I met you, I couldn’t imagine wanting to spend my life with one person. I couldn’t imagine loving someone for the rest of my life. But you changed all of that for me. Now I know without a doubt that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, loving you, and making you happy every day of our lives. Mackenzie Lauren, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”
Her tongue felt as if it had been super-glued to the top of her mouth. He was proposing! The man of her dreams was in front of her, on bended knee, asking her to share the rest of her life with him. She wanted to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming, but Ryan still held her hands.
“Say yes!” someone shouted.
Startled to realize they were not alone, Mac looked out at the crowd surrounding them, before she locked eyes with Jazz and her friend mouthed, “Say yes!”
“Mac?”
Her gaze jerked back to Ryan’s, and even though he was smiling, his eyes were anxious, reminding her she had yet to give him an answer.
“Yes! God, yes,” she said, her throat tight with the tears she was trying not to cry. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.”
The entire studio burst into applause as Ryan took a black velvet box out of his pocket and slid a large solitaire diamond onto her ring finger. And then he was standing and she was in his arms being so thoroughly kissed that they were serenaded by wolf whistles.
When they finally came up for air, Ryan looked at her, his eyes happy and bright as he held her against him still. “You gave me a fright,” he whispered in her ear. “For a moment I thought you were going to say no.”
“The guy whose poster I used to stare at on my wall when I was fifteen just proposed to me,” she whispered back. “I needed a moment to make sure it was real.”
He threw back his head and laughed, and they had a moment together before they were mobbed by the crowd of well-wishers.
“Congratulations,” Jazz told her, first in line to throw her arms around Mac and then Ryan, before oohing and ahhing over Mac’s ring. Brad followed suit, giving Ryan a man-hug before hugging Mac hard and whispering how happy he was for the two of them.
“Can I tell her now?” Brad asked when he’d let her go.
“Tell me what?” Mac asked.
“We got it,” Brad said.
“Got what?”
“We got the funding.”
“Seriously?”
“Yep. Bank approved us today. You’re looking at the producers of Sunset Dreams,” Ryan told her.
“Oh my God!” Mac hugged both Ryan and Brad again. “Congratulations. I’m so pleased for you both, and so proud, too.”
“It’s amazing,” Vanessa said as she walked up the stairs, followed by Matt. “Such an accomplishment.”
“What are you doing here?” Mac asked as Matt hugged her. “You’re supposed to be in Hollywood.”
“I had to come and see Romeo down on his knees in front of a woman,” Matt said with a laugh.
Vanessa nudged him. “That’s disgusting, Matt. Some things don’t change.”
“That’s not the only reason he’s back,” Brad said happily. “He’s signed on to be one of the leads in Sunset Dreams.”
Matt grinned and shrugged. “They said they’d make me the next big thing. Besides, I’ve missed my mates.”
There was a lot of “Aw, shucks,” before Matt blushed and told them all to shut up.
“Jazz also reckons she’ll put in an appearance for us,” Brad said.
“I was told I was no Emma Stone, but I’d do in a pinch,” Jazz said, rolling her eyes.
Brad grinned and threw an arm around her shoulders, before rubbing Jazz’s tiny baby bump. “Jazz knows she’s equal with Emma when it comes to being the love of my life.”
Jazz hit him playfully in the stomach.
“So…” Ryan said, looking at Mac. “We still have several unfilled lead roles if you want to work together again. Though, this time I’d be your boss.”
“You want to work together again?”
“It worked out so well this time,” he said, wrapping his arms around her once more.
She couldn’t agree more. “Yes, it did.”
“Is that a yes then?”
“I think it’s a maybe.”
The sound of Ryan’s laugh poured over her, drenching her in happiness. The idea of working with Ryan again sounded fabulous, but they probably needed to talk about some things first, especially if he was going to be her boss this time round!
“Aw, Romeo, I think you might have to spend some time convincing your fiancée.”
“Fiancée,” Ryan said, clearly liking how the word felt on his tongue.
“Everyone!” Blainesworth called. “I want to get a picture.”
Mac, Ryan, Brad, Jazz, Vanessa and Matt huddled together with their arms around each other and grinned for Blainesworth and his camera.
“All right, now I just need one of the happy couple,” Blainesworth advised, before snapping a couple of photos of Mac and Ryan.
Out of nowhere, someone shone the spotlight on the two of them.
“Lights,” someone called.
“Camera,” Blainesworth said, laughing and motioning to the camera in his hands.
“Kiss me,” Mac said, grabbing Ryan by the lapels of his shirt and pulling him down into their last staged kiss.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS/AUTHOR’S NOTE
I want to thank everyone who has read, commented, and voted for this story. I want to thank everyone who added it to their reading lists. Essentially, I want to thank everyone who helped this story hit the ‘what’s hot’ list.
Chapter One received one-hundred reads and eight votes in its first week. It’s come a long way since then. We reached #1 on the Romance list (for a few hours anyway, lol), and #1 on NTF. And when I say ‘we’, I mean me and YOU. Without people to read and support a story, it goes unnoticed.
So thank you, my dear readers!
I have to thank Daisy for reading every single chapter of this story before anyone else did.
Daisy, you always find the time to encourage me. I hope you know how much that means to me. And I loved meeting you in June. XOXO
I have to thank Liliane Grouse and Jenn for their editing suggestions and tips for improvement. They helped to make this a smoother and higher quality read for you guys. I owe them one.
Liliane and Jenn, I hope to keep learning from the two of you. You’re both wonderful authors with an exceptional understanding of how language should flow.
I have to thank Bex for her feedback on the first few chaps.
Bex, you went AWOL on me and I miss you. If you ever come back and read this, I hope you’re doing okay XOXO.
To everyone who has fanned/followed, I thank you. Seeing the number of followers continue to rise has been very encouraging.
Lights, Camera, Kiss Me has received some lovely comments over the months it’s been up. It has also seen its share of constructive feedback. I know I’ve made mistakes with LCKM. The language isn’t as smooth as it could be in places, and there are one or two changes which could improve the story line. But I’m a better writer after taking this journey, and I hope that here, on Wattpad, there are people who will enjoy the story regardless of its flaws.
I also hope that most of you will come back and read my next story and share in my journey as I attempt to sharpen my writing skills.
Lastly, I know I might not be the fastest writer out there, or the best, but I do pour my heart and soul into my works and it makes it all worth it when I see those votes and comments. So if you can spare the time, please click the ‘vote’ button.
With much love,
Michelle