Jay held up his hands in a calm down gesture. “Sorry. I was just going to say, try to relax, and at least pretend that you like each other.”

I laughed. It was loud and fake and projected my nerves for anyone within a ten-mile radius. “He’s just nervous. Get over here, Ash.” I pleaded with my eyes.

He barely managed to unfurl his nose as he moved beside me again.

Lewis was not impressed based on the look on his face. He addressed Charlotte, turning his body to her and shutting us out. “I have concerns.”

“I like them.” Her eyes never stopped devouring us—mostly Asher, for which I couldn’t blame her, but it made me feel a tiny bit hurt inside. My ego was fragile.

“I doubt you’ll get the emotion you want from these two. Look at them.”

“You will,” I said, sensing we were fucking this up beyond repair. “You said you’d do a practice shoot tomorrow. We’ll be amazing. You’ll see. The problem is—” What the fuck was I gonna say? I wet my lips and looked among the three people in charge. “The problem is—”

“We aren’t in character,” Asher finished for me. “You want us to play a part, and that’s cool. We can do that. But at the moment, you’re seeing Asher and Atticus. It’s hard to get into the role of Ender and Elliot when we don’t know them. Atti’s right. Tomorrow, we’ll nail it. We need direction. Who are these guys? What are they like? What personalities do they have? It’s acting, but we don’t know the characters yet. That’s the problem. That’s why you don’t see the chemistry.”

I smacked his shoulder. “He’s right. Everything he said. That. All that.”

Jay quirked a brow and grinned at Lewis. “He has a point.”

Lewis wasn’t buying it, but Charlotte nodded. “I understand,” she said. “How about I give you some notes? A character breakdown. Then you can take a look and be better prepared tomorrow.”

“That’s all we need,” I said.

“Can I get dressed?” Asher thumbed over his shoulder at the bathroom door.

“Yes, please.” Charlotte shooed him off. “The looks are perfect. Your body is Ender one hundred percent. And you”—she scanned me up and down for the millionth time—“are exactly Elliot.”

“Yay.” The exclamation lacked all the enthusiasm I was going for.

Charlotte nodded after Asher. “Go dress, sweetie. I’ll have Jay find a character breakdown sheet, and we’ll sort out tomorrow.”

I zipped to the bathroom and slipped inside. Asher already had his pants on. “Thank you. You saved us.”

“Yeah. For now. You really think tomorrow will be better?”

“Yes. You were right out there. We couldn’t be Ender and Elliot because we don’t know them yet.”