Behind The Limelight 07: Best Friends

8 Years Ago

“Just one more month and I’m going to be done with school,” Ryker stated with a long sigh.

“You excited?” Ashton asked, looking at the other boy.

“Excited is an understatement,” Ryker scoffed.

“Come on,” Ashton said. “School can’t be that bad.”

“You have no idea how lucky you are to be homeschooled. School is a pain in the ass, especially high school,” Ryker replied.

“I’d attend a normal school if I was given the choice,” Ashton muttered with a light shrug.

The two best friends were sitting beside the pool in Ashton’s house, their feet dangling in the water. It was the weekend, and they had just gotten done with their swim. They couldn’t meet much during the week days as Ryker had school, so they always made sure to spend the weekend together.

It was mostly at Ashton’s house as his parents were too overprotective about him going to Ryker’s, considering the other boy lived in a rather…middle class part of the city. Unlike the Archer family. Despite Ryker’s background, Ashton’s parents didn’t mind their friendship. Something Ashton was more than grateful for since Ryker was his only friend.

“Nah. One week in that hellhole and you’d beg to leave,” Ryker argued. “You’re lucky. Your parents let you work too. Mine won’t even let me audition until I graduate.”

“Just a month and then you can audition all you want,” Ashton said. “Can you imagine how cool it would be if we get to work in a movie together?”

“That’d be awesome,” Ryker grinned. “But I don’t think I’ll ever get cast in a movie. Commercials? Maybe.”

“Don’t say that,” Ashton frowned as he looked at his friend. “You’re a great actor. You’re gonna take the industry by a storm.”

“I wish,” Ryker mumbled.

“I’ve literally seen all of you plays, Ryk, and are you forgetting that we’ve worked together too? I know you,” Ashton stated.

“That was, what? Ten years ago? That too for a cereal ad. I haven’t done any acting since,” Ryker retorted.

“Theatre counts.”

“School theatre doesn’t,” Ryker said.

“It does when someone is as good as you!” Ashton argued.

Ashton hated seeing Ryker down like this. He knew that Ryker shared the same dream of one day being a famous actor, but unfortunately his path was harder than Ashton’s, who pretty much had his entire future laid out in front of him. All thanks to nepotism.

“You’re just saying that because you’re my best friend,” Ryker replied.

“Nah, I’m just stating facts,” Ashton said nonchalantly. He paused briefly, before continuing. “You do know that you can talk to my parents too, right? They like you. They’d definitely help you out with contacts in the industry and all that.”

“I know,” Ryker nodded, “but I want to try on my own first.”

Ryker was prideful, and he hated taking help from others. Ashton knew that. He knew that Ryker would never ask his parents to get him an acting gig. He would try and try on his own, and if unsuccessful he would find something else to do. Ashton sighed, he wished that wasn’t the case. He wanted nothing more than for Ryker to achieve his dreams, and he hated seeing him dejected.

“Enough about this,” Ryker spoke up again. “Let’s shower first. I’m dying to start playing Red Dead.”

“Aye, aye captain!”

The rest of the weekend passed by quick. The two boys spent it together, playing video games, swimming, watching movies in Ashton’s home theatre and doing random shit here and there. Ashton loved every bit of time that he spent with his friend, it was the only escape he had.

Ryker left for school directly from Ashton’s mansion on Monday morning, and Ashton begrudgingly bid him goodbye. If it was up to him, he’d spend every day with the dark haired boy. But their lives were different, very different.

“How is rehearsal going? Have you learned your lines?” Rebecca Archer, Ashton’s mother asked as the family of three ate lunch.

“It’s going good. I still need to practice more,” Ashton answered.

“You do,” she replied. “You have no idea how terrible your last performance was. Your father and I were deeply embarassed.”

“I’m sorry,” Ashton muttered. He did fuck up his last job, he kept forgetting his lines and the director had to call it a day and postpone what was meant to be a one day shoot for a commercial.

“Apologies are meaningless if you don’t learn anything,” Ashton’s father, Chris, added. “Maybe if you waste less time with your friend and make more effort in rehearsing then some day you’d at least be a decent actor.”

“At this rate you should forget ever getting a lead role,” Rebecca said. “You can’t even learn five simple lines.”

“I’ll do better next time,” Ashton’s voice was just a whisper.

The seventeen year old was looking down at his plate, playing with the peas with his fork as his parents continued talking about him. His appetite was long gone, and he couldn’t wait to run back up to his room. Away from everyone.

“You should learn from Ryker. Did you see his last play? Do you know how hard live theatre is? He doesn’t get cuts or retakes. He learns his lines and he delivers them like a professional without even having any proper training. But you? You have the best coaches and teachers in the world yet you can’t seem to do anything right.”

This wasn’t the first time his parents had said something like this. Sometimes Ashton felt that his parents were okay with his friendship with Ryker just so they could hold it over his head that the other boy was so much better than him. So that they can keep comparing the two and pull him down more than he already was.

After another twenty minutes of the torturous meal, Ashton finally managed to excuse himself when his parents changed the topic of conversation and started talking about something he couldn’t be bothered by. His mother dismissively waved her hand when he asked to leave, not even caring that her son’s plate was still full.

Ashton rushed to his room, he picked up the script from his table as he went over it again and again.

He couldn’t fuck up. He couldn’t fail. It was not an option.

~~~

Present Time

Ryker didn’t say a word after Ashton’s monologue about how much he hated the other actor. Ashton was glad for it, even though he could sense the tension that was thick enough to be cut by a butter knife. But still, he would rather have that than Ryker attempting to talk to him again.

Ashton was good at pretending. He acted the entire night as if there was nothing on his mind and that everything was okay. He talked, he ate, and he laughed. After the events of that party, he did not know for how long he could keep his distaste for Ryker aside. So the least he had to be sure of was that his relationship with the other cast and crew was good.

“Thank you all for coming here. I cannot even begin to express how happy I am with my team, and I’m sure as hell that this project is going to have fans making lines outside the movie halls,” Erick gave his ending toast. “Here’s to all of you!”

Everybody cheered, before getting up and saying their goodbyes. They all had to be up bright and early the next morning for the first day of the shoot. Ashton, too, couldn’t wait to get back home for his beauty sleep. He hadn’t been sleeping much lately, and was continuously rehearsing his lines. He must’ve gone through the script a thousand times, but he still didn’t feel fully prepared.

Ashton was waiting downstairs for his driver when Ryker walked up to him. Ashton didn’t say anything, he didn’t even look at the other man as both of them stood a few feet apart. The night was cold, but Ashton’s attitude towards Ryker was even colder.

“I know you don’t want to talk to me,” Ryker finally spoke up. His voice was different, he didn’t sound as confident or smug as he usually did. He seemed low. “I know you don’t even want to look at me, for that matter.”

“Really? That’s news to me,” Ashton muttered sarcastically. “You seem to know what I want but then again, here you are.”

“I want to apologize,” Ryker stated. Ashton whipped his head towards his fellow actor, looking at him in disbelief.

So much had happened between the two in the last few years but never, not even once had either of them apologized or even attempted to do so.

“Apologize?” Ashton scoffed. “It’s a bit too late for that.”

“I didn’t want to do it over call or text, not like you would have responded anyway,” Ryker reasoned.

“I don’t just mean about the last party,” Ashton said. “If my memory serves me right then it wasn’t the first time you pulled a stunt like that.”

“I know,” Ryker whispered, frowning. Ashton didn’t buy it, making him roll his eyes.

“Save it, Ryker. Seriously,” Ashton spoke. “A sorry isn’t going to do jackshit.”

“But I am sorry,” Ryker almost pleaded.

“Sure you are,” Ashton replied. “I told you already. I don’t care about you or what you did. Was it fucked up? Sure. Did I think you had changed? Maybe. But was I surprised when I found you tonguing somebody I was interested in? Definitely not.”

“It’s not what you think, Ash,” Ryker sighed. “I don’t… You don’t understand.”

“Understand what exactly?” Ashton was beginning to get frustrated. Why won’t Ryker just let it be? “If you are so sorry then why do it in the first place?”

“I wasn’t thinking and I just… I don’t know,” Ryker said, looking away. Ashton let out a bitter chuckle at the explanation. Of course Ryker had no real answer, he couldn’t even bother to come up with an excuse or a lie.

“We’re done here,” Ashton muttered.

He had taken just a single step when Ryker grabbed his arm in an attempt to stop him. Ashton turned around angrily as he shook his hand off of the other man’s grip. He was pissed, his fingers curled up in a fist but he kept them to his side as he glared at the fellow actor.

“What the fuck do you want, Ryker?”

“I want you!”

***