(ANd at the end when the dude's doing push-ups with her on her back)
"No, you're up where with me," Lee said.
The director explained further, "I want you to kick through the yellow paper and hand him your invisaliner. Do whatever you want to do for the rest of it while Lee will just stare straight ahead."
She couldn’t help but crack a small smile at the ridiculous sounding plan and shrug, “Alright, I guess I’m gonna be in the video.” Vanessa took another gulp of her drink before setting it down on the floor out of the way, “Let’s do this then, before the caffeine kicks in and I won’t stay still for a minute.”
"I think that's the goal," Lee said as he hopped in to the 8 sided caged ring. He left the door open for her as he tok his position just to the left of where the camera was zoomed in on.
"It has a mark where you should kick through," the director pointed out before getting behind the camera.
She nodded, climbing into the ring and jumping behind the paper. For a second she stood still until the director told her she could go and she kicked through the paper, making a not too clean entrance as she almost tripped on the bottom of the paper. Before she fell though, she caught herself and managed to make it look like she did that on purpose, handing Lee the invisaliner she was given before starting to sing along to her song softly and just act however she wanted.
He held a small smile back as he held the two pieces of plastic in his hand and watching her thrash around. It took all of his willpower to not grin when Vanessa turned towards him and started swaying back and forth in a goofy fashion. His face stayed stone cold to the camera, but it was obvious to her he was struggling to keep it together.
She purposely stuck her tongue out at him when she saw he was having trouble keeping it together and grinned for a moment before going back to doing whatever came to mind. It was fun, being able to do whatever she wanted and not being judged because she could say it was just for the music video.
Eventually, the director shouted, and Lee dropped the eliners on the floor and burst out laughing.
"What the fuck was that?" he asked between breaths, his hands on his knees as he tried to regain composure. All of the other crew members had a similar reaction after the camera turned off.
“My amazing talent,” She joked, sticking her tongue out again, “I think you’re just jealous of my fantastic moves.” She danced around for another few seconds with a grin before stopping, “Was that good? I don’t think Lee could handle another recording with the way he’s laughing.”
The director nodded, already moving the camera to a different place in the gym.
"So," he explained, beckoning them to follow, "this is for the breakdown at the end of the song. Lee, I need you to take off your shirt."
Lee was, as expected, confused as all hell. "Uh….why?"
The director smiled knowingly. "Well, we gotta find a way to get people a little more interested in this last part."
Lee glanced over at Vanessa to see what she thought of it.
Vanessa raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything, sipping off her energy drink as she followed Lee and the director, “As long as it doesn’t involve me taking off any clothes we’re all good here, it’s up to Lee what he does.”
Lee shrugged. "Alright then."
He stripped off the sleeveless T-Shirt, revealing the solid abs that every professional fighter seemed to have, along with broad, strong shoulders and defined arms.
"Alright," the director said, nodding to himself, "Now get in a push-up position and let Vanessa sit on your back."
This made Lee's eyebrow raise even more, looking over to Vanessa once again.
“Hold on, can I say something quick,” She looked over Lee’s torso and nodded, “Damn, just, damn.” With that, she set her drink down once again and moved to where she was supposed to be. She was completely fine with this, it was up to Lee what he wanted to do with himself anyway.
That broke the awkwardness that Lee had felt, and he couldn't hide a small grin as he got down into the push-up position. His arms didn't even shift as Vanessa took her seat on his back, only letting out a small puff of air in response.
She glanced at him and couldn’t help but crack another joke at his small breath, “I’m not even that heavy, am I?” Vanessa nodded to the manager to show she was ready whenever, not wanting to make Lee hold her on his back for longer than he had to.
The end of the song blared out from the speakers in the gym as Lee slowly began to do push-ups, making sure to pace himself so that it stayed on beat. His arms never trembled once throughout the whole process of filming, even after having to reshoot the scene after Vanessa lost her balance and fell off his back.
"Alright, we're good," the director said, and the music shut off.
Lee looked over his shoulder at Vanessa. "Mind getting up?"
She nodded and stood up, rubbing her back as she hummed the song to herself, “That hurt. The floor isn’t very comfy.” Happy to have those scenes done, she moved to grab her headphones and drink again. She figured they were done and she could go back to songwriting, though she could say shooting was a fun, especially since Barry disappeared to figure something out and hadn’t returned to annoy anyone yet.
Lee got up to his feet, rolling his shoulders a couple of times with a face of mild discomfort. "Haven't used that much weight for a push-up in a while," he said, shooting Vanessa a playful glance so she knew he was just joking.
"Anyways, can we take a lunch break?" he asked the director as he retrieved his shirt from the floor.
"Yeah, let's take a lunch break."
"Ooo!" Barry said, returning just in time to hear 'lunch.' "I know a good place close by."
“As long as I’m not buying,” Vanessa joked, glancing back at Lee with the same playful look at his joke. Slinging her headphones around her neck, she shrugged, hiding the mildly annoyed look that crossed her face when Barry reappeared and popped into the conversation, “Lunch sounds good.” Just food in general sounded good to her, especially since she hadn’t eaten much that morning because of Barry calling her at way too early in the morning to tell her to get ready.
"Mind if I come with?" he asked, still addressing Vanessa and blatantly ignoring Barry. "My nutritionist might have a fit, but one cheat meal can't hurt me that bad."
He was already heading towards a decently-sized locker nuzzled into the back left corner of the gym. He pulled out a dull grey hoodie, his phone, and a pair of flipflops before slamming the door with his foot.
“Please do,” She said, happy that he had asked. She wasn’t in the mood for listening to Barry and the director babble away while she sat there. Already she was heading to the door, pulling her headphones back over her head and drowning out whatever her manager was saying with her favorite songs. Her stomach growled and she started thinking about what she was going to get based on what kind of food they served. A burrito sounded really good to her at the moment.
He grabbed her arm just before she could reach the door, putting the hoodie into her hands. "Put this on before you go. If anyone notices you, we won't get a second of peace. Plus, I doubt you want the rumors of us dating to circle around."
Lee walked outside before she got the chance to argue, smoothing out the front of his shirt while he waited for her.
She rolled her eyes but did as he said, thinking of all the rumors that had already circulated about who she was dating. The sweatshirt was actually pretty comfortable, even if it was made for a guy who had double the upper body strength she had -meaning it was a tad big. “Better?” She said, stepping outside and pretending to model it while Barry and the director went to go get one of their cars. It was easier to just take one car than multiple and soon her manager came up with his fancy red Dodge Charger and the director in the passengers seat.
He rolled his eyes as he opened the door for her. "Lovely. You might need to keep your day job, though. Modeling isn't your strong suit." He shut the door once she cleared her legs, and slipped into the other side, behind the driver. He slid as far to the left as he could to not crowd her in the backseat that was admittedly very small.
"What place do you plan on going to?" Lee asked Barry.
"A Mexican place called 3 Amigo's about 2 miles from here."
"And you couldn't walk there? It's only two miles."
She stuck her tongue out at him but didn’t say anything else, flipping the hood over her head and keeping to her tiny sliver of the backseat. A small laugh escaped her at his comment and she looked over at him, amused, “Only two miles? It’d take us twenty minutes to get to the restaurant, unless we’re running, and I don’t really want to run.”
Barry and he director seemed to be ignoring the two of them as they drove out of the parking lot and towards the Mexican place. They struck up a conversation as they went, about something production or music related.
He shook his head, looking out of the window with a small smile. "Lazy ass celebrities."
They reached the restaurant in 5 minutes and Lee was out before the car was even parked, stretching his legs to get a bit of feeling back into them.
Needless to say, he was a bit nervous going out into a public place with Vanessa. A: She was a god-damn superstar, B: She was attractive as hell, and C: Paparazzi would go batshit if they found her in the restaurant with him. Way too much attention for his liking.
He hid it the best he could as the others got out of the car.