Runaway – Ch 11

Pairing: Jared x Reader
Tags: first day at work, we meet some new people, Jared is acting shifty
WC: 3.7k

Masterlist

The courtyard was heaving with people when Y/N/N went downstairs for breakfast the next morning. 

Dinner the night before had been quiet. She supposed a lot of people, Jared included, had still been at the table read. Trays of sandwiches and coffees had been carried past her at one point, heading in the direction of the function room that the cast had been cloistered in. They’d been at it pretty late, judging by the text she’d received at two in the morning from Jared, saying he’d see her later the next morning, after he’d been to the gym. 

Y/N/N grabbed a plate and began loading it up with fruit and bacon. She loved the variety of things they had laid out: pastries, oatmeal, every breakfast meat she could imagine, trays full of fresh squeezed orange juice, green juice, smoothies, all reappearing just as quickly as they were being snatched up by the ravenous breakfast goers. It was an impressive operation. 

True to his word, Y/N/N didn’t see Jared at breakfast, but that left her at a bit of a loss for where to sit. She didn’t know anybody here yet, save for the one valet who’d shown her upstairs the day before, and she doubted he was going to be here having breakfast right now. The courtyard was stocked with rustic-looking picnic tables, rough hewn benches attached at the legs to their matching surfaces, and not a single table was empty. 

So, it was time to make some new friends. Y/N/N braced herself and set off with a purposeful stride towards a table in the middle, closest to the ornamental fountain that looked as if it had been airlifted in from an Italian piazza. There were a few occupants there already but still plenty of space at the ends of each bench. Shaking away the memory of approaching a strange cafeteria table on her first day of high school, Y/N/N approached the cohort and cleared her throat. 

“Mind if I sit here?” she asked, internally thanking god that her voice hadn’t cracked over her question. 

“Yeah, sure,” one of the table occupants replied, scooting over a little to indicate she should sit next to him. He turned to her with big eyes, glancing up and down her frame as she inserted herself into the space between bench and table with as much grace as she could manage. “Hey, you’re one of the grunt team, too. Marvellous,” the boy, who was only a few years older than Y/N/N at most, flashed her a wink and gave her a companionable knock on the shoulder with his own. 

“Grunt team?” Y/N/N asked curiously, picking up a strawberry and popping it into her mouth. The boy plucked at her ID lanyard in demonstration, and she saw that his was the same bright turquoise colour as hers was. The other residents of the table all had light gray lanyards attached to their IDs. 

“You know, runners, assistants, bottom of the food chain,” he whispered conspiratorially, and Y/N/N laughed. 

“Oh, yep, that’s definitely me,” she smiled. “We’ve all gotta start somewhere though!”

“Oh, don’t tell me, this is your first production?” The boy was aghast. 

“That obvious?” Y/N/N grimaced, hiding behind her coffee as she took a much needed gulp of caffeine. 

“Oh, honey, don’t worry! I love a project,” he clapped enthusiastically and threw an arm around her shoulder. Y/N/N had no clue how to react to being called a ‘project’ so she just tried to smile, hoping to keep the awkwardness out of her expression as much as possible. “So, first things first: what is your name, darling, and what is your job?” His question was accompanied by a look of rapt curiosity, eyes wide and bright, poised over his coffee cup, his pinky finger held out like he thought he was having tea with the queen. 

What an odd guy, Y/N/N couldn’t help thinking to herself. She’d never met someone so exuberant before. 

“Um, Y/N,” she answered, “but call me Y/N/N, that’s usually what I go by.” 

“Love it,” he gushed, interrupting before she could answer the second part of his question. Y/N/N gave him a nervous smile of thanks, nodding awkwardly. 

“And, uh, I’m Jared Padalecki’s personal assistant.” 

“Oh. My. God. This was meant to be! I’m Quinn Bradely’s PA!” 

“Oh, cool,” Y/N/NN nodded, vaguely recalling that Quinn was the name of the lead actress who had told Jared about the audition in the first place. “And what’s your name?” 

“Oh honey, you just call me your Fairy Godmother,” he laughed, waving his hand dismissively, before laughing at his own joke. “But since we’re going to be besties, I can already tell, you can call me Cece,” he said with another wink. 

“Okay, cool,” Y/N/N giggled. Cece was definitely odd, and way over the top, but he seemed like a good guy. And if he was Quinn’s PA, they would probably wind up spending a decent amount of time together, considering Jared and Quinn were the stars of the whole production. 

Just then, Cece’s phone rang, a chirpy pop song buzzing between them, and Cece rolled his eyes when he picked it up. 

“Duty calls,” he sighed dramatically before answering. “Yes, Quinn darling?” Y/N/N went back to her breakfast, chomping her way through her bacon while Cece chattered away with Quinn on the phone. “Oh, you know what, I can find out right now, one moment darling. Y/N/N, honey,” Cece turned to her, his hand over the receiver of his phone, and Y/N/N looked up at the sound of her name. “Where’s Jared right now? Quinn wants to get some coffee with him before they start shooting today.” 

“Oh, he’s at the gym,” Y/N/N rolled her eyes fondly at Jared’s dedication to his physique; she couldn’t deny it paid off, remembering the sight of his abs she’d caught when he’d changed in front of her while they were packing for the trip. She felt herself flush and tried to shake the memory, before she noticed Cece was looking at her with confusion. 

“Sweetie, there’s no gym here. They’ve just got a personal trainer coming in a few times a week,” he explained. 

“Oh,” Y/N/N thought for a moment, Jared must not have realised there was no gym when he had texted her last night. “I’m not sure where he is then. I bet he just went for a run instead or something.” Y/N/N pulled out her own work phone to check if she’d received any new messages from Jared, but the screen was blank. “He knows what time he needs to be back, I’m sure he’ll turn up then.” Cece gave Y/N/N a sympathetic look that got her haunches up a little as he uncovered the end of his phone to report back to Quinn. 

“Okay, Jared’s in the wind, I’ll let you know when we track him down. Okay, great, bye darling.” Cece hung up with a sigh and turned to Y/N/N seriously. “Lesson number one? Always know where your star is. You are their anchor, you make sure they show up where they need to be, when they need to be there. Which means you need to know where they are at all times, capiche?” 

“Okay, yeah, sure,” Y/N/N nodded, feeling embarrassed. Day one off to a fabulous start. “I’ll text Jared now. Like I said, I’m sure he’s just gone for a run around the vineyard or something.” 

“No, no, you’ve gotta go find him,” Cece insisted. “They gave you your key to his room, right?” Y/N/N nodded hesitantly. “Start there, then fan out.” Cece ushered her off the bench, like this was a matter of life and death. “If he is running around the vineyard you should be able to see him from the window,” he added as an afterthought, still shooing Y/N/N away and off to find Jared. “Call me when you’ve got him!” he shouted, giving her a parting wave, and Y/N/N gave him a shaky wave back, stumbling off to find her boss. 

“Mr. Padalecki?” Y/N/N knocked hesitantly on his door, pressing her ear against it to check if she could hear any movement. It was either a very thick door, or there was no one inside. With a deep breath, Y/N/N popped her key into the lock and turned it, pushing the door open slowly as she peeked her head around the barrier of ornamental grape carvings. “Mr. Padalecki?” She called again but yielded no results.  

Moving carefully into the room and shutting the door behind her, Y/N/N looked around. The room was vast, and incredibly stunning. She had thought her own room grand; Jared’s was fit for royalty. This production really had spared no expense when it came to their stars. 

Jared’s suitcase was sitting at the foot of the large, four poster bed, his gym bag sitting on the ground next to it. That further backed up Cece’s revelation that there was no gym here, Jared wouldn’t have bothered to take it with him if he’d only gone on a run. Except– Y/N/N spun, remembering something her eyes had skimmed over when she’d stepped inside. There by the door, there were Jared’s running shoes. That was strange. 

Turning her attention back to the room, Y/N/N examined the bed again. It looked immaculate, like it hadn’t been slept in. Maybe housekeeping had already come by this morning and cleaned the room? It would make sense that they’d visit the actors’ rooms first, and keep everything in order for them. But would they have done that? 

Y/N/N approached the bed and picked up a baseball cap, matching the one she’d been given. The cap was laid out on top of the crisply folded matching shirt, and beneath that was an equally sharply folded sweatshirt, also emblazoned with the same hot pink writing. Apparently the actors got extra swag, Y/N/N smiled to herself, imagining Jared in the garish clothing. It was clear Jared hadn’t folded these items himself, Y/N/N was all too familiar with the lack of skill Jared had in that department following their packing session. So had housekeeping refolded the items and put them here when they’d remade the bed? That didn’t seem likely, Y/N/N mused. It would make far more sense if they’d never been moved in the first place, meaning Jared hadn’t slept in this bed last night. 

Y/N/N’s stomach turned uneasily. She pulled out her phone and opened her conversation with Jensen from the previous day. 

Y/N/N: Hey, did you manage to get hold of Jared yesterday? 

While she waited for a response, she remembered what Cece had said about being able to spot Jared from the window if he was on a run. Despite the presence of his running shoes making Y/N/N think that he probably wasn’t, she supposed it didn’t hurt to check. Jared’s room didn’t just have windows, they were full french doors that pulled open onto a balcony. Stepping out, Y/N/N leaned against the twisted iron railings, covered in more grapes, and she smiled to herself. 

The view was breathtaking from this side of the villa. The hills really bracketed them in here, the ocean of grape vines waving to and fro in the valley, and Y/N/N could indeed see the whole vineyard from this vantage point. There were rows of trailers, basically shipping containers on wheels, lined up in the parking lot, people milling around them, like bees weaving in and out of their honeycomb, hard at work. She could see everything; everything but Jared. 

“Hey there!”

Y/N/N jumped, scared out of her wits, whipping around to see who was in the room behind her, but it was empty. 

“Over here,” the woman’s voice laughed, and Y/N/N turned to see another balcony a little way along, a blonde woman reclining in a sun lounger and waving in her direction. Relaxing a little, Y/N/N waved back, moving to the far end of her balcony so she was closer to the woman speaking. 

“Hi,” she smiled, “nice to meet you.” 

“Are you Jared’s girl?” the woman asked, setting down the magazine she’d been reading and reaching for a cup of coffee. 

“What? N-no! I’m not, we’re not… I mean, um–” This woman thought she was dating Jared? Seriously? 

“Then what are you doing in his room?” she asked suspiciously, eyes narrowed. 

“I’m just looking for him,” Y/N/N explained quickly, hoping she wouldn’t get in trouble for this somehow. Surely she was allowed to be here, she had a key for goodness sake, but it still felt weird being in Jared’s room without Jared being there. “I’m his PA, just trying to track him down.” Y/N/N giggled nervously, trying not to give away how overwhelmed she felt this early on her first day, but she saw understanding dawn on the other woman’s face. She laughed, the sound bright and lovely. 

“That’s what I meant, are you his assistant,” the woman laughed again. “I know he’s single,” she winked playfully. 

“Oh, right, yeah,” Y/N/N laughed too, but she still felt a bit off balance. 

“I’m Quinn Bradley,” the woman finally introduced herself with a smile, and Y/N/N saw a flash of perfectly white teeth peeking through her pink, glossy lips. “What’s your name? So I don’t keep calling you ‘Jared’s girl’?” God, Quinn laughed a lot, Y/N/N reflected to herself, but she supposed she couldn’t blame Quinn, when she sounded as pretty as she did while doing it. 

“Y/N/N,” she gave a short wave again, in absence of being able to offer a handshake. 

“Well, Y/N/N, I’ll let you keep looking for Jared,” Quinn smirked, picking up her magazine again. “Don’t want you to have lost him on our very first day.” 

Y/N/N’s heart sank into her stomach, god, she didn’t know it would be such a big deal not knowing where Jared was. They hadn’t even started filming yet! The second she found him she wasn’t going to let him out of her sight again. 

“Right, thanks,” Y/N/N waved again, then dropped her hand awkwardly, realising how much she’d done that in the past few minutes. She backed into Jared’s room quickly, shutting the balcony doors behind her and sagging against the back of the couch. She had no idea where to look for Jared next, and he hadn’t answered the text she’d sent him quickly on her way up to his room either. 

Her phone dinged with a text and she whipped it out eagerly, but it was only Jensen. 

Jensen: Hey, yeah I did, all good 🙂

Y/N/N: You don’t happen to know where he is right now, do you?

It was a long shot, but at least Y/N/N didn’t mind admitting to Jensen that she’d lost her boss. 

Jensen: Haven’t heard from him today, sorry! 

Y/N/N groaned, bending backwards over the couch in despair, her lanyard falling down over her face. Her phone dinged again. 

Jensen: I’m sure he’ll turn up, he’s probably off trying to find a protein smoothie or something

Y/N/N: Yeah, you’re probably right, thanks 🙂

She’d sent back a smiley face, but she didn’t really feel like smiling just now. Leaving Jared’s room, she spared one last glance around the space, like Jared would have been hiding in the curtains this whole time and finally appeared when she’d had her back turned. No such luck, though. Deciding to head out towards the parking lot where she’d seen the wardrobe trailers, Y/N/N bounded down the staircase that led into the entrance hall of the house, pushing her way through a gang of people hovering around the front door so she could get outside. 

Pausing at the bottom of the stone steps leading up to the villa, Y/N/N looked across the sweeping drive up to the space and saw another trailer being pulled in, towed behind a pickup truck. She waited for it to pass her so she could walk over the drive into the lot, and then sighed in relief. Pickup truck and trailer now out of the way, she saw Jared’s small grey coupe making its way up the drive just behind them, Jared in the driver’s seat. 

Thank god, she thought to herself, rolling her eyes, and hurried after the car as it parked up, determined to stick to Jared like a shadow for the rest of the day. Y/N/N shot Cece a text that she’d found the wayward actor, not wanting him to think she was totally hopeless on her first day on the job. He sent back a message asking where they were, and then told Y/N/N to bring Jared to the hair and makeup trailer, and that he’d meet her there with Quinn. 

“Hey, Y/N/N!” Jared waved when he spotted her, swinging the door of his car closed with a crash. 

“Where did you go?” Y/N/N asked, unable to stem her curiosity. 

“Nowhere really,” Jared shrugged. “I wanted to go for a drive. I’ve never been in this area before, I just like knowing my way around,” he waved dismissively. Y/N/N looked at him sceptically, but then a text alert from her phone distracted her. 

“Okay, well, I’ve been asked to bring you over to the wardrobe trailer, like, now. You good to go?” 

“Lead the way,” Jared held out his arm and fell into stride with Y/N/N as she walked them over to where Cece had asked her to meet him. 

“Hey, you found him!” Y/N/N looked up from her phone to see Quinn leaning against a trailer, waving at them. “If you quit on us too I was going to go throw myself in the grape presser,” she smirked, and Jared laughed. 

“That would be a shame, to ruin so much nice wine,” he grinned, and stepped around Y/N/N to give Quinn a quick hug. “Ready for our first day, Janie,” Jared drawled, eyebrows tweaking up. 

“Sure thing, Chance,” Quinn smiled, knocking her shoulder into Jared. Those must be their characters’ names, Y/N/N realised. “My assistant just went to grab me a coffee, then I figured we could go for a quick walk through the vines over there, get the lay of the land for the scene later?” 

“Yeah, sure,” Jared nodded amiably. 

“Can I bring you anything Mr. Padalecki?” Y/N/N checked, and he smiled kindly at her. 

“Anything with ice would be great, actually. You know how I like it,” Jared smiled at her gratefully. 

“You got it, sir,” Y/N/N nodded, and jolted off towards the coffee truck at the end of the lot. 

As she went she heard Quinn remark with a giggle, “wow, you’ve got her trained up already.” The sentiment gave her a weird feeling. Was she supposed to be offended by that? Proud that she’d impressed Jared’s colleague and made him look good? She guessed it was kind of a compliment, even if it was a little demeaning of one. 

“Oh honey, there you are,” Cece was at the coffee truck already, and sighed in relief when he saw her. “Here, hold this?” He passed her over a tray of drinks and some napkins. “Those are for the wardrobe gals,” he nodded to her hands as he grabbed two more drinks from the counter of the truck and started to head back towards Quinn and Jared. 

“Oh, wait, I need to get Jared’s–” Y/N/N started to protest but Cece steered her away. 

“I’ve got it covered,” he shook the cup of iced coffee in his right hand, and Y/N/N looked at him curiously. 

“How did you know–” 

“Charlie?” Jared’s voice was loud, confusion obvious. Y/N/N looked around to see who he was talking to, and saw Cece beaming. 

“Jared, darling, how are you?” Cece gushed, walking up and handing him the iced coffee. 

“What– What’re you doing here?” Jared asked, flabbergasted. 

“You know my assistant?” Quinn asked curiously, taking her own coffee off his hands. 

“Your assistant? Charlie is my agent’s assistant,” Jared explained, and Y/N/N looked over at the boy curiously. Jared had mentioned Charlie before, she knew he wasn’t the biggest fan of him. 

“Cassie loaned me out,” he explained. “Quinn’s PA got in a car accident on her way down, poor thing, and the agency didn’t have anyone else free in the area. And Cassie figured since you’re on this production it might be useful to have me down here with you guys anyways, so here I am!” 

“He’s been a lifesaver, honestly,” Quinn explained. “Come on, let’s head out, Jared. Want to get a look around before we meet up with Morgan before lunch.” 

“Yeah, uh, sure.” Jared followed Quinn out towards the grape vines, looking back at Charlie and Y/N/N curiously one last time. 

“So you already know Jared?” Y/N/N asked, helping Cece bring the rest of the drinks into the wardrobe trailer. 

“Oh yeah, we go way back,” he smiled. 

“Why did you say your name is Cece? If Jared already knows you as Charlie, I mean,” Y/N/N wondered. 

“Oh, you know,” Cece waved his hand dismissively, indicating it was no big deal. “New job, new me, couldn’t resist spicing things up a little.” He grabbed the last drink in Y/N/N’s tray and gave her a little wave. “See you later darling, would you mind waiting outside for Jared and Quinn to come back?” Cece was already out the door and Y/N/N tried to follow but he was speedy, and when she got back outside Cece and his turquoise lanyard were nowhere to be seen. 

“Sure, I guess,” Y/N/N spoke to the crowd rushing around her, but no one paid her any mind.