“Thank you for joining us, Miss Earhart,” a large, red faced man said without looking up from the notes he was making. Braelyn Guss, the director. Next to him, was a woman with tightly pulled back hair, Emily Harp, the producer. I’d met them in my first auditions and memorized everything about their careers, but I was pretty sure none of them would remember my name if it weren’t scrawled on the headshots in front of them.
“We want to test your on-set chemistry,” Braelyn continued. “So if you could just run through the lines we supplied you with.”
“Ummm.” I froze. “Lines?”
“Didn’t you receive an email with the script?”
I shook my head. Numb, exhausted, bruised, eyes burning from that Marshmallow. This might’ve been the worst day of my life.
Emily sighed, leaned back in her chair and let her arms fall defeated to her sides. Clearly she was having as frustrating a day as I was. If that was possible.
“Hell, since you helped find that damned dog, I’ll give you a break.” Her eyes scanned me up and down, lips tightening. “Frankly, you look like you need it.”
“Uhh… thanks.”
She held out a script to me. “Just read for the character of Jordan and do the best you can.”
It felt like this whole thing was a courtesy at this point. I’d helped her out with the princess so she felt bad sending me packing. I really just wanted to go home, crawl into my bed and never come out again.
My jaw set. No. That wasn’t how I did things.
I took the script, scanning it quickly. As I took in the dialogue, I felt myself coming alive. The energy of a performance took control of my muscles. I flipped a page. The more I read about Jordan, the more I felt myself becoming her, fully inhabiting the role. I was ready.
I set the script back on the table.
“You don’t need to read from it?” Braelyn asked.
I shook my head. “I think I’ve got it, thanks.”
“Jessica, are you ready?” He shot a piercing look over her shoulder at the grown woman laying on the floor playing with a puppy.
“Been ready for ages.”
I watched her walk towards me, and as she did, she ceased being Jessica and became Gail, the sassy cowgirl stealing my heart. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. I didn’t come this far to just go halfway.
I opened my eyes. “Why the hell are you getting this close to me?”
A cheeky grin spread across Jessica’s face. “Because you don’t want me to stay away.”
She kept moving closer, each footstep bringing out another thump in my chest until my own feet were moving backwards.
“You think you’re pretty smart, don’t you?” My back pressed against the wall.
“No.” She pressed a hand against the wall and leaned into me until our chests were almost touching. “But I don’t need to be smart to figure you out.”
Her breath fell against my cheek. Suddenly, I became so overwhelmed by Jessica’s closeness that I forgot my next line. Then I remembered there was no next line. This was the part where she kissed me.
My mind screamed, and I lost my character completely as I panicked. My eyes itched so bad from the dog hair that I was tearing up. When she reached down and grabbed my bruised wrist, pain forced the tears to actually fall. A warm trickle melted down my cheek and she wiped it away, letting her hand remain on my face, thumb gently stroking my jaw.
Time slowed and then seemed to stop as I stared into her blue eyes. She was so near that I could take in every minute detail of her face. Even this close, she was perfect. Not a wrinkle or a pore to mark her glowing skin. Even though she was fair, dark lashes covered her hooded eyes. My breath rose and fell heavily in the pregnant silence between us.
Then I noticed the distance between our lips was disappearing. My breath caught. My lips tingled in anticipation.
A sharp ring tore through the moment, making me start from the trance I’d been thrown into. Jessica backed away, looking sheepishly at the table as she took her phone from her pocket.
Emily rolled her eyes. “You know what, that’s great for today. Thank you so much for coming out, Amelia.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from cursing and muttered a tight, “Thank you.”