She got the role—I got a new apartment. Ever since, I’d lived alone.
The real kicker was that she was doing really well these days. I tried not to be bitter about it whenever I turned on the TV and saw her in the latest sit-com. I tried not to be bitter about a lot of things.
Then there had been a boyfriend who I’d planned on moving in with, but that had ended badly… to put it mildly.
“Don’t be bitter,” I reminded myself for the thousandth time that day.
I opened my cupboard and dug out the bag of rice that sustained my meager existence. I’d only have time to gulp down a bit of food and change before I had to get to work.
While the rice cooked, I slipped out of the neat dress pants and reluctantly into my ratty jeans. I had fewer and fewer reasons to dress nice these days. As I iced my bruised wrist, I gulped down the plain rice, not bothering to scoop it into a bowl, which I‘d just have to wash. I’d be doing enough washing up tonight.
I was exhausted by the time I arrived at my job, the thundering music of Club Echo assaulting my ears. I evaded my supervisor and set to work taking out trash, scrubbing bathrooms… menial, mind-numbing work.
Did the people around me in $500 t-shirts have any idea how lucky they were? Club Echo was one of the ritziest spots in the area, and I’d been excited to get a job there as a chance to meet celebrities in the business. But lately, I’d found that being around people whose lives were going well just depressed me.
My shift was only half over when my bruised wrist was throbbing too much to continue, and I had to beg my supervisor to let me go home early. I could tell by her expression that I might be going home permanently. I was too tired to care. Too tired of it all.
“Fine. But I need you to mop up one of the VIP booths before you go home,” she finally conceded with an annoyed sigh. “Someone smashed an entire bottle of Patron.”
Great. Now assholes were dumping their billion-dollar tequila all over the place. When I’d wheeled my mop and bucket through the crowd of writhing bodies, I stopped and did a double take at the couple in the booth.
Jessica Black.
Was she haunting me or something?
She lounged comfortably in the VIP booth, heels kicked off, whispering and laughing with her boyfriend Oliver. Maybe if that morning had never happened, I would’ve been stoked to stand next to Jessica Black and Oliver Colt. But as it was, I couldn’t even look at her.
I kept my head down as I quickly swept up the smashed glass. I wasn’t sure what I’d say if I had to talk to her. Good thing most of the people I worked around never even looked at me.
I had to get closer to her to sweep under her feet and the familiar scent of her cinnamon perfume permeating the overwhelming scent of alcohol instantly brought back memories of her proximity to me that morning.
“Sorry about the mess.” She laughed. “My fingers got really slippery from squeezing limes into my glass.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I said as sincerely as I could, which wasn’t very sincere. I should’ve just kept my gaze down, and I definitely shouldn’t have looked up to glare at her.
“Hey, it’s you!” she exclaimed with an excitement that suggested she didn’t even notice my death stare. “Funny seeing you here.” Her plump lips pulled into a dimpled grin that I’d seen staring at me from dozens of movie posters.
“Yeah, funny.” I looked back down and grabbed my mop, swishing it around the floor.
Jessica leapt to her feet. “I gotta admit, I’m pretty excited to start filming this movie.”
The mop clattered to the floor. All my annoyance, all my frustration, came bubbling up in that one uncontrollable moment.
“Yeah, I was pretty excited as well. Too bad I won’t be in it, thanks to you.”
“Huh?”
Was I going to get fired for
this? Definitely. But I was pretty sure I’d already lost my job for asking to go home early, so I really had nothing to lose at this point. “Did you ever consider some people might be allergic to dogs?”
“Huh.” She got a thoughtful look, shaking her head. “No, I didn’t.”
My voice dropped to a low hiss, and I leaned in so close to her that the heat of our bodies mingled. “And you really had to interrupt the audition to find your precious pet? Waste everyone’s time and exasperate the casting panel before I even got in the room?”
“She needed her med—”
“And then, on top of that—on top of all of it!—you didn’t even shut your phone off!” My jaw was clenched, lips pressed against her ear so close that I could feel the tiny hairs prickle with every poisonous word I spat. I’d officially lost it.