My voice dripped with all the disappointment I could no longer contain. “You have no clue how much this movie meant to me.”
With our bodies pressed so close, I could feel the electrical impulse that shot through her at those words. She put her hand on my shoulders, pushing me far enough away that I could see into her face. The infuriating woman was still smiling from ear to ear.
“I didn’t realize you felt so passionately about the movie!” Her grin widened even more. “It means a lot to me too!”
I lost her attention as a server returned with another bottle of overpriced booze. Somehow Jessica’s cheerful dismissiveness made my blood boil even hotter.
“If it means that much to you, why didn’t you at least turn your phone off? You didn’t even do what we were actually there to do, which was kiss.”
She blinked a moment before looking back at me, her grin turned crooked and she punched me lightly in the arm. “Hey, if you wanted to kiss me so bad, all you had to do was ask.”
My brain short circuited as fiery rage tore apart every cell in my body. How arrogant can you be? She flopped back down next to her boyfriend and started pouring out glasses of booze. She held one out to me, saying, “Cheers to Real Love.”
My first instinct was to push her outstretched hand away. On second thought, I took the shot and downed it before turning and bolting the hell out of there.
I was done.
Done with my shitty job. Done with scraping by. Done with my stupid dream of being an actress. Done with Jessica.
***
My head ached as I sat up. The bottle of cheap wine I’d drowned my misery in was not being kind to me. Memories of the night before flashed in my mind. I let out a groan as I remembered telling Jessica off and storming out of work. With my luck, she’d be telling everyone in the industry to never hire me—actually, I was pretty sure she didn’t even remember my name, so maybe I was safe there.
‘If you wanted to kiss me so bad, all you had to do was ask.’
Ugh, the self-centered princess really did think the world worshipped at her feet—that men and women alike would die for a chance to mash faces with her. Give me a break. I rolled over again, groaning. Had I been too much of a bitch?
I sighed. It wasn't really her fault I’d blown up. I didn’t know what had come over me. Sure, I’d always been hot-headed, but I’d completely lost it on someone who probably didn’t deserve that from me. Lately my life had just felt so… hopeless.
I was one missed rent payment away from being forced to move back to New Hampshire and live in my parent’s basement until I could find some soul sucking corporate job to rot away at until I turned a billion years old. Actually, that didn’t so bad compared to my current situation. I was so exhausted by scraping by.
My phone started ringing, making my head ache even more. I didn’t have the energy to engage in conversation, so I let it go to voicemail. When I played the message back, I almost dropped the phone at the sound of the voice of Emily Harp from Aorta Studios.
“We loved your audition. The tears you conjured for the performance were so authentic! We’d love to have you play the love interest of Jessica Black in Real Love.”
4.
Jessica
Oliver was still sleeping in my guestroom the next morning. He often stayed the night to give the paparazzi opportunities to photograph him leaving my house. It was almost sad how easy it was to fool them. I guess people will always believe what they want to believe, and the public adores a love story.
Sara had been passed out on my couch when Oliver and I had stumbled in past midnight. She was still there, so I was trying to be quiet. My home was cozy, which I loved, but it also meant there wasn’t a lot of room to make noise when people were sleeping.
I’d been up since six, barely able to sleep because I’d been so excited. I’d called Aorta and told them we had to book the spunky woman who’d auditioned the day before. I’d been impressed by her acting, but when she’d declared how important the movie was to her, I knew I’d found the actress I’d been looking for. I wanted someone who felt the same as I did about the movie, not just someone looking to fill an open role.
I didn’t want to jump to any conclusions, but her short hair and stylish suit made me think she might be into women—well, that and how badly she’d wanted to kiss me. That was kind of a give away. It was great that she’d feel as passionately about the movie as I did. I only hoped I could bring the same level of authenticity. That spunky girl had become one more person I didn’t want to let down with this movie.
I sat at my desk highlighting and adding notes to my script, but I had so much gleeful energy exploding from me that I couldn’t resist spinning in my chair. When the spinning came to a dizzying halt, Oliver was standing in front of me, rubbing his eyes sleepily, hair still stiff with gel from the night before and sticking up in odd places.
“You’re having a good morning.” He laughed.
“Sure am!”
“You’re scaring your poor puppy.” He pointed to Cleo who was eyeing me suspiciously from behind Sara’s sleeping body on my couch.
“Oh, she’s used to it.” I patted my knee and Cleo ran to me, digging her claws into my sweatpants as she clambered up onto my lap. I looked up to Oliver. “Are you hungr—wait, why are you laughing?”
“I’m not.” Oliver covered his mouth before bursting out, “What the hell are you wearing?”