Are you ready to stop acting like a child so we can talk about this? – Daddy.
I rolled my eyes and tucked my phone away, remarkably unfazed by that text from my father.
Trei was right – it was better to be the one who got mad and decided not to engage, instead of being on the receiving end of the imposed distance.
I wasn’t fucking budging, and really? I felt like I could hold my ground on this a long ass time.
In the couple of weeks that had passed since our blowup, I’d seen my parents exactly once – for an ill-fated public lunch I’d politely walked my ass out of. The invite had seemed innocent enough – a claim they wanted to clear the air, with the possibility of an apology implied.
I really should’ve known better.
It was just another opportunity to talk down to me – but in public, where maybe they thought I’d keep my cool, but nope. I was still determined not to make a scene – I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction for one, and plus I never knew when I might be around a prospective client.
I made them feel the weight and depth of my anger – my commitment to being treated with respect – by simply refusing to be treated a way I didn’t like.
Either they’d leave me alone, or they’d adapt.
In any case, I couldn’t focus on that right now – I had show contracts to meet with legal about.
The network had their own lawyers onsite, and I had all the necessary licensing to represent the show on Pierre’s behalf – if he wanted that, which he did. He was trusting me with his baby, so even though everybody was technically on the same side, I owed it to him to focus on the task at hand, instead of my personal shit.
When the rep from legal walked in… that suddenly got a lot easier.
“You must be Ms. Byers?” his fine ass asked, extending a hand in my direction as I stood from my seat in the conference room. Pierre was off somewhere with Nick, talking to the Drakes about using their real casino instead of the set buried somewhere on the studio lot, so I was taking this meeting alone. By the time I was done, they’d be back, and it would be time for the next thing on our packed itinerary.
“Anthony Cottrell,” he added, once I’d accepted his hand. He smiled at me, showcasing a single dimple embedded in his deep brown skin. “Good to finally put a face with the name from all the emails.”
“I agree,” I told him, returning his smile before I pulled my hand from his. “Uh… there really isn’t much for us to do here, just a matter of making sure the signatures are in the right place, stuff like that. I’m… a little surprised you didn’t just have an assistant, or an intern do this.”
Taking a seat, Anthony kinda… blushed? “I’ll be honest with you, Ms. Byers – this isn’t the first time I’ve seen you,” he admitted. “I’ve seen you often, coming and going up and down the halls, through security, all that. So when I caught this opportunity to meet you, I couldn’t pass it up.”
“As opposed to… just walking up and introducing yourself?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“You always seemed busy,” he shrugged. “Very busy, very focused… very beautiful,” he added, tagging on the kind of smile that probably got him in many doors – between many legs.
Hell… I felt it right in the seat of my panties too.
I let out a little laugh. “Oh. So… you thought you should use false pretenses to end up on my schedule, so that you could have my undivided attention?”
“Why do I get the feeling you think that’s a bad thing?”
Again, I laughed, shaking my head. “Honestly, Anthony? I… appreciate the motivation, but I really am very busy. So if legal doesn’t really need these documents gone over in person, I have some things I need to get back to.”
He clapped a hand to his chest. “Damn. I guess this was a swing and a miss, huh? Do I get a consolation prize at least? Maybe dinner?”
Standing up from my seat, I laughed. “I’m a little irritated with the antics right now, so I’m going to say no. But again – it was smooth, so kudos to you, I guess.”
“So you’re leaving me with hope,” he chimed, following me to the door, and getting close enough that I could tell he smelled good as hell. “I’ll try again then.”
I smiled. “Save some trees and ink, and just walk up to me next time,” I advised, walking away as I pulled out my phone to check my schedule.
I wasn’t lying – I did have better places to be than getting flirted with by a network lawyer.
It was great boost to my ego.
But I didn’t have time for that shit right now.
Looking at the schedule, I realized I was more distracted than I thought – I’d had the time for the meeting about filming in the casino wrong. They’d actually finished with that an hour ago and were back on the studio lot for cast auditions.
Shit.
That wasn’t… me.
I didn’t get schedules wrong.
Uh… you kinda did though.
The meeting with legal had been impromptu, and instead of taking it another day, I’d tried to squeeze it in, which probably accounted for my mix up. Nothing had happened, nothing was broken – hell, no one else even knew about it.
But I did.
With a deep breath, I tried to clear my head, switching gears away from my mistake so I could be as mentally present as possible. By the time I arrived on set, they were already deep in the throes of it all – Nick, Pierre, and the casting director they’d brought on, Miko. Nobody blinked about my late arrival, or even seemed to notice anything was off.
Thank God.
I settled into a seat while Nick handed me his notes, to get me caught up on everything they’d done so far. Most notably, they’d cast the Jason role – a nice-looking kid who wouldn’t have been out of place on one of those colorful men’s natural hair grooming commercials. He was still on set because they wanted to see his chemistry with potential actors for the other roles, including the one they were wanting to figure out next.
Tracy.
To me, one of the most important roles.
In the course of the series, she felt almost like Jason’s north star, guiding him back towards himself, and keeping him upright. Conspicuously – admirably – Pierre had been careful not to paint her as Jason’s healer, or as if he were something that completed her. Even though the show was about Jason, Tracy was fully realized, and his want for nearness with her kept him focused on his own path, instead of collapsing under his family’s bullshit, or the harmful influence of old friends, all of that. As much as he was – necessarily – doing it for himself, he was doing it for her, too.
It was a meaty part.
And… some of the women auditioning were doing better than the others, but none were really giving it what it needed, not to me. Unless somebody came in and knocked it out of the park though, the team was committed to seeing everybody.
At least, until, Miko called one particular name.
I could only guess Nick and Pierre hadn’t seen the lists of who showed up for the casting call – I hadn’t either, since it literally wasn’t available until they arrived at the audition.
As the one with the official capacity though, Miko must not have seen anything out of the ordinary, because when she called out, “Send in… what is this… Elodie?” her face didn’t do anything.
Me, Nick, and Pierre though?
We were a different story.
“El, come on,” Pierre groaned, as soon as she walked up, dressed in heavy boots, jeans, and a white tank, just like the casting call said. “You know this is serious, right?”
Miko leaned in. “What am I missing, here?”
“Elodie is his little sister,” I answered, then looked up to give her a little wave, which she returned, then looked right at Pierre.
“I know it’s serious – that’s why I’m here. I want to audition,” she said, earnestly, looking right at her brother.
Pierre shook his head. “I’m not about to do this with you because you’re bored, or whatever. You’re not an actress, El. I’ve never even heard you talk about this.”
“Don’t do that,” I said, before I could stop myself. But now that the words were out, everybody was looking at me, so I had to keep going. “If she’s here, and prepared, like everybody else… at least let her try. If she sucks, okay, don’t hire her for the role. But don’t brush her off just because you don’t think she’s serious. You don’t know what dreams she’s been scared to tell anybody about.”
Once I’d spoken, I sat back, avoiding everybody’s eyes, lest I make it even more obvious that the wrong chord had been struck with me.
“I think she’s right, P,” Nick spoke up, and Miko wasn’t familiar enough with the dynamic to disagree.
“I know the lines. I know the part, and I’m ready to do it. You think you’ve got a monopoly on honoring our parents or something?”
Oh, damn.
I wasn’t looking, but I heard Pierre let out a huff, and could imagine his irritated posture. “Fine. If you think you can do it… let’s see it.”
I glanced up just in time to see the determination in her eyes before she looked away, to the “Jason” actor she’d be working with for this scene.
The cameraman moved into place, and Miko was the one to count the scene in, and then… they were off.
“What makes you think you can understand me, huh?” Jason demanded, pacing the floor in front of her as she watched him, her face pulled almost into a sneer. “You see me walking the casino floor a couple times, you know who my father is, and what? You know me now?”
As Tracy, Elodie bit her lip, clear derision knit into her expression as she stepped forward. “You’ve got the emotional depth of a kiddie-pool, nigga. What is there to know, huh? Oh, because I wear a skimpy little costume, work the card tables, you think you know something I don’t? Sounds like you’re the one doing the judging to me.”
“It’s not like that.”
“Oh but it is. It is,” she repeated, with a pained crack in her tone that wasn’t expressly called for in the script. “You know why I’m here? The same fucking reason as you! Because my family expects it – either that, or the stripper pole, right?” A nasty smile crept over her face. “That’s where the girls like me end up, you know? One or the other, around here, just going along to get along, cause we don’t have any options. Not like the rich, pretty son of the boss man.”
“Tracy—”
“Shut up! Just… shut the fuck up!” Tracy shook her head, turning her back to Jason before looking up to the ceiling. “Every summer, I come back to this casino. Because it’s good, easy money, and it’s not as dangerous as it is for the girls at the clubs. Not as dangerous. But still.” She turned on him. “My mother did it, and her mother did, and probably hers too. As long as your family has had this place, mine has come to work – cigarette girls, or passing out chips, dealing cards, getting groped either way. As much as this place is built into your legacy, it’s built into mine too.”
Jason took a deep sigh, scrubbing a hand over his head. “Why just the summers? Why not year-round, to save up, and get outta here?”
“Duh,” Tracy said, wearing a sly smirk. “Because just like you… when it’s not holidays or summers, I’m off at school. At your school. You walk around there like your shit don’t stink too.”
“You’re shitting me.”
She grinned. “Nope. The same hard ass classes, difficult professors, high ass tuition as you. Only, I have to pay it myself. And then I come home for the summer and work myself like a dog at the mercy of some rich assholes, and have to listen to my parents, my friends, and everybody else encourage me not to fucking bother, cause nobody thinks there’s anything more out there for me than working at this goddamn casino. So… you know what… you’re right – I don’t understand you.” A dry laugh pushed from her throat, and she shook her head. “And really… you suck. So why the fuck would I want to?”
“Cut.”
For a moment… we all just sat there, in silence.
Before Miko ended the scene, I’d been so completely immersed that I’d forgotten where I was, and the sudden imposition of her voice had been startling. When I looked to Nick, I could tell the same thing was going on in his head, and in Miko’s.
Pierre just looked stunned.
Without saying anything to any of us, he got up and approached Elodie, draping an arm over her shoulder to pull her off to the side and speak to her alone. After they’d talked for a few moments, going back and forth about something none of the rest of us could hear, El left, and Pierre came back to his seat.
Miko was the one to break the silence.
“So… she’s our Tracy, right?” she asked, in a tone that implied there was no other option – and really there wasn’t, since Elodie had easily blown everybody else out of the water.
He looked up, looking between us before he spoke. “Yeah… she kinda killed that, huh?”
So there it was.
We did see the other actors who’d come to try for that role, but nobody hit quite the right note like Elodie had. We were done for the day after that, with auditions continuing throughout the week for the other roles. Miko went on her way, and so did Nick, and finally, in the later part of the afternoon, it was just Pierre and I in his office.
“A monopoly on honoring our parents,” I said, pulling his attention from his computer as I took a seat at the edge of his desk. “What was that about?”
Leaning back in his chair, Pierre eyed me for a long moment before he spoke. “It’s about our mother,” he told me, quietly, then pulled up the arm of his tee to show me the part of his tattooed sleeve that was normally hidden.
Eloise Perry spelled out on her own marquee, like his father and grandfather.
“She was an actress. Lots of really quiet, melancholy indie stuff,” Pierre explained, with a wistful smile. “She never really wanted fame – she avoided it, actually. She just had a passion for it, so she did it, and that was how she and my father met. She was already a Perry – no relation – but he was like… you already have my last name, you know you’re supposed to be my wife, right?”
“That is incredibly smooth. I probably would’ve had to pull like ten generations worth of ancestry data to make sure though,” I laughed.
“She did,” Perry chuckled. “I really wish I had them telling this story on video or something, cause it’s hilarious. And this was before like… sending off your DNA and stuff, there were digging up old family bibles and stuff with the birthdates written in the front before she would even let my father take her on a date.”
I smiled. “Wow. So you’re a Perry on both sides?”
“Yep. The whole family really got a kick out of that too. Like I said, I don’t have them telling the story of how they met on film or anything, but I’ve got boxes of footage of us with my mother. We would write scripts and act it all out like they were real movies – we’d send them to my Pops, and he loved that shit. They loved us, and they loved each other. El was little when she died, but she was always obsessed with those fake movies growing up. And then when she got older, she would watch mama’s stuff. Today was the first time I ever heard that she wanted to be like her though.”
I nodded. “Yeah… I guess y’all talked about it though?”
“A little bit. I’m gonna get up with her tonight to tell her she got the role… and apologize again, for trying to blow her off.”
“Good,” I agreed. “She probably needs to hear it. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.”
Pierre’s gaze came up to mine, locking before I could look away. “I get the feeling you’d know.”
“Your feeling is right,” I confirmed, with a wry smile. “I’ve never gotten my apology for being brushed off, and then killing something people thought I couldn’t accomplish. And I mean… I’ve come to live with it. I’ve accepted that it’s probably not coming, but still… It would be nice, you know?”
“I appreciate you speaking up for the underdog,” Pierre said, clapping a hand on my knee – no innuendo either, just a friendly gesture. “I was being an asshole.”
I smirked. “Yeah, you kinda were. But I get it, that’s your little sister. You know her better than most. And… I’ll admit, I was rooting for at least giving her a shot, thinking maybe we can get her some acting classes, start her in an ancillary role, something like that. I was not expecting that to come outta her.”
“Yo. Listen. I…” Pierre sat back, shaking his head. “I had no idea. Like no clue. She hadn’t even said anything to me about coming back out to Vegas period, let alone that she was studying the role. And then she came in and murdered that shit, like… like it was nothing. And you know who she looked like – who she reminded me of?”
“Who?”
A little grin spread over his face, and he nodded. “Our mother.”
“Talented ass family,” I laughed as I stood from my perch on the desk. “Do you need me to do anything? Dinner reservations, a congratulatory gift, any of that?”
Pierre closed the top on his laptop and stood. “Nope. El likes to shop, so in addition to my apology, I’m gonna submit myself as her personal bank account and bag holder for a couple hours at the mall.”
“Top tier apologizing,” I laughed. “I really couldn’t have crafted anything better myself. Should I take that closed laptop to mean we’re done for the day?”
“As far as I’m concerned, yeah – I’ve gotta go take a nap or something so I can hang with El’s young ass,” Pierre laughed. “Ay – was everything good with the crew contracts? I know you wanted that handled before we moved on with the cast.”
I blinked, remembering Anthony and his flirting for a moment before I nodded. “Yes, everything is settled there. We’ll be ready to move forward.”
“Good. So… I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked, prompting me to nod again, offering quick goodbyes before he left me there in the office by myself, trapped by the sudden buzzing of my phone.
We need to talk – Daddy.
I pushed out a deep sigh as I stared at the message on the screen.
“You good?”
“Oh shit!” I whispered, startled by the sound of Pierre’s voice. “I thought you were gone.”
“Yeah, I noticed you didn’t follow, so I was making sure I hadn’t missed something. And now you look pretty stressed out.”
“It’s nothing,” I lied, shaking my head. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to tell him what was going on, I was just… trying to preserve some sort of boundary between us.
Especially since his whole I broke his celibacy revelation.
Sure, it only happened because I was messing around when he came to check on me, but still…
That was so much to process.
Even if he insisted it wasn’t a big deal.
Maybe because the way he’d described it, as this very natural thing… as nervous as I’d been once it was clearly about to happen… it felt the same for me too.
Which was low-level terrifying.
I wasn’t – usually – the kind of girl who operated too largely on my “feelings”. I liked logic, and concrete things I could reach out and touch, and… neat boxes.
What he was talking about – what I’d felt too – was messy.
I wanted nothing to do with it.
Luckily, he didn’t seem pressed.
“Well… when you decide you wanna talk about ‘nothing’… you know my ears are open, all that,” he said, thankfully not pressing.
I smiled. “I know. And thank you.”
This time, I joined him in heading to the elevators, and he walked me to my car before we parted. He was going to deliver good news and make amends with his sister.
I… was going to pick up wine and sushi and try my best to ignore my phone for the rest of the night.