There’s a knock on my door as I slip my second shoe on.
“Coming.”
I grab my phone and my bag and head for the door. It feels strange to be wearing a dress to go to work, but I like how I look in it and it’s crazy comfortable.
I pull my door open, expecting to see Dex… but it’s my mom instead. The smile quickly fades from my face as I look into her eyes. I was really hoping that I would be able to leave this morning without seeing her. I know that putting it off isn’t going to make it go away, but first thing in the morning isn’t ideal.
“I have to go to work.”
I take a step toward her, but she doesn’t move.
“We need to talk.”
“I’m supposed to get a ride with Dex.”
She raises her eyebrow. She knows that I’m trying to avoid talking to her.
“I already told Dex that I needed to talk to you this morning.”
So much for using work to get out of talking to her.
“So, what do you need to talk to me about?”
“Let’s go sit down, I don’t want to just stand here.”
I nod and follow her downstairs and into the living room. She sits in a large chair and I sit across from her on the couch. I glance at the clock on the wall as I wonder how late for work I’m going to be. I hope that Dex isn’t mad… and I hope I get there in time to see the audition that Spencer was talking about last night.
“I don’t think that it’s a good idea if you work for Dex,” she says.
“What does Dex think?”
She glares at me and clears her throat. I can see the fire in her eyes as she tries to stay calm. Who is this woman? Is she really even the same person that raised me? She certainly doesn’t look or act like the school teacher from Greenville. I still can’t believe she’s changed so much in such a short time.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Right… and what does Dex think about me working for him?”
“He seems to think that you’ll do a fine job as his assistant.”
I’m still a little surprised that they had an argument about it last night. I can’t imagine Dex, a guy I hardly know, sticking up for me.
“So why are we having this conversation?”
“Just because you’re almost eighteen doesn’t mean you can take that tone with me. Don’t forget, I’m still your mother.”
I so badly want to scream at her and tell her how everything is her fault. She gave up the right to tell me what to do when she ran off with Dex and left me and Dad behind.
“I don’t see why you care if I work for Dex.”
“I care because I don’t want him to feel obligated to employ you. He’s not going to want to fire you if you do a bad job.”
Does she really think I’m a lazy worker? She’s the one who’s left working behind to lounge around and spend Dex’s money without a second thought.
“If I suck at being an assistant, then he can fire me… I don’t care. I’m leaving in a couple of weeks anyway.”
“And where are you planning to go?”
“Back to Greenville and then to Salem. I have to get back and take care of the house before school starts.”
“Take care of the house?”
“Yeah… I guess I’ve gotta pack up whatever I want to keep and get the house ready to sell.”
I hadn’t really thought about it before this moment, but I guess I can pay for school using the money from the sale of the house and that way I can focus on school and not have to worry about working at the same time. It should make things a little easier.
“What makes you think you get to do that?”
“What do you mean?” I say.
“You can’t sell the house… I own it.”
I’m confused. She left, which means that the house became my dad’s and when he died it should have become mine. At least that’s how it should work….
“But… you left….”
“So? I never divorced your father, so the house is still mine… along with everything in it. You are not to set foot in that house again or I will have you arrested.”
I can tell she’s serious and will call the cops. What a bitch. I hate her so much. I can’t wait to just get out of here. I don’t even really care about the house, it’s just one less thing to think about.
“Fine, whatever,” I say, as I stand up. “Can I go now?”
She just looks at me and doesn’t answer. I guess that means she’s done with me, for now at least.
I walk out of the room and into the kitchen to look for Gina. She’s standing over the stove cooking what smells like bacon, toast and eggs.
“Good morning, Ms. Amy. Would you like some breakfast?”
“No thanks, Gina. I was actually wondering if you happen to know if Ricardo is around. I need a ride to the studio.”
She beckons for me to come closer.
“Mr. Baldwin told Ricardo to wait outside for you.”
“Thanks, Gina. I’ll see you later.”
“Have a good day, Ms. Amy. You look very pretty today, by the way.”
“Thanks, Spencer bought this for me last night.”
She raises her eyebrow and I let out an embarrassed laugh.
“I hope you have a good day, too,” I say.
I head outside and Ricardo is there, standing next to the rear passenger door. He opens the door and closes it once I’m in. He gets in the car and pulls out of the driveway and starts driving in the general direction of the studio.
I hear my phone chirp from inside my purse, so I pull it out with the hope that it’s Logan and I’ll get to text with him for at least a few minutes before I reach the studio. The text isn’t from Logan though… it’s from Spencer.
Hey, where are you? We are about to start auditions.
I had to talk to my mom this morning, so I’m on my way right now.
Oh… I hope that everything went alright. We can talk about it later if you want. See you soon.
Huh. I have a feeling he was being genuine, but I can’t imagine talking to him more about my problems. I kind of figured by this point he would be sick of hearing me talk about my boring life. Last night sort of feels almost unreal… did I really have dinner with Spencer Thomas and he sat there listening to me complain for an hour? Life is crazy sometimes… I never know what will happen next.
I spend the rest of the ride to the studio in silence, thinking that maybe I should text Logan… but I know he’ll text me when he gets the chance. I’m really looking forward to getting back to Salem so that I never have to think about the time difference and what he might be doing.
When we get to the studio, Ricardo pulls the car up to the front and gets out to get my door for me.
“Thank you.”
He just nods and I think he almost smiles. I turn and walk into the lobby, which once again has a group of girls waiting to audition. I walk up to the counter and smile at the same woman who was working yesterday.
“They are waiting for you,” she says.
“Thanks.”
I walk down the hall toward the casting room and on my way pass a young girl with a dejected look on her face. I guess auditions already started. I knock on the door and walk in. Dex and Spencer are sitting at the table and they both smile at me as I close the door behind myself.
“Good morning,” I say.
“Good morning,” they say in unison.
“That’s a nice dress,” Dex says.
“Thank you….”
I want to tell him that Spencer bought it for me, but there is a knock on the door. Dex nods at me and I turn and open the door. A young woman walks through, glances at me briefly and walks over to the table and sets down her headshot.
“Hey, Jen, how are you?” Dex says.
“Good. How have you been?”
“I’m going a little crazy trying to fill this part, but other than that I’m good. How’s your dad?”
“He’s good, just working a lot.”
I wonder who she is… it seems like she must know Dex from somewhere. Not to mention their conversation has a very informal tone to it.
“So, Jen, I need to say this before you start… I just want you to know that I’m not going to give more consideration for the part because of my professional relationship with your dad… this is a business and I need to pick the person who I think is best for the role.”
“I understand.”
“Good… you can start your monologue whenever you’re ready.”
She takes a deep breath, shakes out her arms and rolls her neck in a circle.
“Look, I don’t know what to tell you… you can’t put this on me. We didn’t have a choice… your job forced this move and it’s not my fault that I had to stay behind for a couple of months. You can’t blame me for you not being able to not keep your hands off every girl that bats her eyes at you.”
She puts her hands on her hips and shakes her head back and forth.
“No, I’m not going to calm down… you need to figure out what it is you want in life, because I’m not going to put up with this kind of shit anymore. Do us both a favor and don’t call me until you sort yourself out and actually have enough time to really think about if we should be together.”
She stops talking and takes a step back to let them know she’s done. It was shorter than most of the monologues we heard yesterday, but there was a passion in her voice that had been absent from all of the other girls that had auditioned. I don’t claim that I know much about making movies, but I would say that she was the best one so far.
I close my eyes and I can picture her being in a movie. This must have been the girl that Spencer was talking about. I wonder if Dex was as impressed by her audition as I was.
“Thank you, Jen,” Dex says.
“I appreciate you letting me audition.”
He smiles at her and leans over to Spencer and whispers something into his ear. Spencer nods, looks at me and then whispers something into Dex’s ear.
“So,” Dex says, “we have some more girls already waiting to audition, but I would say that it’s pretty safe to say that you’re in the front running for the part… you can expect us to call you in the next day or two when we’ve made our decision.”
She nods, turns and walks toward the door. I smile at her and hold it open for her and then close it behind her while we wait for the next girl.
“Can we pause the auditions for a minute?” Spencer says.
“Why?” Dex says.
“I want to talk about a girl that I wanted to have audition.”
“Is she here?”
“Yeah, she’s here.”
“What does she look like? Amy can go get her.”
Spencer pauses, looks at me and flashes me a smile.
“I want to talk about it before she comes in.”
“I know you’re up to something,” Dex says. “Alright… Amy, could you please go let them know to pause auditions please?”
I nod and walk through the door. There is already a girl walking down the hall with a headshot in her hand.
“Excuse me?” I say.
She looks up at me and stops.
“Are you heading into casting?”
“Yes,” she says, her voice shaking.
I can already tell she’s not going to do well and I’m sure my delaying her isn’t going to help.
“They need to take a short break, so if you could please go sit back down… I’ll let you know when they’re ready again.”
A look of relief passes over her face and I wonder if she doesn’t really want to be here. Perhaps it’s the dream of her mother… that her daughter will be a famous actress.
I walk up to the front desk and smile at her.
“They need a few minutes to talk something over.”
She nods and smiles at me.
“Just let me know when they’re ready again,” she says.
“I will… I got the impression it shouldn’t be very long.”
She smiles at me again and I turn to go back to the room. I’m not sure if they wanted me in the room for the conversation, but I assume they don’t care since they didn’t say anything about it.
I open the door and walk in. They are talking and I can sense the tension in Dex’s voice.
“I get what you’re saying… she does have the look… but I just don’t know if it’s a good idea.”
I close the door and they both turn to me. A chill passes through my body as I get the feeling that I’m intruding on their conversation.
“Did you want me to wait outside?” I say.
“No, come in,” Dex says.
“Just trust me on this,” Spencer says.
Dex turns back to him and looks long and hard at the young man.
“Fine….”
“Come over here, Amy,” Spencer says.
I walk over to the table and he hands me a piece of paper.
“This is dialogue from the script. Can you please read all of the lines that are highlighted? I’m going to read the other lines so that it sounds like a conversation.”
“Sure….”
“I just want to see how it sounds… I’m not so sure about this part of the script.” Spencer says.
Dex turns his head and shoots Spencer an irritated glance. Weird… they usually seem to agree about pretty much everything. I guess maybe I haven’t been around them enough to get the whole picture.
I take a couple of steps back from the table and clear my throat before reading the first line.
“I just don’t get it… why are you so opposed to us being together? We make sense. That’s all there is to it.”
“Why would you think we make sense? We’re terrible for each other,” Spencer says.
“What?!?”
“You know we are.”
I take a deep breath as instructed by the script, trying not to over exaggerate.
“You’re right,” I say. “You’re right. We aren’t good for each other, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to be with you any less.”
“Do you really think we could make this whole thing work?”
“Yes… I know we can.”
Spencer looks up from his sheet and smiles at me before delivering his next line.
“How can you be so sure about… anything?”
“I’m not sure about anything in life… other than us.”
I flip the page and wait for Spencer to read his dialogue, but when I look up Dex and Spencer are just looking at each other.
“Thanks, Amy,” Dex says. “Can you give us a minute?”
“Sure. Do you want me to send in the next girl?”
“No… we’ll come get you.”
Weird. Who am I to judge? It must have something to do with the conversation that I walked in on. It seems like with each passing moment that Dex is becoming more and more consumed with trying to find the perfect girl for his movie.
I lean against the wall and take my phone out my purse while I wait. I half expect to see a text from Logan waiting for me, but there’s nothing. I make a mental note to text Jess later, to give her my new number and see if she’s seen Logan lately… it’s just not like him to not text me.
The door opens and Spencer pokes his head out and nods for me to come back in. I toss my phone back in my bag and follow him.
“Are you ready for the next girl?” I say.
Dex smiles at me and shakes his head.
“We already found the perfect actress for the part.”
I feel relieved for Dex… I know how much this means to him and even though this only my third day working for him, I’m starting to feel a real connection to being a part of this movie. I could have never imagined my life heading in this direction.
“Who is it?”
They are both quiet and just stare at me. I glance over my shoulder wondering if maybe there was someone else in the room… but it’s just me.
“It’s you,” Dex says. “I want you to star in my movie opposite Spencer.”
Is this really happening? I don’t even know what to say…. It’s the dream of pretty much every girl to be an actress, so I guess I can’t complain, but I didn’t see this coming.
“Say something,” Spencer says.
He has a big goofy grin on his face and it’s all starting to make sense. That’s why he bought me the dress yesterday and told me to wear it today… I’m the girl he thought would be perfect for the part… the girl that was going to be a surprise audition for Dex.
I open my mouth to say something, to say anything, but I can’t speak. Spencer starts to laugh and Dex smiles at me.
“Congratulations,” Dex says.
I take a couple of deep breaths and finally get a hold of myself. I still can’t believe it, though.
“Thank you.”
“I’m glad that I listened to Spencer… he was being very insistent that you were perfect for the part and I was feeling sort of stuck and ready to choose Jen. She was good, I’ll give her that… but you… you’re perfect.”
I look over at Spencer and he winks at me. It’s amazing to have Dex give me this opportunity… I guess I was wrong about him.
“Now what?” I say.
“Now… now we celebrate… because tomorrow you’re going to work harder than you ever have in your entire life,” Dex says.
A couple of days ago I would have never believed that working on a movie could be hard work, but after spending a couple of days as Dex’s assistant I knew what he was saying was true. It’s going to hard work… and I don’t care.
“What did you have in mind?” Spencer says.
“I was thinking we could go out to dinner… maybe at Magnifique.”
“Oooh, fancy,” Spencer says.
I can’t tell by the playful tone in his voice if he’s being serious about it being fancy or if he’s mocking Dex.
“I think today's developments warrant it.”
“Does that mean you’re paying?”
Dex laughs and shakes his head. I smile as the guys stand up and walk toward me. I turn around, open the door and we head out. We stop at the front desk on the way out, as the room full of girls turns and looks at us.
“Please let them know that auditions are now closed… we found our girl.”
“Absolutely, Mr. Baldwin.”
“Thanks.”
As we walk to the door, even before she delivers the bad news, I can see a dejected look on the face of every single girl in the room. I feel a little bad for a brief moment, but the moment we step outside I forget it all. I’m going to be in a movie!