“Why’d you choosethisone, though? I’m sure you have a ton of indies being thrown your way; gritty indie dramas or something.”
Samara leaned back, letting her fork hover over her eggplant, and said, “Honestly, I’m hoping this gets me a chance at some awards.”
“A lesbian rom-com on a streaming network?”
Samara wasn’t ready to tell a new person that she wanted to use this movie as a possible platform for coming out, so she nodded, continuing her half-truth.
“Your people told you this was something that would win you awards?”
“I saw it in the script,” she replied. “Those moments of intensity when Bray and Stella meet and can’t stop staring at each other, can’t stop talking about how beautiful the other one is, can’t stop touching each other until it builds and builds into an earth-shattering kiss, and then, they literally get pulled apart.” Samaradidmeet Dana’s eyes then. “The awards are in those moments: the emotion an actor can put into a role where they’re playing someone who just met the love of their life, and they know it somehow, even though they shouldn’t, and then they spend the next forty-five minutes being miserable and trying to find their way back to each other. Yes, if it’s done right, I think it has a chance of getting me at least nominations at some of the awards. SAGs, Critics’ Choice, Globes, and if I’m really, really lucky, The Oscars, but that oneis a big stretch. I’ll need to have a really talented Bray to help me getthere.”
“So, you’replayinggay?” Dana said, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Well, yes, the characterisgay.”
“No, I mean, you’re playing gay just to win an award?”
“Not exactly what I meant.”
“I think I should go,” Dana said.
“What? Why?”
“I’m not into that.”
“Into what?”
Dana stood and replied, “Straight actors playing gay just because they think it will get them something. If you believe in the film, and you’re the best for the role – yeah, I have no problem with that. But just doing it so you can get noticed or win some kind of trophy…”
“That’s not what–”
“I’m bi, Samara. I’m bisexual,” Dana interrupted her. “I cannot begin to tell you how important movies like this are to me and people like me. We didn’t get to see a whole lot of relatable happy endings growing up. On TV, there might have been one gay character, and they usually got killed off almost for sport. Movies were usually tragic, too. We’re just getting to this point where there are movies with gay characters living their happily ever after, and they aresoimportant.”
“I know that,” Samara replied. “I’m here to do the best job I can, Dana. I’m not phoning it in or anything.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Dana said, not looking at her anymore. “I’ve got to get back to work, so I guess I’ll see you later for your dinner delivery.”
“Dana, wait,” she said as Dana pushed the door open.
“Yeah?”
“Your audition.”
“What about it?”
“We have our chemistry read,” Samara reminded.
“Oh, right. I’ll see you then,” Dana said before she went down the few stairs and closed the door behind her.
CHAPTER 8
Dana tried not to be mad. Samara could do whatever she wanted. If she wanted to take a part in the little lesbian movie that could, that was her choice. And if she was only doing it because she thought it might win some kind of award, that might be shitty, but Dana supposed there were shittier things in the film industry than that. She went back to work serving lunch and tried to push Samara fucking Barber out of her mind because she had bigger things to worry about. Number one, she had to try not to burn people’s hands when she practically dropped the hot food onto their plates as they went through the buffet line.
“Hey, can I grab you for a second?” Reed asked.
Dana’s eyes widened, but she shoved the serving spoon into the potatoes and nodded. This was it. This was the moment that she would be told it was all over. They had found someone else who had killed the audition on video, and they were so confident that she’d kick ass at it, they were letting Dana off the hook. She tried not to look disappointed as she walked around the line and followed Reed out of the tent.
“So, we’ve now gone through all the video auditions, and there were a few good ones in there,” Reed told her.
