“Alfonso is waiting in the conference room,” she says.
We take our cups and follow Meredith down the hall. She opens the door, and I see Alfonso and next to him, on either side, Jordan and Rainer.
“Paige,” Alfonso says, rising and extending his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. Alexis, I don’t think I’ve seen you since theMountain Raindays.”
Alexis beams.
“Please take a seat, ladies.”
We sit. I can hear my heart hammering.This is work, I remind myself.Be a goddamn professional.
“I’m glad we’re all here,” Alfonso says. “I always like to meet together before we go on location. Just to get a feel for each other.” Alfonso clasps his hands on the table. “I anticipate the dynamic being different on this film. We have a tight shoot. I just was telling the boys here”—he gestures on either side of him—“that we have less shooting days than we did for one, and more locations. So I’m really going to rely on you all to be present on set. Minimal distractions.”
He doesn’t look at any of us when he says it, but the implication hangs in the air.
Meredith is sitting next to us. “Alfonso was thinking that while we’re all here, we could do our first read-through.”
I glance at Rainer. He looks up at me and gives me the slightest nod. “Sounds good to me,” he says. “I don’t have anywhere to be.”
“Yeah, cool,” Jordan says.
Meredith’s assistant passes out scripts, and then the two of them depart, leaving Jordan, Rainer, Alexis, and me alone with Alfonso.
We start reading. I settle back into August immediately. Or maybe it’s not that I’m foldingbackinto her—maybe it’s that I’m letting her speak up. Maybe she’s always there now. I used to feel unworthy of this role. Becoming August was something that took time and effort and a belief in myself and my own abilities that I wasn’t sure I had. I used to think I didn’t understand her. I used to think it made no sense—this over-dramatization of her choice. She’s seventeen, for God’s sake. But sitting at the table with both of them, reading our parts, I can’t help but think that we’re acting out something more than our roles.
Book two begins with August back home, with Ed. She’s trying to figure out how to let go of Noah. To live without him. Ed wants to win her back, Maggie is acting out, and August isn’t at all who she was when she left for the island.
We’re doing this scene in August’s kitchen with Ed, August, and Maggie (Alexis). August begins to suspect that something might have happened with her boyfriend and her sister while she was on the island with Noah.
“I’m going to be sick,” Alexis says. Maggie just caught Ed and August in the kitchen, kissing.
“Ever heard of knocking?” I ask, flipping the page.
Jordan makes a noise between a laugh and a snort. “Oh, come on,” he says. “I know for a fact your stomach isn’t that sensitive.”
“If you’re referring to the taco incident, then I have no comment.” Alexis tosses Jordan a look.
“The taco incident?” I ask.
Jordan’s eyebrows knit together. “It was nothing,” he says.
“Tell me,” I say to Alexis.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” she says. “We just had some fun. You know, that thing we used to do before you—”
“Before I what?”
“Maggie…” Jordan’s voice carries a warning.
“Before you came back and made him miserable again,” she says.
Maggie is supposed to leave, and Alexis sits back in her chair.
“Don’t listen to her,” Jordan says to me. “She’s just trying to make sense of all of this.”
“So am I.” I stop. I look at Jordan. “I feel like I came back and screwed everything up. Can I ask you something?”
“Always.”
