ONE
GEMMA STRETCHED AWAKE, HER ARMSreaching for theupholsteredheadboard, feeling groggy that Monday morning. Sleep hadn’t come easily the night before, her mind churning with the same thoughts that had plagued her all weekend. She had been wandering through the park, taking in the early blooming flowers and warmer weather, but was unable to ignore the growing pit in her stomach as she witnessed the first signs of spring appearing around her. Winter had officially receded, signaling the upcoming wrap of another successful twenty-four episodes.
After six seasons, Gemma was reevaluating her career. Her agent, Eve, would be anticipating her response to the new offer soon, and she wasn’t sure why she found herself hesitating this time around. Signing on for another three seasons with a network television show should be making her ecstatic, not overwhelming her like this. Another three years guaranteed to provide a steady paycheck in the type of role that she had dreamed of while trudging through college-level acting classes and hadperfected, after being cast as a lead six years ago. But now, Gemma would rather stay in bed than confront the day ahead of her.
Clank!
Gemma sat up, startled to hear a cabinet in her kitchen close. Surely no one else was in her apartment, considering that she was very single and lived alone.
Within her bedroom, a sliver of faint sunlight leaked around the edges of her blackout blinds. Gemma sank back into her bed, not ready to let her eyes adjust to the light quite yet. The noise had probably come from another apartment.
Woosh!
This time, she knew that she had heard her refrigerator door close, followed by a waft of a particular smell that filled her nostrils. Was that coffee?
Gemma jumped up, a crunch coming from underneath her feet as she stepped on the script scattered out on the floor from the previous night. Catching a quick glimpse of her reflection in the mirror, Gemma saw her wild dark waves in a tangled halo around her face. Grabbing the first thing on her nightstand and trudging through the piles of dirty laundry, she padded down the short hallway. With the cold tiles beneath her bare feet, she swung the long, cylindrical weapon held tightly in her hand over her head, ready to fight the intruder.
“What the hell, Gem, are you going to vibrate me to death?” The woman in Gemma’s kitchen lifted her arms in front of her face as Gemma wielded the Magic Wand above her head, taking aim. “Did you really think someone would break into your apartment and brew you a fresh pot of coffee?” She pointed to where the machine sat on the white-and-gray marbled countertop.
Gemma eyed her best friend, all sharp angles and blonde ambition, looking every inch the real estate shark next to her own rough morning state. Gemma stood, feeling slightly self-conscious now in an oversized T-shirt with a hole in the armpit. Pale from the endless winter months, her long legs poked outfrom an old pair of boxers.
“Hayley… what are you doing here? And what time is it?” Gemma disarmed the vibrator, placing it down onto the island anchored in the open kitchen.
“It’s six-thirty and I’m here for coffee.” Hayley raised her full cup with a look that suggested it was obvious. With a playful shrug of surrender, she lifted the pot of black caffeine and poured Gemma a mug of her own. Moving over to the cushioned ivory seat at the long, walnut table, Hayley sat down, pushing a pile of unopened mail out of her way.
Outside, the city was just waking up. The distant hum of traffic filtered through the windows as Gemma dragged herself over to where her freshly poured coffee sat next to the mason jar that held her sugar. She added a splash of the oat vanilla creamer that she always kept on hand. Closing her eyes, she slowly sipped her favorite morning indulgence and felt it warm her throat.
“We swapped spare keys for emergencies only.”
“This is an emergency. I was out of beans for my espresso machine, and I have an early meeting,” Hayley said as she typed feverishly on her phone.
Gemma rolled her eyes while her best friend wasn’t paying attention.
“I can feel that.” Hayley looked up from the screen. “You’re acting like I’ve never come into your apartment unannounced before.”
Gemma shuffled to sit across from Hayley at the table, tucking her leg up onto the chair.
“Believe me, I’m the last one that needs reminding.” Gemma winced from the recalled horror of when Hayley waltzed into her dorm room unannounced during their freshman year at The University of Pennsylvania, only to find Gemma naked and straddling her girlfriend. Friendship boundaries werenonexistent between the two women.
Hayley blew an air kiss at Gemma. “I didn’t mean to scare you, though. We’ve been having coffee basically every morning since we met at The Williams Café the first week of freshman orientation, so it shouldn’t be a total surprise that I’m here.”
Looking back, Gemma and Hayley had had a fast-blooming friendship. Their morning coffee ritual before classes had only been the beginning. Their bond had quickly evolved into giggling movie nights, bleary-eyed study sessions, and sticky hole-in-the-wall bars, turning the two dorm neighbors into lifelong friends. Not much had changed since those days, only now they had traded in their textbooks and essays for television scripts and real estate contracts. The liquor had become top shelf, and their dormitories had been upgraded to twin apartments in the West Village of New York City.
They had refused to part ways after college graduation, so the two women had moved into new homes next door to each other in a beautiful four-story building that Hayley’s father had just renovated. The apartments were nearly identical, each measuring fourteen hundred square feet. They included two bedrooms, one bathroom, and an open floor plan that showcased both the exposed red brick in the kitchen and the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room, allowing the entire space to soak in the evening golden light. Some nights, Gemma would just lie on her couch in silence, gazing out through the glass at the city beyond as the buildings sparkled in the dark sky.
Hayley looked up at Gemma. “Everything okay? You look exhausted.”
Gemma stayed abnormally quiet. “I’m fine.”
Hayley glared at Gemma and, with her eyes, said,Come on, I know you better than that.
“It’s just work.”
Gemma was an actress on the hit network showNYPDIntelligence,serving as the second-in-command on the detective squad. During filming, there were so many episodes that it didn’t leave much time for her to take on any other jobs or to have a personal life, for that matter. They shot for at least seven months out of the year and sometimes worked up to sixteen hours per day. One time, they were on set for eighteen hours in the below-freezing temperatures during New York’s coldest winter. Even on the toughest days, though, Gemma loved acting.
Gemma took a big inhale before a slow exhale. “I’m so tired of Derek’s shit on set.” Derek had been cast as the head detective, Gemma’s counterpart in the television series, and interactions with him were often both unpleasant and inescapable. “He won’t stop hitting on me, and he takes any chance he gets to criticize my delivery of a line. He’s just an asshole.” Between the excessive amount of hair gel and the Axe Body Spray, Gemma wasn’t the only one who tried to stay away from the older, misogynistic man.
Just last week, Derek had found her during one of their breaks on set to tell her that he had gone to speak to the executive producers about their characters having a relationship. Not only would that be a confusing twist to the show, but it also wouldn’t make any sense for their storyline. He had then gone on to explicitly clarify that he wanted the excuse to kiss her and do a sex scene with her. He had said that, given the chance, he’d be able to “change her mind” about being a lesbian. In that moment, she had never wanted to slap someone across the face so badly.
