A waitress appeared and placed two drinks on the table. As a perk of being regulars, the dirty martini and scotch on the rocks with a twist arrived the second Gemma had sat down.
“Ugh, what a day!” Hayley walked inside the door a few minutes later, kissed Gemma on the cheek, and threw herself onto the barstool next to her. She grinned as she eyed the V-shaped long-stemmed glass waiting for her. She immediately lifted it to Gemma’s lowball glass before taking a large swig.
Gemma carefully observed Hayley’s movements until the stemware was securely back in place on the reclaimed woodentable. “Care to share?”
“It was just one of those days.” Hayley slumped on her stool, seemingly taking her first deep breath of the day. “My coffee spilled all over my pants this morning when the cab driver slammed on his brakes, so then I was late for my first showing because I had to find something to change into. Then a condo that I had in escrow fell through. When it rains, it fucking pours.”
“I’m sorry, that’s a lot. Hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day.”
“From your lips to God’s ears.” Hayley eyed Gemma with exasperation. “What happened to you that made you summon me out for a night at Tony’s? Work?”
“Okay, ‘summon’ is a strong word. I merely asked you to meet for a drink, and you jumped at the invitation.”
Hayley smirked, knowing Gemma was right. She would have been drinking that night either way.
“I got that part inForbidden Love.”
“Holy shit, Gem! That’s huge! Congrats!” Hayley slid off the tall chair to hug her. “Wait, why aren’t you jumping up and down with me?” She stepped back and looked Gemma dead in the eyes, trying to figure out what was really going on.
“You might want to sit back down and take another swig before I answer that.” Gemma slid the base of the martini glass closer to Hayley as she took a sip of her own dark liquor. “My character’s love interest in the movie… is Caitlin.”
“Please tell me there’s another fucking actress named Caitlin out there that you’re talking about.”
“Afraid not.”
“Fuck.” Hayley looked as upset as Gemma felt. When Hayley had nothing else to add, Gemma knew she was screwed.
“I know. Hence the drinks, Tony’s, and you. I’m already panicking, and we haven’t even started yet. Hayley, it was sosurreal seeing her after all these years.”
“Wait, so that means… shit. The chemistry read. Why are you just now mentioning this?” Hayley was on a spiral, and, in all fairness, it tracked given the scenario.
Gemma hadn’t been trying to avoid her best friend. Between the past few late nights at work and the early call times, she didn’t have much time for anything but the show. It wasn’t like she was eager to talk about the reunion with Caitlin, either. She barely processed what had transpired between the two of them, so she hadn’t been ready to talk about it with anyone else before tonight anyway. Gemma still wasn’t sure exactly how she felt about the situation.
“I’m sorry. It all happened so fast, and I’ve been so busy on set, I honestly just forgot about it.”
Hayley glared at Gemma. “Bullshit. You just happened toforgetthat you ran into the only woman you’ve ever been in love with after nine years of not seeing or hearing from her?”
“Fine, I didn’t. But I hadn’t seen you, and I needed to work it all out in my head before I talked about it. It was wild, Hay. I felt like I was in a dream and couldn’t wake up. Or a nightmare, I’m still not sure which.”
Hayley ordered them a much-needed second round of drinks before moving her chair closer to Gemma. “Okay, so what happened?”
Gemma thought back to the moment that she had shown up to the chemistry read and found her ex-girlfriend—the one who had taken a sledgehammer to her heart and broken it into a million pieces—just standing there, in the same room, after almost a decade had passed. Her fists clenched into balls while the rest of her body practically melted into a puddle at the sight of the beautiful woman. Caitlin had been glowing, still able to light a room with only her presence. Those piercing blue eyes had met Gemma’s with familiar admiration. It had almostdisarmed her. Almost. But then the flood had come as the familiar floral scent washed over her. Memories, raw and uninvited, had crashed through her like a storm. The heartbreak. The silence.
Damn it, she thought.Why did Caitlin look even more beautiful now? Couldn’t time have dulled her edges, made her easier to forget?
“Earth to Gemma.” Hayley waved a hand in front of her face, snapping Gemma out of her obvious rumination. “What did you do when you saw her?”
“I pretended like I was meeting her for the first time and shook her hand just like I would with anyone else. I didn’t know what else to do, and I panicked. Obviously, I wasn’t expecting her to be there. I didn’t want to ruin my chances before I even got to read for the part.”
Hayley started laughing uncontrollably. “Youshookher hand? I honestly love that. She was probably seething inside.”
Gemma told Hayley about the rest of their interaction—the scene they had brought to life, the way Caitlin had followed her outside, their conversation on the sidewalk, and the producer’s response that Eve had told her about earlier.
“How did you feel afterward?” Hayley took a sip of her vodka and olives, hanging onto Gemma’s every word. Hayley had been there to witness Gemma’s downfall after the breakup, so she didn’t feel the need to hide anything from her best friend now.
“I was pissed. Like, what the fuck? It’s pretty messed up for the universe to shove us back into each other’s lives like that. But I did feel a little bad afterward about some of the things I said to her. I was being a bit of a bitch, but the words just kept coming out and I couldn’t stop them.”
“I’m sure that she deserved everything you said, especially after what she did to you. And honestly, it sounds like she gotoff easy.”
