Her thoughts got the best of her, causing her to forget the next line, but thankfully, her co-star drew out their scripted pause to give her some time. Once the vibration stopped, Gemma quickly remembered her rehearsed words and returned to the matter at hand.
When the director yelled “Cut,” Gemma quickly ran off the set and checked her phone just as it began ringing again.
Relieved to see that it wasn’t her mom, she answered. “Eve, is everything okay?”
“Gemma! I’m sorry for all the calls. I know you’re working, but I needed to catch you tonight.”
Weird, Gemma thought to herself.
“What’s up?”
“You got a call-back!” Eve yelled into her ear.
Gemma’s mind was playing catch-up. The distractions all around her were leaving no room to recall what Eve was referring to.
“But I haven’t auditioned for anything recently.”
“I just got a call from the casting producer onForbidden Love.Gemma, you’re getting a second chance.”
“Wait, seriously?” Gemma was confused. None of this was making any sense. “I thought that I didn’t get the part.”
“They had chosen another actress at first because she had more movie credits, but they always felt that you were a better fit for the part. Now, the woman had to withdraw, and I heard that it was not by choice.” Eve lowered her voice as if she was letting Gemma in on a secret she wasn’t supposed to share. “Listen to this—during a recent interview, she got asked if she’d ever been interested in dating women, you know, since she has played so many queer women in films. And shegasped. Like, actually recoiled, as if the question itself had been offensive. Her literal words were ‘No, of course not, I don’t believe in that lifestyle.’ Needless to say, it didn’t go over well with theproducers.”
“Holy shit.” Gemma couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She couldn’t decide whether to be mad about the homophobic comment or ecstatic that the other woman’s ignorance was about to land Gemma her biggest role yet.
“That worked out well for me.” Gemma let out a small laugh.
“Gemma, this could be huge for you! They just need to make sure that you and the other lead actress have good chemistry. If it goes well, the part’s yours. Which is why I needed to catch you tonight. They want you to be there at eleven tomorrow morning. I’m sorry I couldn’t push it back, given your overnight schedule, but the other actress is flying in for it, and she only has a small window before she leaves. So, they wouldn’t budge on the time. Do you think you can swing this?”
“I’ll make it work.” Gemma was trying to contain her excitement, attempting not to draw attention from her coworkers nearby. “Nothing a shower and a few cups of coffee won’t be able to fix.” She would nail this chemistry read. This could actually be her chance. She couldn’t wait to tell Hayley.
“Great! I’ll text you all the info. Call me after. And I know you don’t need it, but good luck.”
“Reset, we’re going again!” Gemma heard her director shout to the cast as she ended the call.
Gemma got back into place to reshoot the scene, but even as the cold midnight dew soaked through her clothes, it was hard to control her happiness. She was going to get another chance to land her first role in a movie—a lesbian one at that. But she had to make it through work tonight first. Getting herself presentable without sleep would be a problem for later. The many all-nighters she had in college studying for finals had readily prepared her for times like this.
AWHOLE WORKDAY LATER, ORwork night in Gemma’s case, and she was finally wrapped. It was eight in the morning, the sun just beginning to warm the day, so she still had three hours to get home and prepare for the chemistry read.
When Gemma made it back to her apartment, she decided that she had just enough time to get a little bit of rest. She went straight to her couch, knowing that if she got into her bed, she would end up taking more than a power nap. Setting the alarm to wake her up in an hour, Gemma placed her phone on silent and closed her eyes.
A knock at the door ripped Gemma from her sleep. She felt way too rested for only a quick snooze. She leaned over to where her cell phone sat on the coffee table and tapped the dark screen to check the time.
“Shit!” Gemma threw the fluffy blanket from her body as she jumped up, noticing that she had set the alarm for ninep.m. instead of nine a.m.
Gemma sprinted into her bathroom, grabbed her toothpaste and toothbrush from where they were perched on the natural quartz vanity, and jumped into the shower. To save time, she cleaned her teeth and body under the freezing cold water without waiting for it to warm.
A second, louder knock on her apartment door sounded from the direction of the living room. Gemma had completely forgotten that someone was on the other side as the horror of being late had overtaken her. She stepped out of the shower, soaking wet, soap still lingering on her body, wrapped a towel around her chest, and walked fast toward the noise.
Checking through the peephole before ripping the door open, Gemma found Hayley pristine as always in her black suit, ready to take on the day. At least that made one of them.
“Sorry, I didn’t have my key on me, but I figured you’d still be awake from work.” Hayley walked in, slowly taking inGemma’s state of panic. “What’s happening?”
“Fuck, Hay. I overslept. I have a chemistry read for that movie I told you about in less than an hour.”
“What? I thought you didn’t get the part?”
Gemma ran over to the coffee machine and scooped way too many dark grinds into the filter. “I didn’t, but Eve called me last night and said that the original lead has dropped out, so they want me to come in and test with the other actress to see if we’d be a good fit.”
