“Hey! Can I get a picture, too? Big fan.”
“Um…sure, no problem.” Grey had long ago learned not to be surprised at the variety of people outside the target teen demographic who watchedPoison Paradise—and were champing at the bit for the opportunity to tell her, in detail, how ashamed they were for enjoying it. Still, the odds were against her running into two of its fans in such quick succession. Maybe he knew her from that stupid horror movie where she’d been in a bikini the whole time, but those guys usually directed their whole conversation at her (not especially substantial) tits.
She smiled and leaned in as he snapped the picture. Grey steeled herself for more small talk, but he just thanked her and quickly crossed to his friend waiting by the door.
They spoke in hushed voices, but Grey heard their conversation clearly as they left the shop.
“Who was that?”
“Dude, I have no idea.”
Grey flushed. She felt her chest tighten in humiliation. She gave herself exactly three seconds to be upset:Three. Two. One.She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and strode up to the barista.
“Large cold brew, please. Black.”
—
COFFEE IN HAND,Grey settled into one of the turquoise upholstered chairs and pulled out her laptop. Kamilah had sent back the next draft of their script in the middle of the night and Grey hadn’t had a chance to look at her revisions. She opened the screenplay to the title page:
THE EMPTY CHAIR
Written by Kamilah Ross & Grey Brooks
Based on the novel by P. L. Morrison
Before Grey could get any further, her phone buzzed. Her agent, Renata. She quickly swiped to answer the call, careful to keep her voice hushed in the quiet coffee shop.
“Hello?”
Renata’s voice came blaring through the phone as loudly as if she’d been on speaker.
“Where are you, honey? Are you alone? Can you talk?” Grey had signed with Renata within a few months of moving out to L.A. Her previous agent in New York had been old as the hills, bald as a newborn, and delivered every piece of news, good or bad, with the hangdog inflection of someone informing her of the death of her entire immediate family.
Renata, on the other hand, was loud and glamorous in an eighties Business Bitch sort of way, with a cloud of teased red hair surrounded by an even larger cloud of Marlboro Light smoke. She’d assigned Grey more pet names over the course of their first meeting than Grey had heard from her own mother in her entire life. Grey had adored her instantly, and the feeling was mutual. Over the years Grey had known her, Renata had kicked the Lights, but still had problems with volume control.
So much for getting some work done. “Yeah, I can be. Give me two minutes.” Grey closed her laptop and slid it back into her bag. The coffee shop was still empty enough that she could probably reclaim her table when she returned.
Grey walked around the side of the building toward the parking lot and found a secluded tree to stand under. She lifted the phone to her ear again.
“Okay, I’m ready. What’s up?”
“I just got off the phone with theGolden Citycasting director. They loved you.”
Grey’s stomach flip-flopped. It had been almost two months since her third round of auditions for the adaptation of the latest dystopian franchise dominating the bestseller list. Despite Renata’s assurance that this kind of big-budget studio tentpole moved at a snail’s pace, and that no news was good news, she had practically given up hope. HerPoison Paradiseschedule had prevented her from ever being considered for something like this before: three huge sci-fi epics, shot back-to-back-to-back.
Renata continued, oblivious to Grey’s pounding heart.
“They want you to meet with the director and do a chemistry read with Owen for the studio heads. Bad news is, they won’t both be back in town at the same time for another six weeks at the earliest.”
Grey exhaled. More waiting. “All that for the girlfriend role?” She knew she sounded bratty, but Renata was basically her mother at this point. She and Kamilah were the only people in Grey’s life who didn’t make her feel like she had to second-guess every word before she spoke.
“You know it’s not about the part, sweetie. It’s about where it can take you.”
Grey closed her eyes and leaned back against the tree. “I know. You’re right. That’s great news.” The initial disappointment at yetanother obstacle had dissipated and she felt excitement brewing inside her. It wasn’t over. She was still in the running. The role she was up for, Catalin, was relatively small, but still the biggest female role in the book. Sci-fi wasn’t normally Grey’s thing, but she’d devoured the first book practically overnight in preparation for her audition. The second installment,Golden Kingdom,might as well have been a brick in the bottom of her bag for the past month. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to start it once she thought she’d lost the part. Grey reached inside her bag and stroked the book’s embossed cover, as if to apologize for scorning it prematurely.
“That’s my girl. I’ll send you the new sides as soon as I get them, but knowing this type of project, it might not be until the night before.”
“Got it. Thanks, Renata. That’s really exciting.” Grey expected Renata to say her goodbyes and hang up, but instead she heard her inhale and hesitate. “What is it? Is there something else?”
