Page 36 of The Ex Factor

‘I think we’re late. They probably won’t see me.’

‘You’re bang on time if you go in now.’

Molly sighed dramatically. ‘I’m not getting it. I’m wasting my time.’

Ashley opened the door for Molly and gestured at it with a flourish. Molly rolled her eyes, but she looked like she was trying not to grin.

Inside was exactly what Ashley expected. Grey carpet. Cheap chairs. Headshots everywhere. A receptionist who looked exhausted by actors.

Molly signed in and sat down. Ashley sat beside her. Molly kept reading. Every few seconds she muttered complaints. Ashley let her moan. As long as she went in, Ashley was happy to hear it.

A casting assistant appeared. ‘Molly Sullivan?’

Molly stood and then immediately sat back down.

Ashley grabbed Molly’s sleeve. ‘Go.’

‘Bossy Boots.’

‘Go.’

Molly looked at her. For a second, neither said anything. Then Molly stood and followed. She turned at the door and smiled. A small one, just for Ashley. Then she followed the assistant through the door.

Ashley watched her disappear. She used it to enjoy the first real look at Molly’s bum she’d had. It was very squeezable.

Ashley waited.

A man across from her was practising lines under his breath. Someone else was reading a script with the concentration of a person defusing a bomb. The receptionist answered three phone calls, all in the same exhausted tone.

Twenty minutes passed. Then thirty.

She was just starting to wonder whether she should buy something from the vending machine when the door opened.

Molly walked out. She was smiling, relaxed. Two people came out behind her. A man and a woman, both carrying scripts and talking to Molly as they walked.

Molly was nodding. The man and the woman were grinning at her like two people who had fallen into a hole and found a gold mine.

Eventually, almost regretfully, they let her go. They looked like they’d both managed to fall in love with her in the space of the audition.