Three
The buzzing of your phone wakes you up. It’s still dark out when you wake up. You grab your phone and check to see who’s calling you.
“What do you want, Stella? It’s four o’clock in the morning,” you grumbled.
“You promised me you wouldn’t get drunk!”
“I didn’t!” you lied.
“Don’t lie to me. Miguel told me everything.”
You search your mind for the festivities of the night. All you remember is drinking and then lying down on a lounge chair. The events after that seemed like a blur.
“What do you mean ‘Miguel told you everything’?”
“Do you not remember?” Stella asked. When you didn’t answer she continued, “Miguel saw that you were drunk and drove you home. You fell asleep in his car and you weren’t waking up so he had to carry you up to your bed.”
Oh my god. There’s no way that your new boss had to carry you in your drunken state all the way up to your bedroom.
“How did he get into my house?” That was a genuine question that needed answering. Even though he was your new boss he was practically a stranger.
“I let him know where your spare key was,” Stella said.
“Stella, you can’t just let strangers know where a key to my house is. For all I know, he could be dangerous.”
Stella didn’t answer you. All she said was “I’ll let you get some more sleep. You need to be at the table read by two in the afternoon,” before she hung up without another word.
The second time you woke up was at ten o’clock in the morning. You were a bit more rested but your head was killing you. You took some Advil and ate a carb-heavy breakfast. You liked cooking. It brought you peace of mind in the morning before a stressful day.
The drive to the studio was nerve-wracking. You were sweating even though the air conditioning was on full blast. You felt like you already messed up your first impression with the director. Did Miguel think that you were some spoiled brat that couldn’t handle her liquor? Well, you guess you’ll just have to find out.
The table read was held in a large conference room. There was a long table in the middle of the room with enough chairs for a small army. There were a few people in the room. A man about five foot ten with brown hair and hazel eyes. He seemed pretty friendly and welcoming so you decided to approach him.
He welcomed you with a warm smile and a handshake. “I’m Peter B. Parker. I’m playing James, the American soldier your character falls in love with. I’m a huge fan.”
The two of you talked for quite some time as more people filled the room. Most of the cast and crew came up to introduce themselves to you. You met a few producers and a few minors and supporting characters, the writers of the script, a few heads of departments, and studio executives. The only person that didn’t come up and introduce themself to you was a girl about two or three years younger than you. By no means did anyone have to come up to you and introduce themself to you, but her vibe felt sort of off. She was standing in the corner of the room glaring at you. It took you a few glances to finally make out what she looked like.
She was tall, about a whole foot taller than you. She had fiery red hair and a wildly beautiful face. It was unnatural how beautiful she was. You recognized her as Tasia Wells, the daughter of actress Florence Wells and director William Wells. Tasia started off her career as a runway model but she soon realized that acting is where she could make a mark. She was a pretty new actress having only acted in two films so far. But from what you’d seen she wasn’t half bad.
You gulped as you and Tasia made eye contact. It was for a brief second, but it felt like forever. She looked like she was sending you a message of some kind. The message felt like a warning. The two of you definitely wouldn’t get along.
You asked Peter who Tasia was playing. He said Tasia is playing Rose, an American nurse that falls in love with Peter's character but he obviously doesn’t return the feelings.
Seconds later, Miguel enters the room and everyone falls silent. They all await their master's next order.
He commands everyone to sit in their designated seats. You sat in between Peter and Tasia. She’s even more intimidating closer up.
“Alright, everyone. I think we should start with introductions first. I’m Miguel O’Hara. This is the seventh film that is attached to my name. Don’t fuck it up and make me regret it.” Some people in the room visibly gulped in fear when he said that. Miguel was an intimidating man and you didn’t want to find out what happens if you get on his bad side.
It was time for everyone to introduce themselves. You got the vibe that everyone would be easy to work with except Tasia. This was her introduction, “Hi everyone, my name is Tasia Well, yes Tasia Wells and no, I will not introduce you to my parents so don’t ask.”
You dealt with a lot of nepotism babies in your years working in Hollywood. Most of them were very humble and grateful to work in the same industry as their parents, but sometimes that wasn’t the case. Once in a while, you would encounter nepotism babies that acted like Taisa, arrogant and egotistical. Those were the ones you hated working with.
The script in front of you was pretty thick. It was about one hundred and eleven pages long which meant that the film would run just under two hours. The script was titled To Love. Your character breakdown was pretty simple. You would be playing Polina, a Russian spy who poses as the American nurse, Linda, during world war two. Polina was very closed off and mysterious and that’s why James, played by Peter, liked her.
You knew you were going to love playing Polina/Linda. From the first line to the last line, she had you laughing, crying, or questioning yourself. She was such a complex character which made you go outside of your comfort zone. You were used to playing the underdog in most films, but in this one, you were the heroine.
After the table read, a few people stayed back to socialize. You talked to Peter about his wife whom you’d admired for a very long time. Mary-Jane Parker was a New York Times bestselling author and journalist. She’s written about four of your all-time favorite books. Without them, you wouldn’t be the person you were today.
In the corner of your eye, you see Tasia talking to someone. You can’t see who it is unless you turn your head. You decide to risk it and you turn to see who she’s talking to. Miguel looks completely disinterested in the conversation they are having. His arms are crossed and he’s looking at the wall. As if he can sense your gaze upon him, his eyes meet yours. The way he looks at you makes you feel like the only girl in the world. You quickly avert your gaze back to Peter who didn’t notice that you weren’t paying attention.
“Anyways, I better get going. MJ and May are waiting for me at home. I’ll see you soon.” Peter bids farewell and soon enough, it’s only you, Miguel, and Tasia in the room.
You can still hear her voice. It’s a sickly sweet one that makes teen boys go crazy. You almost want to chop your own ears off from the sound of her voice. Is this jealousy talking or your actual feelings?
You leave the room and start to head over to your car. It was getting pretty dark outside and the only form of light was the ones on the outside of the sound stages. You parked by a dead tree and a stray dog that looked like she hadn’t eaten in a few days. She didn’t have a collar and she looked pretty young. You said to yourself that if the dog was still there by the time you were done with the table read then you would take her home with you, and lo and behold the pup was still there.
You bent down and extended your hand out so that the dog could sniff it. The dog wearily came up to you and sniffed your hand. She was a pretty puppy. You didn’t know what kind of breed she was so you would have to take her to the vet to find out. Surprisingly, she let you pick her up and caress her skinny body. Your heart broke for the dog because she was alone. Much like yourself.
“I didn’t know you were a dog person,” Miguel’s distinct voice said behind you. You didn’t hear him approaching you so you jumped out of fear.
“I love dogs,” you said as you looked down at your new puppy. “How are things going with Miss. ‘No, I will not introduce you to my parents’?”
Miguel laughed at your question, “She’s a character but I’ve known her since she was a kid. Plus, I owe her dad a favor.”
“Did anyone actually audition for this film or was it kind of like you filling in roles with people you already knew?” You asked. The dog shifted in your arms.
“More or less. Peter was actually the only one out of the main three to audition,” he added. Miguel wanted to ask you how you were feeling after last night but he thought that it wasn’t the right moment to speak about that. You awkwardly shifted from your heels to the balls of your feet.
You had the feeling that this conversation with Miguel was going nowhere so you told him that you were going to leave now. What’s the worst thing that could happen? He’s already seen you drunk out of your mind and now you were saving a stray puppy.
At home, you gave the dog some water and a bowl of leftover white rice. You looked it up on Google and it was safe for dogs to eat. You let her go outside to use the bathroom before letting her back inside to sleep.
Before you settled down in bed, you received a text message from an unknown number.
“Hope you and the dog made it home safe.” Who could that text be from?