Up & Out - Ariella Papa [11]
I creep into my apartment quietly. There is a note on my bedroom door saying that Tommy has called. Lauryn made one of those winking happy faces that people do over e-mail. Fuck Tommy. He’ll be sorry when I meet my Samoan over the Net. Then he can have his Grand Theft Auto III all to himself.
In the morning I got to the office early. Not even Jen was there yet. The phone rang before I had a chance to hang up my jacket.
“Rebecca Cole.”
“Rebecca, hi. It’s Paul Perry. How are you?” Paul was one of the freelance designers who used to work for the kids’ block on ARCADE when I was the production assistant there. There could be only one reason he is calling: he wants work.
“Hi, Paul. How are things?” I wonder how long he will make small talk before getting to the point. He isn’t a bad guy, but we aren’t friends and I know he just wants a connection at Explore!
“Oh, terrific. Things are wonderful.” He begins to list a bunch of projects he’s been working on. I think about interrupting him and just asking him to send me his résumé reel instead of giving me this laundry list. He compliments me on Esme and drops some trade rag references.
“Is it absolutely insane over there?” This is a trick question. I have to answer carefully.
“Sometimes.” Does he think I don’t know where he is going with this?
“Well, I was thinking maybe I could help alleviate some of that stress. You know I’m freelance now? Cranium TV had all those layoffs. Par for the course in this business.” He does a little fake chuckle. It seems odd to me that he is acting like we were equals when I used to be so junior compared to him.
“I guess so.”
“So is there any work over at Explore!?” Finally.
“Well, Paul. Why don’t you send me your reel?” It is kind of a brush-off, but, as he must have expected, “par for the course in this business.” He could send me his video résumé and feel like something was happening. “We’re not really hiring right now.”
He is disappointed, but I take all his information. He makes me promise to call him if anything comes up. Kids’ TV is cutthroat, he explains, and we have to look out for each other. Then he says something really strange.
“Any truth to the rumor Explore! is for sale?”
“Um,” I am caught completely off guard. I should read the trades more, but I am in my own little Esme world. “I don’t know anything about that.”
“Well, be careful, Rebecca, ride the wave.”
“Thanks, Paul. Good luck.” People are so melodramatic about things in business. It’s obnoxious, but you have to placate them.
I began work trying to plot out a segment with Esme’s new chubby friend, Tabitha. Janice stops in my office when she gets in, the aroma of her coffee filling my office.
“Who’s that?” she asks.
“I thought it was time we gave Esme a little friend. You ducked out of the party early last night.” I can tell by the way she looks at me she thinks I’m playing boss. I’m not, so I try to joke. “You’re lucky. It was really stuffy and Hackett made me talk to all these suits.”
“You are the It Girl of Explore! Network.” We laugh.
“So did John leave early, too?” I raise my eyebrows. I wish she would just come clean about the two of them, but I guess she’s trying to be professional.
“Um, I guess so. Do we have anything big happening today?”
“As opposed to the usual grind? I just have the music people calling with the score for ep eight.”
“Cool. I’ll stop in later to see how it went.” She leaves, still revealing nothing. The phone rings again. It’s Lauryn. She sounds pissed.
“Rebecca, are you hiring Jordan for something?”
“What? No.”
“He called me to tell me that he was making big changes and that he was going to be on your channel. He always has to one-up me. What’s this about?”
“Well, as you know, he’s full of shit. I have no idea what he’s talking about.”
“You sure he’s not one of your voices or something?” Jordan, her ex, is a waiter who wants to be an actor