Up & Out - Ariella Papa [74]
“C’mon, you have to tell her the rest,” Cheryl pipes in. She looks at me. “If it’s okay?”
“I think I can handle it,” I say.
“Okay, so I sense she’s hiding something, so I keep asking her questions. Did she live in this dorm? What kind of media clubs was she in?”
“Sarah’s stepsister is an EVP at Disney,” Cheryl says, clearly impressed. “You should have seen Sarah, she gave new meaning to the words War Room Attack.”
I look at Janice, confused about whether or not they should be revealing their tactics. Janice shrugs.
“So, I sense she’s getting freaked, you know how she gets that look when she claims she’s stressed like she’s vibrating, and I wanna know. I mean she brings this up all the time and I’m just curious.”
“She brings it up all the time,” Cheryl agrees. “And she vibrates.”
“So?” I ask. I am really curious where this is going.
“Well…” Sarah looks around at Janice and Cheryl. “It turns out she just went to some kind of summer animation camp at Harvard. Not exactly alma mater worthy.”
“You’re kidding.” I really can’t believe it.
“No,” Sarah says, starting to laugh hysterically.
“Can you believe it?” Janice says.
“You are lying,” I say. “No way.”
“No.” I am really amazed.
“So why does she bring it up so much? It’s like she calls attention to it,” I say.
“Because she is full of shit,” John says, joining the conversation. “And because she’s so full of shit, you don’t have a job.”
The group gets serious for a minute, and then I see Don come in. He smiles and makes his way over. Even in the heat, he is wearing his black leather jacket. And even though it’s dark in the bar, he is wearing sunglasses.
“Here she is,” he says, and kisses both my cheeks. “Sorry I’m late. We had a day from hell. Let me get you a drink. Gimlet, right?”
I nod, and he goes to the bar.
“He is so cute,” Sarah says. I look at her and smile. I have a new respect for her after drinking with her, but I can tell she is someone who worries that she’ll still be a failure if she isn’t married by thirty.
Don comes back and we chat for a while. By day I’m not attracted to Don at all, but after a few drinks he does seem quite smooth. I think, hey, we no longer work together, we could have a meaningless hookup, but I look over at Sarah. Maybe I should lay off.
“We miss you,” Don says. “What have you been doing with yourself?”
“You know, a lot of nothing.” He smiles.
“I got to get you some names, and I’ll also tell some people about you. In the meantime, enjoy it while you got it.” He is always on. He makes being unemployed seem like another cycle of life. I appreciate feeling normal for a change.
“I called that lawyer. He said I should take the deal. I realize how stupid I was not to negotiate something better—or something at all for Esme.”
“Yeah, it’s tough to know that the first time around. I got totally bent over a chair on my first series. You’ll figure it out by the time you get the next one. And there will be another one.”
“Thank you. How’s Gus?”
“Well, not so good.” I start to worry that he is going to say something about Jordan.
“Why?” He looks at me as if he isn’t sure he wants to continue. “Why?”
“Your friend seems to have some emotional problems, and maybe some other problems—substance related.”
“He’s actually an ex of a friend,” I say. “And a friend of an ex. Is he going to lose his job?”
“Well…” Don takes a big sip of his drink. “We’ve already got a lot in the can and it would be a waste to scrap it all. I think we might have to phase him out with a little cousin or something, you know, a new actor to take over. I think we’ll be okay. I doubt the show will pick up that fast, so I don’t think anyone will get too used to him. I’m just not looking forward to casting again.”
“Shit, I’m sorry to hear that.” I wonder if I should tell Tommy or Lauryn.
“Hey, he had us fooled, too. Don’t worry about it.” He smiles at me. “You want another drink?”
“Sure, I’ll get this one.”
“Don’t insult me,” he says, and rubs my cheek. “It’s your party.”
While he’s at the bar, he looks over and smiles. It’s do-ordie time. If I have any interest