Page 16 of Falling for my Best Friend

She ended the call and dropped her phone in her purse.

“What happened, babe?”

She covered her face with her hands and started to cry.

I felt my stomach drop. Chelsea never had a quiet cry. It always turned into wails of wall shaking emotion. I stood up and walked over to her, put my arm around her shoulder, and led her back to her chair. By the time she sat down, the crying had increased in intensity to the point that she was gasping for breath.

“What happened?” I asked again, pulling my chair up beside hers.

“I didn’t get the job.”

“I’m so sorry. I’m sure you’ll get the next one that comes along. Didn’t you tell me you had another call this week?”

“There is no next job. This was it for me. This was my make or break moment and I-” She folded her arms on the table and dropped her head.

I didn’t panic because she said that every time. I admired how much she cared, but her inclination to exaggerate meant she was always one phone call away from being destroyed. “Don’t be silly.”

She sat up and looked at me with wide eyes. “Don’t you get it? This is the fifth casting I haven’t got! The fifth!”

“Did your agent say why you didn’t get it?”

Her lip trembled as she nodded.

“And?”

“They said I was-” She gulped for breath. “That I was-”

“What?” I asked. “That you were what?”

“It’s so ridiculous I can’t even say it.”

“Try,” I said.

She blew her breath out slowly.

I was on the edge of my seat.

“Too skinny. They said I was too skinny.”

I couldn’t help but smile. I’d been trying to think of a way to tell her that for weeks, and I was thrilled someone else had taken the fall for me. “Well that’s easily fixed,” I said, grabbing my buttered roll and holding it in front of her.

She swatted my arm, knocking the bread out of my hand.

I turned and watched it roll a dotted line of butter across the table.

“No, it’s bullshit is what it is! Bianca already told me she got a callback and her waist is a whole half inch smaller than mine!”

Seeing as how there was nothing I could say to make her feel better, I decided I might as well bring up the bullshit that was on my mind, too. “Speaking of Bianca, I thought you said you left your wallet at her place?”

Chelsea looked at me through red eyes. “What?”

“I thought you said you borrowed money to buy the stuff for dinner because you didn’t have your wallet?”

She stood up from the table so fast her chair fell backwards behind her. “How can you even say that right now?! You obviously have no idea what kind of pressure I’m under!”

“Calm down, Chelsea. Everything is going to be okay.”

“I don’t expect you to understand, but for your information, not everyone can just walk away from their dreams!”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that just because you blew your chance to be somebody doesn’t mean it’s too late for me!”

I felt like telling her to get the fuck out.

But it was too late. She’d already stormed down the hall, leaving me at the table with nothing but another one of her messes to clean up.

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