Page 25 of A Little Bit Extra

Emmett reaches for his wallet in his jacket pocket and pulls out $20. He hands me the bill, our hands touching a little longer than necessary, before he pulls away. “Keep the change.” He winks and walks to the end of the bar.

I'm not sure if the wink was part of the script or just for me. I put the money in the register, pull out the change that was already set aside, and dump it into the tip jar. When I shift my attention to the end of the bar, Emmett's piercing stare captivates me, his eyes reflecting a subtle shimmer. This brief encounter is bound to come up in conversation later.

Emmett gets his coffee from my fake co-worker, looks at me one last time, then turns toward the edge of the set and walks out the fake door. Ed calls “cut.”

We’re told we don’t need to film again, which I’m grateful for. This opportunity surprised me a bit with Emmett being the principal actor on set, but it was…easy? When he offered to rehearse with me yesterday and I said no, I never could have imagined acting together so soon. As soon as my gaze met his, I knew I’d have no trouble remembering my lines. They were at the tip of my tongue, ready to spill out. The café faded away, and it was just him and me. It should scare me how that made me feel, but I feel quite the opposite. Intrigued, maybe even wanting to do it again.

I exit Cooper’s Coffee and make my way back to Ed to make sure I’m okay to leave the set. Emmett is standing to his right, peering over his clipboard to look at something Ed is pointing to.

“Cassie! You did great!” Ed holds up his hand, asking for a high-five.

I slap my hand into his. “Thanks, Ed. All of those years of acting prepared me for this moment,” I say with sarcasm and a smile.

That gets a chuckle out of him. “Well, you can tell. You and Emmett are natural when acting together! I would have never guessed you’ve only known each other for a few days,” Ed says.

I glance at Emmett at the same time he looks at me, which adds to the flush in my cheeks. I quickly look back at Ed.

“I’m glad you could fill in today. It would have been a disaster if you couldn’t. If you didn’t start working here this week, we would have had to delay shooting just because of how much trouble we’ve had with extras! It’s normally not a big deal. But this movie has to do well, which means we have to cast extras with experience.” Ed nods, like he was saying it more to himself than to me, but I nod back.

“I’m happy to help, Ed. I should probably go find Marcy, though, see if she wants me to help with any post-lunch tasks.”

Ed mumbles something before he’s back to looking at his clipboard. I give a small smile to Emmett and turn to walk off set, hoping to find Marcy somewhere around the upstairs offices. Just as I start walking, someone grabs my wrist and pulls me back. I fall into a firm chest, instinctively grabbing onto it with my free hand to regain my balance. My heart races as another hand snags around my waist, anchoring me to the person I was about to crash into.

My breathing is strained after the suddenness of almost falling. I look up to see a pair of familiar brown eyes staring at me, our faces inches from one another. All it would take is a slight lean forward from him and me stretching on my toes, and our lips would be on the verge of a kiss.

He releases his grasp, and I take a step back. His right hand moves through his hair, a gesture of nervous energy that matches the unease in his eyes. I look around to see if anyone saw, but I don’t see anyone looking in our direction. Explaining to Ed or Marcy that Emmett and I are simply friends, not romantically involved, is something I'd rather avoid.

“Goodness, Emmett. You could have just called my name to stop me. It would have been just as effective,” I say, placing my right hand on my hip and shifting my weight to my right side.

“I was trying to be secretive,” he says, dipping his head and looking to the left and then to the right before returning his eyes to me. “I don’t like how you left without saying bye.”

“Oh, um, I smiled at you?” I shrug.

“Not good enough, Sass.” Emmett crosses his arms, mocking me. How does he manage to look sexy instead of intimidating when he does it?

“I’ll remember for next time. Bye, Emmett.” It’s my turn to wink at him before I turn back around to leave the set. He doesn’t stop me this time.

I don’t see Emmett for the rest of the day.

Marcy has me cleaning and organizing random offices I didn’t even know existed. She’s handling all the set duties for today. I don’t know if she thinks I want to be away from the set since I was an extra this morning, or if she’s wanting to keep me away from Emmett. Either way, I’m kind of grateful. I get to sit in the same room, with music in my ears, instead of walking around the set from one side to the other, over and over. My legs are thankful for the break.

I’ve been texting Emmett anyway, so it doesn’t matter that I haven’t seen him. He’s been filling me in on everything happening on the other side of the studio: if filming is on schedule, what snacks are out on the table, Ed’s moods after filming a scene. You know, the usual. Although nothing eventful happens, my stomach still flutters with every text I receive.

I text Annie too, helping her plan her move to LA this fall. We also talk about how to tell our mother, who still thinks Annie's going to be attending Indiana University, which is just a short drive from her house. Annie is a lot closer to my mom than I am. Even before she told me I wouldn’t make it in Los Angeles, my mom and I never got along. She was always working, or hanging out with her friends, or doing something she didn’t invite us to. For as long as I could remember, I was the one in charge, watching Annie, making sure she got to school on time. I was the big sister, yet Annie was more my responsibility than our mom’s.

When I found acting, it was like I found what I was meant to be doing with my life. Even as a teenager, I knew I had to make this my career. I remember saving tips from the diner I was working at and being so proud when I finally had enough saved to take a small trip out west. I went to ask my mom, thinking she would smile and hug me and say she’s proud, but that didn’t happen. She sighed deeply, asked if I thought I could be better than everyone else, scoffed, and said, “You’re going to do what you want anyway,” and walked away. I packed my bags and left the next week.

Annie understands, but she also wants our mom to understand. So, her coming out this fall is a big deal. I know Annie has this big idea of us making up; her being happy for Annie, encouraging Annie, helping Annie move, but I don’t see it happening.

I send her a text to let her know I’ll call her later to talk about it. I have to finish up in this room and head to my acting class in a little while.

After a few more hours of cleaning and organizing, I tell Marcy I’ll see her tomorrow.

I get to my acting class a few minutes early and find a seat. It takes place in a back room of a coffee shop by our apartment, the same one I originally found the paper to join in. We moved here shortly after since it was closer to where most of us lived, and being able to get coffee at any point during class is always a plus.

I call it class, but I could also call it a club. A group of people who all want to be actors. Some are from here, most are transplants. We all have side jobs in various industries: retail worker, construction site manager, bartender, bus driver. The amount of acting experience each person has also varies. One guy only joined the club because he was bored and his girlfriend was in the class. I think he’s a better actor than she is, but that’s my secret. There is another person who has been acting for 20 years. They typically take on extra roles or small independent films, and they always have the best advice when I try to improv.

My favorite part about the group is that everyone is honest and is there to find people that love acting as much as they do.

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