Page 77 of A Little Bit Extra

She grabs a muffin, places it on a plate, and turns to face me as she takes off the muffin liner.

“Have you heard anything about the new movie being filmed after Emmett’s movie ends?” she asks. She takes a bite of her muffin, briefly closing her eyes before opening them back up. It must be good to enact that kind of reaction.

“No, why?” I grab myself a muffin and take a bite. It sure is a damn good blueberry muffin.

She walks toward the hallway, so I’m assuming she’s heading toward the offices. Apart from the entrance I use in the mornings, there's not much else there, so I can only guess we're going to see Carla.

Marcy explains while taking glances back every few feet to make sure I’m following her. This hallway isn’t that big. I’ve learned to stay to one side because there is always someone running the opposite way. Sometimes it’s because of a wardrobe malfunction, other times it’s because Ed ordered a coffee from some assistant.

I find out from Marcy that January Studios has agreed to let an independent movie be filmed here during the three-month break between the current and the next movie. Not only that, but apparently Ed has agreed to stay on as the director, which she says never happens. We’re on our way to talk to Carla because someone saw my recent showcase and wants me to star in the leading female role.

“What?” I mutter. I stop walking. Marcy takes a few more steps and when she looks back, she sees I haven’t moved.

Instead of repeating herself or giving me shit for just stopping in the middle of the hallway, she walks back to me, loops an arm around mine, and pulls me forward.

“You heard me,” is all she says as we walk up the stairs.

“I did.” I give her my best side glare. “But I don’t understand how they knew to find me here, of all places.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Just trust me, okay? It’s going to be fine. You actually aren’t auditioning against anyone.” If that wasn’t enough of a shock, she dropped my arm and headed into Carla’s office. I wasn’t even able to respond. She didn’t turn around to see my facial expression.

I don’t even get into the office before Carla is walking… wait, she’s moving fast, she’s speed walking toward me. “Cassie, oh thank god, I’m sorry I totally forgot to talk to you about this movie thing this morning.” She hands me a folder and turns back around to walk to her desk. She said “this movie thing” like it wasn’t a big deal, when in fact it is a big deal.

Marcy is already sitting in one chair in front of Carla’s desk, so I move to sit in the other one. She’s busy flipping through some of the top pages on her clipboard, taking her phone out to type something every few seconds.

I open the folder. I pull out the first page, which has the title of the movie on it. “A Little Bit Extra.” It doesn’t say who wrote it, but there’s a short blurb about the film. It’s written as a short film based on a true story. It’s a romance, but it doesn’t tell me much about the story besides the fact that it focuses on a main couple and how they slowly fall in love.

It’s similar to the scene that I ended up performing at the showcase. I smile at the paper. I don’t know how this happened, but I’ve decided I will not ask questions about it. I know that happened the last time I landed a role. It ended up terribly. Not only did I lose the part, but I shut myself off from new relationships. Without Emmett, I wouldn’t have even acted in this last showcase.

I put the front page on the left side of the folder to find that there are no other pieces of paper. It’s just this one page in the folder, which seems odd. I don’t know why Carla didn’t just hand me the piece of paper like she does every other time she needs to give me something. Instead, she made a bigger deal about this. Her love language is stationery and office supplies, so I guess it made sense to have it packaged up and in a folder. It gave me something to open, which, in return, caused my initial reaction to be for myself and not for her and Marcy.

“So?”

I look up to find Marcy staring at me. Carla is staring too, but it’s Marcy who speaks.

“I mean…” I close the folder before I look back up. “The title is great and, I mean, it honestly aligns with my personality, but where is the rest? Don’t I get a sample script or schedule? How does it affect my job here? I don’t want to quit on you all last minute—”

Carla cuts me off. “It’s all handled. Jeez, and I thought I talked a lot.”

We all laugh. It’s true, if I knew anyone for talking a lot, it’s Carla. I’m the one with the extra personality. We know Marcy for the broody attitude, even though we know she’s a softie under her shell.

We sit in Carla’s office for a few more minutes talking, and I’m asking questions every other second about this film. Luckily, Carla reassures me that more information will come on Monday and I’ll have a week off before filming. I let them know I need to talk to someone first. They know by “someone” I mean Emmett, but I’m still trying to be careful about saying his name here in case others are around.

I stand up to head out of the room. Marcy already handed me what I need to do for this week, mostly just tidying up and organizing, which is nothing new. I will need to find time to talk to Emmett, possibly at dinner tonight.

I walk down the stairs and take out my phone, opening the messages to my mom. The last time I texted her was for her birthday earlier this year. Her response was a simple “thanks sweetheart.” Our relationship has gotten better over the years. I used to refuse to text her, and Annie would beg me to say hi to her over our video calls. I visited for Christmas two years back and she actually asked me about my job and seemed interested enough to talk to me. She kind of apologized about how the previous three years were, which I took as a good start. I owe it to Annie to try and reconnect. I type out a small message asking her to chat tomorrow. There, done.

Now that that’s off my mind, I immediately start thinking about the acting job. I want to accept, but without receiving a lot of details, I'm not sure why they asked me to play the leading role. I know it's a short film, but I still don't understand who discovered me. It helps that it’s going to take place here and Ed will be directing. That’s honestly the only reason keeping me grounded with this project and has me leaning toward saying yes. If it was anywhere else, I would have a hard time accepting an undisclosed project.

I say hi to the doorman at the bottom of the stairs, turning to head down the hallway. I find Emmett on set with Max and Lane.

“Hi!” I wave to them as I walk over. They are also getting blueberry muffins. I’m not surprised since they were good. Word must have gotten around. “You guys heard about the muffins I take it?”

“Mm. So good,” Lane says with his mouth full.

I respond with a laugh and a nod.

Emmett winks at me. Even though Lane and Max know about us now, we’re still keeping talking in public to a minimum.

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