Page 33 of A Little Bit Extra

“Cassie.”

I look up to see an associate standing by a now-open door to the auditioning room. I smile softly, raising a hand to let them know I’m here, and proceed to gather all of my items.

Once we’re in the room, I stand on the mark and wait for their cue to start. They say “rolling,” and I start performing my scene. A few short lines as the best friend to the main character of the film.

They seem happy enough with the first take that they don’t ask for me to run the lines again. Excitement bubbles up inside me, knowing I gave it my all. So, with a smile, I thank them for their time, sign out, leave, and hope this is the one.

When I get home, Lucy is already there with the island full of containers of food. I could smell the garlic, cumin, and onions down the hallway, and my mouth was watering before I even opened the apartment door.

“I’m home,” I yell into the apartment. I slip off my shoes and hang my bag up on one of the empty hooks to the right of the front door.

“Finally,” Lucy says. She emerges from her room wearing a face mask. It’s all green and literally all over her face. She looks like a beautiful Shrek. Before I have the chance to laugh or say something about it, she holds up a hand. “Don’t you start.”

I hold up both of my hands. “Caught me.” I laugh. “You think I’d be used to seeing your various face masks by now.” For real. She has a different face mask for every night. Sometimes it’s green, like now, other times it’s blue, or white, or it has sparkles. Her skin is flawless though, so instead of keeping track of the various colors, I should probably try one sometime.

“You think, huh? Busy day?” Lucy walks past me and into the kitchen. She takes a piece of naan bread and dips it into a vegetable curry. “This is literally the best food to ever grace this earth.” She moans, taking another bite. She doesn’t even bother to dish out a serving for herself, but it’s a typical dinner for us. The fewer dishes, the better. She holds up the bag full of naan.

“Thank you,” I say, taking a piece and dipping it into the curry. “It was a busy day, yes. I didn’t realize how much Marcy did while she was sending me off to the other side of the set.” If I looked at my watch, I bet I would see that I walked 10k today. “Gosh, you’re right. If someone stranded me on an island, this—” I shake the naan, “is the only food I’d want.”

Lucy’s eyebrows narrow, showing hints of skepticism. “Last week it was Chinese.”

“And next week it’ll likely be pizza.” I smile and shove the rest of the naan into my mouth.

“I’ll make sure to provide a buffet if I ever throw you a surprise party. With how often you change your mind on your favorite food, I’d never be able to predict what your favorite for that week would be.”

“True.” I pick up a samosa and take a bite. “Speaking of parties… are you busy Friday?”

Lucy narrows her eyebrows again. “What’s Friday?”

“Well, Emmett may have asked me to go to his birthday party, and I need you to come with me.”

“What if I have to work?”

“You’d get someone to cover your shift and keep me company, obviously,” I say with confidence.

“Well, lucky you, I do have to work but I am done by eight. I might just have to drive separately, that okay?” Lucy asks while also eating a samosa.

I nod.

“How did the audition go today?” Lucy asks.

“I think it went as well as the others.” I shrug, knowing that none of my auditions have led to anything.

“You’ll land something this year, I can feel it.” Lucy grins.

“Thanks, Luce.”

Changing the subject, I fill her in on what I’ve been up to the last few weeks at the studio. I haven’t worked at the diner a lot, so I haven’t seen her. We’re at the stage in our lives where we’re working opposite shifts and catching each other at the door or in the parking lot. While I’m at the studio or acting class, she’s busy painting or working at the diner.

It’s been nice to have one person to talk to about Emmett. I haven’t told Annie yet, so Lucy is the only one I can vent to about things. I’m trying hard to keep the wall built up, but it’s getting hacked piece by piece. Emmett isn’t even in full flirt mode, either. It’s the small interactions: the little shoulder touches, the random winks, the text messages to tell me good morning. It somehow makes it even more special to hide this relationship, however platonic it might be, from others.

I weighed the pros and cons, and even though it might not be the best decision, I'm still excited about going to the party on Friday. Although, nothing good can come from a dimly lit club where it’ll be tempting to dance with Emmett. What am I getting myself into?

10

Emmett

“Today is the day, birthday boy!” Tyler greets me as I walk into the cafeteria for lunch. He walks up to me, pumping his fist into the air. He’s a fool, but I love him. When he came over to hang out for the first time and only wanted to play video games, I thought he was kidding. He knew who I was, right? And he doesn’t want to go out? I remember standing next to the couch as he turned on the TV and tried handing me a controller.

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