Page 108 of Don't Quit the Day Job

I hang up the phone and look at Marie.

"Is everything okay? You sounded a little agitated."

"I'm fine. Zara is just concerned that I'm giving up my dreams of being an actress for the relationship, and I'm really not. I just…"

"Oh, I didn't even know that you were into acting," Marie says, and I frown slightly.

"What? What do you mean?"

"I didn't even know that you were an actress. I thought you were just Max's assistant and girlfriend."

I stare at her in surprise. My identity for most of my life has been that of Lila: wannabe Thespian. It's weird to me that I have a new friend that doesn't even know that. I guess maybe I haven't talked about it, really. Marie grabs my hand and pulls me to the kitchen.

"Hey," she says. "You look upset. You want a drink?"

"I'm okay. Actually, maybe I'll have a strawberry milkshake if you are making them."

"Sure," she grins. "I will make one special Marie milkshake for you."

She opens the freezer and pulls out a tub of ice cream and turns back to me.

"So your best friend is concerned that you've given up your dreams of acting. You tell her you haven't given up your dreams of acting, but I didn't even know that you wanted to be an actress or were an actress and I've never heard you and Max talking about it." She lets out a long sigh. "And as much as I love you and I love my brother and I'm so happy you guys have found each other, I don't want you to give up your dreams for this relationship, Lila."

"I haven't given up my dreams. I’m just so happy right now that I haven't thought about acting and I don't have that much time and?—"

Marie raises her eyebrow. "Because you're working as an assistant to my brother."

"Yeah, but?—"

"Come on, be honest with me. Do you really love working as a legal assistant?"

I stare at her for a couple of moments. "I love working with Max."

"Yeah, because you guys are in the beginning of a relationship. You always want to be close to the one that you love. But if you could talk about your dream job, would this be it?"

"No." I wrinkle my nose. "But I just don't know how to balance everything. I still need an income and?—"

"Why don't you give up your apartment? You're here most of the time anyway."

"I am, but I just don't think it's a good idea to give up my apartment. I don't know where this is going. And like you said, it's all new and?—"

"I've never seen my brother like this with anyone," she says. "Trust me, you guys are the real deal."

"Thank you for saying that, but…"

"But what?"

"But it's still new, and as much as it's been absolutely amazing, I just don't know what's going to happen and I don't want to get carried away, you know?"

"I get it," she says, nodding.

"So what'd you want to do this weekend?"

"I'm not sure. I think that…oh, hold on. Sorry. My friend Skye from work is calling me. Hey Skye, what's going on?"

"Hey, I’m just calling you because I sent you an email and I wasn't sure if you got it because I haven't heard back from you."

"No. What's the email?"

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