Page 24 of Home to Me

Karina smirked. “Oh, but I think there is. We want to know all about your screen test, particularly about any and all interactions with Hottie Host Boy.”

“Oh, it was fine,” Lauren said dismissively, almost distractedly.

The girls all leaned forward in their seats, waiting for her to continue with the details. After she was silent for a moment and it was obvious that details were not forthcoming, Karina laughed.

“Oh hell no!” she chuckled. “I know you don't think you're gonna get away with, 'It was fine,' right?”

“Well,” Lauren conceded, “I guess I would say, after a somewhat rocky start, then it was fine.”

The girls turned towards Lauren, waiting expectantly for her to continue, but were greeted only with silence.

“Girl, I swear to God,” Karina said, exasperated. “It's like pulling frickin' teeth.”

Just then the doorbell rang.

“Oh good,” Lauren said, “That would be Amy. Maybe we can finally get started talking about the book.”

Amy, another one of their friends they’d known since their days at Hope Falls Elementary, was generally Lauren's closest ally in the belief that—at a gathering that was called a book club—at least a small fraction of their time should be spent discussing the book itself.

Amanda jumped up and ran to the door, returning quickly with Amy.

“Hey, girlie girl,” Sam greeted her cheerfully. “So, we were just grilling Lauren on her screen test for that Home Sweet Vacation Home show that she might be co-hosting with Ben Stevens. All we've gotten out of her so far is that it had a somewhat rocky start but was 'fine' thereafter.”

“And I was just telling them,” Lauren said placidly, “that now that you're here, I'm sure you'll agree with me that, since this is book club, we should be discussing the book.”

“Oh no,” said Amy enthusiastically, using her index finger to push her glasses farther up her nose. “I want to hear about your screen test.”

Lauren sighed. If she couldn't even get Amy, the serious and bookish Hope Falls High School English teacher on her side, then her cause was lost. She might as well just acquiesce and give them the blow-by-blow.

She took a deep breath and dove in.

“Well,” she said, “as embarrassing as it is to admit this, I kind of froze up when the camera went on.”

All of their eyes widened. It seemed that they absolutely could not picture the ultra-controlled and ultra-prepared Lauren Harrison freezing up in any situation.

“Yeah,” Lauren said in answer to their expressions of bewilderment and surprise, “I know. It was a shock to me as well. But I saw that red light go on above the camera, and...I don't know...something in me just became paralyzed.”

“Well,” Karina interjected sardonically, “considering that the purpose of a screen test is basically to see how you perform...you know...on camera, I guess you could call that a rough start.”

Amanda wrung her hands. “Oh my gosh, Lauren!” she commiserated. “I feel so miserable for you even just hearing about it! Skip to the part where it got better.”

“I have to admit,” Lauren said thoughtfully, “as much as Ben Stevens has annoyed me—and, don't get me wrong, still does annoy me—he did save my bacon. He jumped in and offered to do our joint part first so I could kind of loosen up and concentrate on him rather than the red light. Then he took me aside and told me that I just needed to pretend that I was talking to a client or a friend, to not think about the camera and what it represented. To put that completely out of my mind—but to look into the lens and see the face of someone I cared about.

“After that, it got a lot better. It went really smoothly. In fact, I kind of loved it,” she admitted. “It was sort of a rush.”

“So how do think you did, you know, objectively?” Sam asked.

“I don't know,” Lauren responded, thoughtfully. “I mean, I can tell you that, from my perspective, it felt good. How it looked from the outside is, of course, difficult for me to say considering I'm so close to the situation. But the director did seem enthusiastic. And Ben did tell me he's never seen someone get over stage fright that fast and come back that strong. So I think that's a good sign.”

“I'll say,” Karina agreed.

“So,” Amanda said slyly, “by your tone of voice, can I infer that you might be turning the corner on your opinion of Ben Stevens?”

Lauren snorted. “Let's not go that far,” she said. “Just because I've seen him display humanity a grand total of twice, that doesn't mean—”

“Wait, when was the other time?” Karina, ever the sharp one, piped up.

Lauren opened her mouth, ready to tell them about the phone call she’d overheard later in the day, but snapped it shut. Although she usually told the Fabulous Four everything—when it came down to actually relaying the incident—somehow it felt like it would be a betrayal of Ben to talk about what she’d overheard.

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