Page 45 of Footlights and Forever

“Well, I’m not sure I have the anatomy for that,” a thoughtful female voice sounded down the phone to my utter horror, “butpeople are doing wonderous things with toys these days. You kids are so much more adventurous than we were in my day.”

I slowly slid the phone away from my ear to look at the screen. An unknown number with a 212 New York dialing code appeared on the screen. Taking a deep breath and readying myself for a world of apologies, I dove back in.

“I’m sorry to whoever is on the other end of this call, but I have a boyfriend, you see, and he has had a really hard day. I mean I have had a really hard day and Darren was doing the books and it was so stressful, I mean stressful for him, but it meant I had to watch the store by myself which is not easy, you know! Anyway, where was I? Yes, I have a boyfriend and I want him inside me, not you. Oh god I don’t mean I want him inside me right now…” I vowed to hang up the phone and put a contract hit out on myself.

“Breathe.” The older lady’s voice sounded somewhat amused.

“Okay, thank you.”

“Now I assume I am talking to Dylan, and I haven’t accidently dialed 1-800-Needy-Boyfriend?” Oh great, now faceless voices on the end of the line were mocking me. Stellar adulting, Dylan.

“Yes, this is he,” I groaned.

“Well, I’m glad that we got that out of the way,” she laughed. “My name is Nellie and I’m calling you from AMN Productions.”

Okay, now my ears perked up. AMN Productions were a major TV and film studio. They had offices in New York, but most of their studios were in L.A. as far as I was aware. They were definitely one of the companies I had carpet bombed with my large stack of resumes.

“Oh hi. Yes, I’m Dylan.” I slapped a hand to my forehead.

“Yes, we have done this dance just moments ago, son,” Nellie coughed, most likely to cover another laugh at my expense. “And I’m still Nellie, so now we have got our introductions finally outof the way, I wanted to call to let you know that we liked your resume and the samples of your work that you sent in.”

“Oh my god, really?” Part of the process of working in screen or production writing was to send in some proof that you could string together some sentences in a coherent manner. I had sent them copies of a one-man stage play I had written and performed in during college. The process of creating the dialogue, set instructions and production was everything I had ever wanted it to be and more. The acting was something I wished I never had to do ever again.

“Yes, we really did. So much so that we would like you to come in to interview for a writer’s assistant position.” I felt the phone start to slip from my hand as my brain short-circuited. This was it, this was everything I had wanted for the past few years. An actual job doing what I loved.

“This will be to work on a new show for the network,” Nellie began to explain the details of the role: their writers had pitched a sitcom to the higher-ups. With it being a weekly show, Nellie explained that the writing process would be hectic, fast-paced and constantly changing. It was basically my idea of heaven. “Now I can tell you right away that this won’t be an easy job and the money we can pay you in the beginning is not a lot. I can also guarantee you that While this is a full-time job, you almost certainly need a second job to pay your bills.”

Even with the words of warning, it wasn’t enough to stop the happy dance I started to do around the kitchen.

She began to say something, but I was too busy being all up in my own groove that I missed it. “Sorry, could you repeat that?”

“Moonwalk?”

“Cha Cha slide,” I explained.

“I was saying that we would love to invite you in to formally interview and meet the team here next week if you have any time free.”

I would have to shift some things around with Darren, but I was not about to let this opportunity pass me by. We agreed to a meeting the following Wednesday before saying our goodbyes. Nellie said she would e-mail me over the details and that I should try and stay calm until then.

While I still had to interview, I had a feeling that I had this job in the bag and the process would just be a formality. Nellie was right, the role was an entry-level position, but it was a start. I had to tell someone before my brain exploded. I knew I should tell Natalie that I was coming back to work in the city. She would be excited and tell me that I had to break up with Yonkers and move back to civilization. I also was super excited about telling my dad. He would likely get emotional and talk about my mom. I should also tell my sister… actually my sister could go fuck herself. The one person I needed to tell immediately though was Austin.

I just knew he would understand my excitement and be so proud of me. I quickly scrolled though my contacts and dialed his number. The first dial went to voicemail after a few rings. Austin was a lover of skinny jeans, and would often need to negotiate his phone out of his pocket, which was why I always made a second call.

He answered on the second ring. Music blared loudly down the phone. I pulled the handset away from my ear sharply. A mumbled ‘hello’ echoed down the line. I looked at the screen to make sure I had in fact dialed the right person, and sure enough there was Austin’s name.

“Dylan?” I pressed the phone tentatively back to my ear.

“Austin?”

“Yeah, sorry, I’ve moved to a quieter bit of the party.”

A spike of irritation simmered beneath my skin. Not for the fact that Austin had seen fit to go to a party, but that he’d not even told me that he was going or called me after the audition. “Ididn’t know that you were planning to go out.” I knew I sounded like an overbearing prick, but I had questions that burned to be answered. “Also, listen, I have some good news.”

“Yeah sorry, some of the boys wanted to go out to celebrate.” His voice held a note of glee.

I smiled, picturing the charming look of boyish happiness he tends to have when he has good news to share. “You mean you got hired?”

“I more than got hired baby!” He barked out a laugh. “I got second lead in the show.”

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