Page 7 of He's The Reason Why

“It’s just annoying.Scorchedfeels cheesy to me. Kind of like how ours was when we started. I just don’t think it’s finished yet, which isn’t a good sign.”

“Hey, ours ain’t cheesy, it’s a future classic.” Marshall peered at Blake over his sunglasses. “We’re going to make something modern and fun. It’ll be a thriller caper with a feel-good ending and franchise potential, and we need that deal you signed to do it. We won’t get the funding if you don’t play your part. You’re not thinking of backing out, are you?”

He wanted to say yes.

He wanted to race right past this stupid animated movie and get on with what he increasingly felt was his life’s calling.

“I didn’t spend my entire childhood on movie sets to be a cartoon. I want to tell a really great story, not ham it up in a studio. I don’t have time to deal with a bunch of people who don’t know the first thing about the business.”

“I thought you said they got Gina Paige to voice the dragon?” Marshall asked. “She’s won like, what, five Tonys? Can’t say she’s inexperienced.”

“Not her. Princess Jewel. Piper Bellamy.”

Marshall snorted. “Can’t say she’s inexperienced either. That girl cansing. She can carry your lame ass through all the songs. Can’t believe you get to meet her and I don’t.”

That stung, mostly because he’d been thinking the exact same thing himself ever since he’d been coerced into taking on the role in order to secure the funding for their own movie. “I can sing.”

He meant to sound confident, but it came out defensive. Hecouldsing, but it wasn’t something he’d ever trained for or practiced, a fact he was now regretting. His mother always wanted him to take singing lessons, but he’d thought they would be a waste of time. He could sing well enough to kill it at karaoke, but he was an actor and soon-to-be-director, not a singer.

“Oh sure, you have some raw natural talent but you’re nothing compared toher. She’ll run circles around you.”

Blake flipped him off.

“Aww,” Marshall drawled in a baby voice, “is it going to be difficult for you, Mr. I Won an Oscar When I Was Ten Years Old? Are we feeling intimidated because we’re finally going to be the amateur in the room?”

“Shut up.”

Marshall, who could always tell when he got to Blake, grinned. “Gee, is someone feeling a little sensitive? Come on, it’ll do you good to have to face something you’re not already an expert at. You’ll get to feel what the rest of us feel every time you walk on set for a change.”

“I’m not worried about the singing, okay? It’s not a big deal.”

“Well, I know you’re not worried about the acting, so if it’s really not the singing, and it’s not the acting, then what…oh.Oh!” Marshall’s grin widened. “I got it. It’s not a what, it’s awho. It’s a full table read, right? That means Rachel the Leech will be there today.”

Blake closed his eyes and shuddered. “Don’t remind me.”

Marshall hooted a laugh. “Blake and Rachel, together again. Come on, it’s animated. It’s not like you have to show up at the same time as her in the studio.”

“Yeah, but first I have to get through today.” Every time he thought of Rachel Morris, his pulse raced, and not in a good way. More like in a buried-alive sort of way. “I can’t believe they cast her. Seriously, what are the odds?”

“Come on, man, she wasn’t that bad.” The broad grin onMarshall’s face said he knew exactly how bad it really was, and he was delighted about it.

Blake stared at him. “You do remember the day she sent five hundred and thirty-two text messages because I went to a screening with my mother instead of that wrap party, right? And the way she wormed her way into that dance scene? Oh, and the time she reamed whats-her-name”—he snapped his fingers twice, wracking his brain for the name—“Winslow…remember, the short redhead? Rachel cornered her in the makeup trailer and ripped into her about flirting with me. She couldn’t even say her lines after that. It delayed the shoot three whole days.”

Marshall held up his hands in mock surrender. “Okay, sure, Rachel’s a little high maintenance and a bit psycho, but she’s definitely doable. I get why they picked her. She has a great voice, and she’s a pretty good actress, too. So what if she was a little clingy. It’s been years, I’m sure she’s over you by now.”

“She makes me claustrophobic.” He’d been seventeen when Rachel Morris had planted a kiss on him. She was two years older and a lot more mature, and at first, he’d beenveryinterested in her.

She had fascinating lips that had mesmerized and enticed from across the room. He’d fantasized about those lips for weeks until he’d finally experienced them firsthand.

After the kiss, she’d attached herself to him like superglue, and he’d realized that some things were much better when experienced from a distance—and that his mother had been right. Work relationships could be a bad, bad,badthing.

“You know, she would probably work for the girlfriend inConned.Want to ask her while you’re there today?” Marshall’s eyes flashed with barely contained amusement.

“You can be a real ass sometimes, you know that?”

“I do. It’s a God-given gift.” His friend’s shit-eating grin was proud and unashamed.

“If you were really a good friend you wouldn’t sound quite so gleeful.”

---