Page 17 of One Life to Loathe

“I like them too.”

“Yeah?” I managed a grin. “Just not paranormal stuff, huh?”

For a moment, I thought he was going to explode and start yelling at me. I’d been waiting for a return of the guy I’d met on the plane all morning. Instead, he merely sighed. “I just never thought this was what I would be doing with my career.”

“You mean a paranormal show.”

“I mean a paranormal soap opera.” He said “soap opera” as if it was profanity. “I expected to be doing action movies … or evena nice miniseries on HBO about World War II or something. I did not expect to have to wear fake fangs and get naked with you.”

I frowned. “I’m sorry you have to be so disgusted by my nakedness.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

My anger was the thing growing fangs right now, and I planted my hands on my hips. “What did you mean?”

“I just meant… I don’t want to be a romantic vampire. If I’m going to be a vampire, I want to be a cool one.”

“Like the ones in30 Days of Night?”

“Yes.”

I could see that. “This isn’t what I saw myself doing either. When I first started dreaming of being an actress, I thought I was going to be Julia Roberts.”

“Pretty WomanJulia Roberts orErin BrockovichJulia Roberts?”

“Both. That was the whole point. It didn’t really work out that way for me, though. I’ve only managed to get bit parts until now.”

“You’re looking at this as your big break,” Leo realized.

“No, I’m looking at this as my last chance.”

My honesty must have thrown him because he looked taken aback. “It’s not your last chance.”

“It is.” I wasn’t feeling sorry for myself about it. At least that’s what I told myself. I was being a realist. “I’m thirty.”

I waited for Leo to respond, but he didn’t.

“I’m thirty,” I repeated. “Women my age aren’t being discovered. They’re being put out to pasture.”

“That’s ridiculous,” he said. “You’re still young. You’re younger than me.”

“But men in this business keep being leading men throughout their entire run. I mean … look atAs Good as itGets. Helen Hunt was way younger than Jack Nicholson and yet he was considered a leading man. He was always considered a leading man.”

“Helen Hunt was the other lead,” Leo argued.

“When was the last time you saw Helen Hunt in anything? She aged out. Leading actresses are usually discovered in their teens, like Scarlet Johansson and Natalie Portman. Then they get their best roles in their twenties and manage to push through to their forties. Then they start getting pushed to the side for the younger women to come in.

“All the while Jack Nicholson keeps getting the leading ladies, but the leading ladies get aged out,” I continued. “If you don’t see that, well, there’s not much I can do for you. It happens, though.”

Leo worked his jaw. I could tell the truth bomb I’d dropped on him had been unexpected, and he wasn’t reacting to the news all that well. “I guess I never really thought about it,” was all he said.

“I’m not trying to get you to feel sorry for me,” I insisted. “I’m just being realistic. So, I get that this isn’t the job you want. This is the job I always dreamed of, though.”

Leo looked shell shocked. “I didn’t think about it from your perspective.”

“You don’t have to like me. We do have to work together, though. Honestly, I think you could use the good will from this job as much as anybody. You still have fifty opportunities in front of you. After this… I’m going to have to figure things out.”

“You’re going to have more than this opportunity,” Leo insisted. “I just … you are.”

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