Page 3 of Keep It

I crunch my brow as I shovel egg fried rice into my mouth directly from the container. “Wha arr ee selebrashing?”

Rosie dishes up her food and grabs a wine bottle from the rack before we head back to the couch.

I wait for Rosie to tell me what we are celebrating, but instead she pours two glasses of wine. She hands one to me with one hand and snatches my plate away with the other, gently placing it on the coffee table as I’m still trying to stab a piece of broccoli with my fork.

“Oh my god, why bring food if you won’t let me eat it?” I ask.

“Because,” says Rose, “I am trying to tell you why we’re celebrating.”

“Okay, hit me.”

“Our house just finalized a deal with Gwendoline Marcs.”

Gwendoline Marcs is an up-and-coming director. They say up-and-coming but she has already had a few nods for her last and first featureAnd Then They Metand there are rumors she has another project lined up. She started directing when she was younger than me and now in only her mid-thirties, she’s basically established herself as the next Scorsese in the making. I am, reasonably, obsessed with her.

“Oh my god Rose.” I hug her. “That is so cool”

She grins. “I know we are all so buzzed. Grant brought us a round of drinks at lunchtime to celebrate. But that’s not why we are excited tonight.”

“What could possibly be more exciting than you working with Gwendoline Marcs?”

Her grin grows. “Youworking with Gwendoline Marcs.”

I laugh. “As if.”

“I am deadly serious.”

The look in her eyes makes the laughter on my lips fade. “Wait— huh?”

Rosie tries to smother the grin on face, but her sparkling eyes give her away. “I don’t know too much about the film yet, today was just an excuse for a piss-up. But basically from what I can tell it’s being filmed exclusively in France and the main actor is a complete nightmare. It’s all under NDA so no juicy details —although I bet they’re a real diva.”

I wait for Rosie to take a swig of her wine, vibrating with apprehension.

“Anyway,” she continues, “apparently they’re looking for a PA/assistant/runner person.”

I gasp, “I’m a PA/assistant/runner person.”

“I know,” Rosie cackles. “So I was like, ‘that’s crazy my best friend is currently looking right now.’”

I am on top of the world.

“But they said no.”

I fall, pitifully, back to earth.

“Butthenthey said that they needed a French speaker.”

And I’m up again. “I speak French!”

“I know!” Rosie laughs. “I told them you are fluent and half French and have a French passport and everything and guess what?”

“What?” I ask breathlessly, already knowing my best friend is going to pull through for me.

“They wanted to see your CV.”

“Shut the fuck up.” I jump to my feet “Where’s my CV?”

Rosie laughs, “You literally sent it to me earlier.”

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