Page 3 of Risk It All

EMERSON: That’s on the way.I’ll pick you up at ten.

ANTHONY: See you then.

I smile,sliding my phone into my pocket.It feels good to have one part of the trip figured out at least.

The apartment door opens and my friend and roommate, Theo, comes stumbling in, dragging a case behind him.

“Hey, man!”he calls out, grinning as he kicks the front door closed.

“Hey.How was the shoot?”I ask him as I stand and head into the kitchen to grab something to eat.

Theo is my roommate.We’ve been close friends since we were kids, grew up playing at each other’s houses, but we had lost track of each other when we went off to different colleges.

I had been back home when my mom told me that Theo had moved out to the west coast.He’s a kickass photographer and was trying to break into the industry.I had messaged him and asked if he needed a roommate.Luckily for me, his last roommate was just about to move out to go live with his girlfriend back in Chicago and I was able to move in two weeks later.

Theo has been working his way up from photographer’s assistant to running his own shoots.In the last few months, he’s managed to snag a few high-profile jobs but he’s gone a lot, flying to New York or Europe for shoots.

“It was great,” Theo says with a sigh.

He looks tired and I try to remember where he just flew in from.I think it was Florida.

“How have things been here?”he asks as he grabs a beer and leans back against the countertop.

“Same as when you left.I heard back from The Comedy Vault.I audition next week.”

“No shit?”Theo asks, grinning at me.

“No shit.I’m leaving Sunday morning.”

“How you getting there?”Theo asks, well aware of my current financial situation.“Is Alexander footing the bill?”

Alexander is my millionaire younger brother.He owns a real estate investment company out in New York City and I’m planning on staying with him when I get out there but I haven’t told him that yet.

I could ask him for the money or to buy me a plane ticket.I know that he would do it, but it doesn’t feel right to ask him for money.I’ve always been proud and I want to make my own way in life.I have enough in savings to split the trip with that Emerson guy.

“No, I found someone who is driving out to New York too, and I’m going to get a ride with them and split gas.”

“Who?”Theo asks, his head disappearing into the fridge as he looks for something to eat.Joke’s on him, because I haven’t gone grocery shopping since he left on his trip.

“Some guy named Emerson.”

Theo looks confused, probably trying to remember when I mentioned him before.I reach past him, grabbing the milk that’s about to expire out of the fridge and dumping the last of it on my bowl of cereal.

“Did you put in your notice for work yet?”he asks and I shake my head no.

I work at a little bookstore in downtown Los Angeles.It’s probably going to go under soon.Not many brick and mortar stores can compete with the online retailers.That’s part of the reason why I’m so excited for this audition.

Getting into The Comedy Vault would open a ton of doors.I could hire an agent, start booking some shows, even if I’m an opener.I could start touring.

“Will you be moving out then?”Theo asks, and I notice that he doesn’t seem that upset about if I were to.

“If I get the spot, then yeah.I’ll be moving to New York.”

“I got offered a few contracts out there and with Fashion Week and stuff coming up, I was thinking about moving out to New York too,” he admits and I’m shocked to hear this.

I thought that Theo loved Los Angeles.He’s right though.He has been spending more and more time out there lately, and I know that the modeling scene is big out there.

“Maybe we can room together,” Theo suggests, and I jump on the offer.

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