Page 18 of All That Glitters
“Honest opinion?”
“If that’s the one where you say, ‘Cool idea, Tony, you should do it’.”
She gave a light chuckle. “Okay, honest opinion. I think it could be pretty cool if — and that’s a massiveif— you finish it.”
“I’ll finish it. And you know how I know that? Because I’m recruiting you to make sure I do.”
Debbie did a double-take. “Me?”
“Yup.”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“The same way you always have. You have this weird, annoying way of pushing me to get things done. Remember that go-kart we made back in fifth grade?”
Debbie let out a groan and shook her head. “Don’t remind me.”
“Hey. It might not have looked that great, but it got finished because of you. Me, Kevin, and Mark had pretty much given up on it, but you kept coming over every day, dragging all that wood you found in alleys and hammering it together. There was no way we were gonna let a girl show us up, so we jumped back in.”
“It looked like a coffin that someone ran over,” Debbie chuckled.
“Yeah. But it was our coffin. And the point of all that being, you motivated us to finish it. And now, I need you to work that same annoying Debbie Campbell persistence on me to make sure I don’t flake on my screenplay.”
Debbie watched him for a moment. She didn’t say it, but Tony’s recognition of her contribution to their club, and the go-kart in particular, meant a lot to her. And it meant even more that he was trusting her to help keep him motivated to finish his screenplay.
“Can I inflict creative punishments if I catch you slacking?”
“What kind of punishments?” he asked, suddenly second-guessing this whole idea.
She just smiled and shook her head. “Nope. Just don’t slack, and you’ll never have to find out.”
Before either of them could say another word, a bright red Vespa puttered up out front and parked. A moment later, Debbie’s new roommate, Veronica Hamlin, clomped up theoutside stairs and came in, shaking the helmet-head from her cascade of blond hair.
“Hey. You must be the new roomie,” Veronica said, extending her hand. “Veronica Hamlin.”
Although this was their first time meeting in person, the girls had spoken several times on the phone after Tony introduced them. Veronica and Tony had shared several classes over the past four years, becoming fast friends over a common love of microbrews and greasy Mexican food from San Diego’s all-night taco shops. The timing had worked out perfectly with Veronica’s college roommate moving out at the same time Debbie was looking for a place to stay, so he’d introduced them. The girls hit it off over the phone, and Veronica mailed Debbie a spare key in case Debbie arrived while Veronica was out.
“Debbie Campbell,” Debbie said, shaking hands. “You missed all the fun.”
Veronica looked around the living room at the sparse belongings. “I can see. So, this is it?”
Debbie nodded. “Sad, isn’t it?”
“No complaints from me,” said Veronica. “It’s less stuff to unpack.”
“That’s what I told her,” Tony said.
Veronica turned to him. “So, what’s the new scheme this week?”
“The screenplay I’m writing,” he said. “I told you about it.”
“Yeah. But that was last week.”
He rolled his eyes. “Is my character about to get assassinated?”
Veronica grinned. “I think the bikini calendar you and Jeff were going to do already took care of that. Did you know he and Matt have a bet going over how long till you flake on the screenplay? I think the odds this morning were a hundred to one against you finishing.”
“It was Jeff’s idea for me to write it.”
