Page 28 of All That Glitters
“We thought everyone knew.”
Just then, a loud, pained yelp echoed across the set.
“OUCH!”
They both looked over. Preston was staggering away from Carrie with the megaphone shoved completely down over his head, its cone resting on his shoulders. He flailed blindly, arms pinwheeling.
“I want that girl out of here!” his muffled voice came from inside the plastic cone. He collided with a light stand, sending it crashing to the ground in a shower of glass and sparks.
Philip, the director, emerged from his trailer at the commotion. He simply shook his head. “See. What’d I tell you,” he called out. “She’s the devil.”
Chapter ten
The Great Debbie Intervention
“I think my brain just melted and leaked out my ear,” Debbie groaned as she trudged into her apartment, her shoulders slumped under the weight of an oversized backpack. She let it drop to the floor with a heavy thud. With midterms finally over, she could ditch that thing for at least a couple months.
Veronica looked over from the couch, where she had a pizza slice in one hand while flipping through TV channels with the other. “Rough day at the salt mines?”
“You have no idea,” Debbie sighed, kicking off her shoes and flexing her cramped toes. She shuffled over to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, and stared blankly into its depths, as if the answers to life’s questions might be found between the orange juice and leftover Chinese takeout. Finding nothing interesting, she closed it and walked over to the small answering machine on the end table. Its red light blinked with saved messages.
“Any calls for me?” she asked.
Veronica smiled, taking a slow, deliberate bite of her pizza while maintaining eye contact. It was a smile that said she knew something hilarious that Debbie might not find so amusing.
“There might be two messages for you on there,” Veronica said.
“Tony?” Debbie said, trying to sound neutral, but failing miserably.
“Nope. His friends. Jeff and Matt.”
Debbie shot her a puzzled look. “Why would they call?”
Veronica shrugged as if she had no idea, but her broadening grin gave her away. “Guess you’ll have to play the messages to find out.”
“You’re being weird tonight,” Debbie said, eyeing her roommate oddly.
“Trust me,” Veronica said. “It’s about to get a lot weirder.”
Debbie pressed the play button on the machine, and Matt’s voice came on.
‘Hi Debbie, it’s Tony’s friend, Matt. We met at graduation. Listen, if Jeff calls, just delete his message. I think he has rabies or something. Anyway, I was wondering if you might want to go out sometime. I’ll try you later.’
A sharp beep, and then Jeff’s voice, a whole different brand of chaotic energy, crackled to life.
‘Hey, Debbie. This is Jeff, Tony’s buddy. I’m the guy who’s gonna be an attorney. So, I’m calling to see if you wanna go out. Tony mentioned you’re not very sophisticated, so I thought maybe we could catch the monster truck show or something. Oh, and if Matt calls, just ignore him.’
Veronica burst out laughing, nearly choking on her pizza. “Told ya!” she managed between coughs. “It’s like watching two tomcats fight over a piece of catnip.”
Debbie just stared at the silent machine, a look of utter bewilderment on her face. The exhaustion and brain fog frommidterms had been replaced with one furious thought —‘not sophisticated.’
Debbie stormed over to the couch and plopped down. She snatched the bag of chips off the coffee table and shoved a handful into her mouth.
“Do you think anyone would miss Tony if I just killed him?” she mumbled through a mouthful of chips.
“Now, roomie,” Veronica said, watching her with growing amusement. “That wouldn’t be very sophisticated of you now, would it.”
“Bite me,” Debbie shot back.
