I shoot him a warning look that he’d better not make any cracks about her other job. He and I always fuck with each other, but she just met him and Caden can be a little insensitive.
She gives him a curt nod. “Yes, but I studied hard.”
“Interesting,” he smirks, glancing to me with a she’s-fucking-hot-I-know-why-she’s-here look. “Where can I sit?”
“Take my chair.” I point to it. “I’m reading with the actors so I’m standing by the camera during these.”
Caden’s eyebrows shoot up. “You’re acting?”
“Just reading the lines for their auditions.”
He glances to Natalie. “Max any good?”
“Hate to admit it, but yes he is.”
As Caden takes my chair he laughs, “Don’t want to compliment his big head, huh?”
From behind her wall a smile appears, just a small one but I notice it. Hell, I live for it. She’s so hot and cold, I never know exactly what I’m going to get. And I hated the days when she wasn’t available. Next time I saw her she looked scared. I didn’t know what I’d done to inspire that. The woman is a mystery. And then there’s her roommate.
My stomach is on edge almost every damn day lately.
Caden asks her, “How was your Thanksgiving, Natalie?”
“Good, thanks. Was with my family. I love sweet potatoes and marshmallows a little too much. Did you guys have a nice one? Max said it was at your grandparents’ place?”
“Yep, delicious. Almost everybody there, too. Except Soph, but she’s never with us over the holidays.” Glancing to me he says, “I can’t believe Sofia Sol is in love, can you?”
“Nope. Never thought it was possible for someone to chain a ball to her ankle.”
“Right?!” my brother laughs. “Sofia Sol engaged…what the fuck is happening in the world?”
Shaking my head I poke around the camera settings. “I heard her buddy Celia is too, now.”
“She’s a cutie,” Caden murmurs, staring at the ground. “I should’ve tried to get in on that.”
Laughing I punch his shoulder. “We are not alone! Oh hey, I forgot to tell you, Natalie confided in me people don’t like us very much in this town.”
He spins on the chair, honestly shocked. “What?” Flipping back around to her next. “Who doesn’t? That’s bullshit! We’re a staple in this community.” Under his breath he adds, “Lord knows there are enough of us!”
Natalie straightens her bangs with a long fingernail she painted red since yesterday. Before that they were blue. Two weeks before, purple. Orange, and of course light pink when we met. I’ve been paying attention.
“Yes, it’s well known how many of you there are,” she smirks. “And how successful. How good looking. And I’m sure I don’t have to tell you this, but there are a lot of broken hearts crying for vengeance.”
He stares at her, then waves the problem away with one simple word. “Jealousy.”
Her lips twitch. “Ya think?”
“Yes! And it’s stupid. Gets nobody anywhere. Unless you use it to propel you to greatness, like I’m doing with Janet. The hospital is beaming at her and I’m having to work twice as hard because they’ve got their hearts set on hiring a woman. Plus she’s exceptional. So what am I doing? Moping? Shaming her? Gossiping? Hell no, because I’ve got a life that’s my own to create any damn way I want. Same as everybody. Janet raised the bar, so I’m working harder than she is and I will prove my worth no matter what it takes. You know what I hope? I hope they take both of us! I don’t want her to have to relocate from her family, either. You gotta just be a good human being for Christ’s sake.” He punches the air with his finger. “That’s what you do! Don’t go whining to your friends. Do something! And those people gossiping about us can shove their sharp tongues up their own asses.” Locking eyes with me he says, “Right Max?”
“Hell yeah.”
Caden motions to me to add, “Your thesis film was outstanding because you knew if you really wanted to do your own movie one day then every project should have that much commitment behind it. How many of your classmates’ films did I sit through that weekend?”
“At least forty.”
“And yours won the prize!” To Natalie he groans, “Some were brutally bad.”
Defending them I correct him, “Caden, not everybody wanted to be a director but they had to turn in a project none-the-less. Their talents were in other things. Like that one about the butterfly people? That guy has mad skills in the art department, not helming.”
“Ah, right, I was wondering what the hell was up with that.” Jogging his head, “The scenery was pretty cool. Story, not so much.”
“He only cares about scenery. That’s his gift.”
“Well that makes sense now.”
My eyes lock with Natalie because she’s staring at me. She glances away, eyelashes fluttering like she was about to ask a question but decided against it.
So I prod her, curious, “What were you gonna say?”
Meeting my eyes she shrugs like it’s not a big deal, “I want to see the film you did. Would you mind showing me some time?”
Pride tugs at me and I roll on my heels, smiling. “Whenever you want to come over.”
Caden’s smirk is too much. “Yeah, you should come back here to Max’s place when you guys aren’t working. Watch a movie. Have some popcorn. That’d be nice.”
Laughing, “Shut it,” I head out to call the next actor in.
My brother’s voice lowers. “And if you want me to be there, too, I can arrange that.”
“Caden!” I grin, pausing at the door. “Cut it out. That’s my business partner. Don’t get me sued.”
He throws his hands up, “Okay!”
I borrowed a canopy and four outdoor heaters
