Jenna dumped her bag on the floor and flopped on the sofa. With no job lined up for tomorrow, she texted Carla about going out. She didn’t have anything scheduled for the rest of the week either, which usually worried her, but she had spent Monday and Tuesday filming a sunglasses advert. Not only had it been a lot more fun than expected, it was decent money, so she wasn’t freaking out about the rest of the week being quiet.
They met at a Middle Eastern restaurant almost exactly between where they lived. The large window below the deep blue sign, Baba Ganoush, was steamed up from the heat and people inside. Carla was already there, easy to spot with her short pink hair, sitting on the bench that lined the far side of the restaurant, clashing with the mustard-coloured wall behind her.
‘Hey, Jenna!’ Carla stood and enveloped her in a hug, her nose-ring cold against Jenna’s neck.
Jenna sat on the chair opposite. ‘I thought I’d be the one waiting for you.’
‘Unbelievably we wrapped early.’
‘You were that good were you?’ Jenna smiled and poured herself a glass of water.
‘I was the only dancer in the end; they wanted a one-on-one scene.’
‘I’d love to be in a music video.’
Carla reached across and touched Jenna’s long blonde hair. ‘Trust me, with your looks, you absolutely will be one day. But hey, getting gigs in film and TV is pretty awesome.’ She picked up the menu. ‘Do you know what you want? I’m starving.’
‘Didn’t they feed you well on set?’
Carla scanned the menu. ‘Yeah, too good as always, but totally stodgy stuff that I avoided considering I was in little more than a boob tube and leggings.’
Jenna smiled, knowing full well Carla had little to worry about and she’d make up for the lack of food this evening. ‘I’m going to have my usual. Kofta, pilaf, grilled Turkish pepper and baba ganoush’
‘Nice. I might have the chicken sheesh with those creamy leeks.’
They dunked strips of flatbread into beetroot and tahini dip while they waited for their main course. Jenna sipped her large glass of wine, something she never did if she was working the next day, as it always made her head groggy and sent her into a panic about sleeping through her alarm. But tonight she could relax.
‘Have you heard from Heidi?’ Carla picked up her wine, sat back against the cushioned bench and looked across the table.
Jenna shook her head.
‘Not since you moved out? Not at all?’
‘Nope.’ Jenna dabbed the side of her mouth with a napkin.
‘Wow, you really are pissed with each other.’
‘Are you surprised? I’m fuming. Why the hell does she get to be pissed at me? I did nothing wrong and yet it feels like I’ve taken the blame.’
Carla held her hands up. A tattoo of a snake wriggled from her wrist down the length of her arm. ‘I know, I know, you don’t have to tell me. It’s just you were always inseparable, practically since the first day of drama school. My two favourite blondes.’
Jenna swirled her wine around the glass. ‘Doesn’t that make you wonder why the hell she’d treat me the way she did?’
‘It was underhand...’
‘That’s an understatement!’ Jenna leant forward and rested her elbows on the table. She kept her voice low, despite the anger churning in her stomach. ‘She stole a role from right under my nose; it was more than underhand; it was utterly deceitful.’
‘I totally get why you moved out, but don’t you want to try and have some sort of friendship with her? At the very least have a conversation about it.’
‘Honestly, I don’t care if it feels like I’m being childish or holding a grudge or whatever else anyone thinks; she needs to make the first move. She needs to grovel. An apology would be nice. Ignoring the situation isn’t going to make me come running back with open arms.’ Jenna placed her glass on the table. ‘Have you spoken to her?’
The waiter appeared next to them. ‘The kofta?’ He placed the plate in front of Jenna. ‘And the sheesh kebab. Enjoy.’
Carla picked up a knife and fork and smoothed a napkin on to her lap. ‘I saw her the other day at a casting for an ad. We were there for different roles... This is the thing though, isn’t it, you two were always going to end up competing with each other for parts. You’re too bloody similar – looks-wise at least, if not personality.’
‘What, cos I have integrity and she doesn’t? However much I want a role, I’d never do what she did. Never. Us being competition for each other doesn’t excuse what she did.’
Carla skewered a piece of grilled chicken with her fork and pointed it at Jenna. ‘I agree, it doesn’t. It really doesn’t. I just want my two best friends to kiss and make up. Selfish reasons on my part. We were an awesome team.’
Jenna reached across the table and took Carla’s hand. ‘I know how tough this is on you. I don’t want you to feel like you have to choose sides or not talk to her...’
‘I don’t feel like that, Jen, honestly I don’t. You’re too good a friend to make me feel like that. And Heidi, well, thanks to her deceitfulness, she’s too bloody busy most of the time filming with Bond himself, the whole ’effing reason why we’re in this mess to begin with.’
~
Jenna left Carla with a hug and they went home to their own flats. Jenna loved Carla’s independence and how uncomplicated their friendship was, unlike her and Heidi’s. Carla had always rented a room in a shared house but never with a fellow actor. Smart really, Jenna thought as she cycled home, to ensure life outside work was free of drama queens and the complicated egos of actors.
It had only been at the end of last year when Jenna
