The plan was for Jenna to go down to the cottage the Friday before she started filming, so she’d have the weekend to get herself organised. The builders were due to start work that week too. It was all falling into place. She’d been to costume fittings in London, and by the middle of the week before she was due to start filming, she already had her bags packed. She’d given herself two days off before her Cornish adventure, although it felt wrong turning down work. It seemed to be a snowball effect, the more she worked, the more she was offered. It felt good getting her name and face out there.
~
‘I’m going to miss you.’ Carla wrapped Jenna in a bear-hug.
The remains of their Indian takeaway littered the coffee table in Jenna’s apartment, their plates stained yellow and red from chicken pasanda and a lamb rogan josh.
‘I so wish you were working on this film too.’
Carla pointed to her choppy pink hair, twisted into curls. ‘Was never going to happen – not a period film looking like this.’
‘You have to come and stay with me for a bit.’
‘I’ll try. You’re so effing jammy with this role. What a way to spend the summer. Filming on location in Cornwall, staying in a cute as anything cottage...’
‘It will be cute but it’s not at the moment.’
‘Beats living here and commuting into London.’
‘You’ve got stuff lined up though, haven’t you?’
‘Yeah, course.’ Carla reached for a poppadum and broke a piece off. Crumbs dropped on to her baggy black and white harem pants.
‘You sound down.’
Carla shrugged. ‘Nah, not really, I’m being flaky. Just a bit fed up of the whole audition cycle, but we came into this knowing it’s a shit-hard way to make a living.’
‘I thought it’d get easier, the more auditions I went to but it doesn’t, does it?’
‘Gets fucking harder. More pressure that we should know what we’re doing.’
‘But you’re getting stuff, right? You’re always working.’
‘Yeah, I’m just being over sensitive. I get work as the kooky, weird friend, the raver, the homeless woman, the drug user, the crazy person going mental in a music video... I’m never going to get the kind of roles you or Heidi get.’
Jenna’s fists clenched at the mention of Heidi. Despite everything that had happened, it was weird her not being here with them, saying goodbye, sharing their successes and fears.
Carla sighed. ‘I just need my luck to change and get a role like yours, something permanent and secure for a few weeks.’
‘You’ll find something, you always do.’ Jenna reached for her friend’s hand. ‘I hate seeing you looking down. Remember at drama school you were so positive about getting to play the interesting characters and not the blonde girl-next-door type. I’m never going to get chosen for those quirky parts that you’re awesome at. The tutors loved you for that too.’
‘Yeah, I know. Like I said I’m being over sensitive. I turn up to an audition and there’s a sea of pretty blondes waiting to be called and I know I have no chance.’
‘You’ve dyed your hair pink; you know that’s not helping, right?’ Jenna laughed.
Carla playfully whacked her arm and ran her fingers through her short choppy hair. ‘It was for a role, that quirky lesbian nightclub owner. I quite like it, although it’s fading pretty quick; almost back to blonde.’
‘There you go then, you’ll fit right in with that “sea of pretty blondes” soon enough.’
‘Yeah, right. I should get “quirky” tattooed on me.’ She reached for the bottles of Cobra and passed Jenna one. ‘Anyway, enough of me moaning. Congrats to you on getting a great job and here’s to you having an amazing summer in Cornwall.’ She knocked her bottle against Jenna’s. ‘You might find a cute guy down there...’ Carla winked. ‘I mean, you’re going to get to work with Milo Blake. He is so hot right now.’
‘He is, but...’
‘Yeah yeah, I know, this year’s all about you, but never say never...’
Jenna tucked her legs beneath her on the sofa. ‘Going out with another actor, well you know, has its challenges...’
‘We’re all bloody neurotic, that’s why.’
‘And a “normal” bloke, well, they just don’t get what we do, that it’s acting. We play act for a living, for God’s sake, it doesn’t mean anything.’
‘Elijah was a prick.’ Carla sipped her beer. ‘Not every normal bloke will react the same way as he did. He was jealous as fuck with no good reason.’
‘He kinda did have a good reason though, didn’t he?’ Jenna folded her arms. ‘I spent a week filming half naked, writhing around with a male model.’
‘Yes, but you were acting.’
Jenna glanced at the cloudy night tinged yellow from the street light right outside the kitchen window. ‘He didn’t see it that way.’
‘And that was his problem. He lost out big time because he lost you, all because he couldn’t handle what you do for a living. You’ve got to do what makes you happy. If acting’s it, then you need to find someone who understands that it’s a job and you have boundaries.’ She pointed her bottle at Jenna. ‘You know what, you’ve just cheered me up. I don’t have that problem. I never get to snog a hot man – or hot woman for that matter – seeing as though I always get cast as the quirky sidekick. They never get laid.’
~
Early the next morning Jenna heaved her bags into the boot of her car. She crawled through traffic and regretted not waiting until after rush hour to get going. Despite the overcast morning, she kept her window open. The heat and humidity mixed with exhaust fumes made her long to leave suburbia behind and feel fresh air on her face. Cars splintered off at each junction, people dropping their kids off
