CHAPTER 3
“There’s no money for it,” her assistant said. “And you didn’t ask Walter to include a specific hotel in your contract.”
“He has been my manager for literal decades. He didn’t think to include that automatically? I have three lawyers that read the thing and an agent, and none of them caught the fact that lodging wasn’t specified?”
“I guess not,” Kyla replied. “Do you want me to call the EP and ask if there’s anything they can find in the budget to get you moved?”
“Yes, obviously. I called for an update. I asked for that last night,” she said.
“You called me at nine at night, Samara. I was already asleep.”
“What? At nine o’clock? Why?”
“I’m seven months pregnant,” Kyla returned. “You’re lucky I’m even awake for more than four hours at a time. I’m having twins, and the doctor now has me on bed rest until I deliver.”
“Bed rest?”
“Yes. I’m only allowed to get up to pee and bathe, and even then, she wants me to have my husband help. It’s boring and ridiculous, so the good news for you is that I’m ready for a fight with someone. The bad news for you is that you called me at six in the morning.”
“It’s eight here,” she replied.
“I’m going to call one of my other assistant friends and see if she can get there for you, but if not, I’m sure she knows someone who would be reliable. They can be on set with you and available when I’m not. You clearly need someone there with you.”
“I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself,” Samara argued as she walked to the shaky elevator. “And I’m taking the stairs.”
“You called me to get your hotel changed.”
“Because that’s something you usually do. And this hotel now has my credit card on file for incidentals. Why isn’t there a production card on file? Is this even a real movie? Is there a budget and a crew?”
“Yes.” Kyla laughed. “This is a real movie, Samara. You know it’s a real movie, but it’s an indie film that you wanted to do, so you’re going to have to get used to things not being exactly like the movies you’ve wrapped recently.”
“So, one step above a student film, then?”
“Budget-wise? Probably, yes. But again, you wanted this. Personally, I’m not sure that this movie is going to get you anything.
It’s a rom-com at best, and a gay one at that.
I know you were thinking you might get something for playing a lesbian, but that’s not exactly the thing these days.
People want queer people to play queer roles now.
And this isn’t some period piece, either. It’s a modern-day lesbian film.”
“Yes. And?”
“Well, you might be bi, but you haven’t come out yet, so no one will know and might even end up giving you crap for it. At least, Vanessa Pierce is gay.”
“She hit on me at the audition. Did I tell you that?” she asked as she made her way down the stairs.
“No, you did not. Where was this information? Have I mentioned how bored I am?”
“This was months ago, when you could still pee on your own,” Samara replied.
“She flirted with me like crazy before the audition. I thought it was maybe because she’s method or she just wanted to get in the right frame of mind, but it continued after, too, and she asked me if I wanted to get a drink.
I suppose she could still be method, but that wasn’t the vibe. ”
“Did you go?”
“Of course not. Not only was she auditioning to be my co-star, but she could have told people. Besides, I was dating Caleb then.”
“Oh, Caleb. I forgot about him. How long did he last?”
“About three minutes most times,” she joked.
Kyla laughed wildly and replied, “Thank you. I needed that.”
“Well, I needed at least another ten to fifteen. Or, really, just better sex.” Samara allowed herself to laugh at her own joke and added, “And it was Xavier after that, and that was a mistake, too.”
“He only lasted two minutes?” she joked.
“No, he was good in bed, but he only wanted to be in bed. That worked for a few weeks, but we weren’t exclusive, and he didn’t want to be, so it became a lot of work, keeping up with that.”
“Keeping up with–”
“Being safe,” Samara whispered as she pushed open the door. “He was with other women, and I was with a couple of guys at the time, too. I got tested, like, six times just to be safe, and that is tedious.”
“Why did you keep doing it for even that long then?”
“Because it was great sex, and I had nothing else to do when I wasn’t working.” She shrugged a shoulder and checked what was around the corner before turning that way. “But he went away to film anyway, so it was time.”
“We’ve known each other for years now. Can I ask you a question I’ve wanted to ask you since you told me you’re bi?”
“I know what you’re going to ask me,” she replied and stayed put because there was a family heading out the front doors, and she didn’t want to get recognized and have to sign autographs.
Samara blamed the kids’ movie she worked on the previous year. It was live action. She had wanted to diversify her roles, but for kids, she should’ve gone animated, because ever since playing the princess who’d rescued herself, she’d been getting hounded by kids wherever she went.
“You told me late last year, but since then, you’ve only told me about guys you’ve been with.”
“That’s because what you’re thinking is true,” she said.
“Really?”
“I can’t exactly just sleep with any woman, Ky,” she replied, using the nickname she sometimes called Kyla. “What am I supposed to do? Ask her to fill out an NDA just to go on a date with me, and if we sleep together, add a clause?”
“No, you’d add that clause before you sleep with them. You’ve read more than enough contracts to know that.”
“You’re hilarious,” Samara said sarcastically. “Anyway, no, I haven’t been with a woman. But I’m hoping this movie helps me with that,” she added softly so as not to be overheard accidentally.
“Well, if you want to sleep with Vanessa, that might be a good idea. She’s been out for a while now. Plus, she’s hot.”
“I’m not sleeping with my co-star,” Samara whispered. “Now, I’ve got to get to the office that they’ve probably got set up at a picnic table or something, because they said they needed to talk to me before final fittings and makeup tests. God, I’m starving. Where is my breakfast?”
“You didn’t order any. You have lunch coming, though.”
“Order any? What are you talking about? They have all my specifications. I thought there would be a plate outside my door this morning when I woke up.”
“They requested that you let them know what time you wanted it. I told you that. You said you’d let me know when you got here, but you didn’t.
I forgot to remind you because I’m seven months pregnant with twins and trying to keep my eyes open long enough to even have this conversation, and my difficult-as-fuck boss was so focused on her room, she didn’t mention it. ”
“Fine. Order me a smoothie, then. The usual. And have it sent to wherever the office is. There will be a car today, at least, right? I don’t have to order one myself?”
“Yes, today and every day after, you’ll have access to a town car.”
“At least, there’s that. Can you please have them adjust the AC fifteen minutes before they pull up to the hotel? I’d like it to be at seventy degrees when I get in the car, not cooling off until we arrive on set.”
“Yes, I can do that. First, I’ll call the EP about the hotel. Then, I’ll place the smoothie order. After that, I’ll call the car people, but it won’t be seventy when you get into this one because it’s probably already outside, waiting.”
“Fine,” she replied. “Make sure they change the card on file, too. I don’t expect to need anything, but I’m not paying for my own incidentals should they actually have something in that little shop I want.”
“Adding that to my list as we speak.”
“Are you, really?”
“No. I don’t have a pen, my laptop is charging because it died on me, and the phone I’m using to talk to you is currently resting on my giant-ass baby bump, which the doctor said looks more like I’m eight months along. She laughed as she told me that. She thought that was funny. I did not.”
Samara, seeing that the coast was finally clear, walked through the lobby and quickly headed out to where she saw the waiting town car and a driver standing outside by the back door.
“Good; the car’s here. I’ll talk to you soon. Will lunch–”
“Be delivered wherever you are at noon,” Kyla finished.
“Thank you,” Samara said. “Have the smoothie arrive as soon as possible, please, and add a shot of wheatgrass, but make sure they can keep both of those things cold.”
“I know the drill, boss,” Kyla replied.
Then, they hung up, and Samara approached the man by the town car.
“Who are you here for?” she asked him.
“You, Ma’am,” he replied with a slight stutter. “I mean, Miss Samara Barber.”
“And where are we going?”
“To the production office,” he said, looking a little nervous, which was common these days.
“You should know that I’ll be tracking our drive, and my assistant has all the information, should anything happen to me.”
“Sorry?”
“As a safety precaution. Can we go, please?”
“Oh, sure,” he said and pulled open the door for her.
When Samara climbed inside, she knew it was seventy-two degrees in the car, not seventy, so the moment he sat in his seat, she instructed him to lower the temperature, pulled the sunglasses that had been on her forehead down over her eyes, and closed them, needing just a few minutes of calm before the real work was set to begin.