What the heck is Avery
"We'll be back for you tomorrow," Diana Marks said, then leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes.
Avery Hayes didn't say anything, either, just closed her eyes and started running through her character's motivations in her head.
An hour and a half later, their car pulled up to the North Star Film and Television Studio, home to the temporary offices for the *Bones of Mountains and Rivers* film crew.
Diana told their driver, Shane Croft, to wait downstairs, then brought Wyatt Riggs along to accompany Avery to the audition. As Avery's new assistant, Wyatt needed to learn the ropes of the job, and this was his first real test.
Both *Bones of Mountains and Rivers* and *The World's Game* were major productions, so the crew had rented out an entire floor for their offices. A conference room just off the main entrance had been converted into a waiting area for the actors coming to audition.
When the three of them came up from the parking garage, the other four actors scheduled for that time slot had already arrived.
The room was quiet, with everyone either sitting in silence or muttering to their agents and assistants in hushed tones.
Avery took her cue from them, scanning the room before finding an empty corner to settle into.
But as soon as she sat down, she noticed something odd. There was one more person here to audition than the five she'd been told to expect.
Before she could puzzle it out, a man in a sharp, dark blue shirt who had been standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows turned and smiled. He strode toward Diana with an easy confidence.
"Diana! When did you get back in the country? You should have let me know you were back."
His smile was bright and his tone was warm, but his eyes, sharp and calculating, slid right past Diana to land on Avery.
His voice cut through the quiet, and the low murmurs in the room died down instantly. The other agents shot a quick glance at Diana, and the moment they confirmed she was the one being addressed, their faces tightened. They all quickly looked away, a new wariness settling over them.
The atmosphere in the room suddenly felt charged and strange. As the agents averted their eyes, they exchanged glances that weren't nearly as subtle as they probably thought. Avery couldn't decipher their silent signals, but she could feel a palpable sense of caution directed at Diana.
"I'm sorry," Diana said, her expression cold as she looked at the man approaching. "It's been a while since I've been back. I'm having trouble placing faces. Who are you?" She spoke as if she'd genuinely never seen him before in her life.
As she talked, she shifted her body just enough to block Avery from his line of sight, a clear, protective gesture. Taking his cue, Wyatt took a quiet step forward, his tall frame now completely shielding Avery from the man's view.
Diana's cool, dismissive "I don't know you" made the man's handsome face crack. His smile froze on his lips. He clearly hadn't expected her to humiliate him so publicly.
Nearby, another actress, Whitney Patton, had a young assistant who obviously hadn't been trained for these kinds of situations yet. The moment Diana finished speaking, the assistant let out a tiny, irrepressible snort. Whitney looked mortified and immediately tugged on the girl's sleeve.
In a circle this small, there was no such thing as not knowing each other. Even if they'd never worked together, everyone knew who was who. The other agents had recognized Diana on sight, after all. If Diana claimed she didn't recognize this actor, there was only one possible reason.
She'd said it on purpose. And she'd done it without leaving him an ounce of room to save face.
"Diana, it's me. Roman Duke." The embarrassment on his face lasted only a few seconds before he pasted on a smile, pretending he hadn't noticed her deliberate brush-off. "You used to be my agent."
Hearing this, Diana just gave a nonchalant, "Oh." She calmly raised her eyes and studied him for a long moment before finally acting as if a lightbulb had just gone off.
"My apologies. Your face looks... a little different than I remember. I didn't recognize you for a second."
She said she was sorry, but her casual tone was more insulting than a direct jab. She might as well have announced that he'd had so much work done his own mother wouldn't recognize him.
Stung again, the fake smile finally fell from Roman's face. He pursed his lips and tilted his head, trying to peer past Diana toward where Avery was sitting. But this time, all he saw was the back of Wyatt's head.
Undeterred, Roman pulled his gaze back to Diana, a smirk playing on his lips. "So, you came all the way back for this new kid on the block?"
Caught in the crossfire, Avery bristled.
*Kid?* Was he serious? She wasn't a kid.
That giggling assistant was a kid. Annoyed, she shifted in her seat, ready to stand up and say something, but one look at Diana's posture told her to stay put.
Diana didn't want him engaging with her at all.
So Avery leaned back, content to watch her new agent handle this.
"To you, I suppose she is a kid," Diana replied smoothly, effortlessly turning his jab back on him. "Which would make it perfectly fine for her to call you an old-timer, wouldn't it?" If he was going to try and frame her artist as an inexperienced nobody, she'd just call him old and washed-up.
"Pfft, " Whitney's assistant completely lost it this time, her laugh echoing in the silent room.
Roman froze, mortified and with nowhere to go. He shot a furious glare at the young assistant, who was now trying to stifle her giggles. Whitney, fiercely protective of her people, saw his look and immediately pulled the girl behind her, glaring right back at him without flinching.
Having lost face on all fronts, Roman took a deep breath and tried one last time with Diana.
"You really move fast, Diana. This girl is that doctor who was all over the internet, right? My agent, Nolan, was just saying he wanted to sign her. I can't believe you swooped in and got her the second you landed."
Diana gave him a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Nolan Burke has such high standards. Would he really be interested in my artist?"
She paused, then added pointedly, "Aren't you supposed to be his prized talent? Why isn't he here with you today? Could it be that Farah Moss had some... *personal business* to attend to, and he had to go help her with it?"
She hit the names "Farah Moss" and "personal business" hard. The subtext was practically screaming: *You've fallen out of favor. Nolan isn't even bothering to show up for you anymore.*
Roman's expression went rigid. "Nolan's busy," he forced out. "I came by myself."
Diana just let out a noncommittal little scoff.
Defeated, Roman gave an awkward smile, squared his shoulders, and walked back to his spot by the window.
Just then, the door to the audition room swung open. A middle-aged man poked his head out, looked directly at Roman, and gestured for him to come in.
Roman's face lit up. He straightened his clothes, lifted his chin, and wiped away all traces of his earlier humiliation. With a confident swagger, he walked into the audition room.
The other actresses waiting outside saw this, and their expressions soured. It was in that moment that Avery finally understood why the five scheduled auditions had become six.
Roman had used his connections to cut the line.
Diana saw it too and let out another scoff, not a hint of surprise on her face.
She turned to Avery. "The people Nolan Burke manages are the best at playing dirty," she said, her voice low.
"Don't worry about it. Roman's acting is mediocre at best, and his face is as stiff as a board from all the work he's had done. The director, Conrad King, is incredibly picky. Even if he gets an audition, he won't get the part."
As Diana spoke, the other actors seemed to come to the same conclusion. They exchanged knowing glances, and some of the tension in the room finally eased.
Diana hadn't expected to run into an actor she used to manage. She frowned, thinking for a moment. It was probably time to give Avery a heads-up about a few things so she wouldn't get taken advantage of down the line.
She pulled a stool over, sat down next to Avery, and lowered her voice. "Okay, let me tell you about some things from my time at Starry Sky. Especially about the actors who broke their contracts and left with Nolan. If you run into them again, you need to be on your guard."