The final day was as hot as the last one, and once again we found ourselves outside the same tent. I was fanning myself while Leslie was laying against the chair, her hand against her head, with big black sunglasses on. To be fair, almost everybody seemed to have sunglasses on today.
There was a moment when she slightly stood up, was about to say something, and then laid back down. I pitied her. But if you drink so much what do you expect to happen?
I softly spoke. “Do you want to practice? What scene are you doing?”
She gave back a couple moans. “We just have..agh..one scene left to film.”
“Let me get you something before, it wouldn’t be good if you looked half dead during the scene.”
“Yea, do that.”
I walked out to the support tent, my familiar-looking corner stared at me and I stared back. Ah, I should be reborn as a corner in Abby's house. Wouldn’t that be heaven?
*buzz* *buzz*
Ah was someone texting me? It was a random number?
‘Hey, I’m just texting you again to let you know that I really do need your help! I would appreciate it if you could at least text me back right now!’
Useless. I put my phone back into my pocket. I grabbed some i*****fen and walked out.
I didn’t need any more distractions in my life.
I got back to Leslie, her posture even more dug in. “Here, drink some.” I threw her some of the medicine and she quickly drank it down.
“Do you know if someone from the company is going to do makeup for me?” Leslie asked
“It was part of the deal of you staying over. They would let some of their makeup artists do your makeup instead of the company.”
“Okay, whatever let's practice.” She dragged herself into the tent. “Come on~”
I walked into the tent and closed it behind us.
The scene was set. Lights surrounded the inside of the mansion, it was day. On the bed, Leslie was set like a doll. Her pale skin shone against the brightness of the fake light, while her red lips contrasted the brown hair, like a fan, sprawled against golden sheets. She stared at the pills in her hand like a drunk stared at the last bottle.
“Don’t” a voice came out of the corner of the room. “Don’t do it, sister.” A new character, Alyna, spoke. I had to say, she looked cute, really a great casting choice.
“For what…do I live?”
“For me!”
“No…not for you….I live to get revenge, to ruin that wretched woman's life!” she sat up, her hair unraveling itself down to her thighs, and threw the pills. The bottle cracked and darted around the floor. “And if I can’t! If I can’t! Then what's the point?” she ran out of the bed and grabbed her sister by the shoulders. “Sister, do you understand? Do you understand why this has to be done?”
“I don’t! Please don’t!” The sister began crying, her voice cracked in two. “Please don’t leave me!”
“It must be done. They have to pay….for the evil of their fathers.”
“CUT!”
“Beautiful! Beautiful! Some of the best, and I mean best, acting I have ever seen coming from you Leslie!” he went up to her and shook her hand. “I wish we could work together some more! Let's keep in touch!”
“Yea.”
“And you, miss Alyna, You are fantastic! Come here, let's talk a little about the next scenes.”
Leslie walked over to me. She put on her sunglasses.
I breathed in. “That was amazing!” I said in the happiest voice I could muster.
“That's it, I'm quitting.”
“Wha?”
“I can’t take it anymore, fuck this. Let's get out of here.”
“Wait, wait, don’t you want to reconsider, I mean can’t this just be something that you should think for a little bit? You can’t just quit something when you’ve committed so much!”
“Shut it, If I wanted advice from anybody it wouldn’t be from my assistant. What? Do you think because I acted a little nice to you when I was still drunk last night you have some kind of sway on me? Get the car.’
“Bu-“
“Get. The. Car.”
How do I get her to change her mind?
We got into the car. How do I get her to change her mind?
I saw her taking a nap. How do I get her to change her mind?
“Hey Leslie, please just reconsider. I mean I think you are a great actress.”
She shifted to her side. “Stop talking. I’m sleeping.”
“But I don’t think you should quit. I think you are too good of an actress to quit! You can’t quit.”
“Shut up.”
“I really don’t think you can quit, I don’t care if you keep telling me to shut up.”
“Just stop talking.” With the car slowing down she sat up. “What are you doing?”
I slowed down at a rest stop. It was the middle of the day, but even now there were people walking in and out of the gas station. She tried to open the door but I locked them.
“Open the door!”
“No.”
“Open the door!”
I looked back at her, her face a strange mixture of anger and fear “Promise me you will keep being an actress.”
“Okay! Let's go back to the agency already.”
“No, I don’t believe you.”
She gave a snort. “Whatever I guess I’ll just call management and get somebody to take me out of here if you won’t.”
With a twist and speed, even I was impressed with how fast I did it, I grabbed her phone and put it into my pocket. “What- give me my phone back right now!”
“No.”
“Give it to me!”
“No. Not until you tell me why you won’t be an actress anymore.”
“I already told you, you selfish inconsiderate prick! Because I’m not going to be a good one! I won’t ever be at the top!
“I might as well stop this now or I’ll be 50 and die an old maid with no one to take care of me!”
“No, you will succeed.” I said
“Goddammit, I won’t!
“Look at how I was fired from this show for another girl 8 years younger than me! They only picked her because she was younger! Not because she was better, or because she worked harder for it, it was because she was younger!
“ ’I’ll succeed’ No, I won’t.” She looked down. “It's so easy for you to say that…
“I-I won’t!” Tears welled in her eyes. “Don’t you see! You fucking idiot!
“I’m worthless! I’m failing my job, I can’t live without having my parents support, I can’t even keep an acting job in a stupid, cheap melodrama!
“‘Oh, you’re so good Leslie’” she mocked the director “well if I’m so good then how come you fucking fired me! How come I’ve been getting the same praise for 11 years now, and I’m still doing the same fucking worthless jobs…
“It's because that's as far as I can go, this is it.
“I’ll just go back to my parent's house and get some job until I find a husband. Then…then at least I won’t feel like this every time…”
Silence filled the air. I should get paid more for this job. I coughed.
“When I was in middle school, my dad killed my mom. And so I ended up in an orphanage, alone and scared.
“When I was in middle school I fell in love with you. I loved your acting, I used to watch you all the time…and just think ‘how could she be so beautiful, how could she be so pure' I couldn’t believe that you existed.
“But there you were, standing on the tv screen. Your smile lit up every single show I saw you in, and even though I couldn’t say for certain that I knew who you were, I knew that you were beautiful. You were the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
“I think others need to see that too. That's why I’m working with YOU! I think you’re a great actress and it makes me sad that you don’t see it.”
"...."
"Now you know why I choose to work for you Leslie."
She looked away to the side, through the tinted window, into some faraway place. “S-so what? I keep acting? And then what?” she sniffled.
“We find you better roles, bigger roles. You keep going on auditions, you keep trying harder and harder, and I’ll be there. You can’t give up Leslie. You can’t ever give up something this important. You will make it. You will.”
She sighed as she continued to look through the door window. “Whatever, I won’t quit. Let's just go back. I’m too tired to be crying this early in the morning.”
“I just want you to know that I believe in you. I do.” I gently placed the phone on the seat next to her. “S-sorry about taking your phone.”
“It's fine.”
We drove back the rest of the way with her sleeping and me not talking.
I mentally kicked myself the entire drive back for picking such a horrible actress to work for. If I knew she was ready to quit the moment she got fired from a job I would have picked another one. Why didn’t I wait a little longer for another job…
