popped, and people cheered. The pandemonium was silenced by the kiss I shared with Henry.
$$$
“I feel like it’s cruel and unusual punishment to clean the apartment the day after New Year’s Eve. Why are we doing this again?” Lila asked as she listlessly squirted some blue ammonia onto the glass.
“Because our place looks like a train wreck, I have to work all week, and you’re going to be flying on a jet plane in three days to meet with an agency in Los Angeles. Or have you forgotten about that already?” I asked my friend, a smile on my face.
“I know! I still can’t believe it. I wake up every morning and ask myself if it’s true.” Lila shook her head in amazement, the forgotten Windex streaking down the glass. “I’m so nervous, but that has been the best diet. I’m seriously throwing up everything I try to consume.”
“Lila! That is disgusting. Please don’t turn into some crazy bulimic once you get out there. Please, please,” I begged my friend, running my eyes over her body. She did such a good job working out and watching what she ate the weeks before she met with Mary Strubaker. I would hate to see all her efforts be thrown away because she started to vomit everything back up.
“Trust me, that won’t happen. And I don’t throw up after every meal. Just when my nerves get the better of me. I have real casting calls that I have to do. I have to speak lines and make faces and pretend to report news and put my voice infliction lessons to the test and,” Lila started to turn red in the face, “I think I’m going to be sick.”
I rushed over to my friend. “No! No, you are not. Just breathe, okay? Big yoga breath in. Do it with me.” We breathed in together and exhaled. Breathe and exhale. Breathe and exhale. “Feeling any better?” I asked, concerned.
“Much.” Lila finally turned and wiped the bathroom mirror, and I turned my attention back to the toilet, squeezing the bottle of cleaner and watching blue liquid fill the bowl. I hated being on toilet duty.
Lila and I chatted a bit more about her upcoming week, where she would be flying to LA with Mary Strubaker and two other girls from Mary’s agency. Mary had lined up casting calls and meetings with “important people” out in sunny California, and it would definitely be a make it or break it moment for Lila. Who knew if she would ever have this chance again? Lila tried saying if she didn’t get any offers in LA then at least she would still have Iowa and Mary’s agency. But appearing in a farming ad versus having a shot as an entertainment reporter paled in comparison. And I mean really paled. Vampire pale. I was nervous but thrilled for Lila. Not so thrilled that if she got offered a contract or job that she would be moving away from me. Life without Lila...I sniffed a bit, feeling the tears start to threaten.
“Oh, Al, you’re not crying again, are you?” Lila asked, looking at me with her big blue eyes. I’d been known to break down over the last few weeks every time I thought about her moving away.
“No,” I lied, as one tear spilt over and ran down my cheek. Traitor.
“Who knows what will even happen when I’m out there? I could totally bomb and have to stay in good ole Iowa the rest of my life.”
“Don’t talk like that!” I threw an unused rag at Lila. “I want you to succeed. I want you to get contracts and offers and be on TV with a spray tan and eight pounds of makeup. I really do. I just don’t want you to leave me.”
“You could always come with me.” Lila had mentioned me going with her many times. And why not? I would actually be closer to my family in Seattle, and it wasn’t like I had much going on in Des Moines anyway. One more year of school that I could finish online. My job? I hated Blissful and all the baggage and secrets I had to carry around. Henry? I didn’t want to leave my new boyfriend. Plus, I did have more friends here than just Lila. And I was comfortable here. I liked my life in Iowa. I couldn’t begin to picture myself in California and rubbing elbows with famous people. It just wasn’t my scene.
“I know, I know.”