she was meeting with someone or had papers to sign on the Hennessy deal. God. Was this Carly’s life now? She’d watch Lauren head out into the world, landing one new job after another, while she sat home and remembered when that used to be her? Her soul ached, and she took a moment to answer.
“I’m okay. Really. You look nice.”
“You don’t look it, Carly. Will you talk to me?”
How in the world was she supposed to explain that she was devastated but felt like a complete ass for it? That she wished Lauren the best but not if it came at a price like this one? That wasn’t okay. As selfish as Carly had been in the past, even she knew that much. “I’m happy for you, I am. But I think the timing of all your success up against my complete and utter failure is not the most ideal, you know?”
Lauren nodded solemnly. “I get it. I hate it.” She looked around, surely feeling helpless and guilty about what should have only been fantastic news. What a pair they were. “Do you want me to go? Leave you alone?”
Carly looked up at Lauren, feeling vulnerable as hell. Why did it have to play out this way? Lauren felt a million miles away, and Carly had no fucking clue how to fix that. She needed to be big and mature and an adult about this, but as hard as she tried, she couldn’t muster the ingredients. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?” She blinked at Lauren, and inclined her head toward the new outfit.
“Oh. Um, Rick has requested a meeting to talk through some character stuff. I can’t imagine it will go too long.”
Carly nodded. She knew production would start soon, and Rick was likely dotting his i’s and crossing his t’s. “Go. Enjoy yourself. I’m being an idiot, and you definitely don’t deserve to sit in on it.”
“Maybe I want to.”
“Well, you can’t have everything you want, Lauren.” She hated the sentence the second it left her lips. This wasn’t who Carly wanted to be, and yet, it was who she was becoming. “I’m sorry. See? You should go before it gets worse. None of this is your fault.”
Lauren nodded silently, clearly feeling unsteady. Carly didn’t watch her walk away, but the click of her heels down the hallway told the story. Alone now in the cold, stupid house she couldn’t afford, she let the tears have their way with her. The sobs came from the back of her throat, laced with fear and disappointment in herself.
Chapter Seventeen
The day had hit Lauren hard and fast. Pleasant, exciting, uncertain, and devastating, had all been stops on her emotion-packed day. Her good-bye conversation with Carly had been the absolute low point that now had her blinking back tears and wondering how she’d gotten so far out of her league.
For her appointment, however, she forced herself to suck it up.
Rick Hennessy had his own office on the Warner Brothers lot. He came with that much clout. Lauren took a moment to google him in her car and was surprised to see that he had directed several films she’d seen and enjoyed. That discovery left her more nervous than ever, feeling again like a second grader who’d wandered into the high school lunchroom by mistake. Surely, everyone saw she was a second grader, right?
She shook off the feeling and gave her name to the guard in the little booth at Warner Brothers, who then directed her where to park. She found the office Hennessy rented in what looked to be a small apartment complex on the studio grounds. How odd.
“Hey, Lauren. Come in. Come in.” He greeted her as if he hadn’t just shoved the meeting into his already packed workday and sat with her at what looked to be a cafeteria table across from his desk.
“I’m happy we’re doing this,” he said and ran his hand over his beard. “I was floored we found you, like it was meant to be. You know, the way it all played out? Cosmic.” He pointed his finger at her a few times while he spoke, reminding her of all those really intense hipsters from college.
“I was every bit as surprised as you were,” she said.
“I read about your casting at The McAllister after you left the audition. I love the story.”
“Oh.” She grinned. “Me, too. One of those things you never could have predicted in life.”