Young Adulting - Christina Benjamin Page 0,23

do you think?

I pursed my lips as I read that part again. He’d mentioned Henry before but I hadn’t really given a straight answer in response. I mean, I wasn’t exactly sure how Leo had become friendly with an A-lister like Henry Landon, but that was no reason to cast the guy.

Sure, it would probably help our pitch to have his name attached, but what if Henry couldn’t handle the role? Heath was complicated. His motives and his struggle were subtle.

I flinched at the memory of the Hermosa Beach episode I’d watched with my roommates two nights before. It was so bad! I mean, the writing was just atrocious. It’s not like the actors had a lot to work with, but still.

But then again, Leo cared about this script just as much as I did, and if he felt confident in Henry taking on the part…

I sat there for way too long as I tried to figure out how to be honest without totally dismissing the idea as a joke. When the office was quiet and everyone was out to lunch, I finally decided to give it to him straight.

What do I think? I think he’s cocky, entitled, and has no idea how to play nice with others. If we get the greenlight, this will still be a low-budget indie...there’s no room for divas on a set like that.

I tapped my fingers on the keyboard as I tried to figure out a way to lighten the tone a bit so it wasn’t so harsh. I ended up adding,

Also, have I mentioned the fact that your friend basically ruined my dress? Kendal still won’t talk to me.

I added a horror face emoji because that incident with Henry had become something of an inside joke between me and Leo. Kendal was actually over it, for the most part. I’d paid for the dry cleaner and while it wasn’t back to perfect, Kendal informed me that she’d already worn that dress twice so she couldn’t be seen in it again anyway.

Still. It was the principle of the matter. That ruined dress was now a bitter reminder of what had to be the worst night of my life. Just the memory of it had me scowling at the screen as I hit send.

Two days later, I came home late to a crime scene. That’s what it looked like, at least.

There was red everywhere.

Carolina was shrieking about something. Becca and Ashley were talking on their phones so animatedly I couldn’t make out what either of them was saying, and Kendal…

Kendal looked to be in a state of shock as she sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by piles of blood red fabric. “I can’t believe this,” she said, holding up a red gown she’d been cradling in her lap. “This is couture,” she said, her eyes glazed over like she was in some sort of trance. “I can’t believe this,” she said again.

It took a while, but eventually my roommates calmed down enough to fill me in. A delivery guy had stopped by and dropped off boxes filled with designer gowns.

The boxes…?

They were addressed to me.

I fell onto the couch between Carolina and Becca. “Me?”

Ashley was digging through the tissue paper of another box and pulled out a notecard with a triumphant flourish. Her eyes widened as she read it and then she handed it over to me. In big, messy handwriting someone had scrawled:

Leo says we need to play nice.

This is me.

Playing nice.

- Henry

I blinked and read it again. And then I read it again. The third time I read it I clapped a hand over my mouth to smother a laugh that bordered on the hysterical.

“Who’s Henry?” Kendal demanded.

“Do you have any idea how much this is worth?” Ashley asked, holding up a stunning designer gown.

I didn’t know and I was afraid to ask. However, I knew I’d be tempted to sell them all in a heartbeat to make rent if I wasn’t a little worried my roommates would kill me just for letting the thought enter my head.

Kendal was still in the middle of the floor, currently cradling one of the dresses like a baby. I knew without a doubt that this apartment would become a real crime scene if I attempted to pry these gowns from Kendal’s grasp.

“Of course he’d try to buy his way into my good graces,” I muttered, more to myself than my roommates; though I didn’t say it with as much heat as I’d intended.

In