Unthinkable

Prologue

April 2010 Los Angeles, CA

Undisclosed Location

Camille Solis sat next to her mentor of 3 years- chewing anxiously on the lid of the pen. Every time the conference door opened, her eyes would jerk in the direction of it. "Chill out Camille." she thought to herself and gnawed even harder on the pen. When the door opened again she jumped out of her chair, cheeks burning with embarrassment at how anxious she was feeling.

"Cam? Camille."

She turned her head in the direction of the voice next. "Hmm?" eyeing the door when it opened.

How many people were going to be in this meeting? So far she counted 15 and they all sat around the huge marble conference table, talking amongst themselves. Her nerves were going to kill her if this didn't get started soon.

"Seriously sweetie. You need to relax." Her boss Liz whisper calmly.

Camille turned to face Liz, the pen out of her mouth. "I'm relaxed." she lied.

"Oh yeah?" Liz asked in her British accent.

"Yes." Camille answered, pushing up her purple rimmed glasses up her nose. Liz gave a small nod in the direction of her left leg. "What?" she asked with a small frown, trying to follow Liz's gaze.

"Your leg babe."

Shit.

Camille looked down to where Liz was gazing at. Quickly she placed a hand over her bouncing left leg. After all these year, she'd managed to control her anxiety tendencies, but this was new territory for Camille. She was in a room full of people- mostly men- who were Hollywood big shots; producers, directors, screenwriters, and God knows what else. So yeah- she was fucking jumpy.  "Okay...I' am a bit nervous." she admitted.

Liz laughed quietly. "This is kind of a big deal isn't it?"

"But I don't know why it's a big deal." she accused, grimacing.

Not only was Liz her mentor/boss- but she was also one of Camille's oldest friends. They had grown close in the last years they've spent working together. Liz has started her own make-up business about 10 years ago in Los Angeles. Camille had been offered a job after she completed her make-up artist license. She spent most of the first year training under Liz, and learning the ropes of the business. After that she did mostly small jobs that included small plays around the city, and/or photo shoots. But now sitting next to her boss she knew that she had just entered the big leagues, not only for her but for Liz's growing business too. After doing mostly television make-up work they had been offered a contract to work on an upcoming motion picture film that had been kept under wraps-until today that was.

"You've waited almost a month, a few more hours won't kill you." 

"Hmm." was all Camille said with a wrinkle of her nose.

"And besides you know I couldn't say anything."  Liz leaned in closer and said under her breath. "I'm freaking out too."

"That doesn't comfort me at all." Camille whined. Liz only smiled weakly. Fantastic. Liz was supposed to be the calm one from the both of them. Camille chewed on her lower lip anxiously. Obviously whatever this job entitled was going to be huge and was going to need everyone on board. And by everyone that meant the 15 people that worked for Liz. All of a sudden the room started to feel small. Really small. Her mouth was dry. What if they couldn't do the job? What if what these people needed was more than they could provide? What if these people thought she wasn't the right one for the job? What if Liz felt she couldn't handle it?  Oh fuck. She glanced around the room once again. Fuck, it was hot now.  She sucked in a large shaky breath. "Do you think I have enough time to go to the bathroom?" She stood up from her chair, and reached out for her phone, not waiting for Liz to respond.