"Definitely not straight." Lauren decided. "What do you think?"
Ally, who stood beside her, cocked her head to the side and contemplated the question for a long while. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Seriously?" Lauren looked again at the framed picture hanging over her bed. "It looks a little crooked to me."
"Well, which way do you want me to shift it?"
"Left. No, right. No." Lauren bit her lip and stepped closer. "Maybe it is straight."
"Does that mean we can stop obsessing over this now?" Ally reached for her bag. "Not that it's not beautiful or anything, because it is, but I've been dragging the damn thing to every frame shop in Los Angeles ever since we got back, and honestly, I think the first frame was perfectly fine. So were the next twelve. And the only thing that's not straight in this room is your answer about the TV Guide cover. So which is it: are you in, are you out? The people need to know."
Lauren sighed, but nodded. "I'm in."
"Okay, but that means you'll have to reschedule your dinner with ..." Ally paused as she flipped through several pages of notes. "Andrea Jeffies."
Lauren headed for the door, assistant firmly in tow. Halfway down the stairs, she paused. "Who the hell is Andrea Jeffies?"
"She's a director." Ally prompted. "She wanted to talk to you about a role in her film." Pause. "Lauren, you spoke to her yesterday. You told me to schedule her in."
Lauren vaguely recalled such a conversation. She pondered the name as she continued her descent. "Right." She said, finally remembering. She stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked up at Ally. "Call her back, cancel, don't reschedule."
"Um, okay...?"
"I finished the script last night." Lauren made a face to illustrate disgust.
"That bad?"
"Let me put it this way: Yes." She continued onward, toward the living room. "It started out fine. I thought, 'Hey, this could be a pretty decent role', and then the aliens come to Earth to procreate with the human race, and my character gets eaten by a weird plant/monkey hybrid."
"Say no more. Dinner cancelled."
Lauren sighed and plopped down onto her plush leather sofa. "Why can't I just land something... challenging, you know?"
"Well, if challenging is what you're looking for, here's something: your mom called to remind you about your sister's play in two weeks. If you can't make that, you absolutely, have to make it to the after-dinner at eight, or – and I quote – 'your sister will never ever speak to you ever again.'"
"Is that supposed to be a threat?"
Ally smiled and sat down beside the actress. "You should at least make the dinner. You shouldn't piss your mother off too much, because then I have to deal with her, and we both know I hate her. No offense."
"None taken. Maybe I'll drag Adrian along. They always act at least halfway human when he's around. Act being the operative word." Lauren caught the strange look that passed across Ally's face and she arched a brow. "What?"
"What?" Ally was looking at her pen. "Nothing." She coughed. "You should call Adrian. He might be free. I mean, not that I think he would not be free – cause how would I know? I just mean, uh... oh, shit, I'm late for yoga." She stood, and started toward the front door. "Call me if you need anything else. The, uh... the frame looks great." Door opened. Door closed.
Lauren sat frozen in place for about two minutes before finally reaching for her phone.
Adrian picked up on the second ring. "Hey, it's me." She said.
