Better Than Me

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"No. No way. I'm not doing it," I said.

I knew it. I knew Nora and that casting director were going to try to rope me into doing this movie. I never truly bought the whole "oh, you're only reading these lines with Sophia because it's convenient." No, I was reading those lines with her because they were using her audition as my audition, too.

"I know this isn't the kind of movie you're interested in doing anymore, Chris, but you're perfect for this role," the casting director said. Rachel. That was her name. I wasn't the best with names. "We've offered the role of Eric Knight to Blake and he's already accepted. We need a William Knight."

I looked over at Blake accusingly, moving the phone away from my mouth. "You took the role of Eric and didn't tell me? Why didn't you tell me? We always tell each other this shit."

"I was gonna tell you. I was gonna tell you after Rachel broke the news to you that they want you to be Will," Blake said. When I glared at him, he just grinned like he was proud of his betrayal.

"No," I whispered, moving the phone farther away. "No, I already said I'm not doing this. There's no way."

"Come on, dude, it'll be fun," he said. "It'll be just like old times. Remember? It's how we met, doing one of these cheesy rom-coms." When he saw the look on my face – which I'm sure was less than enthused – he added, "Come on, Chris, don't leave me alone. I wanna expand my portfolio too. I wanna be seen as someone who can take on more serious roles. But I also have a movie quota to keep up, and this one should bring in a nice amount of cash."

"Chris?" Rachel said over the phone.

"Yeah." I put the phone back over my ear. "Yeah, I'm here."

"What do you say? Has Blake convinced you?"

Blake looked over at me with pleading eyes. "Don't leave me alone with those girls. Come on, man. What have you got to lose?"

I moved the phone away from my mouth again so Rachel couldn't hear me. Well, she could probably still hear me, but she would at least know the question wasn't directed towards her. "What girls?"

Blake shrugged, but it wasn't a convincing shrug. It was a suspicious shrug.

"You'll have the highest salary, the biggest trailer, an intern to cater to your every need, and anything you need that can be done within reason will be given to you," Rachel said. "We just need you to say yes."

"If you say yes I'll buy you a pizza," Blake said, loud enough that Rachel could hear him.

She chuckled at his comment before speaking again. "So what do you say?"

I sighed. I had a feeling I was going to regret this sooner than later. Actually, I had a feeling I was going to regret this multiple times. "Alright. Alright, fine, I'll do it. I'll take the role."

***

I should not have taken that role. I had been right to say no at first. Why had I given in? I should have asked more questions before saying yes. I mean, I asked questions before signing the contract, specifically about who else I'd be working with, but they only said that "nothing was official yet" and that they'd "keep me posted."

Maybe no one else had signed a contract yet, but I was sure they had an idea about who they wanted and who they were calling next. I was sure leaving out the fact that they had given the role of Emma van der Bilt – the lead role – to Sophia Hastings wasn't an accident.

"Who gives a leading role to a newbie? To someone who's never worked in Hollywood a day of her life? Who does that?" I shook my head.

"Whoever gave you your first role," Blake said without looking up from his phone. "Your first role was a lead. So who gave you that role? There's your answer."