Leading Lady

CHAPTER 8

As time passed and opening night drew near, whatever awkward tension Lucille had been feeling with Katherine had seemed to pass.

Occasionally both even laughed together whenever she and Katherine spoke to one another. Lucille's friendly relationship with Jackson was even beginning to grow. Both now spoke to each other a lot and shared laughs together as well. Lucille made it a goal of hers to show the cast and crew that working with her was an enjoyment. Much to her pleasure Jackson always smiled and grinned now whenever Lucille walked into the room. After she practically made a fool of herself that evening with his and Clarice's adoptive children, she was sure she had put a nail in the coffin and could forget of leaving a good impression on Jackson Baez every again. She was more than grateful that things were beginning to fall into place for her at Rosebud.

Lucille was also quickly building a reputation of being a model employee; she always arrived earlier than her call times, was on stage before anyone else, always memorized and always applied whatever notes the director and Jackson Baez gave, and Lucille even went as far as to volunteer to help out with other events Rosebud theater was having. Everyone was beside themselves of how much of a hard worker Lucille turned out to be.

Lucille's family didn't see as much of her as they used to. One night, her mother even complained to her that she needed to find some time in her schedule to spend time with the family.

"Mom please," Lucille answered in a soothing voice, "I have to spend as much time as I can at Rosebud to show them that I am a hard worker and that I'm serious about this career. It's all about building connections and it seems to be working. Besides, I don't see you guys hounding at Jesse to quit spending time with Sarah and to be here often."

"That's different, honey," Lucille's father answered gently.

"How is that different?" she retorted, trying not to reveal her annoyance. "The reason I'm not here is because I'm working; Jesse is not here because he's probably hooking up with Sarah!"

"Lucille!" her mother gasped.

Lucille laughed dryly, mostly out of frustration, but she also couldn't help it by the look on her parents' face. Ok, maybe her brother wasn't hooking up with her best friend, but they were into each other – it was more than obvious. Ever since the day Sarah accompanied Jesse to take photographs the two have been inseparable. Jesse asked her out on dates more frequently but much to Sarah's disappointment things never seemed to move from the platonic phase. She even once went as far to admit to Lucille her crush on her older brother.

"Please Sarah," Lucille said cutting her off, "I really don't want to hear about how my brother behaves in the romance department."

"That's the thing," Sarah said quietly. "He doesn't behave ... like at all. He shows interest in me by the way he looks at me, the way he holds my hand when we're walking to the movies or at the beach ... but he hasn't kissed me yet."

Lucille made a face and waved a hand at her friend. "Oh, ew ... seriously, I don't want to picture him kissing someone. Please, just stop."

Sarah frowned and dropped the subject. The more she hung out with Lucille the more distance she felt with her best friend. Never did Lucille ask Sarah about how the movie had gone for her, even after Sarah had wrapped filming. Sarah believed Lucille was just too into herself to even care what happened in anyone else's lives. This was very disheartening for Sarah. She felt like her best friend simply just didn't care.

"Speaking of romance, I have to tell you the funniest thing Cliff said on our date last night," Lucille said to her with a grin. Sarah sighed and pretended to listen to Lucille recount a story about Cliff and some oysters or something of the sort. Romance definitely seemed to be blossoming between Lucille and Cliff, much to Lucille's surprise, because she really didn't want to like Cliff in any way more than a friend. However, she was finding herself more and more attracted to him the more they went out together. Even Lucille's parents, and Jesse for that matter, seemed to like Cliff a lot. It was safe to say Lucille was falling for him. Cliff was charming, funny, polite, and just overall a perfect guy.