So Much More

Reconnecting

Being back in LA was a welcome change. She had been off work for a three months and getting back into schedule was somewhat of a relief. It wasn't that she needed the money, well nobody ever said they had enough money but it was more about the fun of it all. She had decided on a career in acting because she actually liked the profession and enjoyed immersing herself within a role so completely that she could disconnect with her own life for a little while.

She had spent the day reading the scripts that her agent had sent over. There was five in total but she was only interested in one. Back when she had just started the profession, she would not doubt welcome just about any role that came her way, but now she was more selective about the roles she took on. It had nothing to do with prestige or the income, but more along the lines that  she made a promise to herself not to play roles that didn't either challenge or intrigued her. The script in hand was about an orphaned young woman trying to uncover the secrets of her biological parents, stumbling into the world of conspiracies and challenging the fundamental way of the nation's politics. It was thrilling and exciting, the plot felt fresh and unique, she was getting more and more excited for the audition. Of course there wasn't a guarantee that she would get the part, but then that was the fun bit of it all; she had to work hard to get it.

She studied the material for the remainder of the night until she began making herself dinner. It was an easy one, she heated up one of the pre-made meals Elena had stocked in her freezer for nights like this, when she didn't really have the energy to cook herself. It was the first quiet night she had since she had spent the last week living in the bungalow with her mom and sisters.

The microwave gave a low ping indicating that her food had finished being heat up. She took a seat in one of the stool on her kitchen island and enjoyed the mushroom lasagna with gusto. She had forgotten to get some lunch since her flight landed around two this afternoon, too immersed in the script to feel hunger. It had came back with a vengeance. She was savoring the bite when her phone buzzed.

Welcome back.

She chuckled to herself. The paparazzi she had spotted at the airport must have already published the shots of them arriving in LA. Was he keeping tabs on her? And what if I'm not back yet? she typed as a respond.

Her phone buzzed a second later but it didn't stop like it always did when indicating a text. Instead it was incessantly buzzing indicating that someone was calling. Jamie. She took another bite of her lasagna before pressing the green button.

"Hey, you," she said in between bites.

He chuckled. "You're eating right now, aren't you?"

She finished chewing the pasta before answering, "How would you know?"

"Cause I know you." Since she didn't know how to answer that, she kept quiet. It didn't take long for him to continue. "Here I thought you would let me know if you're back in town."

"I would if you hadn't called, but you seem to be keeping tabs on me."

He scoffed but it was followed by laughter. "Busted. And prey tell, when were you going to tell me?"

Honestly she had forgotten all about it when she had started reading the script. It was in the back of her mind when the plane had landed in the tarmac, along with calling Jason and picking up Zep from Chase the next day. "Just now," she said simply.

"Right," he paused. "So lunch tomorrow?"

"Wait, so you're keeping tabs on me?"

"Don't change the subject."

She rolled her eyes. "Sure, lunch, let's say noon." She cut another piece of pasta. "So answer the question."

"Google alert, seemed like a handy stalker tool isn't it?"