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jennifer williams took a long collected sigh while siting in her toyota at the parking lot of the los angeles hbo headquarters. this was her first table read. her first job. her first everything. she wasn't prepared to be a badass character. she always played the happy girl nextdoor protagonist. at least that was her in high school productions. this character was so out of her comfort zone. but yet the idea of playing the character made her arms scatter with goosebumps. she hadn't even realized that her palms had grown sweaty and that her lip had been bitten into so severely that there was a magenta lipstick stain on her teeth. with a loud groan she hit her head on the steering wheel out of annoyance for her anxiety induced behavior, which made a loud horn blast around her and the vehicle. why was she acting like this? why was she so nervous? they liked her before. why wouldn't they like her now? jennifer glanced at the time on her phone. 7:57 it read.
"what a great time to be procrastinating jen" muttered the girl to herself as she pulled her fingers through her hair, which was in a half up half down hairstyle, held back by delilah's beret. she most definitely wasn't expecting to have someone knock on her window during her stressful thought process. looking at her left roadside mirror she saw to her complete surprise no other then her boss william hader junior.
"shit" she muttered as she quickly placed her black spectacles on her nose and fixed her lipstick. she eventually rolled down her window and felt a light breeze flesh over her. she heavily regretted leaving her jacket at the apartment.
"hi" she said, finally locking eyes with the man. his baby blue eyes locked with her warm brown eyes, both with a look of uncertainty and curiousity.
"uh, hi. are you okay?" he said in a way that only bill hader could say.
"oh no i'm doing fantastic. never better" jennifer sarcastically said with a blinding smile.
"wait, aren't you jennifer williams? who we casted as marina elias...?" he said way too slowly, making the situation feel even more awkward. a great first impression if you asked me.
"that's my name" jennifer said, the smile on her face never fading.
"well, if you're really that nervous i can walk with you into the reading. i even brought coffee for everyone, so if you want the first cup you can take it" he said waving his box of coffee around.
"how could you tell i was nervous?" she said even more sarcastically.
"the horn blasting kinda did it for me, personally" he said way too seriously while itching behind his ear.
"anyways mister hader, you had me at coffee" jennifer said while finally getting out of the car. bill pulled the cup out of the box, almost dropping it in the process, making jennifer quietly chuckle. almost in a cliche form, as bill passed her the cup, their hands lightly touched making jennifer blush and bill laugh it off.
"don't ever call me that again. and also i'm loving the outfit" he said using his free hand to point at her. jennifer glanced at her magenta tube top and cow pants that she had stolen-i mean borrowed- from delilah that was partnered with black doc martens. "magenta.. mind if i use that for the show?" he asked setting down the coffee box on the concrete and instead pulling a yellow papered note pad and blue paper pal pen out of the box.
"you're making final additions to the script just before we even walk in?" jennifer asked quite shocked.
"you're not the only one who has anxiety and procrastination issues" a coarse laugh came out while scribbling. "the magenta hood. has a good ring to it" he said thinking aloud.
"what's that, a clothing line billiam" jennifer said raising her eyebrow.
"don't call me that either, and no, it'll be marina's hit-woman name. if that's okay with you?" he asked.
"let her wear these sunglasses and we'll call it even" jennifer said, directing to her black circular sunglasses that were still sitting perched on her nose.
"deal" he said while finishing his note writing.
"and i get to call you billiam!" she exclaimed, earning herself an eye roll from him.
"fine" he said putting away the notepad and pen back in the box. "come on, the coffee's gonna get cold" he said while picking the box up.
and even though the two walked into the building in practical silence, the two continued to glance at each other and sip their respectful cups of coffee from philz coffee shop. and only one question was repeating in both of their heads.
did that just happen?
thank you for all the love this story is getting <3
