Chapter 5

Riley

I never made it to bed the night before, but crashed on the couch instead. After getting the crick out of my back, I walked to the kitchen and yawned so hard I thought my jaw might pop out of socket.

"Damn," I mumbled and rubbed my face.

The front door opened behind me and Charlotte walked in, looking about how I felt.

"Hey," she mumbled and closed the door before dropping her purse and kicking off her shoes. "What a waste of getting undressed."

"Oh yeah? That bad?" I popped the top on the coffee and worked to get it brewing so I could properly wake up.

"He's gotten worse. I swear he stuck it in and came." She rolled her shoulders as she moved up beside me. "I know I'm good in bed, but come on. Really?"

"At least you had sex." I moved to the counter next to me and pulled two coffee mugs out. "I think it's been three months for me."

"This wasn't the kind of sex that anyone would miss. I promise." She walked to the fridge and got out the creamer. "I saw you dancing with Jace. He didn't talk you into a quickie in the back room?"

"He tried, but I made the mistake of turning my head." I laughed, not really feeling any loss over not having woken up in Jace's bed. He was a playboy who collected panties as trophies. If he wasn't an old friend and such a good lay, I'd never look his way again. But consequently, he was both.

"Oh no. He took some other girl home?" She pulled out eggs and bacon. "You want me to make something for us to eat?"

"I'd love for you to, and yeah, he took home some girl that he'd never fit his dick in. Rest assured." I walked to the breakfast bar and sat down, yawning loudly again.

"You have the ugliest yawn I've ever seen." She stared at me like I'd sprouted another head.

"Thanks a lot, Char. You always make me feel so good about myself." I slid my hands over the tabletop and rested my chin against it. "I needed to get laid, but it's getting old."

"What is?" She poured a cup of coffee and set it down in front of me before handing me the creamer.

"One night stands." I fixed my coffee to resemble something more like a dessert as she started on breakfast.

"Really? I thought you didn't want a relationship because of the commitment and shit." She looked over her shoulder at me. "You changing your mind?"

"I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just tired of going to the bar in hopes of finding a good guy like Jeff, but realizing that in the bedroom he's a total dud."

"Poor Jeff. He is a great guy." She cracked an egg and turned. "You want eggs?"

"Yeah." I took a quick sip of my coffee. "Jeff is a great guy. You guys would be so good together. Maybe it's not about sex."

"Right." She chuckled. "Then you date him. I don't need a best friend. I have you."

"Yeah, and I'm not fucking you." I got up and walked into the kitchen, consigning myself to helping her cook, though I hated to.

"You don't have the right tools anyway." She glanced over at me. "Why not date that cute guy on campus that you were talking to awhile back. That teacher's assistant guy."

"He was too intense. Every conversation turned into a five-year strategic planning session. No thanks. I don't know what I want to do on Monday, much less five years from now. I'm an art major. We don't use our left brains unless we're forced to." I pulled off a couple of strips of bacon and laid them in the pan.

"You should have slept with him to see if the sex outweighed the type-A personality." She nudged me.

"Naw... I don't think he was packing much." I shrugged. "I know, before you say anything... I know, I'm shallow. It's not about looks though. It's about having the type of body that makes me want to burn my panties and call in sick to the biggest opportunity to advance my career. I want a man capable of making that happen."

"Good luck. I think we might have to switch our degrees and become mad scientists. We could create our own guy." She giggled. "What would he be like?"

"We're not ten. I'm not having this conversation." I pulled a fork from the drawer next to me and pushed the bacon around.

"We were having these conversations when we were ten already. Besides... Wait!"

I almost dropped the fork as she screamed in delight. "Shit. What?"

"I almost forgot..." She turned and smiled at me. "Guess what Jeff is doing now?"

"What?" I went back to breathing again.

"He's a cameraman at Eon Films. He can put in a good word. He knows the producer and the director on this next movie that Ethan is doing." She lifted her eyebrows as if waiting for some great reaction from me.

"Great. I'm not going." I shrugged and turned back to the frying pan.

"What? Yes you are. It's what we've been waiting for. You're getting the lines offline today and you're doing it." She turned to me and growled softly.

"I already printed them. It's a love scene. I'm not doing it, and besides, you have to send in your picture, your portfolio and a voice recording of you moaning that line on the third page." I scoffed. "They don't want an actress. They want a set of tits to play sex object for the sweet and very giving Mr. Lewis."

"Oh come on. You're being ridiculous." She walked into the living room. "Where are the lines?"

"On the couch, and don't think just because I marked them up a little that I'm interested. I'm not." I tried to convince myself for the hundredth time that I wasn't going to do it. The first round was nothing more than a submission, but how many people were going to submit?

Millions. Too many to really get noticed. When they said open audition, they really meant that you could submit your face and voice and if you were sexy enough Ethan would let you audition for a racy scene in the bedroom.

"Whatever," I mumbled and pulled the bacon off onto a plate Charlotte had gotten ready for me while I was lost to thought.

"Is this the line you have to record?" She laughed and moved up beside me. "I'm not sure I could get this out without laughing."

I glanced over at it and snatched it from her hands. "Do the eggs for us. I jack them up every time, and yes... this is the line."

"Say it for me."

"No." I walked back to the breakfast bar and picked up my coffee. "Why do they have to make women look like weak sex-hungry creatures in these movies? Ethan is man enough to keep the attention of the audience without having to dim his co-star. It's dumb."

"Say the line." She glanced over her shoulder. "Use that sexy voice that got us into the club and got me a handful of limes last night."

"You clean the bathroom and the kitchen and I'll do it." I looked up.

"Just the kitchen. The bathroom is all you. That's your fucking mess." She picked up the plate of bacon and set it in front of me, which was never a good move.

"All right. Kitchen is yours." I lifted the paper to my face and cleared my throat, slipping into character easily. The image of Ethan in an expensive, perfectly pressed suit in front of me popped up, making it much easier.

"I think maybe you should consider other options, Mr. Bond. There are those of us who would be willing to help you out of your current situation by any means possible." I glanced up at Charlotte and nibbled at my bottom lip as I tilted my head a little. "I'm one of those people, but you knew that already, didn't you?"

I dropped the paper and picked up a piece of bacon. "See? Ridiculous."

"Oh my God. That was fucking awesome. Do it again." She moved toward me.

"What? No. Go do the eggs and stop being silly. I'm not recording my voice and sending it in. And I'm sure as hell not sending in a picture of my face." I glanced down at the sheet, trying to ignore how tight my nipples were over the idea of having Ethan Lewis look at me with interest as I turned my bedroom charm on for him.

She walked back to the stove without another word.

I glanced up, a little concerned with her silence. She rarely let any argument between us die until she won, or I'd convinced her why she was ignorant.

"What are you doing?" I asked before finishing my coffee.

She glanced over her shoulder and shrugged. "Trying to figure out how to get you to do this. I really think you'll get in. I have no doubt, actually. It's this feeling inside of me. This is it."

"No." I got up and walked into the kitchen, pulling two plates from the counter and helping her plate up everything.

"What if I told you I would clean the whole house for a week if you tried out?" She sat down beside me and extended her hand as we'd been doing for years. If you didn't shake on a bet, it wasn't in effect. Plain and simple. We'd be doing the same thing when we were a hundred.

"A month." I extended my hand.

"Two weeks. Final offer." She shoved her hand closer to me. "This is it. I'm telling you as your best friend that you have to do this. I'll record it and we'll use that drop dead gorgeous picture you took last year for your portfolio."

I pursed my lips and thought about the possibilities as well as the sharp pain that usually occurred deep inside of me each and every time Hollywood rejected me. Could I sustain another hit with all the other shit on my plate right now? No future. No home. No prospect for a job that I was going to enjoy.

"Two weeks and two days." I shoved my hand forward as she clasped it and shook my hand firmly.

"Good. After breakfast we're recording the audio and getting the packet together." She smiled and pulled her hand back.

"When this blows up in my face, it's going to be you that has to go out and buy ten gallons of ice cream." I took a big bite of my eggs and groaned. "You need to make sure whoever you marry deserves your cooking by the way."

"So he has to be a good guy, have a big dick and be funny." She lifted her eyebrow. "I think that's worthy of me and my cooking."

"Me too, but you missed one very important thing." I got up and walked into the kitchen to get more coffee. I had to ignore the excitement bubbling up inside of me. Acting was like playing the lottery, though it wasn't a random number that they drew and hoped like hell fate would be kind to you. It was my resume, my skill and passion that I hope was plucked from the large pool of all the others with the same level of talent as I had.

"He needs a brother that's a good guy, is funny and has a huge dick too."

"Impossible. I quit." She laughed, and I joined her, grateful that she was a part of my life. I couldn't do it without her, or maybe I could, but I sure as hell wouldn't want to.