Off Script by Sam Couste

Author:Sam Couste [Couste, Sam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JMS Books LLC
Published: 2020-02-05T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 3

“My nose itches and it’s driving me up a tree.” Anna’s scowl filled Chris’ phone screen. She sat on a director’s chair in what looked like a dressing room, wrapped in a fluffy periwinkle robe with her hair styled into waves that Chris could guess were nowhere near as effortless as they looked.

Chris speared a marinara-covered tortellini with her fork and popped it into her mouth. “Then scratch it,” she said between bites.

“I can’t!” Anna exclaimed. “I’m all made up for this interview. I don’t want to smear anything. It’s that airbrush stuff, but still. Honestly, it’s been a month of constant hair and makeup, you think I’d be used to it by now.”

“Don’t you do hair and makeup for every project?” Chris asked.

“Yeah,” Anna replied, “but this is way more intense. Everything’s more intense. The schedule, the diet, the interviews, the paparazzi.”

Chris wrinkled her nose in sympathy. She’d been keeping an eye on the stream of articles and news clips. It was surreal, seeing pictures of Anna doing nothing of particular interest being billed as hot news.

“How’s this interview going to be? You nervous?”

“Nah.” Anna shook her head, careful not to make any sudden movements that would jostle her hair. “This’ll just be a standard puff piece. It’s live, so they can’t get too wild. Probably the same rah-rah questions about being a woman in an action movie, how I feel about empowering other trans actors, that sort of thing. It’s nice that people care, but it’s a little frustrating, always having to be an ambassador for the marginalized community, you know?”

“Sorry, babe.” Chris waved a tortellini at her phone. “Wish you were here eating lunch with me instead.”

“Me too,” Anna sighed. “I haven’t eaten pasta in a month! Sure, I’m ripped, but at what cost?”

Chris giggled at Anna’s dramatic tone. “Poor thing. You can always quit if you want. Come back home, we can move into the basement apartment with Tony and eat carbs all day.”

“Don’t act like that’s not extremely tempting.”

“It’s not,” Chris said. “You’re loving this.”

One corner of Anna’s mouth turned upwards. “Yeah, I kinda am. Even if it sucks sometimes.”

“That’s just life, babe.”

“Truth.” Anna frowned as she looked at something off-screen. “I’ve only got a few more minutes, but how’re you feeling? You’ve got therapy today, right?”

“Yeah, in a couple hours.”

“Meds still doing their thing?”

“So far,” Chris said, “but you know what the doctor said. I’ve got to take things one day at a time.”

“That’s the only way to do it.” Anna jumped in her chair as someone banged on her dressing room door. “Shit, I’ve gotta go. I love you baby, and I’m so proud of you!”

“Love you, too. I’ll be watching the interview, you’ll kill it.”

They exchanged pinky kisses, then hung up. Chris polished off the last of her tortellini. By the time she’d finished cleaning up her lunch dishes, it was time for Anna’s interview to go live. Chris grabbed a Gatorade from the fridge and settled on the couch with her laptop to watch.

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