Page 30 of Love: Take Two

"I hope so," is all she says before walking towards hair and makeup.

Yong-rae lets out a shaky breath when she's out of earshot.

"Did that go well?" he asks. I purse my lips.

"It's too soon to tell," I hedge. "You're an actor. Lots of actors are great with words, but then don't actually back them up. Will you? Will you follow through on the promise you just made Tabitha, or are you going to let either your ego or your imposter syndrome get in the way of your job?"

He shakes his head emphatically.

"No. I almost lost this gig with my bonehead behavior. It won't happen again."

I can only hope his words are genuine. This isn't baseball. Here, two strikes—sometimes just one—and you're out.

"Cut!" Edward calls out in frustration. He yanks the headset from his head and storms off to his trailer, followed by a flurry of worried-looking assistants. Neither Tabitha nor Yong-rae seems to notice.

"Why do you insist on talking over me?" Tabitha screeches, her nostrils flaring.

"They're in a fight!" Yong-rae counters, puffing out his chest. "You think he's supposed to politely wait his turn to speak?"

"If it's written in the script? Yes! I do!" Tabitha thunders back. "And if I remember correctly, you said you were going to 'pull your weight' around here," she says mockingly, "Or was that more bullshit, like me getting stuck with you in this role?!"

Yong-rae clenches his jaw, and I rush towards them from my place off camera, Awa hot on my tail.

"Pull my weight, yes. Give up all creative license and defer to your interpretation ofmycharacter? Hell no!"

"Why don't we all just take a beat and calm things down?" I suggest in my best attempt at a soothing tone. If Awa's stony glare is anything to go by, I missed it by a mile.

"Why are you telling my client to calm down?" she demands, frost in her words. "Your client gave that big speech and now he thinks he knows better thanTabitha Styles?"

She steps into my personal space, but I stand my ground. We may have known each other in college, but if she thinks I'm backing down from supporting my client, she definitely doesn't know me now.

"Enough!" Rory shouts, getting between the four of us with her arms outstretched.

"While you're busy biting each other's heads off, you failed to notice that the director just walked out!"

Yong-rae looks around quickly to find Edward; his chest deflates when he sees she's right. The only ones still here to witness this catastrophe are us and a handful of pissed-off crew members. Man, I hope none of them go to the press about this.

"Tabitha!" Rory stabs a finger in her direction. "You may be experienced, but you arenotrunning the show. The director is the only one I want giving notes from here on out. Got it?!"

I can see Tabitha swallowing down an indignant retort, but she inclines her head before stomping off to her trailer. Awa shoots me a scowl as she goes to follow her client.

"Not so fast, Awa!" Rory bellows. "I'd like a word."

Awa stops reluctantly, her arms folded over her chest.

"Yong-rae," Rory continues, "go ahead and make yourself scarce for a bit too. I need to have a little talk with your representation."

I give him a slight nod when he hesitates, and he walks slowly to his own trailer, grabbing an apple and a protein bar on the way.

"What in the fuck is going on with you guys?" Rory asks once we're alone. "I've never seen anything like it. You're supposed to be calming your clients down, helping things run smoothly on set. Instead, you're riling them up?"

Awa and I both start speaking simultaneously.

"You know better than anyone—" Awa protests.

"Yong-rae did nothing wrong—" I argue.

Rory puts her fingers to the bridge of her nose, and we both fall silent.