Page 10 of Love: Take Two

In the tiny seats, my leg brushes against hers, and I can barely think. My body reacts as expected to being so close to such a voluptuous woman. It doesn't care that we're in public or that we're practically strangers.

We talk about William Morris. We talk about what we want to be when we grow up—she wants to be a lawyer, another sign my parents would love her…and that I should stay away. We even talk about our families. Well, I talk about mine before quickly shutting down the conversation. There's no reason to get into all that yet. Maybe notever.

But it works. When the session starts, she doesn't shift away. Doesn't hold herself stiff and aloof the way she always does in class. And when I ask for her number, she actually gives it to me.

Chapter seven

Noah

Present Day

I slam the door behind me; Yong-rae doesn't even look up. He's slumped on the couch, idly scrolling on his phone while sipping what smells like whiskey. The whole trailer reeks of it.

"What the fuck is going on, Yong-rae? Why am I hearing from everyone on set that you are single-handedly ruining the movie?"

He shrugs, but still doesn't look away from his phone.

Shit, shit,shit!I was wrong—so, so wrong!—to try to broaden Yong-rae's horizons. He wasn't pent-up, longing for some fun as I imagined. He was simply aware of his limits. To help him save face in front of the other partners, I inadvertently redirected his nearly obsessive focus from fitness and acting to partying and alcohol, completely unsupervised. Itwas a bonehead move, but it's not too late to fix this. Hopefully…

"Oh, it's like that?" I challenge, arching my eyebrow. "Well, I've got four brothers. I know exactly what to do when a man has his head up his ass."

First, I yank the phone from his hand.

"Hey!" he shouts. "I was reading that!"

When he's about to take another swig, I snatch his drink away too. He stands up angrily.

"Give that back!" he barks at me. It's supposed to be menacing, except he sways on his feet and has to grab the counter of the trailer's small kitchenette to keep from falling.

"Shit, man," I curse. "You're drunk!"

I toss the full glass into the sink with too much force, and it shatters.Good.Better that glass than my idiot client's face, though I'm tempted.

"What the hell is going on?" I yell again, trying to get a handle on my anger. "Two weeks ago, we're celebrating, and now you're hiding out in your trailer,drunk, blowing the opportunity of a lifetime! Tell me the truth, Yong-rae, because I'mthisclose to telling the studio they should go ahead and call your replacement."

At that, the air leaves Yong-rae's chest, and he drops onto the couch, defeated.

"It's too big!" he wails. When he doesn't elaborate, I pound the table impatiently.

"What's too big?" I look around the room. "The trailer?"

"Everything!" he continues. He motions to the door. "The trailer! The set! The bonus sitting in my bank account when this time last year, I was barely making rent." He blows out a frustrated breath. "I went from OffOffBroadway to a hundred-million-dollar production, and I'm way out of my depth."

He drops his head into his hands.

"I'm going to fuck it up."

His admission is barely a whisper, but I hear it. The fear. The imposter syndrome. The disappointment in himself. I understand it, but it also terrifies me.

Because what if he's right? What if heisgoing to fuck this up? Jim and Brent will never let me hear the end of it, for one. But also, how long will it be until Hollywood takes a chance on another unknown if this doesn't work out?

I sit on the edge of the couch next to him, trying to stop my racing thoughts.

"I wish you'd called me if you were having trouble," I grumble after a beat. "We could've figured something out before it got to this point. I could've had you talk with some of my other clients who've gone through something similar. Now the studio is involved, and—"

"See!" he groans. "I'm already fucking things up!"

"No, you're not," I assure him, but he definitely is. It's going to take a miracle to salvage this situation—if it evencanbe salvaged. But he doesn't need to hear that right now.