Ayo set her laptop aside and reached over and snagged mine. ‘?“I’ve had so little love in my life”,’ she said as she typed. ‘?“Everyone I love always leaves me. All I want is someone to stay.”’
‘Get back to your own application and stop making me sound like a Dickensian orphan,’ I said, trying and failing to get the lid off the pineapple juice. ‘You know I hate that.’
‘I was trying to make you sound like Cinderella, but fine, I’ll get back to making myself sound like Cinderella,’ Ayo said. ‘Do you think I can spin those rats that lived in the walls in that one group home into charming field mice who made all my clothes and braided my hair for me?’
I threw a gummy bear at her and took my laptop back. ‘I also live with two annoying housemates,’ I pretended to type. ‘I could use a few weeks staying somewhere else.’
‘Hey,’ Flick said. ‘I wasn’t the one who made you sound like Oliver Twist.’
‘Headboard,’ I reminded her, swallowing half of my vodka pineapple. Hmm. Not bad. ‘We share a wall, Flick. Your review sex is loud.’
I don’t remember actually finishing my application, but apparently I did, because a few weeks later…
Step three: there was a voicemail on my phone when I got off my late-night shopping retail shift. ‘Hi Cecilia, this is Carrie, one of the producers fromMarry Me, Juliet. Just calling to tell you that we loved your application, and we were hoping you’d come to an audition next Monday.I’ll pop all the details in an email for you. Looking forward to meeting you!’
‘I’m not going to go, obviously,’ I told Flick and Ayo.
‘Um, yes, you are,’ Ayo said.
‘Come on,’ I protested. ‘You know how nervous I get when everyone’s looking at me. I’ll be a disaster!’
‘Cece, you have to do it for us,’ Flick said. ‘We need to know what happens behind the scenes. Not want.Need.’
‘You applied too,’ I said. ‘Have you checked your phone? Maybe the producers called you too. You could go and get the dirt.’
‘Oh yes, I’m sure Adam would love me going on a dating show. That would go over so well.’
‘It’s back on?’ Ayo asked.
Flick sighed. ‘Yes.’
‘Babe.’
‘I know!’ Flick said. ‘I don’t need the lecture.’
‘It kind of sounds like you do need the lecture,’ I said.
‘You can give me the lecture after we give you this lecture,’ Flick said. ‘No changing the subject, Cece. And no not going to theMarry Me, Julietaudition because you’re scared.’
‘Ayo could go.’
‘They didn’t call me,’ Ayo said.
‘They might!’
‘One,’ Ayo said, ‘when was the last time you saw a Black woman onMarry Me, Juliet, Cece?’
‘There’s been all those #WeNeedDiverseRandJ petitions,’ I protested. ‘This might be the year they actually properly diversify their casting. Plus, you’d be great! We have exactlythe same tragic backstory, and you have the distinct advantage of actually being good at talking about it in front of people.’
‘That leads me to number two,’ Ayo said. ‘There’s no way they’re casting me, because you have one thing I don’t have, Cece.’
‘What?’
‘A finished application,’ Ayo said. ‘Too many vodka pineapples, baby.’
‘Cece, you just have to suck it up and face facts,’ Flick said. ‘They called you, and you’re going to do it.’
‘But—’
