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“No,” I say quickly. “If possible, can you send the contracts to me?”
“No problem. You probably know your way around a contract by now. I’ll send it over, along with a copy of the script, via courier. Will you be home in about an hour?”
“Yes, that would be perfect. Thank you!”
I race home to ensure I don’t miss the courier, who shows up an hour later on the dot.
I look through the contract, which is relatively short compared to some I’ve seen, and it all seems okay. I have a bad gut feeling that this might be some ploy by Candy after the way she set me up last night.
Even so, after I’ve looked over the contract a hundred times and made a couple of minor adjustments that I think the contract people will accept, I sign the paperwork and let Derek know he can send someone over to pick it up.
Signing this contract might be a mistake. If Candy is up to something, I’m legally bound to stick to this movie unless I get fired. I choose not to worry about that. This is the movie I’ve been dying for. I still want to switch gears to TV, but this movie, and my consistently decent reputation, might be enough to get me there.
Of course, the one person I want to celebrate with is Leila. She has known from the beginning how important this movie is to me. I think she’d be happy for me.
Since I’m all about doing things against my better judgment right now, I call Leila. She doesn’t pick up. I try one more time, and I get her voicemail immediately. It was a shot in the dark. Why would she want to talk to me when she doesn’t think she can trust me? I blew it big time last night.
I want to celebrate with someone, so I give Mason a call, and he picks up right away.
“Hey, man, I got some big news. Want to stop by?”
“Sure, I’ll be over in a little bit.”
I pace in my living room, avoiding eye contact with everything Leila picked out for me until Mason arrives.
“So, remember that big movie being produced by Candy’s dad that I really wanted a part in, but Randy was dragging his heels on?”
“Of course. You’ve been talking about it for months.”
“I got the lead male role! Apparently, everyone was impressed with my work on my last movie, and they used it as my audition.”
“Holy shit, man, that’s awesome!” Mason says, slapping me on the back. “I’m happy for you.”
“Yeah, it’s big. I’m pretty excited about it.”
“How does Leila feel? I’m surprised you’re not with her instead of me.”
I cringe. “Well ...”
“Jesus, Spencer. Don’t tell me you didn’t tell Leila about the kiss.”
“She got the pictures last night and broke up with me. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well, I’m going to yell at you about it. I told you that all you had to do was tell her what happened. You do realize that, right? It was that simple.”
I drop my head to my hands. “Listen, I know. I don’t know why I didn’t tell her.”
“Maybe you’re trying to self-sabotage.”
“What?”
“Things were going so well with Leila; I can’t help wondering if you were scared and wanted to push her away. That’s the only explanation I can come up with. Because we both knew last night that she would find out, and it would crush her.”
I blow out a breath. “I don’t like when you psychoanalyze me.”
“Then don’t do things that beg psychoanalysis. It’s all right there. You made a dumb mistake because you were afraid.”
“I don’t know if that’s it. I’m not usually a self-saboteur.”
Mason shoots me a look. “No? What about all those fights? They just happen to come when you’re lining up a big contract. Your reputation is only bad when you’re closing in on a good thing.”
“That’s not true!” I say, but as I think about it, Mason might be on to something. “I’m not doing it on purpose.”
“I don’t think you are, but you’re still doing it. And you need to stop before you ruin every good thing in your life, including this new movie.”
“Shit, man. Now, what do I do? Do you think I have any chance of winning Leila back?”
“Maybe, but it’s not going to be easy. And you have to give her some time. Don’t call her repeatedly in the hope that she’ll pick up. Give her some space to cool down.”
“I think she might’ve blocked me anyway.”
Mason laughs. “And for good reason. She might come around. Or she won’t. All you can do is hope you haven’t completely screwed this up. And start listening to me more often.”
“I don’t know about the last part. You’ve got some pretty ridiculous ideas.”
“Maybe, but one of us is on the way to being engaged, and the other lost his girlfriend over something he could’ve prevented.”
