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Then he got up and said, “Let’s go back inside. You’re already going to be cold tomorrow night, and there’s no point in freezing tonight, too.”
Riley and Phoenix were in the kitchen, along with my traitor of a cat, who seemed to vastly prefer Phoenix’s company to mine. While I got a kettle going, Lorenzo put out some brownies he’d made earlier and told our housemates, “Please help yourself. I’ve been getting a little carried away with the amount of baking I’ve been doing.”
“Yes you have, and I sincerely hope you keep that shit up,” Riley said, before cramming half a brownie in his mouth.
Lorenzo asked me, “Since they’re filming your scene after dark, does that mean everyone’s off until tomorrow evening?”
“Not everyone. Emma and Harper are shooting three scenes in the morning, so the crew is working a split shift. I’m looking forward to sleeping in, assuming I actually manage to fall asleep tonight.”
“I’m going to be so glad when you finish the death scene,” he said.
“Same. The next few weeks will be a piece of cake after that.”
“Even your love scene with Emma?”
“Alex is supposed to look nervous and uncomfortable in that scene,” I told him. “I’m pretty sure I’ll ace it.”
After I poured us all some tea, we sat around the kitchen island chatting for a while. At one point, Phoenix snapped a picture of me, and when I shot him a questioning look, he turned his phone to face me and explained, “We need to get better about posting content to your Instagram. You’ve gained over ten thousand new followers since the studio issued the announcement that you’d been cast as Alex. Can I post this?” It was actually a great photo, so I told him to go ahead. Then he asked, “How do you feel about that interview you’re doing on Saturday?”
“I haven’t had time to worry about it. Alex’s death scene tomorrow night is overshadowing everything else.”
“I’ve met this reporter,” Phoenix said. “He’s a nice guy, and the photographer who’s coming with him is fantastic. You’ll probably end up with a great article.”
“Any advice on answering the reporter’s questions?”
Phoenix shrugged. “Just stuff you already know. Keep it positive, and less is more. In most cases, a single sentence answers the question much better than a rambling paragraph. Also, if he asks you anything that makes you uncomfortable, remember you’re under no obligation to answer.”
I asked him, “You’ll be around, right? Just to make sure I don’t do anything stupid?”
“I’ll be here, but you don’t need to worry,” he assured me. “I know you’ll do great.”
After a while, I refilled our cups, and then Lorenzo and I said good night to our friends and carried our tea upstairs. Along the way, he asked, “Are you more worried about that interview than you’re letting on?”
“I’m definitely nervous about it. There’s always that concern about saying the wrong thing, or the interviewer taking something out of context and twisting it around. Also, I really hope I won’t be pressured to spill the dirt on my costars or gossip about Trent Chambers. But Sylvia booked this interview because she really believes the reporter will be a professional and treat me with respect.”
“Let’s hope so.”
“This might sound silly, but my main goal here is just to end up with something my mom can be proud to put in the scrapbook she made for my acting career.”
Lorenzo said, “I definitely want to see that when we visit your parents.”
“Sure, but you’re just going to see a lot of blank pages. You know I landed a part in an action movie shortly after moving to California. I only had a handful of lines, and then my character died. What is it about me that I’ve once again been cast as a character who dies? Anyway, after that movie came out, a national magazine printed an article that was titled something like, ‘Ten hot young actors to watch in Hollywood’, and they actually included my photo and a short bio. My mom was ecstatic. That was when she started the scrapbook, because we both expected my career to skyrocket after that great start.” I sighed and muttered, “That article must be the only thing in there. About a decade later, she’ll finally have something to put on the second page.”
“You’ve done other things besides that action movie.”
“A handful of commercials and a tiny role in a play—literally nothing worth writing home about.”
“I think you’re selling yourself short,” he said. “For one thing, you had thousands of Instagram followers even before you got the part of Alex. That tells me you’ve had more of a career than you give yourself credit for.”
“Okay, so I do have some fans. The ‘ten to watch’ article in a major publication was actually a big deal. It hit right around the same time Instagram was gaining momentum, and thanks to some great advice from my agent, I was quick to jump on that platform. But let’s be honest. All those people who follow me on social media aren’t there because of my acting career. They follow me because they think I’m cute.”
