AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Maybe that was the way out.
Maybe if I could explain to Joseph what happened he would go to bat for me with the studio. Maybe that would be enough to get me a meeting where I could talk to them and work this out.
“There is a great coffee place on Silverlake if you want to-”
“Oh no, I can’t be seen with you at all,” Joseph interrupted. “You’re going to be a pariah for a while. Have you seen what they’re saying about you. I’m going to have to write a whole thing denouncing you on BirdSong. Don’t take it personally okay? We could just do a video chat or something. Drink coffee at the same time.”
Every fiber of my being wanted to scream well fuck you too at him.
Instead, I made sure to plant a big ole smile on my face so my tone would be warm.
“Yeah, we can do that,” I lied.
“Listen, maybe you should try to pivot and go to South Korea. Their industry is really popping off; just look at what they have on the streaming services. I’m sure there is a lot of opportunity for someone who is bilingual,” he said.
“I’m not Korean or bilingual, Joseph.” I pinched the bridge of my nose with my fingers, squeezing my eyes shut. “The closest thing I have to a second language is taking Spanish in high school.”
“I’m sure they’d hire a Japanese or whatever you are actor just as well,” he said.
“Goodbye, Joseph,” I said, holding in the rage and trying to keep a pleasant tone in my voice. Why was I even trying?
“Good luck, babe.” Joseph hung up.
I closed my eyes and counted to ten.
“What happened?” Caley asked. “Are you okay?”
“I’m not okay,” I said, putting my phone in my back pocket. I couldn’t look at it right now. “But I can fix this.”
“Fix what?” she asked.
I couldn’t tell her. She would find out eventually, but right now I couldn’t handle how she would feel if I told her that I was just fired and blacklisted from the one thing I had ever wanted in my life. She would blame herself.
Right now was not the time to focus on blame; it was time to figure out a solution.
“Ok, listen,” I said. “I’m going to give you a list of everything you need to change about this situation and you’re going to follow it - okay? For example, you’re hiring a marriage counselor therapist to help the person decide if they want to move forward after meeting the alien and this room needs a coffee maker.”
“That would be great, thank you,” she said.
“Second, I’m not turning Aeson down.” The words echoed with certainty in my heart. There was one way out of this, and it wasn’t crumpling in a ball or begging the internet for forgiveness.
No, sometimes the only way out was through.
“But… why?” she said. “You just said it went badly.”
My phone chimed again.
“I have my reasons.” I focused back on her.
I needed to do what I always did when the world went topsy turvy on me.
I was going to land on my feet like a cat that grew up in hell.
Part of doing that was taking advantage of every opportunity that came my way, and that included taking full advantage of the world wide spotlight that was now fixed on me. Yes, that spotlight was made out of hate and derision, but it was attention all the same.
My phone chimed again.
I pulled it out of my pocket and put it on do not disturb.
