Page 47 of Cosplay & Consequences

My dressing room was in a state of chaos. On one side of the room, Paige and Faye argued about the party Faye wanted to attend. On the other side, Britta sniped at Stella about me being on stage at Brayonna’s show last night. Meanwhile outside, the tapings from As The Minutes Tick By ran late, so the crew had to scramble to get a green screen set up for Alfie and his team to film the fan trailer.

I took a deep breath and tried to block everything out. I focused on the immediate task in front of me: the dark circles under my eyes from several late nights in a row. I dug through the stage makeup bin in search of some concealer as I ran lines from the monologue I’d chosen. Faye said it would be perfect for the trailer, but as I muttered the words under my breath, they didn’t ring true.

“Are you talking to yourself, Woobie?” Stella called out.

“Just running my lines,” I replied.

“You’re not being you.” Stella leaned in to examine my face.

I forced a grin. “Maybe I’m in character.”

“Mmm. Sure thing, Woobie. I’m going to grab a smoke.” She gave me a pat on the shoulder then waddled out of the room.

Britta scowled at her as she went out the door. “I don’t know why you still let her represent you,” Britta complained. “We could have avoided so much trouble if you had an agent who understood how to use a cellphone.”

I didn’t have to turn my head to know that Paige and Faye were glaring at Britta. Stella had been with me since the beginning of my career, and I had no complaints. My sister and niece considered her family and would always defend her vigorously. Britta, on the other hand, they both despised. There were days I wondered why I put up with Britta, but her ability made up for her attitude. Also for an actor at my level, beggars couldn’t be choosers.

“We’re not having that conversation, Britta,” I said, levelling a glare at her.

“Fine,” she said with a huff. “Whatever. Anyway, that silly game you played last night seemed to generate some good buzz. Not enough. Most of the people online are still hating on you because of the books.”

“Thanks for the appraisal, Britta. Did you spend a whole five minutes on MeeTeeVee to learn that?” Paige snarked.

Britta narrowed her eyes at Paige. With all the drama in the last week, the sparks had been flying between the two of them.

“The one thing I did pick up, and the studio noticed too, was the energy between you and that Richards woman,” Britta noted. “You two seem to be getting along better. Some people online are saying you’d make a great couple. Is there anything I should know?”

I cringed. I didn’t need this at all.

“Britta, could I have a moment to myself? I need to focus before I get out there,” I said, trying to keep my cool and avoid saying something that I would regret later.

She let out a huff of disgust and rolled her eyes. “Sure. Break a leg,” she muttered and clenched her jaw as she left the room.

“I’m so glad you have the Edna Mode of publicists,” Paige complained. “You want us gone, too?”

“Yeah. I need a minute to clear my head.”

Paige gave me an affectionate punch on the shoulder as she walked out. Faye paused to give me a side hug and a quick kiss on the cheek.

“I must be bad off to get the pity hug and kiss,” I said, giving Faye a smirk.

“You look tense,” Faye said, tilting her head as if evaluating me. “Did it help?”

“Immensely,” I lied, forcing a grin.

She gave me a small smirk, patting me on the shoulder. “Break a leg, Uncle Danny.”

I glanced up at my dressing-room mirror and watched her leave. As the door closed, my eyes focused on a picture of Faye from a few years ago at the infamous Kismet Sizzle concert hanging from the frame. My eyes drifted to other pictures. The birthday party where she insisted on getting books for all her gifts. The picture of her as a baby, in my father’s arms.

Toronto.

My thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Alfie and his horrible mustache appeared in the doorway. “Hey, kid. We’re good to go on set. Are you ready to blow the roof off this place?”

I forced a smile and followed him. On set, I spotted my “team” off to the side. They all gave me a wave of varying degrees of support. Next to them was Brayonna and Bennet who smiled and shouted out good luck. I walked past all the crew that Paige had strong-armed to stay after hours, each of them either giving me a nod or saying small words of encouragement.

It wasn’t helping my anxiety. I looked around for Jessica. She was nowhere to be seen. Was she late or–?

“All right, Danny,” Alfie said, pointing to the blue gaffer tape on the floor. “Those are the marks we went through during rehearsal. We got the lighting set, the music picked out, and the backdrop we’re going to put on the green screen. All we need is you and your amazing talent.”