Page 92 of This Changes Everything

“Happy birthday, Zoë!” We clinked our glasses.

Rory winked at me before taking a sip.

“Okay, continue.” Orson smiled.

“Oh, right. Well, Ellie and I were accidentally in a porn movie,” Zoë stated bluntly.

“ZOË!” I scream-laughed, and buried my hands in my face, horrified.

“What?!” Rory yelled. His jaw practically hit the table.

Hannah and Kara doubled over with laughter. They loved this story and were clearly excited that Rory was about to hear it.

“Okay, fine. We don’t know it’s porn, but I’m at least eighty percent positive.”

“I need more information than that.” Rory laughed.

“We were booked by an extras casting agency. The only information we were given was the time and location. It was a pool hall. Anyway, these two actors . . . Wow.” Zoë shook her head, dumbfounded. “There’s no explanation other than they must have been porn stars. Plus, the dialogue, the scene, the lighting. It was too much. So, when the director called action, instead of quietly mumbling ‘watermelon, watermelon, banana, banana,’ there were twenty-five background actors all looking around suspiciously at each other and whispering, ‘Are we all in a porno right now?’ ”

“Ha!” Maddy dabbed a tear from her eye. “I don’t know this story.”

“Did you leave?” Orson asked.

“No. We wanted to see how it ended.” I laughed.

“Did you see them having sex?!” Rory’s eyes were fiery; he was loving every minute of our ridiculousness.

“No.” Zoë pulled a sad face. “Which is why I’m not one hundred percent.”

“Ellie won a car on The Price Is Right!” Hannah jumped in.

Rory excitedly snapped his head around to me.

“Oh, and we once danced with George Clooney,” Zoë added on.

“What the fuck?” Orson’s eyebrows flew up his forehead.

“Yeah, but that was by accident.” I tried to temper the story, which made me instantly self-conscious. I was always worried that my sometimes-seemingly glamorous LA life came across as self-aggrandizing when, in reality, nothing ever is as it seems.

“Have you ever been to the Hollywood Bowl?” Zoë then asked.

Rory and Orson both shook their heads.

“Next time you come to LA, we’ll take you.”

My heart leapt into my throat at the idea of a next time.

“Alright, let me think,” Zoë continued. “Ellie, you want to get into any of your work stories?”

My eyes plummeted to my drink, and I felt heat rise up my neck.

“You have to tell them about the time with the construction workers,” Zoë said, turning to Rory and Orson. “Ellie once had a boss who invited her into a meeting with a director, then complained about the construction noise out on the street in front of their office. He said that if she couldn’t get the construction workers to stop for the duration of the meeting, she would never be a successful producer. He kicked her out in front of everyone, just for a power trip, locked her out, and would only let her back in if she got the workers to stop doing their job.”

“That’s so messed up.” Orson’s face morphed with disgust.

I couldn’t look at Rory. I didn’t want to even imagine what he was thinking.

“Did you get them to stop?” Orson asked.