Just Like Heaven

by T L Bradford

  “No.”

  “Give me a call when they do. You have to trust me. I have your best interest at heart. I want this to work out for you.”

  “Thanks, Lisa. I’ll give you a call later.”

  “Okay, just relax, and wait, got it?”

  We say our goodbyes, and I fall back on the couch to nap. It must have been several hours later because something wakes me up. It is already dark outside, and I realize I’ve been asleep all afternoon and into the evening. I guess the pressure and running around these past few weeks has finally caught up with me. After a moment, I hear what woke me up. It was a loud banging on my door.

  “Open up Hill; I know you’re in there. I see your car in the lot,” says my very irate landlord.

  “Shit!” I scramble to get up and knock over a bunch of stuff on my coffee table. I holler out in pain. He knows for sure I’m in here now. It makes no sense for me to hide. I open the door, and he immediately serves me my notice papers.

  “Twenty-four hours. I get the full back rent or your out.” And with no other words, he stalks off, the short, sweaty, pig of a man he is. I look down at the papers in my hands and turn back inside. I crumple them up and toss them in the trash.

  I check my phone to see if I missed any calls. Nope. I take a shower then head into the kitchen to see if I have any leftovers. Thank goodness for Teriyaki Wok. I pop the leftover food in the microwave and sit at my kitchen island. Could this day possibly get any worse? I slowly pick up my phone and imagine the unthinkable. It’s time. I scroll through my favorites list and find the entry I need. Parents.

  I’m about to hit the call button when I get a call coming through on the other line. It’s a number I do not recognize, but it looks like it is local.

  “Hey, this is Josh.”

  “Josh this is Genie.”

  “Hey, Genie, what’s going on?” My stomach almost heaves the teriyaki I just ate.

  “Well, I’m giving you a call because I wanted to see what your availability is for the next few months.”

  “Availability?”

  “Yep, I have a part here for you and was hoping you could clear your schedule to be our new Max on Americana.”

  It’s at that moment I sink to the floor, and grown ass man cry.

  Chapter 5

  Josh

  Acouple of days later, I am living on my friend Sam’s couch. A messenger from the set has delivered the first script for me to memorize. Sam and I are sitting in the living room where she is helping me run lines. I only have a few brief scenes in my first episode, but I’m psyched to get started. I called my sister Chloe yesterday and told her the good news. She was so excited to have her twin be on the hit show. I asked her to keep quiet about it to the rest of the family until I had a chance to wrap my head around it. My scenes won’t air for a few more weeks, anyway.

  I couldn’t be happier about actually landing the part, but I’m still really nervous about how to approach this role. I know we are in the 21st century and things have changed, but they haven’t changed that much. Part of me is now concerned for my safety. People have trouble separating characters from the actors. Not to mention the crap I’m going to have to take from my two older brothers, Xander and Zach when they find out. I don’t think my parents will have any issue; their main concern is that I’m happy doing what I love.

  “This is so surreal,” Sam says as she sips her hot tea. She is sitting cross-legged on the big comfy recliner feeding me lines. Her dark, auburn hair is wet and pulled back in a ponytail. She is wearing baggy sweatpants that look way too large on her slight frame. She has proven to be a great friend by helping me out. I had to move out of my place yesterday when I got evicted. She stepped right up, no questions asked and lent me her couch to crash on until I get back on my feet. “I can’t believe you are going to be working with Noah Sinclair. You have to get me an autograph. No! Invite me to the set so I can get a selfie!” She is practically squealing.

  “Relax, Sam, he’s just a regular guy like anybody else.”

  I figured if Noah is okay with doing the part and he’s been an established character on the show, what right do I have to make it a big deal?

  “Um, no, you are sadly mistaken. I will have you know that he was in Hollywood’s Hot Young 100 list. A feat aspired to by many but achieved by few.”

  “Oh, for the love of… you are so star-struck! It’s a good thing you’re not going to the set you’d embarrass the hell out of me,” I throw a puffy couch pillow at her head.

  “Hey, do you think he’s gay?”

  “What? See, this is what I was talking about! Just because an actor plays a gay role, everyone automatically assumes they might be gay. You wouldn’t even be asking that if the character was anything else.”

  “Sorry, it’s just, you said they had been trying to pair him up with other actors, right? And none of them worked out. But your screen test with him was off the chart hot right?”

  “What are you implying Sam?” I’m getting annoyed at the direction of this conversation.

  “Well, maybe, he is gay.”

  “He’s not gay. Besides, he was dating his co-star for like a couple of years, right? You should know this crap better than me.”

  “Fine! Touchy, touchy. I won’t bring it up again.”

  We get a good hour in of practice time. I think I’m ready for tomorrow. I make sure to sleep early. Sam is going to drop me off in the morning so that I won’t be late for my first day. I drift off to sleep, but not before thinking about what Sam said.

  I show my pass to the guard to get me through the gates of the studio. He barely glances at it and motions me on through. I make my way over to the same studio where I had my audition. I let go of my breath that I hadn’t even realized I had been holding. I wander through the big doors and see all kinds of people going back and forth, looking very busy. I go up to Steph and Genie’s office and see only Steph there looking like he is ready to leave.

  “Oh, great! You’re here!”

  “Yeah, I wasn’t sure where to go, so I thought I would swing by here first.”

  “Let’s get you down to hair and makeup. Your shots are scheduled for this afternoon. You got the script we sent you right? Any questions?”

  “Nah, I’m ready to go.”

  We go through a series of doors and hallways until we reach the hair and makeup room. There are a few of the actors already in there lazily chatting. I recognize several of them right away. They all look up when they see me enter.

  The first person to speak is the young blond actress who plays Janey. “Well hello there…” she says saucily. “You must be the new guy.” I come forward and put my stuff down on one of the open chairs.

  “Yeah, I guess that would be me.”

  “I’m Olive, I play Janey,” she says bouncily.

  Then without introduction, Sarita comes up directly to me and offers her hand daintily. “Sarita,” she says and stares at me like I’m a slab of beef.

  “Ah, yes, Cassandra nice to meet you.”

  “You bet it is,” she winks at me.

  Sensing how uncomfortable the situation has become, the other guy in the room jumps in to rescue me. “And uh, I’m Ash.”

  Then he leans over to his side to say to Sarita, “Down girl. You’ll scare him away on the first day.”

  “Great to meet you, Ash. I’m looking forward to working with you all.”

  “Me too,” says Sarita with a gleam in her eye. Okay, so she’s pretty forward.

  Ash says, “Well, I’ll be here to help you out and teach you the ropes. It’s pretty chill here. The work is long hours, but the people are good.”

  “Sounds like my kind of place. I was told to come here first so they could make me presentable.”

  “Seems like a waste, but this is the best hairstylist on the West Coast, Amy Delane,” says Sarita.

  Amy takes me into her chair and proceeds to work her magic. She says, “So what character are you, Sweetie?”

&nbs
p; “I’ll be playing Max,” I say this softly so as not to draw too much attention to myself.

  This is hopeless, though, as Amy practically shouts, “Oh, so you’re the new love interest for Noah?”

  “Well, Jace, actually, yeah.” I take a quick peek around the room to see who was paying attention. Oh yeah, everybody.

  “So, I was thinking of giving you the jock as a metrosexual look. A guy who sports jerseys but sits up in the box seats for games drinking White Russians. What do you think?”

  “Okay… works for me, as long as I don’t need to get highlights.”

  I keep expecting to run into Noah but haven’t seen him yet. I have been in wardrobe for almost two hours while they try to define my look. I end up in a red hockey jersey, blue jeans, converse and a backward baseball cap. Max is supposed to be an All-American, boy next door, frat house type. Max is the Oscar to Jace’s Felix, the original Odd Couple.

  One of the stagehands shows me to my dressing room. I open the door and see a tidy space with Classic American furniture and flattering lighting. There is the soft scent of sage and ocean in the air. The smell reminds me of… and then I see him sitting there, back to the door in a big chocolate brown chair. He has a script in his lap and headphones on his ears. He seems like he is concentrating and did not hear me enter. Not wanting to scare him, I move into his line of vision.

  He looks up at me with that steely silver-green gaze. He is wearing dark wire-framed glasses, a blue zip-up sweater, and crisp black slacks. He is a little startled at my presence and takes the headphones off of his ears. A pleasant look comes over his dark features. “Hey, Noah, I wasn’t expecting you in here. Sorry to disturb you. I would have knocked, but the guy who showed me the room said this would be my dressing room.”

  His friendly mask drops for about two seconds, then he recovers. “Oh, great, well glad to see you are settling in.”

  “Everyone so far has been pretty great. I was in hair and wardrobe most of the morning.”

  “Yeah, get Amy when you have the chance. She can work wonders.”

  “That’s what I was told.”

  Chapter 6

  Noah

  Josh was the last person I was expecting to see when I looked up. I had been reading my script; well, let’s be honest more like staring at the same page for like 30 minutes when he appeared before me. He must have just come from wardrobe because he looked the epitome of the character Max. He has this wide, boyish grin when he sees me. I know I stare for probably a second or two too long. His features are so striking it would be difficult for anyone not to.

  He mentions that we are in the same dressing room. That’s the first I’ve heard of it. Steph and Genie mentioned nothing about us sharing a room. This does not immediately thrill me. I’m a private person, so the idea of someone else in my space has me pretty anxious. I make nice though, and as soon as it is appropriate, I grab my stuff and go. I wonder why they didn’t at least give me a heads up about it. I mean, it’s not a huge deal breaker, my ego isn’t that big, but I still think they should have said something.

  Unsure of where to go or what to do with myself, I head over to one of the other sets to watch a taping. It’s a scene with Gemma, so I sit down to watch intently. Beautiful as always, she graces the sound stage. Her character Gracie is in the early stages of a new relationship with Ash’s character Beau. My character, Jace and Beau are best friends. Jace and Gracie broke up over her growing affections for his Beau character. In this scene, Gracie finds out that Beau was hiding information about what he knew of the disappearance of a missing local girl. Gem is a great actress. It will be no time before the industry realizes this and snatches her up for movie roles.

  It’s been a while since we broke up, but I still love her just the same. She gets me like no one else. Despite having known each other through acting school, we didn’t get romantically involved until we were both hired on the show. It was a no brainer. Jace and Gracie had been a “golden couple.” #JACIE. Heck, we even won a Soap Opera Award last year for Best Couple.

  We were inseparable. We were both new to the LA area and exploring our strange new surroundings. Knowing no one else, we clung to each other for support. Support lead to attraction, then attraction lead to a relationship.

  We lived and worked together, and over time, the mix of the show and the pressure of being a couple in the public eye took its toll. We slowly began to drift away from each other romantically, but still loved each other as best friends.

  Her scene ends, and she looks out to see me hanging around the back of the set. “So, what did you think? Am I convincing as the clueless girlfriend?”

  “You know you’re the best. You’ll be winning Oscars in no time. Meryl Streep better watch her back.”

  “You are a complete nutso, you know that?” she squeals as she wraps her arms around me and hugs me. “So, today is the big day, right? Your first shoot with Josh? What’s he like? I haven’t had a chance to meet him yet.”

  “We’re rehearsing and then shooting. The scenes are brief so that we can knock them out of the way. He seems like a nice guy, though. We haven’t had a chance to sit down and have a real conversation yet.”

  “I heard he’s really cute. He’s going to need a hose to keep Sarita off of him.”

  “No doubt. I’ll bet you; she’s already sharpening her claws for the feed.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see a splash of red. It’s Josh in his hockey jersey coming down to set for rehearsal. He goes over to speak with the director, getting clued in on what will be happening today. He’s working overtime on his bright and sunny disposition. I turn back around to look at Gemma. She is staring at me strangely, then just as quickly it disappears. Then she says, “Looks like the rumors were true. I’m getting hot flashes just standing across the room!”

  “Not you too?”

  “Noah, you know you will always be first in my heart. But damn that is one gorgeous package of a man,” she says eye drooling all over him. “You are one lucky man.”

  I don’t know why that makes me feel uneasy, but I brush it off. “Whatever.” I roll my eyes. “Hey, what are you doing tonight? Wanna Netflix and takeout? Or do you have another epic tragedy date?”

  “Sorry, probably neither one tonight, I have to pack. My sister’s wedding is this weekend. I will need to grab my shoehorn to pry my way into that dress.”

  “Oh yeah, I totally forgot, well tell her I said congrats.” She’s never had body confidence, and I have no idea why. Most women would kill to have a body like hers.

  Gemma is tall, with long, lean legs, mid-back length brown hair, the kind of hair that has perfect slip so no matter what the weather throws her way. She has plump pink lips and thick but maintained eyebrows to frame her small heart-shaped face. “I thought I was your designated wedding date, anyway?”

  “I was going to ask you, but I didn’t want to confuse the situation any you know? The whole time my mom would be trying to get us back together. I am convinced she loves you more than me.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, of course, she does.”

  “Whatever,” she says, making her best Clueless impression and miming my words from earlier. “Anyway, I’ll be lone wolfing it this time.”

  “Fine, your loss.”

  Just then the Director, Marty, looks up and sees me. He calls me over to start rehearsal.

  “Off to work.”

  “Um hmm. Work.” Her gaze drifts toward Josh. She takes another look up at me and gives me a half-smile, half-smirk and winks at me, then walks away.

  I make my way over to the small group to prepare for rehearsal. I’m already in wardrobe, so I am ready to go. We get our direction and complete the rehearsal quickly. The shoot goes just as smoothly. It’s a different scenario from what we used in our chemistry test. Our characters only briefly meet, and that is about it. When we finish the shoot, I tell Josh that I thought he did a great job. He seems touched. I go over to Steph and Genie to get their feedback. />
  “First scene down! Sorry, we got here a little late, did everything go okay?” Steph asks me.

  “No issues, it felt natural.” It’s the truth. We fell into a good rhythm. We chat a little more about what is to come over the next few shoots.

  Steph mentions if Josh got settled in. “Yeah, about that, I wasn’t aware we were going to be sharing a room. Guess you forgot to mention that.” I edge toward this conversation lightly. I don’t want to come off like an egomaniac.

  “We got to talking and thought it would be good for the two of you to get to know each other personally and bond. After all, you will have more intimate scenes together. It is important that you have that communication between the two of you.” Genie says.

  “I can see where you are coming from but—” I interject.

  “—You tend to isolate, so we want to bring you out. Your character will be interacting more with the other players, so it’s important that this look authentic. Would you agree?”

  She Jedi mind tricks me into agreeing with her.

  “Sure.” I am shut down — end of story.

  On the way home I pick up Chipotle takeout. I see Mrs. Jennings outside of her house and wave. I have to remember to drop by this weekend. I go inside and see Lola in her usual spot. I follow my usual routine and end up on the couch with my takeout watching an old movie. My acting mentors are the “Robert,” Robert Duval and Robert Redford. Duval for his subtle portrayals and Redford for his charisma. I’m determined to get on that higher level.

  It’s tough though when you have a speech impediment brought on by regular panic attacks. It’s not something I’ve ever told anyone; it’s just something I would rather keep to myself and deal with. It’s one of the reasons I keep to myself. I struggle to speak the scripts on occasion and don’t want anyone to catch on. It’s become more visible in the last year as my attacks are ramping up more frequently.