One Less Problem Without You by Beth Harbison Page B

So if you could…” She licked her thumb and forefinger and separated one pack of stapled papers from a stack. “Just go ahead and read these. It’s a different scene, taking place later in the episode. The character is close enough that it shouldn’t seem unrecognizable.”
    Chelsea stepped forward, thinking briefly and unexpectedly of the shop and wondering exactly what Prinny’s plans were. She cleared her head. She was about to do a cold read. This was no time to think about work.
    The pages seemed stark and too bright, the letters too close together. Her lines were highlighted in blue—the most difficult to read. Why couldn’t they have chosen classic yellow?
    She smiled.
    â€œBegin whenever you’re ready. Tim will read Connor’s lines.”
    She gave a nod and then zoned in on the page.
    â€œConnor, please, I can’t keep doing this— you can’t keep doing this. If we get caught—”
    â€œWe won’t get caught!” Tim read the lines with a booming, intimidating voice that made Chelsea feel even more underprepared and even more underwhelming. She tried to funnel the timidity washing over her into something useful.
    â€œSo what am I supposed to do ?” She had no context for the scene. No idea what it was they couldn’t keep doing. She could guess, but she didn’t know. Was she supposed to be angry? Sad? She should have glanced over the lines before launching in. “Christ, Con, it’s like you think I’m some kind of—some kind of—”
    â€œWhat, Hadley? Some kind of a hooker? Some kind of a prostitute ?”
    Shit, thought Chelsea. Even she wanted to hit the guy. “Don’t you dare say that to me. This is different . You know it is.”
    â€œHow is it different? I pay you. We fuck. You do everything I want. How is it anything more complicated than that? Huh? You want to tell me?”
    â€œI do everything you want because I lo—” Chelsea was surprised to feel tears starting to sting her eyes. “Because I want to.” Her voice cracked, and she felt the attention in the room focus on her. “It may have started out that way, but you know damn well it’s not like that.”
    â€œYou’re going to tell me what it’s like? You know who I fucking am, Hadley. You know I—”
    â€œYou’re goddamn right I know who you are, Connor. I know you have a hell of a lot more to lose than I do.”
    â€œYou better hope that’s true, because you’re about to lose everything. But before that…” Tim hesitated, as the script instructed. “I need you to get on the bed.”
    Chelsea stared at Tim, who was reading the lines with a blank face behind the table. She felt briefly unaware of the camera or any of her nerves. This was what she loved. That high that meant she had broken into being someone else. It was like finally reaching a meditative state.
    â€œI guess you can’t have everything you want after all. Not even if you pay for it.”
    It was the last line of the stapled pages. It indicated that she should walk out, but she was practiced enough to know that they didn’t expect her to stalk off away from her mark.
    â€œAll right,” said the woman. Her flat tone shook Chelsea from her meditation and reminded her to be nervous again.
    â€œWe just have a couple more scenes for you to read through, and then you’re set to go.”
    Heart pounding and skin hot, Chelsea read through them in a haze. She read nothing as well as the first scene. She left feeling unconfident and idiotic. She hated when she couldn’t rid her mind of other thoughts enough to focus on the task at hand. The worst part was that the stress over her bad audition would be what distracted her from whatever else she needed to do later.
    She was walking out of the building when her phone buzzed. A text from Andrew:
    Thank GAIA for you queen, thanks to our