Camila crumpled another ripped page and tossed it on the kitchen table. It rolled and bounced off the many others that had suffered the same fate. The ideas weren't flowing. She was too self-conscious, too worried about what the actress might think. She needed to let her mind go and not overanalyze every stroke of the pencil.
Keys jingled outside in the hall and a second later, the front door opened. "Hi, honey, I'm home!" Dinah called.
"In the kitchen."
Dinah appeared carrying a series of shopping bags. She glanced briefly at the mess of paper balls on the table before smiling brightly in Camila's direction. "I just blew the $300 I made doing that short film, but it was so worth it. I got the hottest pair of jeans ever."
Dinah dug into one of the bags and withdrew a pair of jeans that looked very much like every other pair of jeans Camila had ever seen. "Um, hot," Camila said, because there was no use in saying anything other than that.
"I also got..." Dinah reached into a different bag and withdrew a pink and black striped scarf. "...this. For you. Aaaaand socks to match!"
"Aw, shucks." Camila held up her gifts and shook her head. "Wasn't Christmas like a month ago?"
Dinah shrugged. "Yeah, but we were both broke. Now we're rich. Well, you're rich."
Camila hesitated. "I'm not depositing that check from Lauren Jauregui until I know I can actually come up with something." She motioned to the piles of paper. "As you can see, it's not going well."
Dinah sat down and kicked her shoes into the living room. One hit the back of the couch, and the other missed their lamp by an inch. "Okay. I've got something that might help you with that."
Camila slouched down in the chair and stared curiously at her best friend. She crossed her arms. "What could that possibly be?"
Dinah reached into another bag and withdrew an item from its depths. "I actually bought it for me, but I can see that you're in a crisis. So here." She handed a box to Camila.
Camila took it and sighed. "A vibrator? How is this going to help me? You want me to paint a giant vibrator on the wall of Lauren Jauregui's penthouse?"
Dinah grinned. "Hey, she might be into that. And besides, it's not just any vibrator. It's the Rabbit. See? They angled the bunny part for better contact. And it vibrates. Just don't get too addicted. You saw what happened to Charlotte in season one of Sex & the City. There's really such a thing as too much mast—"
"Okay," Camila said, interrupting. She slid the box across the table. "It's all yours. Really. I'm good."
"Whatever. Be a prude." Dinah took the box and threw it back into the bag. "Call Anthony at least. Go out. Make out. Do something."
Camila shrugged and offered a tentative smile. "He did look kind of cute with his new haircut."
"There you go! Excellent. Glad that's settled." She stood up, grabbing bags as she went. "I gotta get ready for work. We hired this new guy. His name is Roberto. I get to train him tonight." She looked pensively into the living room. "I can't decide if I'm attracted to him or if I find him repulsive. Such a fine line." She shrugged, and headed to her room.
Camila grabbed her sketchpad. The blank page mocked her. She bit her lip thoughtfully and grabbed her cell. She'd taken to text messaging Laura these days because she found it was the best way to get a speedy answer. It was almost as good as a phone conversation, but not as intrusive.
She found Laura's name in her list of contacts and typed:
If u had 2 paint a mural on a famous person's wall, what would u paint?
