Chapter 9: Retail Slut
After listening to Tori panic over Nick's aloofness for an hour, I was ready to burst. The only thing that seemed to distract her was shopping, and you better believe I went for it.
Tori's problem was the same one I'd been hearing for days: she didn't understand why Nick hadn't asked her out on a date yet. They texted each other a lot, but the closest he'd come to asking her out was saying they needed to "hang out sometime."
It was better than guys who asked you to come over and "chill" but not by much.
My advice was to just ask him out herself, but of course, she refused. Personally, I thought it was the most logical solution to her problem. But was she going to do it? Of course not. Tori preferred sitting in our hotel room, anxiously awaiting a phone call or text that might not come instead of growing a pair and calling him herself.
"We need to go in there," Tori said, heading for a quirky store named Retail Slut. You would think the name would have made her want to avoid the store. Instead, it did the opposite for Tori. There were so many stores on Melrose Avenue that she'd expressed no desire to enter, yet she decided to head straight towards that. I purposely stayed put and just glanced around my surroundings.
Melrose Avenue was a popular section of Los Angeles that seemed to attract mostly young people, but there were tourists of all ages. It was what you'd expect to see in Los Angeles, with a few stragglers that stood out and made me look back in alarm. I was glad some of these people were so over the top. It made blending in so much easier. No one paid attention to plain old me – even if my face was all over the internet as a meme – when there were people with huge, blue mohawks walking around.
Luckily for me, there were also plenty of distractions available here. I'd been completely on edge for the past two days, ever since my audition. Nora and Rachel had told me they would call me soon to tell me their decision. But what did "soon" actually mean? A day? Two? A week? Every time I heard my phone ring, I hoped it was one of them.
Of course, it never was. I should have known better than to expect such a speedy reply. It wasn't like I was a widely recognized actress they were dying to get their hands on. I would consider myself lucky if I even got a call back.
To say I was startled when my phone rang just then would be an understatement. I squeaked and nearly dropped my phone. My excitement faded as quickly as it had surfaced. It was just Tori's brother.
"What do you want, Adrian?"
"Why are you snapping at me already? I was just calling to see where you and Toro were." Adrian had the habit of calling his sister Toro. I would have felt bad for her had she not reciprocated with the name Heroin.
"We're on Melrose Avenue."
"Sweet," he said. "Me and the rents are checking that out tomorrow."
"That's nice."
"Well, you're in a shitty mood," Adrian said.
"Sorry. I'm just really on edge right now and your call got my hopes up. Again." My mom called at least three times a day, and while I loved talking to her, the sound of my phone ringing was slowly driving me to the brink of insanity.
"Oh, yeah, the casting thing," he said. "Let me know how that goes. Anyway, I'll let you and Toro get back to shopping or whatever."
"Tori just went inside Retail Slut, so I think whatever would be the word for it," I said with a cringe.
Adrian just chuckled. "Good luck with that. I'll see you later."
"Alright. Bye." I hung up and when I looked up, Tori was making her way over to me.
"I am so disappointed," she announced. "That store was such a disappointment. It was all gothic stuff."
She sounded more disappointed than she had after my audition on Saturday. When I told Tori everything Christian had done and said, it took her a while to even consider the possibility that her precious Christian Ryder was anything but a saint.
She assumed it was my distorted vision of him speaking, but it really wasn't. He was genuinely that awful. Tori just couldn't see anything except what he chose to show the world. She had never seen his true colors. But I had.
Even though the thought disappointed her, she still didn't really believe me. Outwardly, he seemed so nice, and we both knew he'd be nice to her if she ever met him. She was a huge fan. He couldn't be mean to her even if he wanted to.
"It's called Retail Slut. Were you really expecting to find something in there?" I shook my head. "How about we check out the rest of the stores on this side and then cross over?"
Tori shrugged. "Alright."
We walked down the sidewalk and entered a few of the stores, but most of them just didn't appeal to us enough to hold our attention for more than a minute or two.
"Hey, look," Tori said, nudging me on the arm. "It's Kidnap My Heart."
There were several copies of the book on display in a small book store. Even though I'd auditioned for a role in the movie adaptation, I still hadn't read it. I decided to buy my own copy since Tori had forgotten hers at home.
We entered the store and went straight towards the shelf at the front. I picked up a copy for myself and turned the book around to read the summary.
Billionaire's daughter Emma van der Bilt has had more close calls with criminals than she cares to remember, but she still believes she can handle anything life throws at her. Everything changes the day she and her best friend, Taylor, are kidnapped and their kidnappers turn out to be two good looking college guys who are being controlled by their father.
Will and Eric Knight are forced to put their lives on hold in order to babysit the two girls. Personalities clash when Will is paired with Emma, while sparks fly when Eric is paired with her best friend. Both girls swore they'd escape as soon as they could, but with each day that passes, Taylor's resolve to leave grows smaller and smaller.
Will Emma follow in Taylor's footsteps and give into the temptation of getting close to her obnoxious kidnapper, or will she abandon her best friend in exchange for her freedom?
Tori's taste in books was sometimes questionable, but this one looked interesting enough. Emma van der Bilt seemed like a relatable heroine, money aside.
I skimmed through the first half of the book while Tori desperately thumbed through the copy she had picked up, trying to find her favorite moments before I decided to move on.
The more I read, the more I hated myself. Opportunities like this came once in a lifetime. I couldn't believe I'd screwed this up. Why was I so impulsive? Why couldn't I have controlled myself? I could have been the bigger person. I could have walked away from Christian. Instead, I snapped at him and ruined my chances of being a part of that movie.
My phone rang, giving me a chance to take a break from my self-loathing to answer. "Hello?" I asked.
"Sophia?"
"Yes?"
"This is Rachel Collins, the casting director for Kidnap My Heart."
Oh, my God. I let out a deep breath, getting straight to the point. "Do you have good news or bad news? If it's bad, just do it quickly. Rip the Band-Aid off. But be nice. I'm a crier."
She chuckled. "This is what Nora and I loved about you at your audition. You're different. You're down to earth. You're funny, and you're quirky."
"Thank you," I said, smiling at her comment. "I think."
"I hope you won't change who you are when you become so famous you can barely breathe without it showing up in the tabloids," she went on. "And I hope you'll remember us smaller people when you're as famous as your leading man."
"Wait. What?" Had I heard correctly? Or was I hallucinating?
Tori looked at me in alarm. "What? What did she say? What's happening? Sophia! You're killing me."
"Congratulations, honey. You got the part of Emma van der Bilt!"
My mouth fell open, giving way to the loudest squeal. I wasn't even a squealer normally, but I had just been given the best news of my life. Appearances be damned – my dreams were coming true! "Oh, my God. Oh, my God, thank you so, so much! Thank you for giving me a shot – I promise I won't let you down. Thank you!"
"You got it?" Tori's eyes widened. "You got the part?"
I just nodded, still squealing to myself.
Tori screamed at what seemed like the top of her lungs, alerting everyone in the store. "I can't believe this. This is so exciting!" A string of Spanish words followed, as they usually did when Tori got excited, or angry. I still had no idea what any of them meant. For once, it didn't matter.
"No need to thank me," Rachel said, returning my attention to our conversation. "After that audition, it was clear to everyone in that room that you were the perfect Emma van der Bilt and Christian was the perfect William Knight. I – oh. Shoot." The last part of her reply gave me the feeling she hadn't meant to tell me this.
"Wait. What?"
"I'm so sorry. Nora told me to break it to you gently, and I just blurted it out."
"Sophia." Tori snapped her fingers right in front of my eyes to bring me back to Earth. She must have noticed them glazing over. "Sophia. What's going on?"
"Did you just—" I broke my sentence off, taking a deep breath. After a few seconds, I tried again. "Did you just say Christian got the part of Will?"
Tori's eyes widened even more and she waved her arms around wildly, for once unable to speak. All she could do was jump and squeak.
There was a pause on the other end of the line before Rachel finally replied. "Yes..."
My eye twitched involuntarily. "Christian Ryder. Christian Ryder is my leading man?"
"Well... yes."
"This is so cool!" Tori shrieked, jumping up and down, completely oblivious to my inner turmoil. I barely heard her. I didn't think she would've heard anything I said, either. She was over the moon. I, on the other hand, felt like my world was crashing down as soon as I'd finished building it up. As soon as it seemed like everything was finally looking up. My dream wasn't supposed to come at this price.
And to make things even worse, my eye would not stop twitching.