“We haven’t really connected in a while,” I confessed. “I can’t really say much about what he’s into and whatnot.”
“That’s fine. You have time to learn.” She took my hands into hers and squeezed them. “I think this is going to be magical. Don’t you?”
“You can say that much,” I huffed, pushing out a smile.
“OK, now come on. Let’s hold the balls again.”
47Landon
“You used Mima to get to me?!” a voice barked as I stood outside of my trailer, flipping through my script. I looked up to see Shay storming my way. The closer she grew, the more I noticed her nose flaring and the crinkles that sat deep in her forehead. “Are you kidding me, Landon?”
“I figured you wouldn’t take the position if I handed it to you, but I wanted to help.”
Shay frowned and shifted around in her shoes. “Sarah’s a lot... odder than I thought.”
I laughed, a breath of relief running through me. “Did she ask you to hold her balls?”
“Her big, smooth balls!” she bellowed. The sun beamed against her as she faced me, and she shielded it with her hand, narrowing her eyes. “I think this is the first time it’s actually setting in for me that you’re a true-blue actor.”
“Who would’ve thought that a fucked-up kid like me would’ve ever made it here?”
“Me,” she softly said, a slight curve to her lips. “I would’ve thought it.”
The energy between us intensified from her words, and all I wanted to do was step forward and wrap my arms around her and never fucking let go.
I held off on doing such a thing. She still had her walls up with me. I didn’t want to keep trying to knock them down without her permission.
“You deserve to be here more than I do,” I said. Meant it, too.
“As it turns out, I am here because of you. And for the record, I would’ve taken the job if you’d given me the opportunity. I would’ve been super stubborn about it—but I would’ve given in after a while.”
“Good to know.”
She shook her head a little in disbelief. “You truly used my grandmother to do your dirty work. Unbelievable.”
“She was oddly easy to convince.”
“Not shocking,” Shay mentioned. “She always had a soft place in her heart for you.”
“I can’t say that I have a soft spot in a lot of people’s hearts,” I joked.
“I can name at least about two,” she shyly replied.
Was that...?
Was that a glimmer of light in her eyes? Did she reveal that there was still a soft place in her heart for me? Why did I feel like crying and leaping for joy like a damn fool?
Keep it cool, Landon. Act natural.
Shay smoothed her hands over her hair. “OK, well, I better get back to Sarah. She’s going to walk me through a meditation of sorts. But before I go, I have to ask you something really important.”
I took in a breath. “Shoot.”
Shay gave me a slight grin. “How many crystals do you have?”
I brushed my thumb against the tip of my nose. “Oh, you know, only about thirty or forty dozen. Nothing too crazy.”
She laughed.