Page 3 of The Fake Script
Coffee. I need coffee.
Dragging myself to the kitchen, I ignore my two best friends who are having breakfast at the table and make a beeline for the coffee machine.
“Morning, sunshine,” Hayley chirps, her voice way too cheery for this dreadful day.
I simply groan in response.
Alice’s light chuckle fills the room. “Come on, it’s such an exciting time! You can’t be Grumpy Emma today.”
“She’salwaysGrumpy Emma,” Hayley chimes in, and even if I’m turning my back to her, I’m pretty sure one eyebrow is raised.
“Yes, but there are different versions,” Alice continues. “She should be the grumpy-but-excited version today.”
“I can hear you, you know,” I grumble as I turn toward them, a steaming cup of coffee finally in my hands.
“Ah, there she is,” Hayley exclaims. “Thought we lost you for a second.”
“Funny.” I grab a slice of bread and sit down across from them.
“I can’t wait to see everything in action,” Alice bubbles, almost jumping in her seat. I love this girl, but she’s way too chipper sometimes. It’s exhausting.
“Me too,” Hayley says, sounding equally excited. “I can’t believe they’re letting us watch. How cool is that?”
The production crew workers, whohave been here for a week turning the bookstore into a movie set, happen to be big hockey fans, and they love the New York Raptors. Since Alice’s brother, Maxime—who’s also Hayley’s boyfriend—is on the team, and we’re friends with most of his teammates, the girls managed to exchange VIP season passes for the right to hang out on set.
Lucky us.
Hayley and Alice are both looking at me expectantly. Unable to wipe away my frown, I clear my throat. “Right. So fun.”
Hayley pins me with a glare. “Come on, Emz! You can’t deny this is exciting. Even if we’re all bookish girls, having a movie filmed in our store is kind of cool. Especially with Madison White and Auston Buckley starring in the lead roles. They’re big actors.”
“And they have the most amazing chemistry on set,” Alice adds, twirling the ends of her brunette locks. “Probably because they were together for so long. I’m pretty sure they still are, but they’re keeping it on the down low. I’ve spotted a few hints in Madison’s Instagram posts. In fact, they were just in—”
I swallow a piece of toast hard, but it stays stuck in my throat, so I wash it down with coffee. Of all the actors who could have been cast in this movie, it had to be him. And his girlfriend. “Well, I don’t know what’s so exciting about it,” I snap. “They’re probably going to ruin the book anyway.”
Hayley winces, and Alice’s jaw drops a few inches.
“What? It’s true,” I say with a shrug. All movie adaptations are disasters. The on-screen version loses the core essence of the book, and fans end up hating it. I understand that it’s good for authors, and that making a movie introduces their work to a wider audience. But for us, the fans? It’s a blow to the head.
“Maybe they won’t mess it up,” Alice says, her forced cheery tone activated. “Some are notthatbad. And besides, it’s such a great book, I don’t see how they can go wrong.”
“The lead actors are a good fit, at least,” Hayley adds. And I know it’s not worth arguing with either of them. Alice and I are opposites. I’m the dark; she’s the light. We may love each other, but we don’t always see eye to eye. She’s optimistic while I’m a glass-half-empty kind of gal. Hayley is a mix of both, and sometimes I manage to drag her to the dark side. Well, obviously not today. And I know better than to argue with my friends. Especially after only one coffee.
Worst thing about all of this? Working soothes me, and with the bookstore closed for the next three months, stocking books and manning the cashregister is out of the question.
I still can’t believe this is my life now. I never thought I’d be the girl who has best friends, let alone be living with them and running a business together. Forming connections never came easy to me, yet I’m happier than ever. I had been a lone wolf since the day my parents died, and before I met Alice and Hayley, I was perfectly content with that. Just because you’re alone doesn’t mean you’re lonely.
But then, I met the girls online, and they quickly became my comfort, the steadiness I was craving in my life. So, when we got this crazy idea to open a bookstore, I packed up and left my hometown. Not that I had a lot to pack, anyway.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s not always easy to live with other people, especially when we have such different personalities, but we make it work. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before they swapped their book boyfriends for real ones, and now that they’re both in serious relationships, I feel a Damocles sword hanging over my head. Because I know that like everyone else in my life, they’ll leave me too.
They’re still engaged in an animated conversation about the movie when I shake myself out of my dark spiral.
“Should we get dressed and go downstairs to have a look?” Alice asks, her eyes gleaming.
“Ugh. Fine,” I say, finishingmy coffee.
I guess we should get this over with. It’ll be no big deal, right?