Page 84 of The Fake Script

I glance at Emma, who’s standing in the back with her friends, applauding like everyone else. My heart constricts. I’ve been procrastinating asking her how she’d feel about me moving here, but I know time is pressing. I know it seems silly. Of course she’ll be happy about it. We’re dating for real now—we’ve established that. And we’re good together. But as I mull over the idea, doubt creeps in. What if she doesn’t want anything beyond a temporary fling? She was clear about not wanting a boyfriend, after all. Has that changed? Does she really feel the same way as me?

I’ve been a wreck these past few days, trying to figure out how to approach the subject, but I think I should just go for it.

I cross the street toward her, and Emma’s face lights up when our eyes meet.

“Congratulations,” she says, and Hayley and Alice echo her words.

“Thank you.” I smile. “Um, can I talk to you for a minute, Emma?”

She blinks back, her eyebrows scrunched. “Sure?”

I pull her aside, then shove my hands in my pockets. “I wanted to ask you something. I was thinking of relocating here for a while. What do you think? Just so we can give our relationship a chance.”

“You want to move to New York?” she asks, her eyes stretching wide.

Here we go.

Then, her face breaks into a smile, surprising me. “That’s amazing,” she says. “I thought you were going to ask me to move to LA, or to try to make this work long distance.”

As if I could stand living apart from her. “You have everything here. Your bookstore, your friends. I’d never ask you to give that up for me.”

“Butyourlife is in LA. You’re an actor. Doesn’t that mean you can’t live anywhere else?”

I chuckle. “Nothing is tying medown over there. And believe it or not, actors do live elsewhere in the US—even the world.”

She lays a hand on my chest. “But isn’t LA where movies are made?”

I raise my hands, looking around. “We’re on the set of a movie now, aren’t we? Besides, there are plenty of theatres in New York full of actors.”

“I didn’t know you were interested in theatre,” she says, leaning into me.

I shrug. “To be honest, I didn’t think I had what it takes, but lately, life has been so good to me. I went after what I wanted most, and it worked out. So why not this too?”

“Of course you have what it takes. You’re an excellent actor,” she says, her warm praise making my heart feel full. “After all, you’re the only person who actually got me to enjoy watching movies. I particularly loved the one where you were a baker,” she says, her voice teasing.

I smile. “Then, it’s settled. I’m moving to New York.”

Bringing her closer, I drop a single kiss on her lips. But one kiss is never enough when it comes to Emma. We do have ten years to make up for, after all.

Walking back to my trailer, handin hand, we gather up the rest of my things, including the coffee machine. Emma insisted it be relocated to my apartment. And who am I to deny that?

“What’s this?” Emma asks, glancing at an envelope on the coffee table.

I draw my eyebrows together, dropping my phone charger into the bag I’m carrying. “I don’t know.”

She hands it to me. On the front, the word “congratulations” is scrawled in Mom’s extravagant handwriting. Probably an end-of-shoot gift. She used to give me those all the time, but she hasn’t in a while. I open it, curious what it could be.

“It’s a script,” I say, walking over to the couch and sitting down. I place the pile of papers on the table and page through the rest of the documents until I find the one I’m looking for. The synopsis. As I read it, my heart twists in my chest.

“Is it good? You look pale,” Emma says, sitting next to me.

At the bottom of the synopsis is a handwritten note. “This is the big surprise I was working on! This role will be perfect for you, and it’s exactly what you’re looking for. The meeting with the studio reps is Friday at three p.m. Filming starts in Brazil in December! Congratulations, honey.”

I freeze, staring at the piece of paper as if it might explode at any second.

“Auston,” Emma says, a hand on my knee. “You’re scaring me.”

I swallow hard. “This studio wants me for a movie this winter. It’s about an environmentalist fighting to save the Amazon rainforest from a land developer.”