Page 10 of Endeavor

“You should go chat with Dad and Blythe. I’m sure they’d love to hear about it.”

“I will,” I assure him.

He nods again. A very shellshocked-looking Will remains silent. I nudge him.

“Oh, uh, nice to meet you all. I’m gonna go get another glass, you want one?” he asks me.

I shake my head. “I’m good thanks.”

He gives me a nervous smile and walks over to the bar.

“So?” Quinlan asks as she pulls me down for girl talk.

I laugh and shrug. “I don’t know. He seems super out of his element.”

Quinlan giggles. “I mean, these things can be daunting, especially if you aren’t used to hanging around a bunch of celebrities.”

I grin, giving her a shrug because I don’t want to admit that I’m starstruck too.

Grady leans over by Colton and asks him something. Pretty soon the two of them are deep in conversation. Quinlan eyes me suspiciously and leans forward, pulling my arm, so that I’m bending over toward her.

“You have the hots for Grady Daniels, don’t you?” she whisper yells.

My eyes widen. “Uh, no.”

I mean, the guy is fucking hot as all fuck, but I’m not sure I could keep up with his ego.

Quinlan eyes me skeptically and shrugs. “What about Will? How’s the date going?”

I look over to the bar where Will is currently ordering a drink and talking to some redhead.

“It’s not really a date. I mean Will is nice and all, but…I don’t know.” And that is the truth. Do I see myself with Will? Not really. Would I go out again with him? Probably. Kate always tells me not to settle, but it’s hard to find Mr. Right. I tend to date a lot of Mr. Almost Rights.

“Make sure you mingle tonight,” Quinlan says as she looks around. “I can introduce you to some more people if you like, but Dad’s a good place to start.” She motions toward her father and Blythe.

Blythe looks over at me. “Emma, come here, I want you to tell Andy and me some more about your project,” she urges.

My stomach twists with nerves as I walk around the table.

“Blythe was just explaining how you two met. Tell me about this documentary idea you have.”

I take a breath before speaking, knowing full well that moments like this don’t happen twice, hell, they usually don’t happen at all. I launch into the premise for my documentary, trying to keep my explanation concise. I explain my love of the environment, my fascination with Hollywood, my learning how big a carbon footprint Hollywood makes, and finally finding ways to highlight the changes being made, the hope of things to come. I talk about how I want to use the documentary to launch a movement with the studios to be more environmentally conscious and sustainable.

I finish, realizing that I may have gone on too long. Damn it! I always let my freak flag fly when it comes to this stuff. I forget the rest of the world doesn’t have the same passion for this as I do.

“Wow,” Andy says. I cringe because I’m not sure if that is a “wow, that is fascinating” or a “wow, those are five minutes I’ll never get back.” “I love the concept. That’s really fresh and relevant.” I watch as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a business card. “Email me. I’d love to hear more about it.”

Blythe claps her hands together. “I felt the same way. Emma has so much passion for this project. You know the feeling, Andy. When you see someone that passionate about a project, you just know it’s going to be amazing.”

I smile broadly, partly out of being flattered and partly out of relief that I didn’t just bore them to death. “Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. I’d be so honored to get more feedback from either of you.”

“Do you have a production schedule yet?” Andy asks.

I shake my head. “I’m still pulling everything together. I had hoped to start filming some of the intro pieces in a few weeks, but I’ve been really busy with my new TA position.”

Andy chuckles in a fatherly way if that is such a thing. “Everything takes longer than you expect when you are starting a new project. Shoot me the details of the interviews and shots you are trying to get. I’m happy to help you make connections if you need them.”

“Really? You’d do that?”

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