Page 117 of Holly Jolly July

Ellie’s already pacing, her tennis shoes squeaking with every angry stomp. “He hasn’t learned a damn thing!”

“Nope.”

“And if he’s already sorted out the scrambled contacts then he’s probably fixed all those sexting words we replaced.”

“Wish we could have seen that in action,” Ellie agrees.

“We were a bit... distracted.”

Ellie lifts a shoulder shyly. If it weren’t for the makeup caked on her face, I know she’d be blushing.

“Okay. No more distractions,” Ellie says, returning to her pacing. “We need to teach him a lesson. Afinallesson. Up until now it’s been child’s play. We’re going to make this guy rue the day he started toying with women’s hearts. We’ll show him exactly what happens when you mess with us. And not just for us, but for all the women he’s played.”

“Yep.”

“We’ll make him beg our forgiveness. He’ll be grovelling and licking our boots when we’re finished with him. He won’t know his asshole from his elbow when we’re through. We’ll make him crawl back home to his mama and—”

“Ellie! You coming?” Yueyi calls from the café door.

“Be right there!” She replies in her chipper voice before turning back to me and lowering her tone, anger flashing wildly in her eyes. “Tonight, we finish this. We’ll both come up with plans and reconvene to end this once and for all.”

I want nothing more than to pull Ellie’s feisty ass in for a kiss, but I don’t. Yueyi is watching, and we haven’t talked about whether we’re keeping us between us or letting others know. Hell, I don’t know if there evenisan us. Instead of doing what I want to do, I give her a curt nod. Ellie nods back, then straightens herself, forces a smile on her face, and walks back across the sidewalk to disappear into the café.

After giving Ellie a bit of a head start, I follow her onto the set to assist Jimmie with touch-ups. I can’t help but grin watching her transform from her fun, bubbly self into her character. Between scenes she keeps spirits up with jokes I can’t hear, sincere compliments, and the occasional Christmas tune. She really, truly is the life of the party back here, everyone depending on her to keep the mood light. I feel ridiculously proud of her, my chest squeezing as I watch, and wish I could steal her away between takes to make out with her in the green room.

When we break for lunch I let Ellie stay with her actingteam, not wanting to distract her, while I join the other artists and crew in the picnic table break area in the alley. While munching on my BLT, I take a deep breath and prepare myself to open TikTok. As soon as I do, I’m inundated by notifications from thousands of new likes, comments, and followers. It’s impossible to keep track of everything, and I gave up trying to read all the comments after the first day I posted our alien video. I feel bad that these people are following me expecting something as awesome as the video that went viral to happen again, but that’s impossible.

At least, it is without Ellie.

I watch it again and again, lingering over the moments of us being close, witnessing the natural spark between us, the fire being lit, leading to the most intensely romantic experience of my life. My heart squeezes at the thought that it might be over soon. I can’t let that happen. I have to get over my fears and work up the courage to be honest with her. Ellie is the easiest person in the world to talk to. It won’t be that bad. I’ve been with a lot of different people of varying genders, and I know first-hand how rare an experience it is to immediately connect with someone like I have with Ellie.

I’m not going to let my past get in the way of my future.

Tomorrow, when filming is over and our mission with Jax is complete, once we have no more distractions, I’ll talk to Ellie about us being together as a couple.

My heart settles, but my stomach clenches. Even if she rebukes me, at least I’ll know.

I flip from the video of us together to the private messages and scroll through. I reply to a few of them, ignore the rest, but pause on one that stands out. It looks... professional.

Sorry for contacting you like this. Couldn’t find your website. We saw your TikTok and are impressed by your skills. We’re working on an indie horror project here in LA and would like to do something similar. If you’re interested, please send your resume...

I read it again and again, the words becoming blurrier as I do. With shaking fingers, I google the name of the company and my jaw nearly hits the table.

“You okay?” one of the other assistants asks. Stefanie. Or was it Stacey?

“Yeah. I’m fine.” I shift over, hiding my phone.

Pushing my plate away, no longer hungry, I read through the projects the company has worked on. They’re legit. Legit as hell. And they’re based in LA—a real production company! Still indie B movies, not quite Hollywood, but so much closer than I am right now.

Trying not to get my hopes up, I reply that I am interested and will forward my resume. I manage to find it in an old email and add in my current work project and Jimmie’s number as a reference in the body of the email. I hit Send before I can talk myself out of it. I doubt Jimmie will give me a good reference after showing up late twice, not reading the script on time, and just generally being a newb in the industry, but he’s the only film reference I have.

Nothing will come of it, but damn, just to be considered is such an incredible honour. I can’t wait to tell Ellie.

I manage to eat half of my sandwich, my mind still boggled by the message I’d received, before my phone rings.

Mother.

I frown at the caller ID. In my mind I’d crossed Mom and Dad off my mental to-do list and didn’t expect to hear from her again until a birthday or some other such holiday. I answer it with a confused “Hello?”

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