Page 4 of Now or Never

“Oh my god, what smells so good?” Natalie asked, turning the corner.

“That would be Jae,” Chelsea said, gesturing to her bestie, who hadn’t yet dropped the scowl. “She’s an incredible baker. Jae, this is Natalie.”

Jae curled the corner of her mouth up a fraction at Natalie, but it disappeared almost immediately.

Chelsea sighed.

Natalie took in the tension. “Uh, everything okay?”

“No.”

Chelsea rolled her eyes at Jae’s flat response.

“Well, I brought wine,” Natalie said, placing the bottles down and walking to the cupboard as Chelsea locked in with Jae in a stare. “I opened the bottles before I left Ethan’s so the wine would have time to breathe.” She popped the corks out, then looked up. “Red or white?”

Chelsea broke eye contact and sank into the worn old kitchen chair. “Red, please,” she said on a sigh.

“Okay,” Natalie asked, pouring the wine and narrowing her eyes at Jae. “Do I have to throw this girl out of your house?”

Chelsea laughed as Jae crossed her arms. “I live here. I pay rent. No one’s throwing me anywhere.”

“Someone talk,” Natalie said, pouring two more glasses and bringing them to the table.

Chelsea took a gulp of wine and a deep breath, then opened up the sewing basket and picked up her yoga pants. “I’ve been thinking lately that I need to change course with my career.”

Jae snorted as she brought the brownies to the table and sat down across from Chelsea. “You mean, give up.”

Chelsea unravelled the black thread and slid it through the hole of the needle. “Fine. I’ve been thinking of giving up. I’m broke as fuck, and my property taxes are more than my rent was. Also, Ben is starting school next week, so now is a good time to focus more on a new career.”

Natalie nodded, looking convinced. She took a sip and turned to Jae. “That sounds reasonable. What’s your problem?”

“My problem . . .” Jae started, glare returning, “is that Chelsea and I wrote an absolute masterpiece screenplay, and we were going to shoot it when Ben started school. I know, and she knows, that it’s good enough to launch our careers. It’s been our plan from the first week we met at film school. And now she’s giving up.”

“I’m giving up because I can’t keep living like this,” Chelsea said, voice breaking as she held up the fabric in her hands. “I’m sewing back together the seams of Walmart-brand yoga pants that I bought second-hand three years ago because I can’t afford anything.” The emotion bubbled in her throat. “I’m sick of just scraping by. I need a steady paycheque. Not the writing jobs I’ve been stuck in since school. I need to get on set and work my way up so I can pay my bills.”

Jae slumped into her seat and took a drink. “Next thing you know, you’ll be telling me you want to sell it.”

Chelsea squeezed her eyes shut. “Actually, I do think we should sell it.”

Jae shook her head and stabbed into the brownies. She cut them into generous squares and passed them out. She took two slow bites, glaring at Chelsea before speaking again.

“You’d really let some no-talent hack makeourmovie?”

Chelsea blew out a breath. “We can write another one someday.”

Jae’s shoulders slumped. “Fine. As much as I hate it, I won’t stop you from selling, and I can’t make it on my own. Just, please tell me this isn’t because of Ja—”

“Don’t even say it,” Chelsea said, cutting off her friend as her sister sat up in her seat.

“Ja-don’t-even-say-it?” Natalie asked, her eyes flitting between Chelsea and Jae. “Is that Ben’s dad?”

Chelsea closed her eyes, hoping if she couldn’t see, she wouldn’t hear, either. But she could feel their stares piercing her eyelids.

“Yes,” Jae said. “His career is going well. He landed a big directing job—”

“Okay, enough.” Chelsea shovelled some brownie into her mouth and stood up. “I told you I don’t want to know anything about that turd,” she said around a mouthful of deliciousness.

“So, you never see him?” Natalie asked.