Stardom

Struggles

Wandering through the aisles, my tired brain began to shut down as I tried to tot up my groceries before adding them to the basket. It had been an unnerving realisation when I'd stopped at the ATM that morning, finding that my savings had already been hit hard, the money needed to live out here alone was making a sizable dent in what I had, and with nothing else coming in, I was starting to worry about how long I'd be able to manage alone.

Before moving out here, I was sure that I could have landed a job or two by this time. That I'd have had promising auditions which could have led to an influx of work in the near future, and maybe even started to put my name on the map. But as I stood in the middle of the grocery store, a pack of saver ham clutched in my hand, I was forced to start facing reality. That getting discovered in LA was going to be harder than I thought. My stomach growled at the sight of the measly gathering of food I'd collected. Hunger winning out, I tossed the ham into my basket and added some cheese for good measure, heading straight toward the checkout right after.

Who needs proper food, when you can survive on sandwiches and toasties. I groaned internally, already torturing myself by imagining the delicious dinners that I used to indulge in back home.

Throwing my bags into the trunk, I hopped in and set off for home, eager to return and get some food before committing to rehearsals for the rest of the day. I'd risen early this morning, and with determination, managed to find a good audition prospect that I would attend tomorrow. The part wasn't the main role, but a recurring side character would still have the potential to put me on the radar and bring in some much-needed money. The sooner I could get back home to practice, the better, at least that was my hope. Sadly the city of Los Angeles missed out on the memo regarding my important activities, and nightmare traffic was in full force, blocking my path home, and forcing me to endure snail pace progression forward.

"Ugh, come on!" I snapped, drumming my fingers against the steering wheel impatiently and tilting my head to the side in an attempt to see how far the queue stretched.

My phone screen flashed into life on the dashboard, Ross's face popping up into existence. I resisted answering for a few moments, scared about how the call would go and whether it was a wise move to answer it here or not, but the longer that I looked at the photograph of the man I loved, the more my heart ached for him, and I hurriedly answered it before it could ring off.

"Hey," I said, accepting the call, just as a loud horn sounded outside the window. "Shit!" I winced, ducking away from the window, "Bloody idiot!"

"Did I get you at a bad time?" Ross asked, sounding somewhat amused.

"Nope. I'm pretty free right about now," I replied, adding under my breath: "And for the foreseeable future."

"How so?"

"Oh, this amazing thing called, LA traffic," I said with biting sarcasm.

"Is it wrong to be glad I'm not having to deal with that?" He asked teasingly.

"Yes!" I exclaimed, "You're amused by my suffering, you asshole."

I tried to sound pissed at him, but couldn't manage it as a chuckle fought its way free, leaving me sounding more like a petulant child.

"If it helps at all, I'm suffering too, baby."

"Well, I hope it's painful," I sniped playfully.

"It is. You see, my beautiful girlfriend is thousands of miles away, and I miss her."

Just like that, the awkwardness from the night before vanished, and my resentful mood, and pure loathing for the occupant of every surrounding car, was gone. An embarrassingly smug smile snuck its way across my face, leaving me grinning like a Cheshire Cat.