The Trajectory of a Career

"My name is Mr. Chase Lopez."

The name landed like a stone dropped into still water. Lia's entire body went rigid. For a full two seconds she simply stood there, her mouth slightly open, staring down at the screen of her phone as though she expected the name to disappear from the display if she looked at it long enough. Chase Lopez was not just a name in this industry. He was the name of the kind of man whose signature on a contract could change the entire trajectory of a career, whose phone calls were the things people in waiting rooms all over this city fantasized about while they were being told, yet again, that the producer was in a meeting.

"Mr. Chase Lopez?" she repeated, her voice shooting up at least half an octave. She pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it again, as if the device itself needed to confirm what it had just told her. "Am I dreaming? Are you serious right now?"

There was a soft, warm chuckle from the other end of the line. It was not the chuckle of a man who was surprised by the reaction. He had clearly heard variations of it before. "Quite serious, I assure you," he said. "Our office recorded an audition tape of you a few weeks ago. We sent it out to several casting offices we work with on a regular basis."

Lia pressed her free hand flat against her sternum as if to physically hold her heart in place. "Okay," she managed. "Thank you, sir." Her voice had dropped to something more careful, more controlled, but her fingers had found the fabric of her sleeve and were gripping it tightly. She bit her lip. Waiting.

"Well," Mr. Lopez continued, and she could hear the deliberate, measured quality of his tone, the tone of someone who understood the power of a well-timed pause, "the good news is that one of the companies we sent your tape to liked what they saw."

"They liked it?" The question came out before she could temper it, naked with hope.

"They did, yes. In fact, they were quite impressed. So much so that they would like you on set as soon as possible  provided, of course, that you're not currently committed to another project."

The living room tilted slightly. Or at least it felt that way. Lia grabbed the back of the couch with her free hand and gripped it to steady herself. "I am not busy," she said, and the words came out with the speed and certainty of someone who would have cancelled anything and everything to make that sentence true. "I am absolutely not busy."

"Excellent. I'll inform them that you'll be available. You'll need to be on set this evening at eight o'clock."

Lia's mouth dropped open. Tonight. Not next week, not pending a callback, not after three more rounds of auditions and a waiting period of indeterminate length. Tonight. The word was so immediate it barely felt real. She had been waiting for something like this for so long that the arrival of it felt surreal, like stepping through a door she had knocked on so many times she had stopped expecting it to open.

"I will be there at seven-thirty," she heard herself say. "Just to be early."

"Very good, Miss Lia. Have a wonderful evening." And with that, Mr. Chase Lopez ended the call.

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