Page 39 of Come to Me

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My mind is preoccupiedall morning.

But the second I step into the theater, I am all business.

I am Alyssa Summers, amazing actress, successful TV star.

Okay, I am Alyssa Summers, cable TV actor, but that still counts for something.

Ellen is already there. She's sitting in the audience seats, drinking a cup of coffee. "Hey," she greets me, even and calm.

Ellen is a force of nature later in the day. But before lunch she's quiet, almost shy.

She plays Stella, my character's sister. And she is a million times more pleasant than my usual fake sister, Naomi. "You run here or something? You look a little flushed."

So I'm that obvious. "No. I just..."

She smirks.

"Doing the old walk of shame, huh? I knew you had it in you."

"No, I... I have a boyfriend. In L.A."

She nods like she gets it. Then, she shakes her coffee cup. It must be empty. "I'm in desperate need of cup number... too high of a number. I'll buy if you tell me all this juicy dirt about you cheating on your boyfriend."

"I'm not." I bite my tongue. I can't exactly reveal I spend the morning touching myself to his dirty pictures.

"Leave her alone, Ellen." We both look over to see Nicholas, the male lead in the play. He's a handsome, brawny blond. Could easily be cast as Thor, both on stage and on screen. But, much more telling, he's only been sweet and welcoming. His attention shifts to me as he draws closer. "Don't mind her. She thinks that just because she can't make a relationship work on Broadway, nobody can."

"Fuck off, Nicholas," Ellen sighs, rolling her eyes.

"It's okay. I don't cheat." I look over at Ellen. "Tried that before. It was too much of a headache."

She laughs and pushes herself to her feet. "I knew I'd like you."

Nicholas smiles, stepping back. "Glad to see you can hold your own." He glances over at Ellen. "See you both at rehearsal."

"See you."

Ellen waves over her shoulder as she leads me outside the theater.

The sunshine is already blinding. New York may be cloudy half the year, but when it's bright, it's damn bright. The sun bounces off every inch of glass and concrete, landing right in my eyes.

"Have you heard the rumors about Kyle and our director?"

"I try to avoid rumors," I say.

"So, don't spread this one. But supposedly, they're sleeping together." She sighs, tossing her coffee cup in a trash can. "Though... if you don't like gossip, you should probably get the hell out of the New York theater scene. It's nothing but drama and everyone is fucking everyone." She looks at me. "But you have that boyfriend. In L.A."

I nod.

"And this run is six months?" She shakes her head. "That's rough. I've never made it..." She taps her fingers like she's counting. "More than two weeks."

"We've been together a year."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to suggest you and your..." Ellen smacks her palm into her forehead. "I'm really sorry. Maybe Nicholas is right. I'm probably freaking you out."

"A little," I admit.