You Had Me at Hola(5)
“Don’t let that stop you from inviting him.” Michelle clapped a hand on Jasmine’s shoulder and shot her a raised-eyebrow look that said, You better figure out a way to bring this guy to the party. Jasmine waved her away.
Someone opened the basement door and tromped down the stairs. Their cousin Sammy came into view and Jasmine quickly shoved her Leading Lady Plan into her jeans pocket. She wasn’t in the mood for his teasing.
“What do you want, Sammy?” Michelle called out.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the Bochinche Brujas,” he said, striding over to them.
Jasmine rolled her eyes. Sammy had been using that tired old nickname for at least fifteen years, and it was never funny. Especially since they weren’t even the biggest gossips in the family.
Sammy grinned. “You made me lose a bet, you know.”
Jasmine didn’t like where this was going. “How’s that?”
“I figured you and McIntyre would last at least three months, but you had to join the Sisterhood of the Single Ladies over here, huh?” He gestured at the three of them on the sofa.
While Michelle and Ava shouted at Sammy to get out, Jasmine groaned and covered her face with her hands. Had she really just been thinking of moving here permanently? Forget it. She was booking her return flight to Los Angeles the second the show wrapped.
Chapter 2
The elevator doors pinged, then opened with a whoosh, and Ashton Suarez stepped into ScreenFlix’s Midtown Manhattan office for the first time.
The ScreenFlix office decor was trendy and spacious—glass walls, leather armchairs, lots of plants. The orange and dark gray ScreenFlix logo was everywhere, along with posters from some of the streaming network’s hottest original shows, like The Clandestine Cases of Detective Yang, Showbiz, Party All Night, and The Dreamers. Wide windows overlooked Bryant Park’s expansive lawn.
It had been years since Ashton had worked for a new production company. The studio lot in Miami where he filmed telenovelas was so familiar to him, he barely even noticed his surroundings there anymore. And while he wouldn’t be filming here—ScreenFlix Studios was located in Queens—he paused to take it all in.
And to give himself a pep talk.
Get your act together, pendejo. You wanted this.
The first time meeting a new cast always brought on a case of nerves, and it didn’t help that this particular production had the chance to make or break his career. ScreenFlix was a whole new ball game.
The production assistant waiting nearby gave him a friendly smile. “Hello, Mr. Suarez. I’m Skye. I’m here to take you to the conference room.”
Skye had close-cropped brown hair and porcelain skin, wore a “they/them” button on the lapel of their peach linen blazer, and carried a tablet tucked under one arm.
“Thanks.” Ashton stuck his hands in his pockets before he could pick at his nails. He needed a prop, something to hold. “Do you know where I could get a cup of coffee?”
“I’ll take you to the green room first,” Skye said, gesturing for Ashton to follow. “You can chill there before the table read.”
As Ashton followed them, he mentally ran through the show notes he’d been sent by the producer the night before. Even though he’d read them countless times already, it made him feel prepared and more in control. Plus, it gave him something to think about other than the spiraling state of his acting career.
Carmen in Charge would follow the love life and professional pursuits of Carmen Serrano, a public relations manager working for a firm that specialized in booking events for Spanish-speaking stars during their trips to New York City. Ashton had been cast to play Victor Vega, a famous singer. Originally, Victor had been one of Carmen’s clients. But the writers had made a big change—Victor was now going to be Carmen’s ex-husband.
An ex-husband was a completely different dynamic than a new love interest. There would be an immediate level of familiarity between the characters, a sense of emotional baggage and underlying sexual tension. The whole show hinged on the developing romance between Carmen and Victor. Not only had he not done a chemistry read for the role, Ashton had never even met his costar, Jasmine Lin. Yeah, he’d played the romantic lead dozens of times, but he already knew most of the Miami-area actors pretty well and felt comfortable around them. Jasmine was an unknown entity.
The stakes had never been this high. In the world of telenovelas, he was well-known, ever since his star turn on La maldición del león dorado. And up until a few months ago, he’d felt steady in his position there. Then El fuego de amor had given him a villain narrative, and while it had been a refreshing change of pace from his typical macho hero roles, the writers had then written him into a love triangle and killed him off. Well, killed his character off. But the shock and betrayal had felt the same. On the show, he’d lost his life and lost the heroine to the other male lead—Fernando Vargas, a Chilean actor ten years Ashton’s junior.
Ever since Ashton had played el león dorado five years earlier, he’d always made it to the finale episode. Despite being shot, stabbed, and thrown from cliffs, his characters had always survived, and in some cases, gone on to happy endings. Now, that streak was broken, and he was terrified about what it meant for his career.
His agent had spoken with the writers and producers, bringing up various options for keeping him involved with the show. Evil twin, back from the dead—any number of tried-and-true tropes could be used. None of it had made a difference. They’d felt his character’s death was the best story arc, and anyway, he was only missing out on a few episodes before the show ended. What was the big deal?