How to Land a Movie Star novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Statement

Monday morning, I walked into the studio executive's office with my boss on one side of me and nobody on the other.

Corin had wanted to come.

I had said no in the driveway, and he'd said, "Why," and I'd said, "Because it's mine."

He had looked at me for a long time in the dark of the truck and then handed me my pencil.

He had found it on the roof.

The executive's office was on the ninth floor, with a view of the lot and a desk the size of a car.

He sat behind it in his grey vest.

Across from him, in a leather chair, sat a woman in a cream suit with a tablet on her knee and a very smooth face.

"Ms. DeHaven," the executive said. "This is Ms. Lund's representative. She's here as an observer."

"Hello," said the woman in cream, and her eyes slid over me like a hand over a table.

I did not know her name.

I knew her type.

She was the one who stands behind an actor in our waiting room, making sure he is careful what he says.

Marj lowered herself into a chair with her cardigan pockets stuffed full of gum.

"Let's make this fast," she said. "I have a casting session at noon."

"You won't," said the executive. "Unless we conclude this."

He slid the statement across the desk.

It was a new one, two paragraphs long, with a line for my signature already pencilled in.

I read it standing.

It said I had engaged in "inappropriate and unsolicited pursuit" of Mr. Wray.

It said his invitation had been misrepresented to protect me.

It said I regretted the distress caused to the production.

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