Lia's jaw literally dropped. Tonight. Not next week, not pending a callback, not after three more rounds of interviews and an endless waiting period. Tonight. The word was so sudden it didn't even feel real. She'd been waiting for a moment like this for so long that now that it was here, it felt surreal—like she'd finally fallen through a door she had spent years pounding on.
"I'll be there at seven-thirty," she heard herself say. "Just to be safe."
"Very good, Lia. Have a wonderful evening." And just like that, Chase Lopez hung up.
Lia stood in the living room for a moment that felt like it lasted forever. She still had the phone pressed to her ear even though the line was dead. The fairy lights over the window kept blinking in their soft, golden rhythm. Outside, the city just kept humming along, totally indifferent to what had just happened.
Then Emma popped her head out of the hallway, her hair half-messy from the long day, one hand absently trying to untangle a knot. "Lia, have you seen my necklace? The silver one. I thought I left it on the—"
Lia spun around and held up a finger with such intensity that Emma stopped mid-sentence, her hand frozen in her hair. She stared at Lia, reading the look on her face—something wild and barely held together—and immediately shut up. She leaned against the door frame, watching with wide eyes.
Lia slowly lowered the phone. She set it on the coffee table. Then she looked at Emma.
"That," she said, her voice shaking with the weight of it, "was Chase Lopez."
Emma's eyes went huge. "Chase Lopez?"
"Chase Lopez." Lia nodded. And then, because she couldn't hold it in for another second: "I got a part, Emma. He sent my tape to one of his partners, and they want me. On set. *Tonight.*" That last word came out as half-laugh, half-scream. She threw her hands over her mouth for a second before letting out a massive, bright smile. "They want me tonight!"
Emma crossed the room in three steps and pulled her into a huge hug. Lia grabbed her back just as hard. There they were, in the middle of a tiny, cluttered living room in a building that had been telling them "no" for months, holding each other and laughing that kind of laugh that's basically just crying in disguise.
"That is incredible!" Emma said into her shoulder. "Seriously, that is so amazing. We are celebrating the second you get back. I don't care how late it is." She pulled back and grabbed Lia by the arms, looking at her with total, genuine joy. "Now go get ready! You are not showing up on your first night looking like this." She gestured to both of them, and they dissolved into laughter again.
Lia grabbed her jacket and her bag and disappeared into the bathroom in a whirlwind. Emma stood there for a second after she left, the smile still on her face and a warmth in her chest. It was that pure feeling of being happy for a friend, even with that tiny, quiet shadow that sticks around when you're still waiting for your own turn.
Then she went back to looking for her necklace.