The Road to Her Read Online Free Page B

shifted in her chair.
    “Didn’t get what?”
    “The vibe.”
    “Jasmine and Casey’s vibe, you mean?”
    “Yeah.”
    What the…? How had this gone from polite conversation to a criticism in ten seconds?
    “Of course I get their vibe,” I said tersely. “I’m so into this storyline, you’ve no idea! I’ve known about Jasmine and Casey for ages. I’ve been living and breathing them for weeks now. I go to bed thinking about them, I wake up thinking about them.”
    Elise nodded. “But sometimes this morning I thought you were a bit hesitant in the delivery of your lines,” she said carefully. “That’s all I meant.”
    “Hesitant?” I heard my voice rise an octave.
    “Hesitant,” Elise repeated. “But that might just be your technique, I don’t know.” She shrugged, almost dismissively.
    “Well, I thought I did a good job with it, if I’m honest.” I shifted uncomfortably in my seat.
    Brilliant! So one minute we’re being friendly, talking about apartments and boyfriends, and the next she’s slating my acting ability. Exactly who was this girl again?
    “I wasn’t being critical,” Elise said, as if reading my mind. “You asked me how I thought it went, so I told you.” She looked cautiously at me.
    “You said I can’t act.” I looked at her incredulously, immediately thinking about Googling Elise again. Sod trying to find out what work she’d done—now I wanted to find some reviews of her work, and I just wanted to read the crap ones.
    “No, I didn’t,” Elise said.
    “Yes, you did. You said I was stilted,” I said, trying not to sound hurt.
    “You were sometimes,” Elise replied bluntly. “I didn’t say you couldn’t act, though. That’s totally different.”
    “And hesitant.” I cleared my throat. “You said I was hesitant.”
    “Mm-hmm.”
    “No one’s ever complained before,” I said, folding my arms across my chest defensively.
    “What, not once in eight years?” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m not complaining, Holly.” Regret flickered across her face. “Sorry if it sounded that way.”
    “How else was it supposed to sound?” I stared at her, open-mouthed.
    “I just said you were a little stilted when it comes to acting opposite Casey.” Elise started inspecting her nails. “But if you say you’re not like that with other characters, then maybe it’s just Casey.” She looked at me, head to one side. “But I never said that you couldn’t act.”
    “You so did!” I smiled tightly. Inside I was fuming.
    “I so did not.” Elise slowly raised her eyebrow again, totally throwing me.
    “And…and…as for not getting the so-called vibe ,” I blustered, dropping my eyes, “well, I think we bounce really well off each other, to be fair.”
    I wanted to let it go. I did. I just couldn’t seem to. An actor’s worst criticism is for stilted acting. I’d never— never —been accused of such a thing, and it stung. I paused and stared down at my feet, not wanting to make any more eye contact with her. I was unsure how to answer her now, the hurt making me tearful, and I desperately didn’t want to cry in front of Elise.
    I waited for her to reply but she didn’t.
    “Well, I guess I’d better go work on that, then, rather than going over tomorrow’s lines, huh?” I finally said, when it was clear she wasn’t going to respond. I lifted myself away from her sofa and made for the door, regretting that I’d even bothered to come and try to be nice to her.
    Elise, to my annoyance, still didn’t reply straight away. Instead, she picked her magazine up from her lap and started flicking through it again.
    “Okay,” she finally said.
    Nothing else.
    Just…okay.
    I figured that was her way of letting me know the conversation was over, so with a final look her way, I left her room. Outside in the corridor, I wandered a little way down towards my own room, then stopped and leant against the wall, thinking about everything she’d just