Ship It(7)

“Jesus, okay! Um… um…” I take a deep breath and sneak a peek at my script, making sure Rico doesn’t catch me cheating. “This isn’t a game, Heart, it’s people’s lives,” I say, as Smokey.

“It’s our lives. You wanna spend it fighting me or fighting with me?”

This next line’s easy. “With you. ’Til the dirt hits my chest.”

I see my shot at Rico and I take it. Bang. His character drops to the sand, dead. Maybe I can’t remember my lines, but at least I’ll always be better at Red Zone than him.

“Damn you, Reed!” Rico says, tossing his controller away. Then he looks at me and grins that ridiculous, contagious grin of his. “Told you,” he says, taking a bite of his burrito. “You got this.” And he makes me feel better, like always.

I’m almost able to forget the fact that Demon Heart is a show on the bubble without a guaranteed second season, which means everything we’ve built here could come crashing down with the stroke of some executive’s pen, and then I’m out looking for another job.

When I think about what my next gig could be, I just want it to be on a series or a movie that I’d actually watch. That my dad would watch—he’d never turn on some unknown genre show for teenagers and I wouldn’t ask him to. When Demon Heart ends, I want something more. But it was hard enough getting this job. The idea of going back for more auditions, more hoping, more waiting, more sitting alone in my apartment doing weights and eating lean protein and waiting for the phone to ring… it’s almost too much. Just as I start to feel myself falling down an anxiety spiral, Rico yanks me out.

“You hear they’re rebooting the Red Zone movies?” he asks.

I look at him. No. No, I did not hear that.

“Rebooting the whole shebang,” he says.

“What about Graves?” I ask. Jasper Graves has been the star of the Red Zone movies since the very beginning. I couldn’t imagine the franchise without him.

“Apparently, they want someone new to play Jack Tension. Someone younger.” Rico holds up my Red Zone 3 game box where Jasper Graves grimaces out from behind an assault rifle. My heart springs and I picture myself stepping into Tension’s fatigues, picking up his assault rifle.

“What do you think,” Rico says, making a tough-guy face, “do I have the look?”

I let out my breath. Of course Rico would want to go out for it. Just because I’ve been playing the game every day for seven years doesn’t automatically qualify me for the role. He’s a much better actor than me, with a higher profile. Plus, he’s got like five million Twitter followers, which my agent tells me is so crucial. To which I remind my agent that I’m an actor, not a personality, and the work should speak for itself. But in this case, Rico’s probably right that his following, and his general being-good-at-everything-ness will land him that Red Zone role if he goes for it. Maybe I can play the villain…

“I’m just kidding, dude!” Rico busts up laughing. “Jesus, you should see your face right now. I’m too old for Tension, brother. You should go for it.”

Oh. I run my fingers through my hair anxiously. “You think?”

“You got the look, you got the chops, you obviously love the material. I can’t imagine someone better. You’re destined for more than Demon Heart. Someday, I’ll be going to cons saying, ‘I used to be Forest Reed’s co-star.’”

I smile; I can’t help it. Sometimes it feels like he’s decided to make himself my personal life coach, pumping me up, even when I know it’s horseshit.

“I ever tell you how I got my role on Star Command?” Rico asks.

“No.” Rico’s last role was on this heavy science fiction space show where he had to wear prosthetics every single day of shooting and yet he still only has positive things to say about it. The dude’s unflappable.

“The show was already in its second season and I was obsessed with it, I had to be on it. So I recruited a bunch of friends to come with me to a Star Command convention. I bought them all autographs with Gary Levine, you know, the creator of the show? And gave them each one of my headshots to have him sign. By the time he signed his eighth or tenth picture of me, he was seriously wondering what the hell was going on.”

“You’re insane.”

“The best part was that I didn’t even have to approach him. Eventually he spotted me in the crowd and ran over to me. That’s when I knew I had him hooked. He demanded to know who I was and I just gave him another headshot, told him to call my agent, and walked away. Gary loved a shtick, though. Told me later he brought me in just to satisfy his curiosity, then I nailed the audition. Nine years later, that character is an icon.” He shrugs and takes a bite of his burrito. “Anyway, you gotta get to the director, the new one. Jon Reynolds.”

“Jon Reynolds is directing the reboot?”

“Yeah, man, didn’t you see Deadline? It broke this morning.”

“How was I supposed to see Deadline when I was getting my ass kicked by you all day?”

“Text alerts.” He smiles around his burrito.

“So you think I should harass Jon Reynolds until he gives me an audition for Red Zone?”

“Yup. You gotta convince him one way or another. Tell him this role is the one you were born for. Sell yourself,” Rico says.