WREN almost runs into KAIA. WREN rubs her heel, where it had twisted against the pavement, and adjusts the strap of her bag over her shoulder.

WREN
Sorry! I didn’t see you there.

KAIA freezes for a moment and looks at WREN as if she had seen something very strange. Then KAIA’pression flattens out. WREN is too busy fiddling with her shoe to notice.

KAIA
It’s okay.

WREN
Hey…have we met before?

KAIA
No. We haven’t.

WREN
Sorry, it’s just that—you look familiar. Really familiar. And I usually don’t forget faces.

KAIA
Hmm, well. I guess I just have one of those common faces.

WREN (laughs)
I don’t think anyone could call your face common.

KAIA stares at WREN, and then jerks her eyes away.

KAIA
I…need to go. I’ll see you la—goodbye, Wr—goodbye.

WREN
Wait! I didn’t catch your name.

KAIA has already walked away, and WREN is the one left staring.

Evelyn shakes her head. “Tiffany, you’re not emoting enough.” Last time, it was that she was emoting too much. The time before that, it was that she said her lines too quickly. The time before that, it was that her body language was off. The time before that—

Tiffany has lost count. She just knows that she’s failed too many times. It’s not a long scene at all, but it’s a very significant one full of emotion that is supposed to be deep but subtle. It turns out that she really can’t master the latter.

“I’m sorry,” she says for the umpteenth time.

“You know what, let’s take a break. Get some coffee or fresh air, whatever you think would be helpful. Come back in twenty minutes.”

“Some coffee would be nice,” Jessica says, stretching. Tiffany knows she’s saying it for her benefit. Jessica had been so professional that she hadn’t seemed the slightest bit fazed by all the times Tiffany screwed up, and she had delivered her own lines perfectly time after time. Tiffany has no excuses; she knows that Jessica has it harder in this scene, given how much she has to convey with just her eyes the two times she stares at Wren, and her voice cracked so convincingly during her goodbye that Tiffany is surprised she doesn’t have a sore throat by this point.

Tiffany realizes that she’s zoned out when she catches the tail end of Jessica’s question. “Sorry?” she asks, blinking.

“Do you want a coffee?”

“No, it’s okay.” Tiffany musters a smile. “I think I just want to clear my head.”

Jessica scrutinizes her for a second, but only says, “Okay. Well, I’ll see you in twenty.”

“Right,” Tiffany says, and watches Jessica walk away in search of caffeine. If only she had such an easy solution to her problem.

Jessica finds Tiffany huddled in one of the empty trailers, sitting with her knees pulled to her chest and her chin resting on top of them. She looks so forlorn that it makes Jessica remember a joke about a lost kitten, but she doesn’t think Tiffany is up for a joke right now.

“You okay?” Jessica asks.

Tiffany’s head whips up, a look of something like panic on her face. “Oh no, it’s been more than twenty minutes, hasn’t it? I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to hold up filming.”

“Hey. It’s okay.” Jessica raises her hands placatingly. “You’re not in trouble. I just wanted to check on you.”

Tiffany drops her eyes. “Sorry,” she says again, quieter.

“It’s fine. And don’t worry about the twenty minutes. It’s not a hard limit. They won’t kick you off the set if you’re a minute late.”

“If I were Evelyn, I’d probably kick me off the set,” Tiffany sighs, bowing her head, her hair falling over her face. “I’m holding everyone back because I can’t get anything right.”

“Hey, that’s not true. You did a great job with the scene. The end is tricky, that’s all. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“You’re the one with the tricky parts, which you’ve had to redo like, twenty times because I keep messing up.” Tiffany’s voice is small. “You probably hate me.”

“Yes, I’m horribly disappointed in you,” Jessica says, and she must sound too serious because Tiffany look up, her face scrunched up like she might cry. “Hey.” Jessica’s voice gentles. “Do you know how many times I’ve messed up? I didn’t learn enough math to figure out the amount. I’d probably have to go to college for that.”

Tiffany’s laugh is watery but genuine. “Your worst nightmare.”

“Exactly. If I were Kaia and I had an eternity to live, I still wouldn’t spend any of it in college.” Tiffany laughs again, her eyes brighter, but Jessica can’t tell if it’s with humour or tears. She feels a burst of panic at the thought of Tiffany in tears. She’s terrible with tears off-set. When the cameras are on, she can summon up the waterworks with barely any effort, but she’s awful with crying people when they’re off, whether it’s herself or someone else.

“Tiffany,” Jessica says seriously. “You’re a new actress. This is your first role and this is a really hard scene. Don’t beat yourself up because you’re struggling with it. The more you focus on what you’re doing wrong and the harder you try to correct each point, the worse you’ll do. Don’t think about it like a checklist you have to tick off. Just…think of yourself as Wren. How does Wren feel? She doesn’t recognize Kaia, but she remembers her. She doesn’t know her, but she loves her. She hasn’t had her, but she’s lost her. Just immerse yourself in those feelings. Don’t think about how to act as Wren, just become Wren.”

Tiffany is staring at her like she’s engraving each word Jessica tells her into her memory. “Just become Wren,” she echoes.

“Come on.” Jessica reaches out her hand. “Let’s practice the scene. No Evelyn, no cameras, just you and me. Just Wren and Kaia.”

“Just Wren and Kaia.” Tiffany takes Jessica’s hand and lets herself be pulled up.

Jessica stares at Tiffany like she’s trying to place a memory from a past life, before her face goes blank so suddenly it’s like she’s put a mask on. During the scene, Tiffany is supposed to be busy fiddling with her shoe so she wouldn’t have seen Jessica’s face, and she marvels at how powerful her expression is without being contrived.

“It’s okay,” Jessica says, clearing . That part is unscripted, but it works so well that Tiffany almost forgets that it wasn’t in the script.

“Hey.” Tiffany’s eyebrows pull together. “Have we met before?”

“No.” The word comes out with just the slightest hint of hesitation, almost like she’s questioning it herself. “We haven’t.”

“Sorry, it’s just that—you look familiar. Really familiar.” Wren has definitely seen this woman before. She knows it. She feels it, some hidden knowledge nestled under her ribs, tucked beneath her bones. However, she just can’t think of where or when. It’s beyond frustrating, like forgetting the name of a song she’s heard so many times she can sing it in her sleep, and yet she just can’t place it. “And I usually don’t forget faces.”

“Hmm, well. I guess I just have one of those common faces,” she says lightly.

Wren wants to laugh, and she does, the sound pulled out of her. As if that face could ever be considered common. That’s definitely not why she looks familiar. But…why does she?

“I don’t think anyone could call your face common.”

The woman stares at her like she’s transfixed, and Wren knows that she has a nice smile, she’s been complimented for it many times, but the attention from this particular woman has her feeling pleased for some odd reason.

She pulls her eyes away sharply. “I…need to go. I’ll see you la—” She seems to choke on the word. “Goodbye, Wr—goodbye.”

“Wait!” Wren blurts out, seized by a desperate feeling, like if this woman leaves Wren will never get to see her again. And she can’t stand the thought, even though they haven’t even met before. (Or have they?) She needs to see her again. She needs to know her (again?). “I didn’t catch your name.”

But she’s already walked away, and Wren feels her heart sink into her stomach, wondering why she feels like she’s broken something precious and irreparable.

Suddenly, the woman turns around and her face is lit up with joy and pride – and god, she’s beautiful, such a beautiful face could never be anything close to common – and she’s grabbing Wren’s shoulders and saying, “You did it! Tiff, you did it.”

“I—” Wren – no, Tiffany says, feeling like she’s surfacing from a dream, coming back into herself. “I did? I did!”

“You were amazing,” Jessica says, her eyes brighter than spotlights, and for a split second Tiffany has the strangest thought that Jessica is going to kiss her. She finds herself holding her breath, her heart pounding in her ears, and she doesn’t know if she’s feeling this way because she wants Jessica to kiss her or because Wren wants Kaia to kiss her.

Jessica takes a step back, the moment breaking like someone had clicked a clapboard and shouted “cut!” and the curtain between fiction and reality had come crashing down. “Come on,” she says, quieter now, and she’s very much Jessica and not Kaia. “Let’s get back to set before Evelyn comes to hunt us down.”

Tiffany pulls out a smile, and it must pass off for genuine because Jessica doesn’t give her that keen look that she does whenever Tiffany fakes one. Maybe she’s finally learning how to act off-camera too. “Yeah, I wouldn’t want to get you into trouble.”

“Well, we’re not co-stars for nothing, right?” Jessica says. “I won’t just throw you to the sharks.”

“Did you just call Evelyn a shark?”

“I’m pretty sure she can smell blood. Or well, fear. I guess that’s more like a dog than a shark.”

“Those two aren’t remotely similar, Jessi,” Tiffany laughs, and Jessica gives her that keen look, which softens into a smile. Oh, maybe she isn’t so good at this after all. Jessica had seen right through her. (It doesn’t feel like such a bad thing.)

“Just go with it,” Jessica says, nudging her conspiratorially.

“Hey, Jessi?” Tiffany says when they’re almost back at the set for their scene. She knows it’s been way more than twenty minutes, and even though she feels guilty she also feels—accomplished. Rejuvenated. She hadn’t had coffee or fresh air, but she had Jessica’s heartfelt words of advice and Jessica’s expression of glowing pride, and those were more powerful. Those were just what she needed, even though she hadn’t realized she needed them.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

Jessica looks at her, and Tiffany can see Kaia in her eyes, can see her unassuming wisdom and her unwavering patience and, above all, her unending love. And she marvels that Jessica is such a good actress that even when they’re not filming she’s still so resolutely in character, she still looks at Tiffany the way Kaia looks at Wren. She could believe that Jessica really does love her.

“Anytime,” Jessica says. “Just keep eating the cucumbers in my salad for me.”

“It’s a deal,” Tiffany says with a smile, and they shake on it.

If there’s a part of her that laments that she has to let Jessica go – well, it just shows that she’s deep in character herself.