Extra

12- You Call That Acting?

I didn't realize that I wouldn't be needed to work on the last day of shooting until I get a call the day before saying that it's not necessary. That's pretty disappointing because the last day of shooting is always the best. Everybody is excited and relieved but it's also sad because shooting had been so much fun that it's sad that it's over. It's bittersweet. But they aren't doing any very public scenes on that day so they don't need many extras. At first, I'm a little disappointed that I didn't get to say goodbye to Hudson but then I remember that I'm going to be working at that party that Shawn is throwing and that's in a few days.

Granted, I'll be in my underwear dancing on a stage so I might not even be able to say hi to him while I'm there but maybe if I get there early or if I stay late, maybe I can say goodbye.

Right now though, I'm at home so that I can study for my classes since I don't have to work. Around lunchtime, I decide to take a break though so that I can grab something to eat in the kitchen. As I'm walking down the hallway of the house, I notice that the light is on in my dad's office so I decide to stop by to see if he wants anything.

"Dad," I knock on the door and crack it open. He tells me to come in so I open the door wider and step through. This room is technically a walk-in closet but my dad was adamant about having a home office and so we converted it. Now, we just stuff all of our towels and toilet paper into the cupboard in the bathroom and pretend like it all fits so that my dad can have an office. Where he surfs the internet and watches bootleg movies. "I'm going out to get something for lunch. Do you want anything?"

He looks up from his laptop, looking very cramped in this small space. "I thought that you had to work today."

"Yeah, I thought so too but they called and said that they don't need me today so I'm not going in," I explain to him. "So I'm off for a little while. I think that my agent has an audition lined up for next week though so we'll see."

"They can do that? Just call you off without any pay?" He raises his eyebrows at me, seemingly upset by that news.

"Yep. If they don't need me, they're not going to pay me for doing nothing," I say slowly.

"That's just not right, Iris," He shakes his head at me as he's rubbing his chin, looking like he's trying to think of something to fix this, as if there's a problem that can be fixed. "We need that money."

"I know," I mumble, feeling a little bit more irritated at him than usual for making this a big deal. I know that we need the money, but it's not like he's doing anything to help the situation either. I know that he loves to write and I understand writer's block is a thing but he's been sitting at home with "writer's block" for months, which translates to him sitting on his ass doing nothing while my mom and I are working our butts off to keep our family in our house and my brother in a good facility. He has no right to start yapping at me about not making enough money. "But we clearly don't need the money that much since you're not doing anything about it."

"Excuse me?" He chokes out, obviously not expecting me to lash out at him.

"I just mean that we wouldn't need the money so bad if we had three incomes instead of just two," I explain to him, trying to make it sound polite and nice but no matter how I say that, it doesn't sound nice. I don't care though. I've just put myself through two weeks of hell and confusion, I've displayed my body for strangers, I've been working on movie sets which is not something that I really enjoy doing. And yet, he's sitting here in his office probably watching funny YouTube videos or something without a care in the world.

"This is my career, you know that," He reminds me, motioning down to the laptop in front of him. "I know that it doesn't look like I'm doing much right now but this is my artistic process."