Chapter 38

"I said, I want to be left alone,"

Danielle made her way to the office where she was to be meeting with Matt and Lucy again. She would be lying if she said what happened with Stefania last night wasn't bothering her. It just wasn't like her at all to be so closed off and it made Danielle worry because they are still in early stages of their relationship, if it even was an actual relationship yet. But right now, she had to be professional. She made her way through the building, excitement starting to build as it fully sunk in what she was about to embark on.

"Ah, Danielle! Amazing to see you again!" Matt jumped up from his desk and held out his hand, followed by Lucy.

"Likewise!" Danielle beamed as she took a seat.

"So, it's best we start with a congratulations! Welcome to Your Hand Featuring Mine!" Matt placed a stack of papers in front of Danielle with what she assumed to be the title of the show on the front in bold. "What we're going to do today, is run through everything with you. We're going to go a bit more into detail about what the show is about, talk about when filming starts and also the table reads. Location of where we will be shooting and so forth. Hopefully ending with you signing the contract. Sound good?"

"Sounds amazing!"

"Lovely," Lucy smiled. "Right, so. As you already know, you will be playing the role Jersey, the girlfriend of Caterina's character who is called May. You're that kind of, annoyingly perfect couple, I would say,"

"Yeah, annoyingly perfect but everyone loves you," Matt chimed in, nodding his head. "There will be intimate scenes, that are written in the script. No nudity but it most likely is implied occasionally, is that alright?"

"Yeah, that's fine," Danielle nodded and the thought of Stefania briefly crossed her mind. She's not sure how she would receive that. Matt and Lucy continued to talk about the show and it sounded like a great storyline.

"So filming is looking to start on the 14th of May. That's what we have written but that wouldn't be your first day working because we would have table reads and give you the chance to meet everyone and get acquainted. If you look on page four, the address of the studios is there and you would be having your own trailer on site plus parking and so forth," Danielle nodded her head as she looked at the paper, trying to absorb as much information as possible.

They went through some more notes, talked about payment and Danielle couldn't lie, it was a pretty nice sum that she would be earning. Everything sounded really good and she was looking forward to meeting the cast and crew.

"Any questions before the final steps?"

"Am I allowed to bring people on set with me? Even if they just stay in my trailer when I'm filming,"

"For the first two, three weeks, I'd say no. I think while everything is still new and all but afterwards, we'll give the go ahead to everyone and that would be fine. Obviously, we'll have scenes where we won't allow other people on set but yeah, the trailer's are decent sizes,"

"Okay great, thank you. That was all,"

"Amazing! So..." Lucy pulled out a thin folder with some more sheets inside. This is your contract. If you want to read through it and send it back to us by next week Tuesday the latest, that's more than fine. However, we have already gone through most of it with you now," Danielle nodded her head as she looked over the contract quickly.

"Do I get a copy of this?"

"Yes, yes,"

"Okay, well...." Danielle took in a breathe as she skimmed over the last lines. "I'm good to sign now," All three were smiling as Danielle took a pen, signed the contract and wrote the date. They all stood up and shook hands again, Danielle couldn't stop smiling even if she tried.

"We'll be in contact very soon," Matt said as he scanned her contract and gave back the photocopy. "Enjoy the rest of your day!"

"You as well! Bye!" Danielle left the office, almost skipping out onto the street and facetimed Jaina.

"Hey! How did it go?!" Jaina asked, face popping up on the screen.

"Contract is signed," Danielle grinned, doing a little dance.

"This is amazing! So amazing!"

"Can we celebrate today? Have everyone round?"

"Yes! Yes of course! Are you coming straight back now?"

"Yeah, or I can meet you somewhere. I'm sure there's things we need to pick up,"

"Actually that works," Jaina got up and went upstairs to change. "I have your location so that's fine," They finished the face time and a half hour later they were in Target, filling up a trolley with all sorts of things.

Fast forward again to later that night and Jaina, Danielle and  Barrett were stood in the kitchen, shots raised in the air.

"To Danielle! And her newfound stardom!" Barrett cheered as they all took their shots, slamming their neon coloured shot glasses onto the counter.

"We're doing this each time someone arrives?"

"Yes! We're celebrating!" Almost on cue, the doorbell went and Jaina ran over.

"Might as well get some more ready!" Jay stood there with a grin on his face when Jaina opened the door.

"Hello, hello, hello," He announced his entry grandly and hugged Jaina before walking over to the kitchen. "Miss Savre! What do I owe this beautiful shot to?" Jay said as he picked up a glass.

"I signed a contract for a new television show today,"

"You did? No way!" Jay almost chucked his shot all over Danielle as he pulled her in for a hug. "I want more information but might as well wait until Grey and Oak get here," He lifted his shot glass up and cheered the three ladies as they all downed another one.

"I hope none of you have plans for tomorrow," Barrett laughed as she already started to pour more. An hour or so later and all six stood in the kitchen, celebrating Danielle's new job. The ladies clearly a little drunker than the guys though they had started earlier than everyone else. With the insane buzz, Danielle had almost forgotten about what had been going on with Stefania.

Almost.

Because Stefania walked through the door and almost wanted to cry when she realised there was no way she could sneak past everyone. Deep breath, brave face. She was okay.

"Stefania!" Jay noticed her first and ran over, pulling her in for a hug. "Grey, Oak, come and meet Stefania!" Danielle kind of froze from where she had been dancing around with Barrett and looked over at the brunette, her heart doing backflips. Gosh, she looked so beautiful. But sad.

"Hi, nice to meet you." She forced out, their energy was intense and she tried to ignore the way that Grey was blatantly checking her out. Ew. She could also feel her favourite pair of blue eyes staring at her from the living room, but she wasn't ready to address that yet.

"Are you joining us? Celebrating your girls success!" Jay smiled and wiggled his eyebrows, clearly unaware of any tension between the two women.

"Your girl?" Grey questioned, feeling a little disappointed.

"She's dating Danielle,"

"You're dating Danielle?" Both Grey and Oak gasped at the same time and all eyes suddenly turned to Danielle who was clearly having a deep conversation with Barrett and Jaina. Stefania realised that she wasn't going to be able to hide away in her room. At least not tonight. But it was also clear that not a single human in this house was sober so trying to have an adult conversation with Danielle probably wouldn't be the easiest.

"Well she's over there, come on!" Jay grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the living room, despite Stefania's reservations.

"You look so pretty," Danielle whispered, more to herself but it was loud enough for everyone to hear.

"You're drunk Danielle," Stefania smiled softly, her heart melting as Danielle grabbed onto both of her hands and leaned into her a little.

"You're still pretty,"

"I need to talk to you," Stefania said. Danielle's face changed expressions quickly.

"Oh yeah,"  Jaina had ushered everyone into the kitchen so they could talk a little. "We can talk now?"

"I don't think that's a good idea right now,"

"No, it is. It is," Danielle said, squeezing her hands and nodding her head. It was clear that she wasn't going to say no.

"Okay, let's go upstairs,"