Lisa is closest to the sink, and she takes a puff of her cigarette. She hands me a smoke and smirks. Most of the women in the cast don't like me. I used to think that it was our natural rivalry for the lead part, but have since decided that it's Brian they want, not Sarah. In the first play I did, the women of the cast used to sit in the washroom or dressing room and devise ways of getting rid of the lead's lover by making her slip and fall off the stage.
Creative people are very vindictive.
I am careful to watch where I walk. I take a drag on my cigarette, feeling the tightness in my chest as the smoke strangles my lungs. I feel calm. Sarah is the type of person who would watch a man from across a room while puffing away defiantly, then butt out her cigarette and approach him, scowling. I tried out my Sarah scowl, and see Lisa look my way.