“They’re not the ones who are going to be deciding if they should hire you back,” Lisa argued.
“Nobody does that anyway; once you’ve done a guest spot they don’t bring you back ever, or if they do it’s not for four or five years.” Marnie was like a wayward pit bull in this debate. Alison wished they would both shut up, as the scene was rolling by, unwatched now, on the television set. The rest of the gang was getting impatient with the debate as well. Several people started to shush the speakers and then someone called out, “Back it up, I want to see her tell the DA he’s hostile again. It’s the best moment in the whole show.” Alison glanced behind her to find out who it was requesting an encore of her moment of rebellion and saw that it was Seth, the smug writer who had been snotty about her grammar and her undergraduate education in this very loft, not three months ago. He was squeezed into a corner with his back against the headboard and his long legs dangling off the edge, propping himself up at an awkward angle as he slugged back a bottle of beer. He seemed sincerely amused by all of it. “Back it up, back it up,” he insisted. “Who has the clicker?”
While several people went diving into the pillows and blankets, Seth caught Alison’s glance and raised his beer and an eyebrow at her, not smiling, but impressed. Alison turned to get back to the television set and simultaneously grab whatever refill was being offered, which seemed to be a cheapish sort of half-decent pink wine from Argentina. Lisa had informed her not a week ago that she was happy things had never heated up between Alison and Seth because it seemed that this young paragon was now interested in Lisa herself. Lisa and Seth had gone out for drinks after bumping into each other at a screening; one thing led to another, bodily fluids had been exchanged, and Lisa decided that Seth and all his East Coast promise were not meant for Alison after all.
Under which circumstances Alison was not particularly interested in renewing an edgy flirtation with the guy. It was clear that he was now somewhat more impressed with her dubious credentials as an actress and he was still, as she recalled from her first meeting, pretty cute. But the fact that he seemed to have changed his opinion of her because she was on television just annoyed the shit out of Alison. She was beneath his notice three months ago when she was a would-be actress who had gone to Notre Dame, but now he was interested because she had a guest lead on a mediocre cop show? And this was what passed for intelligence and sophistication in the Big Apple?
As soon as the thought flew by—mediocre cop show—Alison felt some part of her surge up with pride and defiance. It wasn’t mediocre, she told herself; it was crime drama, a time-honored form, and all these people who she barely knew had gathered at Lisa’s invitation to watch it. Two years ago, in Seattle, she and her little band of passionate theater friends spent a lot of time making fun of mediocre cop shows, but for an actress in New York, someone who was actually taking a shot at it, someone who was going to try to make it happen, these shows were bread and butter, and besides, some of the best actors in the country were doing them. The actor playing the surly DA was a huge film and theater star, who happened to work regularly in television as well. There was no selling out involved in this experience. This was a major step up the ladder.