“Yes you heard it right, that when she woke up, there were 17 voicemails from a stranger. She also told me, that she could not tell why, but his voice sounded somehow familiar.” Jessica looks at Melinda with open eyes and the glass of wine still in her hand, before she took a sip and put it back on the table.

“And? Does she know now, who it is?”

“She seems to know it now”, Melinda replied, “but she still said not too much more about it. I only know, that since then she suddenly is every second weekend in another city.”

“How? I mean, does she do not have to work?” “Oh, I forgot to tell you, that she is a freelancer since a while.” “So she is self-employed?” “Exactly”.

“Alright but still, I mean, did she had so much money at the side, or how does she do it?”

“I have no clue, because we never spoke about it. My guess is, that it is him, who gives her the ticket for the flights. I cannot imagine it otherwise.” “Well, I would say, she is a freaking lucky woman than, whoever she is meeting now. But, did she said, why this stranger left so many messages?” “Yes, at least she revealed this.” “And?”

“We always made a bit fun of her, because of her weird choice, to be an artist, for all when she was talking about the film-sets of the shorts she was involved in.” “Well, I was always thinking, that a grown woman could do other things than this.” “Well, it turns out, that this guy, truly wanted to do a video. She did not say, if it would be for a commercial or something else. She told me, that she was amazed as she has known more and had thought it must be a mistake, that this guy called her. And well, it turned out, she was right. For some reason, the woman he wanted to contact, has nearly the same number as she has, but she lives in another country. His assistant messed it up and gave him her number and well, so he ended up at her line. It turned out, that the other woman is a director and producer in the film industry and as I mentioned, he wanted to do a video.” “Don’t tell me, that he hired her in the end to do that.” “No, he did not, because he was already via e-mail in contact with the other filmmaker. She did not tell me, why he was contacting the other woman at this day with the mobile phone, but as you know, she is also a trained actress and guess what!” Now Jessica nearly drops her glass. “She ended up in his video?” “Yes indeed, she ended up in his video. She did not even had to send an application or whatever to the director. She said, that he must have had a look about some stuff she did and somehow must thought, that she fits into that video and so, he contacted her again, after a few days and offered her this opportunity. And well, it seems like, it went on better as both thought and now, she is always somewhere else, so my guess is, that he must be somehow himself in this industry, but in another position. Maybe he is a producer, or something like that, and so he would also travel a lot.” “Alright, I need now more wine. So you really think, that she may have finally found the right entrance?” “It could be Jessica.” “I definitely need more wine! Do you want something else as well?” Melinda takes the leaflet on the table with the offers and looks through it. After a while she says, “I need a cocktail now. Tequila sunrise would be great.” Jessica nods, gets up and goes to the bar. She shows the bartender the table, where they are sitting and comes back to Melinda. “Damn, sometimes I wish I would be in my 20s again. He is such a cutie, but I also do not feel like Madonna. He is definitely too young for me.” “Well, sometimes I wonder, if certain celebrities do not offer money to them, no matter if male or female, when there is such an age gab. I am for all wondering about young guys, how they could like older women.” Jessica shrugs with her shoulders. “Hard to tell. Maybe they want to have even more a mummy type or they are even some, who did not really get love buy their mothers.” The waitress comes with the glasses and serves them. “Let’s continue where we dropped it. I truly wonder, if she might ever tell us more, and when, who it might be.” Melinda nods. “We will see, but I am not so sure. I have the feeling, that she leaves us behind somehow. I think, we made too often fun of her and her passion.” “Oh, come on. She should know, that we do not mean it in a terrible way.” “Well, I think we really sometimes went a bit far, when we said, that she seems to never get further than doing little student-videos. And that no one was waiting for someone like her. That there are better once and so on.” “Are you serious? We just told her the truth!” “Yes, we did, but at the other hand I was sometimes thinking, why we should not leave her, her dreams. Sometimes I think, she had it hard enough.” “What you are now talking about? Do you really believe the things she was telling us? What happened in her childhood etc.?” “You do not?” “Of course not! She is a little stage-actress. They are known, for it, that they always need to be in the centre of the attention.” Melinda looks to Jessica and says: “Jess, with all respect, but I really saw some evidence of the abuse she had to go through. What is wrong with you? It sounds more, that you are jealous about her recent luck.” “Me? Jealous? Come on!” “Maybe you are even longer jealous then I realized, but saying something like that,…..”Like that?” Jessica interrupts. “I am just pointing out, that she is very selfish, like all actresses!” “And you know ALL of them? Come one Jess. Besides, all the things she did….Nothing screamed to me, that she would be as you describe her.” “You just don’t want to admit it! With this she takes her items and rushes out of the bar, nearly running over the waitress, which was just on the way to their table. The waitress looks at Melinda and asks: “Do you still need both drinks?” Melinda looks at her and says: “I fear not. But if I have to take the wine….” “It is not touched yet, I can give it to someone else, who ordered it, not a problem at all. But of course you have to pay, what she consumed already.” With a sight, “of course. I will go up to the bar then. My apology.” “It is alright.” Melinda takes her glass and walks over to the bar, thinking about the past years, with her friends, finding more and more pattern at Jessica’s behaviour.