Say It Sexy by Virna Depaul

head to Albuquerque to begin filming.”
    “I’m excited to be back in New Mexico,” Erica said. “I wrote the book while enrolled at UNM. It’s pretty specific as far as the setting. All real places down to the color of the street signs and the bars I mention.”
    Shane opened his copy of the book, browsing through the table of contents. “Are the people real, too?”
    “Some of them are based on real people, yes, but that’s how it usually is in novels.” She laughed politely. “No real names are used.”
    I supposed that was half the fun of writing—getting back people who’d done you wrong by casting them in your book as jerks or conniving bitches. Maybe one day I would write a book and name my Randall character Scandall. Or Lamedall.
    “So, this disclaimer on the front page,” Shane said, picking up her book and flipping to the first page, “about relations to people living or dead being completely coincidental...”
    “Is bullshit.” Erica smiled then cocked her head to one side, as if asking, Any other questions?
    Tyler actually looked up from his phone for a nanosecond to crack a smile.
    “Anyway…” Lyle coughed explosively and smoothed down his thin hair. “We open with a scene where Lacey is in her room, unpacking her last box after moving into her house.”
    Garrick lifted his hand. “She bought a house?”
    “She’s renting,” Erica clarified. “Dirt cheap to do so out there.”
    “As a freshman?” Garrick asked again, narrowing his eyes.
    “Yep.” Erica leveled off her script with a sharp smack against the tabletop. “The dorms get pretty loud, and she can’t afford to get sucked into that scene. She’s convinced that living in the dorms would mess up her studies and trash her dreams of becoming a veterinarian. Besides, her house is well within walking distance, and she enjoys the exercise.”
    “Girl should have amazing legs then.” For the first time that day, Garrick looked at me. Then he pushed back a bit from the table and craned his neck aside to glimpse around the table. “Are your legs amazing, Gwen?”
    I flushed and scooted closer to the table, tucking my legs farther underneath me, away from his prying eyes. But darn if I didn’t wonder if he liked what he saw, even if my legs were currently hidden by my tailored black slacks.
    “Let’s begin.” Lyle opened his copy of the script, scribbled and re-scribbled over so much that I could hardly tell the difference between his text and the computer’s. “Lacey is in her room studying, dressed for bed. The time is nine p.m. and she’s quizzing herself on the last of her vocabulary. We can skip to the part where she hears music coming from the house next to hers. Page three.”
    Everybody flipped to the right page.
    “She gets out of bed, throws on some clothes and shoes, and marches over to their garage, which is opened a few inches for fresh air. She knocks. Payton opens the side door, revealing Mitch and Benny seated in their practice room behind him. Gwen, if you would…”
    “Hi,” I said, reading Lacey’s first line.
    “Well, hello to you,” Garrick purred in his lewdest voice.
    “I moved in next door a few weeks ago. My name’s Lacey.”
    Erica raised her finger. “The next few lines are said back-to-back with no beats in between until Lacey speaks again. These three boys have practically grown up together and know each other’s patterns of conversation inside and out. Feel free to put personality into it.”
    PAYTON : “Aw.” Garrick, as Payton, pouted. “What happened to the old stoner dude?”
    MITCH: “Yeah, we loved the old stoner dude.”
    With just that one line, my worries about Shane’s ability to handle his part waned slightly. He actually didn’t sound that bad.
    PAYTON : “He was an awesome dude.”
    When he spoke, Tyler sounded wistful.
    BENNY: “That dude gave us free weed.”
    PAYTON: “Dude.”
    MITCH : “Dude.”
    BENNY: “Duuuude.”
    Tyler added just the right amount of