Natalie Cohen

The three of them were in Marissa's backyard building a set-piece for 'Ringers.' This time, it was a hulking wooden television that the actors could pop into. Natalie was crouched over two pieces of 2x4, hammering them together. Several nails hung from her lips. Marissa and Tamara were also crouched, poised like they were getting ready to do something. Several minutes had passed, though, and they were still so caught up in their conversation that they hadn't done a thing.

“You've heard of Guy Debord, right?” Tamara shook her head. “He was this French philosopher from the mid-century. Super insightful. And you know what he said about this? He said, 'You're all living a lie and it makes you a slave. Problem is, even if you read this book, you're probably not going to know what that means.' And he's right. It takes a lot of thought. Most people aren't up to it.” Marissa's eyes never left Tamara's face. When she honed in on somebody like this, she didn't let up. For her part, Tamara looked completely mesmerized.

Natalie watched this for a moment, then grabbed the nails out of her lips. “It's like you said before. How people are blind.” Marissa glanced at Natalie and curled her lips. It wasn't quiet a smile; more like the look you'd give a kid who was butting in on an adult conversation. And just like Natalie hadn't said anything at all, Marissa turned back to Tamara and continued her spiel. Of course, Natalie had heard it all before, anyway, so she just put the nails back in her lips and resumed hammering. One, two. One, two. She could get most the nails in with a couple deft blows.

This was her project, after all. Hers and Marissa's. They'd locked themselves in her house for four days and didn't step out again until the script was finished. Natalie had never done something like that before. She was a hard worker by nature, but up until she met Marissa, her work ethnic was directed solely at textbooks and essays. To have somebody show you that you could do more, that you could create art. . . . It was wonderful. Marissa had transformed her. She had brought her to life.

After a few more nails, the base of the television was firmly squared. She laid on the plywood undercarriage and started hammering it on, too. Once the plywood was firmly attached, Natalie started erecting the walls. She affixed one to the lower right-hand corner, then paused and looked up. Across from her, Tamara was nodding, and Marissa was clearly impressed. “So you understand? Ah! What a relief. I've been trying to get this across to people here, but nobody gets it.” Marissa's face was just a few inches away from the other girl's. It almost looked like they were about to kiss. Natalie's heart was pounding.

“Can the two of you help with this?”

There was a pause, and then Marissa slowly turned to face her. “Yeah, yeah. Of course.” She was utterly natural about it, and when she slid over to help, it was like they were best friends again. One girl held the 2x4 while the other hammered it on. They were a team, and soon the two of them had affixed each of the four corners of the television as well as the top brackets. Tamara busied herself gathering scraps of wood that had fallen by the skill saw.

Before they could start on the walls, Natalie had to run to her car to get another box of nails. When she returned, she found Marissa and Tamara sitting on the porch steps, once again immersed in conversation. When Natalie picked up one of the plywood walls and started banging nails into it, they didn't get up to help. There was electricity crackling between them again. Marissa was bring Tamara to life, like Frankenstein over somebody's corpse. His previous, failed creation hulked in the corner. Unwanted. A bad memory.

She hesitated.

She was just making this up, right? This was all in her head. Marissa and her were a team, and even if things were kind of bad right now, this was just a phase. It was an inexplicable but temporary falling out. She just had to bite down on these nails and keep working. Once their show was a big success, Marissa would remember why they had started working together. They were brilliant in each other's company, like two mirrors reflecting the same fire. Soon, it would be like it used to. They would be best friends again.