A week into Little Women rehearsals, Evelyn tells Don that Celia is as good as expected. Don, flush with success and leverage, offers to have Celia removed from the picture, but Evelyn refuses, asserting her lead status and admitting she likes Celia. This establishes Evelyn’s choice to manage competition through control rather than elimination.

The next day at lunch, Celia invites Evelyn out for milkshakes. On the drive, Celia proposes Schwab’s, signaling a bid for publicity by being seen with Evelyn. Reading the ploy, Evelyn asserts control, rerouting them to CC Brown’s to avoid staged exposure and to set boundaries about how and when she will be photographed.

At the counter, after a brief exchange with an awestruck server, Evelyn bluntly lectures Celia on ambition: push boundaries and, if using people, do it well. When Celia asks if Evelyn is using her, Evelyn denies it, adding that Celia offers nothing yet. Stung, Celia contends she is the more talented actress and reveals she knows Evelyn and Don tried to have her fired (via Ruby’s disclosure), then proposes a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Celia suggests after-hours coaching to strengthen Evelyn’s performance in exchange for Evelyn’s help building Celia’s star power, including appearances like Schwab’s. She adds an earnest alternative: real friendship. The two negotiate terms of a sincere, supportive relationship, agree that Harry Cameron remains Evelyn’s best friend, and shake on Celia becoming Evelyn’s second-best friend. They plan to go to Schwab’s the next day and rehearse afterward.

As they leave, the server comps their check and asks Evelyn to pass praise to her husband for his film. Evelyn coyly denies having a husband in public, while privately acknowledging she cannot tell Don without risking his anger, reinforcing the ongoing danger of his abuse even as a new alliance with Celia begins.