“And I thought you’d know that I don’t take orders from you,” she replies angrily, as though she hasn’t seen any of the vulnerability shining in my face. Her face is twisted up in a haughty expression, and there’s zero acknowledgement of what I’m offering performance-wise. I give and I give and this is going nowhere in a hurry.
“And you should know by now that it’s not about taking orders. It’s about keeping you safe,” I say.
“What if that’s not what I want?” she says, almost like a petulant child.
“What do you want?” I ask as I step in closer, trying tobuild the physical momentum for the kiss. It’s like trying to start a fire using wet spaghetti noodles as tinder.
“I think…” she starts, and this is where we’re supposed to lean in toward one another. Vivian has taken absolutely zero steps toward me this whole time, and now with the distance between us, it’s so awkward and inauthentic for me to close the distance and almost kiss her. But I’m nothing if not the consummate professional, so I do my best to get there, and Vivian just stands there like she’s frozen in place, waiting for chemistry to fall out of the sky like a comet and make this audition work.
After a few steps that feel like an eternity, and a few seconds too long, I bring my mouth down slowly toward hers, praying Arnold puts us out of our misery before I actually have to kiss her.
“Okay,” he shouts from the casting table behind the camera. “Thank you so much, you two.”
“Do you want us to run it again?” Vivian asks with a beaming smile on her face, and clearly no clue how poorly that went.
“No, I think we’ve got everything we need actually,” Arnold smiles as he rounds across the table and comes over to our space. He puts a friendly hand on Vivian’s upper arm and ushers her toward the door. “Thank you so much for your time today, Vivian. Our people will be in touch.”
“Sounds great, thank you so much!” She chirps as she exits the room before giving me a friendly wave. I muster a slight hand raise back in her direction, before whirling on Arnold as soon as the door shuts.
“What in the fresh fuck was that?” I hiss.
Arnold blows a quick breath through pursed lips and rubs his forehead. “Unfortunate.”
“No shit, did she even know she had a scene partner upthere today?” I toss my script down on the ground and head over to where my water bottle is on the floor nearby.
“Not that I saw. I swear she was great in her solo audition.”
“Great, so cast her in a one-woman movie,” I mutter before chugging.
“We’ve still got Clover coming in a few minutes,” Arnold says, trying to appease me.
“And don’t even get me fucking started on this next chick,” I growl before launching into a tirade, because I’m in a mood, and he’s going to hear my thoughts before I have to go through another painful chemistry read in a few minutes.
Chapter Five
CLOVER
Turning onto a small road named Starlight Lane, the famous entrance arch to Starlight Studios comes into sight. I’m filled with a sense of awe as I drive along the palm tree-lined street, approaching the structure. I’ve never been up close before–seeing as I wasn’t scoring bigger auditions until Anita–and even my audition for this one was a self-tape. The arch is massive, and as I get closer, I can make out beautiful carvings of constellations throughout. There’s even a sparkle to some of them. Glitter? Diamonds? Who the hell knows with Hollywood.
When I pull up to security and give them my name and reason for being here, they direct me toward the right building and nearby parking lot.
Nerves roil through me as I put my car into park. It dawns on me how out of place I am being here. I have two credits and a handful of commercials to my name, yet here I am having a chemistry read for what will arguably be one of the biggest upcoming blockbusters.
Taking in slow and steady streams of air, I try to do a few affirmations before stepping out of the car. This is big,this is huge. This is the biggest opportunity I’ve had in my career so far.
No matter how today goes, this is one hell of an experience.
I am worthy, no matter what the outcome is.
I am trying my best, and that’s all I can do.
But despite everything I’m telling myself right now, I really freaking hope I get it.
Doing a quick look in the car’s rearview mirror, I apply another layer of chapstick onto my lips. Welp, that’s as good as it’s going to get. Nice and natural, and my long copper hair is pulled into a ponytail with shorter face-framing pieces pulled loose at the front. I didn’t want to do anything that felt inauthentic for the character I’m auditioning for. She doesn’t strike me as someone who wears tons of makeup, so I’m hoping the director and casting team appreciate my choice for a more toned-down look today. I’m hoping for a lot of things today. That’s the operative word for this entire experience: “hope”.
The butterflies that were softly floating in my stomach take frenzied flight as I hop out of the car and turn toward the studio warehouse.Deep breaths. Deep breaths,I remind myself, praying that I won’t be winded because of sheer nervousness by the time I step inside. Opening my phone to check the time, I’m relieved that I have a few extra minutes to catch my breath and try to center myself.
Today’s chemistry read should be simple enough. I know the lines like the back of my hand, so I’m really hoping to go off of what Roman gives me and see how it feels to act with him. I’m excited for a multitude of reasons, including getting to meet Roman Everett. He’s a couple of years older than me, and absolutely dreamy. Not to sound like a creep, but I think I’ve seen all of his movies, and he’s wildly talented on top of it all. If today goes completely tits up, at least I can say I got to meet him.
