Melissa was good. Even in her pacing and consistent with her projection. Her male characters felt a bit contrived, but he was sure someone could say the same thing about his female voices.
When she finished, Matt lavished her with praise, then welcomed Sean intothe studio. Gideon adjusted settings to handle a deeper bass sound. On second thought, they probably should’ve had Alli go second so he wouldn’t have to switch back and forth.
Sean strutted up to the microphone with a confidence Gideon wasn’t sure he could back up. The guy was good looking, he’d give him that. Audio narration might not be playing to his strengths.
"Ready when you are.” Sean shook out his hands like he was getting ready to run a marathon.
Matt gave him a thumbs up, and Sean’s rich voice filled their headphones. It was nice to listen to, but he was overreaching. Too dramatic for Gideon’s taste, and he’d listened to a fair number of audiobooks.
Next up was Alli, and Gideon tuned in when Matt asked her if Megs had arrived yet. Alli shook her head, and Matt frowned. It took him a minute to tell her to go through the door into the studio. As Alli started, Gideon pulled out his phone.Where was she?
His level of concern was ratcheting up by the minute. She’d left the fall festival in a rush, hadn’t shown up at class, and now wasn’t here at the audition, which he knew was important to her. Skipping class he understood. He’d had high blood pressure sitting at his desk and thinking about what happened on Monday.
Gideon texted again.
Megs, please just let me know you’re okay. We’re at the studio
He sethis phone next to the mixing board, and listened as Alli finished. It was a solid audition. He wouldn’t have expected anything less. He smiled and gave her a thumbs up as she exited the booth.
Randall and Cassie filed in one after another, and Gideon watched his phone screen as he adjusted the settings. Finally, Matt put a hand on his shoulder.
“Your turn.”
Right.He had to audition. For a minute, he’d dropped into recording mode and had forgotten why he’d shown up in the first place. “I don’t have to. I think you have some great options.”
“I want you to. If you’re willing. I know you didn’t want to enter this competition, and I hope you know how much it means to me.”
Gideon adjusted the sliders for his voice, then stood and stretched.
“Is that your pre-audition routine?”
Gideon ignored him and pointed to the red circle. “Just press that button before I start and again when I’m done.”
Matt chuckled and gave him a thumbs up. Here goes nothing. This was not an ideal time to record, considering his heart felt like it was going to lift off. What if something happened to her? He wasn’t normally anxious, but zero contact? That didn’t seem like Megs, even if she was angry or upset.
Gideon stepped up to the microphone and held out the script on the tablet Matt brought. He cleared his throat and started.
“Elena's eyes darted around the park, finally settling on the familiar figure of Nathan sitting alone on a concrete bench. She hesitated, but her feet refused to turn back.
“‘Nathan?’ Her voice trembled as she approached. ‘After all this time, you show up out of the blue?’
“He looked up, and the anguish in his eyes was a chisel to her heart, cracking a line through the center. ‘I had to see you. I had to explain.’
“She bit the inside of her cheek. ‘Explain? Do you have any idea how much pain you caused? How many nights I cried myself to sleep, wondering what I did wrong?’
“Nathan's voice cracked. ‘I never wanted to hurt you, Elena, but I had my reasons.’
“‘Reasons? What reasons could possibly justify leaving without asingle word?Leaving me to pick up the pieces?’”
He flowed through the piece, getting lost in the rhythm of it, but the ticker tape never stopped streaming across his consciousness.Where was Megs?
He blinked when he realized there was only white space left on the page. Finished. Gideon took a step back from the microphone and lifted the tablet from the stand.
Matt opened the door before he could reach for the handle. His friend’s eyes were glassy. “Wow. Gideon, that was . . . wow.”
"Thanks," Gideon barely registered the compliment. He slipped past Matt and grabbed his phone, then stepped out into the hall and dialed Megs’ number. The ringing seemed to go on forever before it finally cut off to her voicemail.
Hi! This is Megs! Leave a message and I’ll ring you back.
