“You sure did. Loud and clear.” Doug stepped around the contestant to face Alan. “Edit me however you want. Make me look like a jerk. I signed up for that. But if the point of this whole thing isn’t to craft and hone talent, then what are we all here for?”
Justin stood up and gave one of his signature standing ovations, breaking the tension in the room. Victoria fanned herself.
“Fair enough,” Alan grunted, retreating back to the wall next to me.
“I thought you wantedmeto bicker with him,” I murmured. “Are we starting a love triangle, Alan?”
“I don’t put my money into losing projects. Don’t you forget that.”
“I won’t.” I wasn’t afraid of his threats, though when we were done with this, I’d do everything in my power to never work with him again.
It was time to go get the next contestant, a shy girl with a powerhouse voice.
“Be nice to her, Doug,” I warned as I brought her in. I stared him down, and he glared back at me. “I’ve heard her sing, and she’s amazing.”
Doug gave me a dismissive look and sifted through the papers on the desk in front of him. “She picked dance. Can she dance?”
“I’m used to partner work,” she mumbled, staring at her feet. “I’m a ballroom dancer.”
Stanley waved me down and everyone waited while I went to see what he wanted.
He leaned in to whisper in my ear. “Doug learned Ballroom, didn’t he? Challenge him to dance with her.” Stanley shooed me back over to my position next to the contestant.
“Why don’t you dance with her, Doug? You can ballroom dance. Tell us if she’s any good.”
Doug tapped the desk with his pencil. “I’d judge her talent better from over here, where I could see her arm and shoulder lines.”
Victoria reached over and gave him a shove. “I can watch her lines. Go dance with her, you big chicken.”
Music for a Viennese Waltz started up and Doug pushed back his chair in an exaggerated motion. “Fine. Whatever.”
“Atta boy, Dougy.” Justin pumped his fist in the air. “Show her how it’s done.”
And just like that, the four of us found our groove. I stopped watching the clock and watched Doug instead. Everyone watched him. He didn’t realize it, but the moment he took the lead, he became the sun the rest of us revolved around.
Doug
Willa’s hotel room in Austin was right next to mine, and to my utter shock, she knocked on the adjoining door just as I had finished brushing my teeth. My eyes felt like sandpaper. We’d filmed the last of the Los Angeles auditions until late and immediately packed up and flew here.
I undid the deadbolt on my side and heard her flip the lock on her side as well. We opened our doors at the same time.
She’d changed into a tank top and drawstring shorts, a look I particularly liked. I forced my gaze back to her crystal blue eyes, and then to behind her, where her little dog was snoozing on the edge of her bed.
“You named her yet?”
Willa shook her head. “I’m still calling her dog.”
Such a Willa thing to do.
“Doug, I need to apologize to you.” She rubbed the back of her hair which had been twisted up into a loose bun and waited for me to say something in return.
I didn’t want to assume I knew what she was referring to, so I went with, “Apology accepted.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “I haven’t apologized yet. I need to explain.”
“Okay, well … did you want to come in?” It seemed like the polite thing to ask, though I fully expected her to turn me down.
“Is this a bad time?”
