The School Play

Chapter 45

Emma still noticed her hands slightly shaking, though the audition was already over. She was walking back to Regina's trailer and her mind kept replaying the entire audition. She felt pretty good about it, but the casting directors didn't give anything away. They'd merely observed and jotted things down.

When she opened the door to the trailer, Regina was already inside, cooking dinner. "How'd it go?" she immediately asked and Emma took off her coat.

"Not sure," Emma said. "I hope it went okay. They said they'd tell me pretty soon, given the circumstances. Everyone is pretty stressed about missing Christmas, huh?"

Regina chuckled softly and puckered her lips for Emma to kiss them. "I already told you it's not just about Christmas. We have limited time, we need to have finished the season by the end of January, so they'll have enough time to edit it, and we still have so much scenes to shoot."

"Damn," Emma said. "I think people can forget about Christmas, then."

"Well, if they hire you, we have at least two more weeks to shoot everything. Maybe if the crew thinks we'll have enough time to finish it by January, even if we go home for Christmas, they'll let us go."

"That'd be fun," Emma said. "You said you didn't have a lot of plans for Christmas, right?"

"None, to be exact," Regina said, and turned off the stove. "Dinner is ready."

Emma helped her set the table and smiled slightly. "If they'll let you go, do you want to celebrate it with my mom, David and me?" she asked.

Regina seemed very enthusiastic, until her face turned serious. "Are they going to visit you?"

"No, no, I'm going to Storybroo... Oh," Emma said. She hadn't realized that Regina had avoided going to Storybrooke for quite some years. Her mother still lived there, although she wasn't mayor anymore.

It stayed painfully silent, but Emma had no idea what to say. She didn't know if it would be rude to say that Regina could come along anyway, but the idea of Regina spending Christmas alone made her heart sink.

"It's okay, Emma," Regina said. "Thanks for inviting me, but I don't think I want to go back to Storybrooke. Sorry."

Emma sat down and smiled slightly. "If you change your mind, you're always welcome. I'd hate to have to spend Christmas alone. Cora won't find out you're in Storybrooke, anyway."

Regina shrugged. "I'll think about it. Now, tell me more about the audition."

~~~~~

Emma hadn't quite comprehended anything that was happening around her. Camera's surrounded her, hair and makeup artists were fixing up the last things on all the actors surrounding her, and everyone was discussing matters of importance.

She'd gotten the part. So, now, many contracts, conversations and fittings later, she was standing on set. Suddenly, she regretted ever agreeing to doing this. Regina seemed confident as ever, though she didn't really seem like Regina anymore. She'd fully become a new person and Emma admired her so much for it. Her girlfriend had worked hard to achieve this level of acting, but she was incredible. She found it quite confronting to have her first scene with Regina, even though they'd practiced it so many times.

There were much more people than she'd imagined. She didn't even know everyone's job. The only people she recognized were fellow actors and the directors, everyone else she hadn't gotten to know yet.

The first scene they'd planned for the day was the one she'd done with the audition. She'd been given several instructions and they'd practiced the scene quite a few times in the actual setting, but Emma still felt very nervous.