𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 || 𝐋𝐨𝐮𝐢𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐠𝐞

𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐮𝐞

(7 years later)

    It was always a rush in the mornings. I had developed the feel for waking up early and heading over to my designated areas, but today was a bit different. I was barely putting on my coat when Royce, my manager, started to call my phone.

    "I'm going! I'm going!"

     He sighs through the phone, "Louis, I am betting you twenty dollars that you don't even have your pants on." I looked down; he was right. I don't know why my brain was so chaotic this morning. I had always been the first one to show up to anything, and now on this important day, I was probably going to be the last.

     "Royce, are coming to pick me up?"

     "Louis, I'm outside your building. That's why I called, now hurry." I looked outside my window and saw his car below. It was now my time to hurry up and I did so. My slacks were almost flying on, I quickly grabbed the shoes that matched my brown leather belt and headed out the door. The elevator felt like years, and I was growing impatient.

    "Good morning Mr. Partridge." I waved over to Nelly, the lobby clerk, and gestured toward my car. It was already ten thirty, he had a feeling I was late.

    Royce unlocks the door and drives off as I quickly got in and closed the door. "Took you long enough." His face was chiseled with a slight stubble, indicating he hasn't shaved. "Looks like you were in a hurry also."

    "The difference between you and I, Louis, is that I still got here early." I laughed as he always seemed to be able to make his point, "Now get ready, this is a very important opportunity and it's not worth losing."

Illıllı

    Cameras were flashing in my face as soon as I stepped out of the car. Royce had handed me some glasses and we both began our walk toward the door. I had waved to a couple of fans and ignored the ignorance of the paparazzi. As we entered, we were escorted to a room that was filled with other actors and some producers. Our editor, John Kirk, was already beginning to shake my hand before I even got to my seat. Royce sat on the outside chairs and waited for us to finish, he was my manager, but he didn't really care for table reads.

    The oval shaped table was almost filled to the brim. Many people had been recruited for this film, bigger names than my own. I was fiddling with a string on my jacket and silently waited for it to start, "Hey." I looked up to see another fellow actor and friend, Mace Giovani, his Italian accent was acknowledgeable from a mile away.

    "Are you excited?" He asked.

    "Yes, more nervous though." He nodded his head and took a seat beside me. I could hear the chatter around me and didn't know what else to think about besides the script that was in front of me. Beside it lay a name placer. Louis Partridge, lead actor, playing Vincent Teller. I smiled a bit and began to relax. This had been a dream for a while, so might as well not over think it.

    "She's here."

    "Right now?"

    "Time is 11:00 AM." Her assistant walked in first and looked to all of us, "Good morning, our director will be here in one second." We all waited, anticipating starting the table read already and I was feeling a bit tired. But even when I was in my own thoughts again, the door opened.

    "Hello everyone," She walked in and took her seat at the head of the table. "Are we ready to start?"

    She wore a pantsuit of the color gray, an opened blazer, and underneath a cropped white shirt that pressed onto her body. She wore a pair of conservative heels, and everyone was looking at her. "This has been a project that I've been working on for a while now and it's extremely important to me. The first draft was actually a lot different to the original one that I had written at the age of seventeen, but now at twenty-five, I have re-written it to fit the time. I'm very happy to be sharing this with you all."