Irresistible - Zayn Malik Short Story

Three.

3.

One week later

The phone rings and I check the number. With a gasp, I realize it is the Broadway Playhouse. I know it’s crazy – the only possible reason they would call is to let me know about a callback, and I’m positive I didn’t get that. But I can’t help my nervous jitters as I push the call button and place the phone to my ear. “Hello?”

“Is this miss Rohl?”

“It is.”

“Yes. Well, I would like to congratulate you – you’ve earned a callback for the part of Elphaba. We just need you to sing another song or two and read for the part.”

“Oh, my word! Thank you so much!” I am reeling, just short of jumping up and down and prancing around across my living room carpet. “How did I get the part? I mean I… I kinda messed up,” I admit.

“Yes. Well, we had a few extenuating circumstances… several of the spots ahead of you were offered other working positions, so you were moved up on the list.” I recognize the lady’s voice as one of the judges. “I thought you were marvelous, by the way,” she whispers, making me smile even wider.

“I… I’m speechless! When do I need to be there?”

The woman gives me the dates for callbacks and I write them down. The show airs in less than three months, and if I do a good job with my first lead role in Wicked, I will be eligible to enroll as full-time paid staff for the Playhouse. I have no doubt that I can pull this off, though I keep wondering who has put in a good word for me, or how I’d just gotten that lucky.

I call Sam immediately and tell her I’ve landed the role – she is absolutely thrilled as well, and she promises that we will eat out somewhere this evening to celebrate. “And don’t forget to bring that mysterious boy you’ve been reeling over, young lady,” she commands, and I giggle. Zayn is nothing but mysterious, that’s for sure. I promise I will invite him and we chat for a long time as I start my day. Finally, when Sam says she has to help her father with stage set-up, we say our goodbyes. I am practically on my way to Beauty rehearsal anyway by the time we’ve talked for two hours. That’s long enough for me to dress, go out for a jog, and come back home to change. Sam and I could talk for days if we had the chance.

Zayn is definitely mysterious…on the few other dates we’ve been on, I have yet to ask him about his drug dealing, though the whole thing may have been my imagination. If I remember correctly, Logan may have been into that kind of thing, though I wouldn’t have cared back when I was dating him. The memory of Logan kissing me, laughing with me, making me smile for a while after we were together suddenly grips me and gives me shivers, but I squash them and focus my thoughts back on Zayn once again. He is strange… we’ve been on a few dates in the last week, and each time I find myself wondering why, what makes him so irresistible. I want to think that it’s him – not his attractive bad-boy behavior – that draws me in, but I have to admit to myself that it is a mixture of both. Zayn Malik is intriguing, to say the least.

I only vaguely pay attention during rehearsal. Knowing my lines now perfectly gives my mind the time to wander. I’m wondering how I landed the callback; how I’ve been so lucky today, why Zayn is so perfect to me right now and why he hasn’t texted me yet, and, of course, when I can see him again. I do decide to text him about tonight, our celebration that Sam and I will have probably at Walsh’s after my performance. He promises to come to the restaurant, and I tell him I can’t wait to see him there, and that I have some amazing news for him.

The rest of the day goes by swiftly and I spend my ride to Walsh’s mentally preparing for this ‘date’ or whatever it is. Zayn is so confusing to me, yet so irrevocably appealing, and the fact that Sam will be there and wants to meet him adds to the pressure. Halfway through my first song, I see her enter and sit at one of the back booths… a few minutes later, I see Zayn enter as well. He’s wearing a dark gray t-shirt and jeans, some Converse-looking black shoes, and his ‘ZAP’ tattoo shines in the café’s light strangely. A shiver runs through me at the thought of being close to him, but I turn my eyes away and am able to finish up my performance without a problem.