In Love With Alex Brightman

chapter five

Katie kept an intense glare at me while we listened to Rory walk away with a teasing goodbye and the door shutting closed. My eyes broke from hers and shot to my bedroom then back to Katie. She did the same, but immediately caught on to my escape plan.

"Try me, honeybun," she smirked, bending her legs in a running stance. Growing up with multiple brothers, Katie had many lessons with wrestling. She had tackled me a few times before and they weren't very fun. I rolled my eyes in frustration, groaning extra loudly. I threw my head back and let myself fall back onto the couch. "Let me know when you're ready to talk," she whispered, somehow squeezing into the space between me and the back of the couch.

I sighed into the cushion, before turning around to lay on my back. I looked up and saw an excited look on her face. "You really want to know, huh?" I laughed in amusement. She didn't hesitate to nod rapidly. "Fine," I trailed out, sitting up.

We spent almost an hour talking about the whole date that it felt like Katie was pretty much there. She had questions to ask for days. But I basically filled her in on everything, which wasn't really anything to gossip about. It was a normal friendly chat.

I also told her what Alex was like and a few of the things he told me about himself. I did leave out the whole 'I'm sitting here to show you where the burgers are' incident. I liked that I had it to myself.

"Wait wait wait... you mean to tell me that Alex was Dewey Finn in School of Rock? How did you not recognize him? We loved that show," Katie scolded, throwing her hands up.

"That's exactly what I said!" I groaned. Katie laughed and rubbed my back. "I feel so uneducated. It's kind of embarrassing." Katie snorted loudly.

Afterwards, I told her about our little playful bicker we had and it brought a shy smile to my face just thinking about it. Katie squealed every so often and sometimes let out a giggle. I could tell she found the whole thing very interesting. She never broke eye contact because she was so focused.

When all her questions were answered and she was satisfied with the information I shared with her, Katie finally let me breathe. "Happy?" I huffed, staring at her big smile. She stays frozen for a second, processing everything. "Hello, is Katie in there?" I asked, knocking on her forehead. She finally frowned and slapped my arm away. I chuckled and leaned back in the couch, letting out a long yawn. All that talking made me pretty tired and I was ready to take a nap.

"Tired from all that flirting you did?" Katie smirked. My eyes shot towards her as I sat back up.

"I wasn't flirting with him, first of all. It was a friendly lunch date. That's it," I denied her assumptions. "And I'm tired from basically telling you every single thing we talked about."

"A date, huh?" She widened her eyes, ignoring my last statement. I rolled my lips in, keeping my rude remarks to myself. "Whatever you say," She shrugged.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I scoffed at her. A small smirk crept on her lips, slowly.

She made sure I saw it, before putting on a dumbfounded look. "Don't worry about it, honeybun," She lightly patted my head. I groaned to myself, standing up.

"Okay, I'm done with you. I'm going to bed. Don't disturb me," I growled walking to my bedroom. I already started getting really tired earlier, so I would of left anyways, but might as well make a scene. I didn't call myself an actress for nothing.

"Have fun daydreaming," Katie yelled before I disappeared into my room. I ignored her comment, going to my dresser to strip out of my street clothes.

After I got comfortable on my large bed, I laid on my back and stared at my ceiling. I thought about a handful of things, but mostly how grateful I was for everything. Even though I didn't get the role of Lydia, it still gave me the courage to want to audition for more roles. I already had the college degree, experience, and vocals to be on a stage. I knew I could improve and be a better actress for Broadway. But, I was still bummed out that I didn't even get ensemble. By the reactions of the people in the house, I was sure I had a good chance.

I honestly thought I did great and they liked me, but some other girl must of came out and shook those casting directors to their core. And that girl was definitely lucky. Especially because she got to perform with Alex eight times a week.

I suddenly felt my eyelids get heavy and I slowly fell into a deep slumber.

~It's Showtime~

"Sarah Arya Holland, wake your dumbass up, right now!" A voice violently shook me awake, along with a body painfully crushing my ribs. Only a normal person would wake someone else up nicely, but no, I got the annoyingly aggressive roommate; Katie Stokes.

I used all my strength to push her off and I knew I succeeded when I heard a loud thud on the floor. It was followed by a bunch of curse words and, "What the hell, Sarah!"

"No one, but you, wakes someone else up like that," I groggily huffed, sitting up slowly. I could feel the nest on top of my head, so I didn't even attempt to try to brush it out with my fingers. It was just the consequence of being a tosser when I sleep.

"Well I had a very good reason," Katie argued.

"And both you and I better hope it is because I would love to kick your ass right about now," I snapped, rubbing my hands together as I squinted my eyes at her. She smirked, lowly chuckling at my attempt to intimidate her.

"Well, maybe if your idiotic brain of yours would work, I wouldn't of had to wake you."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, waiting for her to fill me in. I still felt grouchy and very tired from my rude awakening.

"You used our shared email instead of your own to submit your portfolio, dummy. They just emailed yesterday. Luckily I decided to check today because you know it's rare I do," Katie explained, shoving her phone in my face. I adjusted her brightness due to my eyes still trying to adjust to the light.

When we were in college, Katie didn't always get the best grades because she hated work—basically just school overall—so her teachers were always emailing her for missing assignments. Her mother linked Katie's email to her phone to see what the teachers were saying and scolded Katie all the time about it. Katie got annoyed by her, so she made a new email. Somehow her mother found out that Katie made a new one, so she got in even more trouble.

Katie begged me to make an email for her on my phone. So, the account was really hers because I had my own, but I just have access to it and she didn't care if I saw what was on it. She never checked her emails anyways, she only had it because she needed one that her mother couldn't see. She was a sneaky girl in college.

"What? How? I don't even use that one anymore," I lifted an eyebrow in confusion.

"You still have access to it, remember? You might of switched it by accident," she shrugged, settling next to me on my bed. I nodded once, before focusing on the screen. My eyes instantly widened and a loud gasp escaped my mouth as I read the email.

Hello Ms. Sarah Holland,

Outstanding work at auditions last week.
We kept your name in mind throughout the casting process because we found potential in you. After long thoughts and discussion, we'd love it if you'd come back for callbacks. We think we may have a spot for you. If you can come back to the theater Monday at 12, we'd deeply appreciate it. Nice work and we are excited to see you again.

Sincerely, Tesley and co. Rachel

My jaw stayed on the ground as I read the email again to make sure it really said that. I was still drowsy from being woken up in not the best way, but I was pretty sure I read that right. I hoped I read that right.

"So like I was saying, you're a dumbass and a lucky bastard that I checked," Katie commented, taking her phone back with a proud smirk.

"Oh my god, Katie. I'm going to callbacks on Monday. I may still have a chance," I whispered breathlessly. My hand slapped to my forehead, my mouth locked open in shock.

"Yeah, which is in few days, so you better prepare. I'll email them back and make sure to switch this to your actual email," she told me, standing up from my bed. I nodded once, gracefully falling back onto my pillow. "And I'll give you time to process this and maybe tell a special someone," She winked at me, before walking out.

"Katie!" I groaned loudly with a laugh.

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