Good as Gold // Josh Burrage

Chapter Two

"You must be Miss Rhodes." The man behind the desk, Jeff Calhoun, I assume, stands and shakes my hand. "It's a pleasure to have you join Newsies."
   
"I'm happy to be here," I say with a nod.
   
"Have a seat and we can discuss the details of your job, then you'll be introduced to who you'll be working with." Mr. Calhoun gestures to the seat next to me. He sits as I do. "Right, so you understand you'll be working with us as an assistant, correct?"
   
I nod. "Yes."
   
"You'll mainly be a personal assistant for our Katherine Plumber on the tour, but we may have you do other things as well. For example, if a cast member needs assistance with anything before a show, that will be your responsibility. There's a lot of flexibility with your position, so I hope you can roll with the punches."
   
"I can do that," I answer.
   
Mr. Calhoun smiles. "Great. As I'm sure you already know, we're leaving in a week." I nod again, signifying that I knew that already. "That just makes my job easier," he says. "And it makes this meeting shorter." He stands. "In that case, Miss Rhodes, let me find someone to introduce you to the cast." He opens the door, catching a girl who's on crutches as she walks by. "Marlee, are you doing anything at the moment?"
   
The girl shakes her head. "Nothing in particular."
   
He motions for me to come over, and I join him at the door. "This is Miss Rhodes. She's going to be joining us on tour as an assistant. Would you mind introducing her to some of the cast?"
   
The girl smiles brightly, and I notice she has striking eyes. I can't decide if they're blue or grey. "I would love to!"
   
Honestly, I would rather not follow this perky stranger to meet people. I would rather just do my job and not talk to anyone, but it doesn't look like that's happening. I don't really have a choice, so I step out of the office and follow the girl down the hallway.
   
"I'm Marlee Granger, it's nice to meet you. I play Katherine on the tour," she says, smiling. We don't walk very quickly since she's on crutches. "Okay," she mutters after I fail to introduce myself.
   
"What did you do to your foot?" I notice a brace on her ankle.
   
She smiles slightly. "I sprained it during rehearsal one day. A small price to pay for a pretty epic newsie jump."
   
"Hm." I look forward as she leads me to a staircase. We begin to go upstairs slowly.
   
"So Mr. Calhoun called you Miss Rhodes, but I feel like that would be a bit formal. What's your first name?" Marlee asks, obviously trying to keep from being awkward.
   
"Indiana," I say. "Apparently I'm going to be your assistant."
   
"Oh! I heard they were getting someone to help out. Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm so excited you're coming on tour with us." This girl is too friendly for my liking, but I guess I'll have to put up with it. The moment she opens the door at the top, I hear loud voices coming from an open door down the hall. Marlee gives me an apologetic smile. "Just a word of warning, the boys can be a little overbearing."
   
As we move closer to the room, I realize the boys aren't just talking. They're singing. Scratch that, they're belting Defying Gravity from Wicked. As soon as one of the boys in the room sees us standing outside, he smiles. He's blonde with really pretty blue eyes. I won't lie, he's cute. However, that thought disappears when he greets Marlee with a light kiss.
   
"Hey," he says to her with a smile. When he notices me, he says, "I don't think we've met. I'm Ben." I shake his hand.
   
"Guys!" Marlee calls into the room full of boys. Someone pauses the music. "We have a new member joining our production. This is Indiana, and she's coming on tour as my assistant." A chorus of greetings rises from the group of boys. Marlee turns to me. "You can meet them all personally later. Come on, I'll show you my dressing room."
   
"Why do I need to see your dressing room? We're leaving next week," I point out as she takes me to another door.
   
"I know." She shrugs. "But it doesn't hurt to show you around a little bit." As Marlee shows me her costumes, one of the newsie boys, a brunette, knocks lightly on the open door. She looks over and smiles.
   
"You didn't give me a hug yet today," he says. Marlee happily obliges as she hugs the boy. She steps away after a moment. He turns to me. "Indiana, right? That's a cool name. Like-"
   
"Indiana Jones, I know," I cut him off. "My parents must have really liked the movie, right? Or the state?" I cross my arms and raise an eyebrow at him.
   
He's taken aback by me interrupting him. "Um, yeah. I'm Josh. It's nice to meet you, Indiana. Actually, can I call you Indy?" He questions.
   
"I'd rather you not," I say shortly.
   
Josh studies my expression for a moment, then concludes that I must be joking. "Right. I guess I should go back. It was nice to meet you, Indy." Before I can correct him, he leaves the doorway, leaving Marlee and I in silence.
   
"Okay," Marlee mumbles slowly. "Why don't I find some of the crew for you to meet?" I reluctantly follow her out of the dressing room and downstairs to the stage.

~~~~~
yay double update!
have a lovely day/night! and thanks for reading :)