March 15, 2020
Miami, Florida
"Vamos a vivir al máximo, la vida es corta y tu eres un regalo," Laurel and Iray sang-yelled to the beat of CNCO.
The lounge at the Maracay was filled with people, mostly teenage girls who wanted to come see five Latin American guys singing and executing great choreographies on stage. Is like K-pop guys, Latin version.
"¿qué tal si nos besamos suave y nos vamos de viaje hacia el infinito?" they continued with the song.
The concert finally came to an end, and both girls ran out of the lounge before the fans would run into in the stage to try and greet the CNCO guys.
"This was so good," Laurel admitted with a smile, wrapping one arm around her sister's waist.
"Let's just hope you don't wake up with laryngitis tomorrow," Iray teased.
Laurel pouted. "Don't jinx me, please," she shook her head. "That would just be so annoying, and my producer would regret giving me permission to come here."
"Girls," Alejandro ran into his two daughters. "I have a surprise for you, please let's go to my office."
Laurel and Iray frowned at first. What would it be? Then, they just shrugged and followed his dad to his office. Iray's thought is that they will probably meet CNCO. That would just be a perfect closing for a hectic Sunday.
The three people arrived at Alejandro's office. He stood in front of the closed door with a big smile, leaving his daughters in a big doubt of what it might be. Laurel was just wanting to know about it, it's so annoying to not know.
"Okay, please, stay calm, okay?" Alejandro asked.
Iray grew a bigger smile on her face. No doubt, CNCO it is. Oh, God, so exciting.
"Come on, dad, just let us in," Laurel rolled her eyes and put her hand on the doorknob to finally push away the one thing that was separating them from the hallway and the surprise. A stupid door.
She pushed the door and her jaw dropped. Literally dropped.
"What is it?" Iray excitedly said and peeked into the office. Her eyes widened. Oh, dear God.
"Glo...Glo..." Laurel stammered, staring at the tiny woman in front of her. "Gloria Estefan," she hesitantly said, not being able to believe that the Gloria Estefan was right in front of her eyes.
She was a tiny woman, tinier than Laurel, so thin and small. Her face was covered with a perfect make up and her hair had slight waves, and she was smiling at the two girls. She looked so perfect.
"My brother is named after your husband," Iray blurted out.
That awkward comment made Laurel react and noticed that the real, actual Gloria Estefan was right in front of her. Gloria Estefan, three times Grammy Award winner, was standing right there, with a big smile on her face. They really had to be pinched to believe it.
"I met Gloria a couple of weeks ago at her restaurant Estefan Kitchen here in Miami," Alejandro talked, noticing that his daughters were completely silent and unable to articulate a single word. "Gloria, these are my girls, Laurel and Iray."
"Is so nice to finally meet you," the small, tiny woman -that, just to make clear, has won three Grammy Awards- approached the girls. Gloria shook Laurel's hand, and then Iray's. The twins were just so astonished. Is this real life?
"Hi," Laurel finally said. Yeah, that's not a great greeting if you are meeting your biggest idol in life. "What- what..."
"Let's have a seat," the woman suggested. The four people went to the small couches on the office and sat down. "Like your dad said, we met at Estefan Kitchen, my restaurant," she widely smiled. "We started to have a very comfortable chat, and I found out about his family. Then he was unable to stop talking about his little star, that one being you," Gloria looked at Laurel.
"Me?" Laurel pointed at herself. For a moment, she forgot that she is a performer.
"She is just the best," Iray smiled widely.
"Yes, I know. Emilio and I actually stopped undercover by Broadway a couple of days ago, and you are a real star," Gloria flattered. Laurel tried to give her a smile, but she was so nervous that she just couldn't do it. "You might have heard about our musical, On your Feet!" Laurel nodded, a little confused. "You may have heard then that we are doing a production on the West End."
"I think yes," Laurel nodded confidently. If it wasn't for Gemma, maybe she would never know it. She is not the stalker type of fan.
"At first we considered Christie Prades to play Gloria, because she was the understudy on Broadway production and the main star during the US Tour," Gloria explained slowly. "But she is a little busy right now, so we are doing auditions."
"Yes, I heard about that," Laurel replied.
"When I heard you at the Broadway theatre as Maria, I swear I also saw Gloria," the woman said.
"What does that mean?" Laurel hurried to ask, getting ahead of what Gloria Estefan was about to say.
"I want you to audition to play Gloria in the West End production of On your feet!"
●●●
"And what did you say?" Emilio expectantly waited for the answer.
One thing was to have the idea of auditioning. But if now is Gloria herself making her the offer, it has to be some signal of the universe. It was the last push Laurel needed to take the decision and do it.
"I scheduled my audition for April 24," Laurel excitedly replied.
"Oh my God," Emilio screamed, also excited and jumped off the couch to hug Laurel. "I'm sure you'll get it."
This was really the chance of a lifetime, Laurel was happy and confident of doing it. Having her idol asking her to audition for her show to play her is something that doesn't come more than once in the life.
"I just...having her asking me to do it is already great," Laurel shrugged. She didn't even know how to feel or what to think. "But now I think about Gemma, Richard, Andrew and even Michael...what am I going to tell them?"
"I'm sure they will be happy for you," Emilio confidently nodded. "Have you told George yet? What did he say?"
"No," Laurel murmured.
"Why?" Emilio asked, a little worried.
"The last time we talked about this it was a little...rare," Laurel searched in her mind for the right way to call it, but she couldn't find one. "I think he is afraid of me doing something I might regret later. Maybe I'll just audition, wait for the verdict from Gloria and Emilio Estefan and then I will tell him."
Emilio nodded. "Well, yes, I think all of this is a little rushed," he admitted. Laurel looked down. Isn't this a good idea? "But I also think this could be great," Emilio continued saying and squeezed his sister's hand in a way of support. Laurel lifted her head and looked at him, with her green eyes sparkling. "It's a great chance of going into the unknown, of doing new things, accept new challenges."
"I consider Gloria Estefan as a role model, I can learn a lot about her, her performing, her singing..." Laurel said.
"Yes, but further than that..." he cut her off and sat down and pulled her to sit down with him. "Personal growth, Laurel," he said and held her hands in his. "From the four of us, Iray, Rafael, you and me, you are the one I least expected to even consider something like this, to leave your country," a proud smile played on his lips. "Don't you see how much you've grown? Aren't you proud of who you are today?"
"I am always proud of myself," Laurel teasingly said and shrugged. Emilio chuckled, shaking his head. "But thanks," she nodded. "I love you." She finished talking and leaned to hug her brother.
The door suddenly opened, and Rafael entered, holding a binder on his hands. He saw Emilio and Laurel hugging and stared at them for a second, a little surprised. Then he cleared his throat, making her siblings separate. "Sorry," he awkwardly giggled. "Emilio, I need the Coca-Cola contract for the restaurant, do you have it reviewed and ready to sign?" he asked.
"Oh, yes, I have no complains, everything is clear and concise" Emilio said and stood up. "I'll give it to you," he walked to his desk, where he had a countless amount of beige folders with more contracts.
"Do any of you know what Gloria Estefan was doing here?" Rafael confusedly asked.
"She came to offer the role of Gloria to Laurel," Emilio hurried to answer, while opening each folder and reading the header of every contract, one by one, looking for the one Rafael asked for.
"Is she going to make a movie?" Rafael frowned, still not getting what was going on.
"No, it's for her musical," Laurel corrected him, with a big smile on her lips.
"But her musical closed like three years ago," Rafael nervously chuckled. "If my math is right."
"Yes, it is right," Emilio nodded and finally found the Coca-Cola contract. "Closed three years ago on Broadway, but Gloria wants Laurel for the West End," he walked towards Rafael with the folder in his hands.
Rafael raised his eyebrows and looked at Laurel. "London?" he asked. Laurel nodded, with the biggest smile ever seen on her face. "Congrats," Rafael said, but everyone in the room could tell he just said it to look good; he didn't mean it. "Give me that," he annoyedly muttered at Emilio and snatched him the papers. "And hurry up with the upcoming contracts for soap and shampoo," he finished and went out of the office.