Lauren's POV
One of the most important days of my life was coming up. The day I audition for NYU Tisch is just tomorrow and I'll be flying tonight to New York City. Since Camila will also be auditioning the same day as me, we're going to fly together. It would just be the two of us which I was pretty shocked that both our parents allowed. Two teenage girls alone in the biggest city in the country? It mostly had to do with the reason that plane tickets were so fucking expensive and they didn't want to have to pay for themselves to go. My parents were cheap like that. Whenever we went to the city, we always got the red eye, crappy airline tickets. Another reason was that since I go to New York a couple times a year and know my way around easily, I was okay going with just Camila. I mean we will be out there on our own next year anyway. But I liked that it was just us since it would give her and I alone time in the hotel to do whatever we wanted.
Camila and I have been rehearsing nonstop for our auditions. It was actually a long process as we had to sing two songs, perform one monologue, and dance. I was going to be singing "People" from Funny Girl and "What I Did For Love" from A Chorus Line and she was singing "Someone Like You" from Jekyll & Hyde and "Neverland" from Finding Neverland. Pretty typical and popular songs but they were great for auditions and Camz and I could do them so whatever. We both sounded very good on our numbers and hoped that we would nail it.
I was just about done packing until I heard a knock at my bedroom door. We were done with school and rehearsal and Camila was coming over to my house so we could leave together at 7 pm to make our flight at 9:30. That being said we would land at 12 am. Ugh, I hated red eyes.
"Hey, babe," I smiled at my beautiful girlfriend, pecking her lips after I opened the door.
"Hi, baby," she smiled and walked in.
"I just have to grab my toiletries and we should be heading out in like a half an hour."
"Whatever you say, boss," She said in her cute chipmunk voice. "Wow, I've never seen this before." She picked up a binder that was filled with my collection of Broadway musical playbills. I collected each one I got at both a musical and play and stored them into binders for easy access to look through.
"Oh yeah. I never showed you my collection?" I asked.
"No. Holy shit, Laur, how many do you have?" she was turning through all the pages.
"Over 200 including plays and musicals. There's about 40 in that one but I have more binders," I explained.
"Oh my God, over 200!?" she stared at me with wide eyes and opened mouth.
I chuckled, "Yeah. What can I say? I'm a theater freak! You know I've been regularly going each season since '06 -'07 and get discounts. But I've seen a lot of the same shows multiple times."
"Annie, Gentleman's Guide, Priscilla, Avenue Q, Oliver, Spider-Man, Cabaret, Anything Goes, Elf, Sweeney Todd, Company, Once, Kinky Boots. And like a shit ton more. Geez what don't you have?!"
"I actually don't know," I smirked thinking about it.
"And I thought I've seen a lot of shows. I've only been to like 15 Broadway shows."
"That's a lot."
"Eh but you go to New York at least twice a year and see like 30 shows in a week. I try to go once every couple years and can only see like one show. The rest I have to wait for on tour or a school or community theater production," she laughed.
"Aw, Camzi. Don't worry; next year you'll be living in New York with me and we'll go to as many Broadway shows as you want," I smiled walking over to her.
"I really hope so," she sighed.
"We will. We're both going to slay these auditions and get into the college of our dreams," I kissed her lips. "Wow, I can't believe I just said 'slay,'" I furrowed my eyebrows at the overused slang.
"I'm rubbing off on you," Camila cheekily grinned while I scowled.
"Whatever. Just remember we have to be strong and confident to make it," I pointed my finger at her.
"Yeah," she nodded but was still unsure. She put the binder she was holding down and grabbed another one looking through it. "Oh my God. How many times have you seen Les Mis?"
"Um...a lot," I half smiled guilty.
"That's for sure. I counted six playbills and a lot are autographed. You've been to all of these?" she asked.
"For sure! The revival's amazing! I just had to see it a lot. And I always go to the stage door to get autographs. I got Andy Mientus and even Ramin Karimloo," I pointed to their signatures.
"Oh my God you got Ramin Karimloo's?!" she hit my shoulder in disbelief.
"Ow!" I rubbed my arm. "Yeah...I had to wait at the stage door over and over but I saw him and got it," I grinned.
"Damn. I'm gay but Andy and Ramin can get it," she smirked.
"I can honestly agree with you," I laughed.
"Well, since you've seen it so many times no wonder you know the show so well. I mean you even have my numbers and lines memorized," she joked.
"True. I don't know, I guess I have a thing for Les Mis," I chuckled.
"Whoa you got Darren Criss' autograph for How to Succeed!?" she smiled.
"Yeah that was crazy but he was so nice! Unfortunately I didn't get Nick Jonas' or Daniel Radcliffe's because those were really really crowded," I reminisced on those memories.
"And like 50 playbills for Book of Mormon."
"Four, actually. I got Andrew Rannells' and Josh Gad's autograph."
"Awesome. Oh and of course a few from Jersey Boys," she winked.
"Damn I love that show. Seen it a good four times as well." She continued to look through until I remembered I had something special to show her. Something I kept for myself sacred. "Wait, Camz. I have something to show you and you're gonna die once you see it."
"What?"
I took out a gold binder from my drawer and opened it slowly. "These playbills are extremely important to me. Something I don't show to just anyone. I think only Normani knows I have these." In the folder held more autographed playbills but autographs from my idols.
"These are from the legends themselves," I showed her the inside of the folder. "This is my signed playbill from Shrek in '09 by Sutton Foster," I said seriously. Camila gasped immediately.
"This is my signed playbill from If/Then by Idina." I thought she was going to collapse.
"This is my signed program from Kristin Chenoweth from one of her concerts and one from Promises, Promises. I'm also planning on getting another one from On the Twentieth Century if I'm lucky."
"I never got Angela Lansbury's but I did get the most important one. Patti LuPone from when she was in Gypsy," I exhaled loudly and closed my eyes for the holy moment.
"Lauren," Camila gasped dramatically.
"I...I still am in shock. I don't even know how I got this. I got her at the right time when she came out of the stage door. I was honestly speechless and my heart was racing. All I said was 'thank you' and 'I love you.'"
"This is amazing. Patti's your idol," she breathed shaking her head in awe.
"Yep. She's my biggest inspiration. From when I listened to Evita for the first time at 7 years old, I fell in love. I'm blown away every time I see her perform. And I just love that bad bitch," I chuckled.
"Well, you've definitely taken after her ways," she grinned. "Honest, straightforward, born to be a star, knew what she wanted from a young age, and hater of reality TV."
"Exactly. I am her," I laughed. "I want to make it so bad, Camz."
"You will," she assured.
"Maybe."
"You will, Lauren. You are so talented and on top of that work so hard. You put in the dedication and time to be where you are and you're only going up."
"So will you, Camz. Broadway's your dream too and there's no doubt you're going to make it," I smiled.
"Both of us. Together." She held my hand and kissed me with great passion which I melted into.
"I love you," I whispered against her lips.
"I love you too."
"Girls! Ready!?" my mom called from downstairs.
"Yes!" I shouted back. "Come on. Our first step to Broadway awaits!"
______________________
"Here we are," the cab driver said pulling up to the hotel. We were finally in New York after a 2 and a half hour flight from Miami to Queens. Camila and I obviously read our Playbill magazines, Broadway star autobiographies, and listened to the Broadway Hits album during the flight. I also planned out when we were going to see the upcoming shows for the season. We then made it to the city and to the Park Central Hotel on 7th Avenue next to Broadway after an hour long taxi ride.
"Thank you so much," I thanked the driver and payed.
"Thank God we're finally here. I'm so exhausted," Camila groaned as we got our suitcases out of the trunk.
"Same. I'm just about to crash," I chuckled. We checked in and made our way up to the second floor and into our room. It was the smallest and cheapest of rooms with just a queen bed and bathroom. Nothing extravagant but we didn't need anything fancy like that. It was still nice and clean. We changed into our pajamas, did our hygienic routine, and cuddled up with each other in bed.
"I'm so happy to be here with you," Camila whispered.
"Me too. We're together in our favorite city of all time. This is so exciting."
"Are you ready for tomorrow?" she asked.
"I think so. Still a little nervous though," I shrugged.
"That's okay. Nerves are good," she smiled and pecked my lips.
"Well it's like 1:30 and we have to get up at 7 so goodnight." Our auditions were in one of the NYU buildings and we had to check in at 9. Since we were doing acting, singing, and dancing, we were going to be there for a while.
"Yeah, we better get a good night rest. I love you so much, Laur."
"I love you so much, Camz. Sleep tight, baby," we kissed a final time and fell asleep shortly after.
A/N: Already 1K reads! Thank you so much. Keep voting and share if you'd like! Sorry for the short chapter. I felt like this was needed though showing more of the girls' love for Broadway. The next one will be the auditions!
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