"Bye!"
I bid farewell to the lady sitting at the desk at the front of the building before pushing open the glass doors. I walked out onto the pavement.
I felt oddly optimistic after the audition. I believed that I had performed well, and the rest of the panel seemed to like it. But I didn't want to get my hopes up too high, because there was a high chance I wouldn't even get a call-back.
David told me at the audition that he would be in touch either tonight or tomorrow if I had won a call-back. If I hadn't made it to the second round, I would receive nothing. It was cruel, but that was the nature of this business. The industry itself was ever changing and hopefully for the better, but there are still some harsh realities surrounding it.
The silence as I walked back to my apartment was deafening. I was buzzing, and I needed something to calm me down. I fetched my phone from my bag and switched it back on, wanting to listen to music. But as I was about to click on the Spotify icon, I noticed I had a text. It was yet another text from Hunter. It read:
I rolled my eyes at how over-dramatic Hunter sounded. That was theatre kids for you. I decided I would cut out the middleman and call Hunter as I was walking back home. I dialled his number and placed the phone to my ear. It didn't take long for Hunter to answer.
"How did you get on?" Were the first words out of his mouth.
"Hi to you too, Hunter." I chuckled. He let out a disgruntled groan in response. "It went well, thanks. Why are you so bothered?"
I could almost see Hunter shrug on the other end of the phone. "I was curious, that's all. Naturally, I would want to know how you got on, but I was the one who got you the audition."
"Well, that's sweet." I chuckled in a teasing tone. "But unnecessary."
"Whatever. Now tell me, how did it go?"
"Alright, I suppose. I'd rather tell you in person because I'm bound to forget something." I let him know, scratching my eyebrow with my free hand.
"Are you almost home?" He asked.
"Yep."
"I'll tell you what. Why don't I go over to your apartment, wake Ashley and Michael up, and then we'll wait for you to get home? And then you can tell all three of us at the same time. That way, you won't have to repeat the story." Hunter told me in almost one breath.
"That sounds like a good idea." I grinned. "Good luck getting Ashley and Michael up, though. If they're not up now, they will sleep through the full day."
Hunter laughed. "I'm tempted to go around there and bang together as many pots and pans as possible."
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. I did it last time, and she stopped talking to me for a week." Recalling the memory made me chuckle.
"Wow, well, I'll try something else then," Hunter said. "I'll see you later then, yeah?"
"Yes." I smiled.
We both said our goodbyes and hung up the phone. The rest of my journey back to the apartment went by in a breeze. I seemed in an even better mood — if that was even possible — after the easy and fun conversation with Hunter.
Thinking of talking to Hunter made me think of the kiss Hunter and I almost shared the previous night. I didn't want to think about it too hard because I didn't know how I felt about it. It also made me wonder whether Hunter thought of it as I did, and I also wondered whether he would talk to me about it.
I walked into my apartment building, and I was feeling particularly energetic. So, I took the stairs. It didn't take me long to reach the floor where I lived. I still had loads of adrenaline leftover from the audition, so I used that to propel myself. I walked towards the door of my apartment and tried the handle, knowing that it would be unlocked. The door opened with ease and I stepped into an odd scene.
Ashley, Michael, and Hunter were in an awkward-looking position on the carpet. Hands and legs were flying everywhere. My eyebrows scrunched up in confusion and then I saw the mat that they were on. They were playing a competitive game of Twister.
Yes, you heard right. Twister.
"What are you guys doing?" I asked as I closed the door behind me. I dropped my bag on the floor and crossed my arms over my chest.
"Talia!" Ashley's head snapped up when she heard my voice.
Unfortunately, when she lifted her head, she also moved her body. Which meant she lost balance and fell into Michael. And then Michael fell into Hunter, causing a domino effect. They all ended up like a tangled heap on the floor, with groans of pain coming from all involved.
"You are insane, the lot of you." I shook my head as I walked forward. I held my hand out to offer some help, and Ashley gladly took it. The three of them dusted themselves off and went to sit down as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Ashley and Michael took one love seat, whilst Hunter and I shared the other. "Is anyone going to explain to me why I walked into an intense-looking game of Twister?"
Michael shrugged. "It looked like fun. So, we thought, why not?"
"Don't tell me; YOLO and all that crap." I chuckled.
"What Michael meant to say was," Ashley covered for her boyfriend. "We were all anxiously waiting for you to come home and we got a little... bored and then I remembered we have that odd little games cupboard at the back of my wardrobe. So, I looked in there and Twister was the first game that popped out."
"I hadn't played it since I was a kid, so I thought I should join in," Hunter told me his reasoning. "I tell you what, put three flexible performers in one game of Twister and it turns out to be a marathon's worth of work."
"It was so much fun, though! I forgot why I stopped playing it in the first place!" Ashley said, getting excited over the concept of Twister.
"I think you'll find that last time we played it, I whooped your arse so hard, you refused to play against me again." Michael supplied.
"Oh, yeah."
When normal couples go on dates, they go for a romantic meal, or a walk in the park, or even watch a movie. Not Ashley and Michael. They play board games like Twister and anything else in Ashley's games cupboard.
"I repeat; you're insane." I chuckled, rubbing my forehead.
"You're jealous because you didn't get to play. You were too busy at an audition for a West End show, you know, the usual routine." Ashley chuckled; she then got excited. "Speaking of which; how did it go?"
I smiled as I recalled the memory. "It went quite well, actually. I don't want to jinx it or anything, but I had fun." I let them all know before launching into the story.
It didn't take me too long to finish the story, considering the whole thing only consumed two hours of my life. Ashley, Michael, and Hunter would stop me, input their opinions, and ask questions. Thus, prolonging the storytelling.
"So, when will you know if you have a call-back yet?" Ashley asked when I had stopped talking. She seemed more nervous than I was!
"I don't know," I answered, shrugging. I didn't want to think of getting a call-back, because I didn't want to raise my hopes too high. "They said they'll phone me either tonight or tomorrow if I have got one. If I don't get a phone call, then I don't have a call-back, you know how it works."
"Yeah, but you're bound to get a call-back," Michael said, smiling at me and patting me on the back.
"Thanks," I smiled. "But they might want experience and all the other women had more extensive resumes than me."
"Don't worry about it. With a new musical, some directors choose to go for someone relatively unknown." Hunter told me, smiling. "Plus, as I've already mentioned, David asked you to go to the audition personally. That means he saw something in you."
"Yeah, I suppose so," I muttered, again not letting Hunter's words sink in. I didn't want to think about how much I wanted this role because I knew I would be incredibly upset if I didn't get it.
"Anyway, enough audition talk! I'm getting way too nervous!" Ashley chuckled. She then got up and walked towards her bedroom. Her voice was quieter as she entered through the bedroom door. "Look what came in the post today!"
Ashley came back into the room with a rectangular plastic box in her hands. I leaned forward in my seat and squinted my eyes to get a better look.
"No way," I said as I sat back in the chair. "That's not..."
"Yes, it is!" Ashley squealed, clutching the case in her manicured hands. "It's our West Side Story DVD!"
I placed my head in my hands and cringed. After every show, the school would send out a DVD to each of the cast members free of charge. This was so we could watch them back and keep them for our portfolios. It was a promising idea, but I hated watching myself back. It made me so embarrassed.
"Have you watched it yet?" I asked, peeking through my fingers at my best friend. If they had already watched it, then I wouldn't make them watch it. And therefore, I wouldn't have to sit through two and a half hours of embarrassment. It's a win/win situation.
Please say yes.
Please say yes.
Please say yes.
"No!" Ashley said. "We were waiting for you to come home! You don't think we'd watch it without you, did you?"
Well, crap...
"Do we have to watch it?" I asked, hoping for Ashley to have a sudden change of heart and burn the DVD, so it would never see the light of day again.
"Yes! Of course we do! It'll be great to see how awesome we are!" Ashley chuckled. "Oh, come on! I know you hate watching yourself, but it'll be a laugh."
"Fine, whatever." I rolled my eyes and shook my head. There was no way I was winning this battle. "Put it on then."
Ashley squealed in delight and placed the DVD in the player, and we all waited for it to load. I sat back on the sofa next to Hunter and covered my eyes. I did not want to watch this thing, and Ashley knew it would be torture for me.
Hunter bent down next to me and spoke in my ear. "I have no idea why you're so embarrassed. You were fantastic."
I removed my hands from my eyes and smiled up at Hunter. "Thanks."
The DVD came to life and Ashley pressed play before snuggling up to Michael, and we all started to watch it. I must admit, it was quite fun to watch, despite my initial protests. It was always good to re-watch your performance, so you can correct things for the next time. Now we could make our performance even better.
We did have a great laugh, and we all sang along to all the songs. We also split our sides laughing at the blooper reel included on the DVD. The bloopers consisted of things that might not have gone according to plan on the night. There was also footage from the dress rehearsal and even some of the rehearsals. Thankfully, none of the footage included the argument that Hunter and I had. That would have been uncomfortable for everyone involved. Plus, Hunter and I had gotten over it.
By the end of the DVD, Ashley and Michael entangled themselves in each other, acting like such a cute couple. Hunter and I had changed positions, too. Hunter had placed the arm closest to me on the back of the chair and I had somehow snuggled myself in. I placed my head on his shoulder, whilst his head was atop my own.
I wouldn't lie; I didn't mind it one bit...
After Ashley had ejected the DVD, she wrapped herself back around her boyfriend. Neither Hunter nor I attempted to move. Neither of us pointed out the fact that we were in a very precarious position. I saw Ashley's eyes widen when she saw us, but again she said nothing, a thing I was massively grateful for.
A ringing coming from my dance bag pulled us all out of our relaxed state. My eyebrows creased as I realised it was my phone that was making the noises. I pulled myself up and away from Hunter as I thought of who could be calling at this late hour. I never got phone calls, everything was done via text and email nowadays. It could've been from my parents, asking about how the audition went. I'd forgotten to phone them and let them know.
"I'll be right back." As I pulled my phone out of my dance bag, I let everyone know. "I'm going to see who that is."
I clicked the 'accept call' button and placed the phone to my ear, without even looking at the caller I.D.
"Hello?" I said into the receiver as I excused myself from my friends and walked into my bedroom, closing the door behind me.
"Hi, Talia." The man on the other side of the phone said. "It's David."
***
I walked back into the living room with my phone in my hand and a dazed look on my face. As I put my phone back in my bag, I shook my head. I sat back down next to Hunter in complete silence.
"Are you okay?" Hunter asked, concerned. I said nothing in response; I only nodded my head. "Who was on the phone?"
"It was David," I said around numb lips. "I got a call-back."
"What?" It was now Ashley's voice that caught my attention. "That's amazing!"
"Yeah, it is!" Michael grinned, sitting up.
"So, why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" Ashley asked.
Even I was bewildered by my actions, and I shook my head. "I have no idea. I'm shocked, I guess."
"I don't know why you're shocked," Hunter said, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. He pulled me into his side for an embrace, and I placed my head on his shoulder. "I always knew you were going to get a call-back."
"That's easy for you to say!" I laughed. "You weren't the one auditioning."
"Good point," Hunter chuckled. The vibrations from his chest made my head shake. "Now, what do you have to do for your next round?"
"David said that I have to sing again. But he also mentioned some dancing." I mentioned, grimacing. Although I had trained, dancing was my least favourite of the three principles. It wasn't that I didn't like to dance, I loved it. But I thought that my singing and acting talent surpassed my dancing talent.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Hunter jumped up, clapping his hands together. He had a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Let's get practising!"
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A belated Merry Christmas to you all! I hope you all had a wonderful day and Santa brought you everything that you wished for.
The song on the side is A Love Like War by All Time Low, purely because I love the song! Not a traditional song to listen to at Christmas, but what can you do!
I hope you enjoyed the chapter! And if in case I forget, have a wonderful and prosperous New Year!
Until next time lovlies!
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