Laurel turned to W 52nd street and looked at everything around there. People rushing everywhere, holding hot coffees, and in a morning like this one, using coats, beanies and jackets to ease the cold.
Exactly five minutes after she left the hotel, she arrived at the Broadway Theatre. She stood right in front of it.
West Side Story. The Marquee already has the ads, and Laurel felt a tickle in her stomach when she realized that very soon, she would be starring in this show at this theater. For the first time it begins to feel real, and for the first time she is feeling excitement instead of exhaustion from so many days of rehearsal.
"Excited?" Michael, a castmate, came closer to Laurel and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Yes," she smiled and turned around to see him.
Michael removed his hands and looked into her green eyes, smiling. Laurel just looked away and swallowed.
"How was LA?" he asked, taking her hands in his.
"Great," she nodded repeatedly, remembering LA, "my sister threw a great party."
"Hello, friend," Gemma, another castmate and Laurel's only friend, yelled and hugged Laurel, "how are you doing?
"Amazing," Laurel admitted and smiled. "Let's go inside," she grabbed the wrists of both Michael and Gemma and the three entered together to the theatre.
"Laurel," Michael said when they crossed the door, "I was wondering if we could go out someday..."
"Come again?" she stopped short and let go of their wrists.
"Richard," Gemma yelled and ran into the other co-star of the show, to whom Laurel hardly speaks, leaving Laurel and Michael alone.
"Yes, I don't know if you ever noticed, but I really like you," Michael confessed, and Laurel put a lock of hair behind her ear.
"I don't know what to say," Laurel forced a smile, "you caught me off guard."
Laurel bit the inside of her cheek, nervously.
"Hey, hey," Andrew entered the theatre and got in the middle of Michael and Laurel, which she thanked internally. "First day on the theatre, let's go!"
Laurel and Michael smiled widely and walked with Andrew through the hallways until they got to the stage. This is finally happening, and it finally feels real.
●●●
"I'm really sorry," Laurel said to Michael as they walked of the theater after their rehearsal, "I like you, I really do, but not in a romantic way, and anyway I don't want to compromise the relationship that we have, since we are co-stars."
"I totally understand you, it's fine," Michael smiled and looked at her, "we are still friends, right?"
"Of course," she nodded, and they walked together down the Broadway street. "What was it like to literally grow up on Broadway?" she asked, to change the subject, remembering about Michael's curriculum.
He played Billy Elliot in the Broadway musical back in 2008, and after that, he played young Simba on the Lion King, so, he basically was raised in Broadway.
"Well, you gain early experience, and it gives you the advantage of not having to audition for roles like Riff," he giggled. "What did you sing on your audition?"
"Rolling in the deep by Adele," Laurel answered. Michael's eyes opened widely. "What?"
"It's a great song," he nodded and smiled, "how about for your callback?"
"What makes you think I did a callback?" she raised an eyebrow and looked at him for a second while tightening her backpack against her back and holding her puff jacket on her arms.
"That's the process of an audition," he said. She nodded. "Plus, a lot of girls auditioned for Maria."
"They fell in love with me since the first audition I made," she replied, cheekily. "Just kidding, in case you didn't notice it. I sang The Rose by Amanda McBroom."
"That's another great song."
"So cheesy," she teased.
"Why you studied in the MIT?" he asked, looking at her instead of the street in front of him. He has got that doubt since the day she introduced herself, five months ago.
"MIT is the best science school, and I wanted to take some of that classes," Laurel explained. Michael raised an eyebrow, having no idea of why she would do something like that. "I am good with math and science, okay?" she chuckled, "I took anthropology and neuroscience electives to try to understand cultures and emotions."
"I think arts are not that complicated," he frowned.
"That's because you are normal," she shrugged, "I am extraordinary."
"Point taken," he chuckled.
They continued walking along the sidewalk of Broadway Avenue. They reached the W 52nd street and turned left, heading to 7th Ave, where the Maracay is located.
"See you tomorrow," he said when they arrived at the Maracay.
"Bye, bye," she waved with her hand and approached him to kiss his cheek.
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Introducing you new characters for the book. These four guys will be Laurel's castmates for west Side Story.
Tony, Anita, Riff and Bernardo respectively!
In multimedia, the song of Laurel's audition! Also, that's the voice I imagine for her.
For those of you who doesn't know about West Side Story, here it goes a small resume:
The story is set in the Upper West Side neighborhood in New York City in the mid 1950s, a multiracial, blue-collar neighborhood. The musical explores the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds. The members of the Sharks, from Puerto Rico, are taunted by the Jets, a white gang. The young protagonist, Tony, a former member of the Jets and best friend of the gang's leader, Riff, falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the leader of the Sharks.
Also, thanks for almost reaching 200 reads! I feel excited about it, thank you, thank you for reading! I would also love to read what you think of the story, and the characters themselves! Again, thank you so much!
Love, D.