If We Were a Movie

by Kelly Oram

Before Jordan could say no, Colin pushed her out of the way and gave Sophie a huge smile. “Yup. That’s me. Jordan’s boyfriend. And Jordan’s right; Nate’s talked you up so much I feel like we’re best friends already.”

  While he was squeezing the life out of my girlfriend, I smirked at Jordan and mouthed, “Boyfriend?”

  She rolled her eyes. Colin noticed the exchange and winked at us over Sophie’s shoulder before he pulled back. “Hope you’re hungry,” he told her.

  “Yeah…a little. I just…Nate?” Her voice was clipped and her face was frozen in a forced smile. “Baby, can I talk to you for a minute?” She glanced at Jordan, her expression not quite shooting daggers, but almost. “Privately?”

  Play dumb play dumb play dumb I reminded myself as she dragged me down the hall to my bedroom. She thought I was a clueless dreamer most of the time anyway. Sure, it was a bruise to my ego a little, but this time it would work to my advantage. And I was related to my brothers. She expected stuff like this from me, even if I didn’t deserve it. “What’s wrong?”

  She gently closed the door and then whirled on me. “Jordan is a woman?”

  “Yeah. Crazy, right? I don’t know why Pearl didn’t say anything.”

  “You said you already signed the lease agreement? Even though she’s a she?”

  “Of course I did. You were so insistent that I should take the place, and so excited about the idea of me moving out. I didn’t want to let you down.”

  Maybe reminding her that this had been her idea was low, but it would work. I took her hand and pulled her close, frowning in concern. “You’re upset about Jordan?”

  After rolling her eyes, she looked at the ceiling and sighed, releasing all of her anger with her exhale. “Nate, baby, I love you, but you can be so oblivious sometimes. Of course I’m upset that you agreed to live with another woman.”

  “But why? I’ll have my own room and my own bathroom. This place is amazing, and the rent is so cheap. I won’t find anything better in all of New York.”

  She shook her head, her anger already starting to return. “It’s inappropriate.”

  “It’s no different than the co-ed dorm I’m in now. My brothers and I have girls living across the hall from us. Their bedroom is closer to mine there than Jordan’s is to this one.”

  Sophie gave me a flat look. “You’re not rooming with them.”

  “I share a common room with them. They sleep twenty feet away.” I shrugged. “Honestly, I’m a lot less likely to have a strange woman crawl into my bed here than I would be staying in the dorms. I shared a room with Chris and Tyler. I’ll have privacy here.”

  Sophie plopped down onto the foot of my bed. “I know, okay? I don’t want you rooming with your brothers either. But I don’t know about this.”

  I sat down next to her and took her hand. “Jordan’s cool and all, but I love you. You know that, right? Jordan would just be a roommate. Nothing more. Don’t you trust me?”

  She met my eyes and gave me a sad smile. “Of course I trust you.”

  “Then what’s the problem? Colin told me yesterday that he’s here all the time, and Jordan said you can stay over whenever you want.”

  Sophie sat quietly, conflict raging in her eyes. I could tell the thing that was upsetting her most wasn’t the idea of me living with a girl; it was the fact that I’d made the final decision without getting her permission first. Majoring in music and deciding on NYU without telling Sophie had almost broken us up. She’s been extra sensitive to all of my choices since then.

  Sophie is a headstrong woman who needs to be in control. We’ve always worked well because I didn’t have a problem letting her make most of the decisions and going along for the ride. I’m easygoing and I’ve never exactly been independent. I’m admittedly a bit of a pushover—it’s one of my worst flaws. But it’s a flaw I was trying to overcome, which was why I couldn’t give in to her on this. For it to work, though, Sophie needed to feel like it was her idea. She needed to feel like she was in control, so I sighed and said, “Soph, I really like this place, and I need to get away from my brothers. I want to stay. But I won’t do it if you don’t want me to. Why don’t we go out there and have dinner with Jordan and Colin? You can feel Jordan out, get to know her a little, and then you tell me whether I should stay or not. It can be your call.”

  Sophie gazed into my eyes uncertainly. I stared back, one hundred percent calm and confident. “Really?” she asked with a hint of a pout. “You’ll really back out if I ask you to?”

  Time to play to her ego. “We both know you’re the smart, responsible, logical one in this relationship.” I gave her a soft smile and a peck on the lips. “I trust you to make the best, most practical decision.”

  She gave me a look like she knew I was patronizing her, but she cracked a smile anyway. “All right, fine. Let’s at least have dinner, and I’ll think about it.”

  I grinned. “Thank you. You’re so understanding. I’m sorry I’m such an oblivious guy.”

  She rolled her eyes. “You’re just lucky you’re so cute.”

  Time for the last part of my plan—seduce her. There was no question privacy was one of the best perks of this arrangement. With us living in tiny dorms and having roommates for the last month, we were both pretty starved for alone time.

  “Cute?” I frowned. “Don’t you mean sexy?”

  Without warning, I smothered her with the most passionate, toe-curling kiss I had in me. She gasped in surprise, but responded with urgency, unable to resist me. It took her a minute to regain her senses. “Nate,” she rasped. “There are people in the other room waiting for us. What’s gotten into you?”

  I shrugged. “If I can’t take the apartment, this might be the last time I have you alone in a room with a locked door for a long time. Maybe we should skip dinner. Jordan and Colin know we came back here to fight. They’ll understand if we need to take some time to make up.”

  She smacked my shoulder, laughing. “That is not happening. Come on, let’s go have dinner with your new roommate.”

  Maybe Sophie didn’t realize she’d just referred to Jordan as my new roommate, but I noticed. I couldn’t help feeling a little proud. I’d won this argument—worked her over like I was Keyser freaking Söze in The Usual Suspects. She never even knew what hit her.

  I might have felt bad pushing her into this if I thought she had anything to be worried about. But she didn’t. We’d been together for two years, and I’d had a million and one opportunities to dump her or be unfaithful. If I could survive the hundreds of girls my brothers had thrown at me, I could deal with a female roommate.

  Dinner was going so well that I was sure Sophie was all good. Jordan has a knack for putting people at ease—even Sophie, who had tried to be cold at first—and Colin constantly made everyone laugh. Everything was perfect until, suddenly, it was too perfect—for Sophie, anyway. It started when Jordan asked about my project. “So how did your presentation go today?” she asked. “You rocked it, didn’t you? I bet you were the best in the class.”

  I tried to shrug modestly, but I couldn’t help my grin. My project really had been one of the best.

  “Presentation?” Sophie asked, startled. She frowned at me. “What presentation?”

  “She means my song.” I nodded at Jordan, appreciating her enthusiasm since Sophie hadn’t even asked me about it once. “It was awesome. The class loved it.”

  “I knew they would.”

  “What song?” Sophie asked, still confused.

  And there went all my excitement. When I forced a smile at Sophie, I managed not to sigh, but I’m pretty sure everyone noticed my disappointment. “The composition for my music tech class? The project I’ve been working on for weeks that my brothers nearly destroyed last night?”

  “Oh!” She cringed. “Sorry. I didn’t realize you had to present that to your whole class.” After a beat of awkward silence, Sophie squeezed my hand and smiled brightly. “So they liked it?”

  “They rea
lly liked it. Especially my teacher. He pulled me aside after class and invited me to audition for the end-of-semester showcase.”

  “You got into your showcase?” Sophie asked, surprised.

  Jordan and Colin both gasped. “Seriously?” Jordan squealed while Colin said, “The Steinhardt semester showcase?”

  Their reactions startled and confused Sophie. They were both gaping at me with their jaws hanging open. Laughing at them, I turned to explain further to Sophie. “I’m not in the showcase yet. I got invited to audition.”

  “Nate, that’s incredible,” Jordan gushed. “Congratulations!”

  Colin nodded. “Seriously. How was that not the first thing out of your mouth today? We should be out celebrating.”

  “There’s only one way to celebrate this,” Jordan said.

  We all waited. Apparently this obvious way to celebrate my audition was only clear to her. She rolled her eyes at all of our blank faces. “We watch Step Up, of course.”

  I tried not to, but I couldn’t help taking the bait. “Step Up?”

  Jordan groaned. “Nate! You’re going to kill me. Really. You are. You’ve never seen Step Up?”

  I grinned. “Sorry.”

  She shifted her gaze to Sophie. “You’ve seen it, though, right? Please tell me you have.”

  Sophie nodded slowly, startled by Jordan’s desperation. “That dance school movie, right? I’ve seen it. It was good.” She cracked a small smile at me. “It’s not exactly your type of movie.”

  I didn’t know I had a type of movie.

  “Of course it is,” Jordan argued. “It’s about kids at a performing arts school.” Turning to me, she said, “Jenna Dewan plays a senior who has to put together a piece for her senior showcase, and when her partner gets hurt she has to recruit the juvenile delinquent janitor, a.k.a. Channing Tatum, to be her dance partner.”

  Colin sighed softly at the mention of Channing Tatum. I shook my head, trying to hold back a smile. I’d have to point out to him later that if he wanted to pretend he was Jordan’s boyfriend, swooning over guys probably wasn’t the best way to do it.

  “Then they totally rock it, of course,” Jordan continued. “It’s awesome. You’ll love it. Maybe you can even glean some inspiration from it for your audition song.”

  “I don’t understand,” Sophie interrupted, glancing back and forth between Jordan, Colin, and me. Her face fell into a frown. “Why are you all so excited for an audition? I mean, they could still say no, right? This doesn’t mean you’re in the actual showcase.”

  I refused to let her indifference burst my good mood bubble. “You don’t get it,” Jordan said. “It’s a closed audition. All seniors are allowed to audition automatically, but anyone else has to be invited.”

  “The fact that Nate got invited is big enough,” Colin added. “But he’s a freshman. That’s unheard of.”

  A flush crept up my neck as both he and Jordan blinked at me again. “Mr. Treager said I’m the only freshman in the last three years who’s been invited to audition.”

  Sophie finally perked up a little. “Really?”

  “Yes, really.”

  “This is a huge deal,” Jordan said. “Even if Nate doesn’t get into the showcase, the audition committee is made up of his professors, present and future. He’ll catch their attention just by being there, but if he does well, they won’t forget him. It will give him an edge. They’ll think about him when they need student assistants, or when recommending names for internships. He could even be invited to work with professional artists. The school has all sorts of connections.”

  Colin grinned at me. “You’ll be a legend in no time.”

  Sophie blinked at them and then turned to me. “Well, I guess congratulations are in order,” she said with a small smile. “I knew you said it was important, but I didn’t realize how big it was.” She leaned over to kiss my cheek. “Congratulations, Nate. I’m proud of you.”

  “Thanks.”

  Sophie’s demeanor softened, but she was still a little confused about something. She turned her frown on Colin and Jordan. “How do you guys know about all this stuff? You’re not music majors, too?”

  We all laughed at her incredulity. I felt bad when she blushed in embarrassment, and I squeezed her hand. Kissing her cheek, I said, “No, Soph. I’m the only one here insane enough to major in music.” I smirked at Jordan and Colin, and added, “They’re their own brands of crazy.”

  All three of us cracked up. Sophie waited out the laughter and frowned again. “What does that mean, exactly?”

  She was obviously a little upset, feeling out of the loop, so we sobered up and answered her questions. “We both go to Tisch,” Jordan said. “So we’re kind of in the same boat as Nate. We have a similar type of program as Nate with his showcase, only it’s more like a film festival, and students from Tisch often collaborate with the Steinhardt students for it, and vice versa.”

  Sophie shook her head. “I’m sorry. What is Tisch?”

  “NYU’s school of the arts. I’m a film major, and Colin is in the drama program.”

  Sophie’s brows flew up, and I couldn’t help chuckling again. “In other words, an aspiring movie director, and actor.” I shook my head. “The three of us are like a bad joke.”

  Jordan laughed. “Ha, yeah. A wannabe rock star, director, and an actor walk into a bar…”

  Colin snorted. “To clock in for their shift. Because it’s the only job any of them can get, even with their fancy degrees from NYU.”

  We all busted up laughing again. Sophie didn’t laugh with us. “I’m glad you can joke about that.”

  “Soph.” She was really upset now, and I didn’t think it was the crack about our bleak futures.

  “Honey, when you’re in our position, you have to joke about it,” Colin said. “It’s no secret what we’ve all gotten ourselves into. We know what we’re facing. Jordan and I are juniors this year. We’ve only got one more year before we’re set loose into the real world, trying to pursue one of the most competitive and cruel industries out there. If we couldn’t joke about it, the pressure would kill us.”

  “Then why do it?”

  Colin gave her a sad smile. “Because it’s who I am, sweetheart. It’s what I love.”

  “Who we are,” Jordan corrected.

  She shot me a smile, including me in that we. When I returned it and nodded in agreement, Sophie slumped back in her chair. “If we fail, we fail,” Jordan said. “But at least we tried.”

  Colin pounded his fist lightly on the table. “But we’re not going to fail. At least, not now that we know Nate. Mr. Freshman Invited to Audition for the Steinhardt Semester Showcase is going to be huge in no time, and we’ll happily ride his coattails however we can.”

  Jordan raised her glass of soda. “To Nate and his musical genius!” she toasted. “May he get so popular in the entertainment biz that Colin and I can ride his coattails!”

  We all cracked up again and raised our beverages. That was one toast I could happily go along with. Sophie clearly thought we were nuts, but she lifted her glass, too.

  After we finished off as much of the takeout as we could—we’d hardly made a dent in it and would probably be eating Chinese for the rest of the week—we moved onto dessert. It was ice cream and not fortune cookies, just as Jordan had promised. She placed four individual pints of Häagen-Dazs on the table with four spoons and told us to pick a flavor. I laughed. Somehow, it fit her. “What?” she demanded.

  “Nothing.” I laughed again. I couldn’t help it.

  “Do not mock my ice cream habits,” she warned.

  Still laughing, I held my hands up in surrender. “I wouldn’t dare.” I grabbed two of the containers and handed one to Sophie, along with a spoon. “Apparently, we’re eating straight from the carton.”

  She gave me a long look that I couldn’t decipher, but said nothing. I paused, surprised by the anger rolling off her. Before I could ask her what was wrong, Jordan asked me a question. “
So what are you going to do for your audition? Any idea?”

  “I don’t know,” I said honestly. “Mr. Treager liked my song, but he told me I’d need something more for the audition. I’ve got a few ideas I’d like to try, but I need to find someone better with the piano to help. And maybe a few other people.”

  Colin nodded. “Good idea. The judges love to see collaboration.”

  Jordan laughed. “You are so Step Up today. You have to watch that movie after we go get all your stuff.”

  “Actually, I don’t think that’s going to be necessary,” Sophie said suddenly. She pushed her ice cream away and set down her spoon. She met my worried look with a grim one, and shook her head slightly. “I don’t like this.”

  “What?” I was shocked. “Why? What’s wrong? I thought—”

  “Nate, you said you wouldn’t do it if I asked you not to.”

  I didn’t understand what had changed. Why was she suddenly freaking out, when before dinner she had seemed fine? “I won’t if you really don’t want me to, but I thought you said—”

  “I don’t want you to.”

  I’ll admit, I panicked. I hadn’t expected this at all, and I wasn’t sure how to respond. It was Jordan who stepped in. “You don’t want him to take the room?” she asked. “Is it because of me? Because I’m a woman?”

  Uncomfortable with being confronted so bluntly, Sophie forced a tight smile at Jordan. “It’s nothing personal. You’re really nice, and you’re fun, and pretty, and you have a lot in common with Nate.”

  Colin threw his arm over Jordan’s shoulders and said, “She’s also completely unavailable.”

  Sophie watched them for a moment before she frowned at Colin. “Are you telling me you’re honestly okay with Nate moving into your girlfriend’s apartment?”

  Colin smirked. It may have been just him enjoying his little charade, but it made his next question come across as a condescending challenge. “Why not? I trust my girl. Don’t you trust Nate?”

  Sophie pulled her shoulders back and frowned. “Of course I trust him.”

  “He’s safer with me than his brothers, anyway,” Jordan said.