When she was lonely, sad, or stressed, books were there for her. Becca had always had a very vivid imagination, and if she was reading a good book, it was like the places described and the people in them became real to her. She lost herself in the words on the pages completely. But ever since her feelings had changed for Brian, every time she tried to lose herself in a story, she’d just end up casting herself as the heroine and Brian as the hero. Every. Single. Time.
She couldn’t read. She couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t concentrate. She couldn’t tell her best friend what was going on.
Something had to give.
Chapter Four
“So, you took a year off of school?”
“Yeah,” Brian said, looking directly into the camera. When he’d first started going out on auditions, it had felt strange not to look at the person who was asking you the questions, but now he was pretty used to it. “It was supposed to be a semester, but it turned into a year.”
“And you plan on returning to NYU this fall?” the casting director asked as she scanned the paperwork Brian had filled out.
“That’s the plan.” Brian tried to sound as confident as he possibly could in that statement. He knew that being desperate or showing that he really wanted to book this was the fastest way to not get cast. Casting directors could smell that on people. From his brief experience in the industry, he’d learned that, more often than not, you booked things that you didn’t care about landing. Which, logically, made sense. Why would someone want to cast you if you seemed insecure and not confident?
Just like in romantic situations, confidence was a turn-on and insecurity was a turn-off.
“Why did you take a year off?” the CD, who’d introduced herself as Mary, asked.
Brian knew that this question was, most likely, going to come up and he hadn’t been looking forward to it. He hated that people felt sorry for him after he explained the situation, and he didn’t want to seem like he was playing the sympathy card. But it was what it was, and Brian (except for the situation with Becca) was a ‘what you see is what you get’ guy.
“Last summer, my dad had triple bypass surgery, so I came home to help my mom, my little sister, and my dad.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. How is he doing now?”
“Better.” Brian felt relief wash over him—just like it did every time he thought about how much better his dad was doing. “He’s had a few setbacks, but he is getting stronger every day. He’s back on his feet now. He just has to take it easy.”
“That’s great. So do you just have the one sister?”
“Yep.” He wasn’t trying to be intentionally vague, but he couldn’t help it. He was very protective of his family. He was prepared to answer questions about himself, but he just didn’t feel comfortable bringing his family into this.
“Do you have any brothers?” Mary asked as she scribbled notes on his paperwork.
Brian knew they were just going to keep asking questions until they were satisfied, so he figured he might as well just get it over with. He leaned back in his chair.
“One brother, Brenden. He just finished his freshman year at the University of North Carolina. He’s there on a baseball scholarship. Brittney, my sister, just graduated from high school and will be going to Harvard this fall.”
“Wow. Impressive.” The girl who had called him in and was holding a clipboard nodded as she lifted the top page he’d filled out and flipped it over. “It says here that your parents own an automotive repair shop. Do they both still work there?”
“They haven’t for the last year. My cousin Josh and I have been holding things down there.”
“What are your parents like?” Mary asked.
Brian hadn’t been expecting that question. He wasn’t sure why the subject seemed to be focused solely on his family.
When he didn’t answer right away Mary prompted, “What is the first word that pops into your head when you think of your dad?”
“Hard-working.” The words (plural) came out of Brian’s mouth before he realized. “Wait. That’s two words.”
Mary smiled. “No, that’s fine. What about your mom?”
“Brave.”
It was obvious by Mary’s reaction that that had not been the word she had expected him to use. But it was true. His mom was the bravest person he knew. When she’d been diagnosed with a life-threatening tumor that doctors had found on her spine ten years ago, she’d undergone surgery that could have left her permanently paralyzed from the neck down. Thankfully, that hadn’t happened.
She had ended up wheelchair-bound due to nerve damage, but she could still move and feel her legs. It was just difficult for her to put weight on them. Brian would never forget sitting beside her bed before they wheeled her into surgery. He’d been so scared. He had just started high school and was fourteen years old at the time, and he’d been terrified that his mom would end up paralyzed. Or worse—that she’d die.
His mom had reached out and held his hand. Then she smiled at him—a real smile that reached all the way to her eyes—and said, “Don’t you worry about me, Bri. I’m not leaving you, your brother, or your sister. I’m not saying things won’t be tough, but I promise you, I’m tougher and I’m not going anywhere.”
As an adult, of course he knew that his mom had had no way of knowing that things would go her way during the high-risk surgery. But when he was a scared-shitless teenager, her words had definitely had the desired effect. He’d gone out to the waiting room feeling less terrified. Becca had been waiting there, with his brother and sister, and they’d all played Gin Rummy for the entire eight hours it had taken before the surgeon came out and gave his dad the good news. His mom had pulled through and she hadn’t been paralyzed from the neck down.
His dad had, immediately, taken his sister and brother to see her in recovery, which had been the deal he’d made with them since Brian had gotten to see her before the surgery. Brian would never forget that he’d turned to Becca, who was smiling up at him with tears brimming in her eyes, pulled her into his arms, and held her while tears fell down his cheeks. To this day, he had no idea how long he’d stood in the waiting room of Harper’s Crossing Community Hospital holding his best friend, his lifeline, but if he closed his eyes, he could still feel her silky hair against his damp cheek. Still hear her soft words of encouragement as she whispered against his neck and rubbed her hands up and down his back.
Mary cleared her throat as she slipped her red-rimmed glasses up on the top of her head and set the clipboard that held Brian’s information down on her lap. Her green eyes looked at him in an assessing stare. It might make some people uncomfortable to be seated in a small room with a bright, white light shining on you while a camera recorded your every move, and a complete stranger looked you up and down, her entire job being to judge you. But this part of auditioning had never bothered Brian. Luckily, he’d always been comfortable in his own skin.
Although, right now, he really hoped that she was not proficient at mind reading.
“So, Brian, do you believe in true love?” Mary’s tone revealed that she was skeptical about how he would respond.
“I do,” Brian answered immediately. Even before he’d realized that he was in love with Becca, he believed in the power of love, the existence of soul mates. He’d always been a romantic at heart.
“Have you ever been in love?” Mary asked skeptically.
“Yes.” Becca’s face popped in Brian’s mind and he tried to push it out.
“How long has your longest romantic relationship been?” Mary sounded intrigued, which, as far as his chances for getting cast were, was a good sign.
“My last girlfriend, Skylar, and I were together a little over a year.”
“And why did it end?”
“I moved home to help out with my dad.”
When he’d originally told Skylar that he’d be taking a semester off, she wanted to try the long-distance thing—which they had—but by Thanksgiving, it was over.
Brian had broken things off when he’d begun forgetting to call her, and when she’d call, he would fight the temptation to ignore it. She’d been upset and even said that she’d come to Illinois so that they could talk about it face to face, but Brian had known that it was over.
What he still didn’t know was if it was really just that he hadn’t cared as much for Skylar as he’d thought or if it was the Becca factor. He suspected it was the latter.
“I see. Is that the only serious relationship you’ve had?” Mary searched his eyes.
Brian wanted to say yes. It had been the longest—definitely the most serious—he’d ever been about one of his girlfriends. But he’d be lying if he said that it was the only serious relationship he’d had.
“That was the longest.” Brian knew he was avoiding the question and it was basically semantics, but he couldn’t bring himself to say that it was his most serious.
“And you haven’t dated since you and Skylar broke up?”
“No.”
“Do you believe that you could find love on a reality television show?”
“I believe you don’t get to choose when you fall in love or who you fall in love with,” Brian answered honestly. “Anything is possible.”
* * *
Becca couldn’t believe how long it was taking. Brian had been back there for at least half an hour. Which was probably a good thing. For him. And that was what mattered—what was good for him.
For her, well… Every time she thought about Brian competing on a dating show, she got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. The thought of girls lining up to be with him made her want to vomit. But she had to remind herself that, whether or not it was being filmed, girls did line up to be with him. Even in junior high, girls had thrown themselves at him. He’d enjoyed the attention, like any preteen boy would, but Becca had always known that she mattered more.
Last year, when Brian had been dating Skylar, Becca had thought for little bit, that he might have found the one. At the time, it hadn’t bothered her in the least. She’d actually been happy for Brian. Skylar seemed like a sweet girl, and she was beautiful. But by the time Becca had received the call from Brian around Thanksgiving about how he’d ended things with Skylar, Becca had to admit that she’d been relieved. Very relieved.
Which was ridiculous. Logically, she knew that. She wanted Brian to be happy, and Brian was definitely a ‘relationship’ guy. He was what she’d heard people call a serial monogamist.
So she should have been sad when it hadn’t worked out with Skylar. Brian had seemed happy in that relationship. The girl was zero drama, and from what Becca had been able to glean from thousands of miles away, she had really appreciated Brian—not just his filled-out body, but also his heart and his sense of humor. Instead of feeling bad—like a good friend—when they’d called it quits, she’d gotten off the phone and jumped up and down on her bed. Literally. Jumped. On. Her. Bed. Not only that, she’d also worn a perma-grin on her face for the next week or two. People in her classes had asked if she was on something. Yep. She’d been high on the fact that her best friend had broken up with his girlfriend. How pathetic was that?
Shaking her head, she was reaching down to grab a magazine and try her hardest to get her mind off all things Brian-related when she heard his deep voice coming from the hall. Mmmm. His voice. That voice was as familiar to her as her own. Although, she didn’t get all tingly and break out in a sweat when she heard her own voice.
Becca looked up to see the object of her unwanted desires talking to the girl with the clipboard and another woman who looked to be in her forties with curly, brown hair falling close to her shoulders and red-rimmed glasses, that reminded her of Sally Jesse Raphael, dominating her face.
Becca quickly surmised that she must be the casting director, because she noticed that the energy in the small, square waiting room had shifted, drastically, since the woman had appeared with Brian. All of the guys had sat up a little straighter and their eyes kept slicing over to her. Becca could practically smell the desperation.
She just didn’t get it. How people could put themselves out there again and again, basically walking into a room and saying, “Like me. Please like me,” just to be rejected nine times out of ten. Or maybe the odds were even worse. Then if you actually succeeded in getting the job, the amount of judgment and media scrutiny that came with even a small degree of success sounded horrible to Becca. It was essentially handing over your private life to a tank of sharks and saying, “Bon appétit.” It held no appeal to Becca’s sensibilities.
The woman was still talking to Brian as she glanced around the room. Becca wasn’t sure what the woman was looking for, but the moment her assessing green eyes skimmed past Becca, she felt suddenly self-conscious. When the woman did a double take, landing once again on Becca, she actually wanted to climb under the chair and hide.
With laser-like focus, the woman held up her forefinger to Brian and began walking over to Becca with purpose. Anxiety rose up in Becca as she stood. Maybe she wasn’t supposed to be in the waiting room since she wasn’t auditioning.
As the woman’s eyes scanned her, Becca felt very much on display. “Did I see you yesterday?”
“Um, not unless you were in California,” Becca joked, trying to lighten the mood since every pair of eyes in the place was focused on her.
The woman just nodded. Not even cracking a smile, her eyes narrowed, “I normally don’t make exceptions for missing a casting, but in your case, I will. I’ll see you next.”
“Oh, no.” Becca quickly tried to explain as Brian approached them. “I’m not here to audition, I’m just… I’m with him,” she finished lamely as she pointed to Brian.
The woman’s head spun around towards Brian. She didn’t sound too happy as she snapped, “I thought you said you didn’t have a girlfriend.”
“I’m not his girlfriend,” Becca spurted out before Brian even had a chance to answer. “We’re just friends.”
Something that looked to be in the ballpark of hurt flashed in Brian’s eyes, but it was there and gone before she could know for sure. Calmly, Brian stepped beside Becca and reiterated, “Mary, this is Becca Sloan. Becca, this is Mary Willis. She is the casting director.” Turning towards Mary, Brian explained, “Becca and I have been friends—best friends—since we were kids.”
Brian’s hand rested on Becca’s lower back, and before she could stomp it down or ignore it, her body responded to his touch and a shiver ran down her back.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Becca said politely as she reached out to shake the woman’s hand.
Mary didn’t lift her hand to shake Becca’s. “You’re not an actress.”
Becca wasn’t totally clear on whether or not that was a question or a statement—not that it really mattered since her response would have been the same either way. “No, I’m just a college student.”
Brian tensed beside Becca, and she could feel his fingertips digging into her lower back. “Becca is pre-med at Stanford.”
She could hear the pride infused in his tone. Brian had always been so supportive of her and her scholastic achievements. Even more than her parents, sisters, or cousins. He hated it when she told people that she was just a college student. But that is what she was.
“Wow. Impressive.” Mary looked between the two of them. “So you two are just friends?”
“Yep,” Becca tried to answer as cheerily as possible.
“Yes,” Brian’s deep voice sounded beside her.
Mary snapped her fingers and the girl who had gotten all blushy when she’d called Brian into the room was standing next to the casting director before Becca even had a chance to blink.
“I’ll see her next,” Mary announced and spun around on her heels. “Give me five and then show her in.”
Clipboard Girl nodded, not seeming too happy about the turn of events, which meant that she and Becca had more in common than just thinking Brian was blush-worthy. Becca was also not pleased about how th
is conversation had gone.
“No, I’m not here to audition,” Becca called out to the retreating curly-haired form.
“Fill this out,” Clipboard Girl snapped as she handed Becca paperwork. “And hurry. You only have a few minutes.”
Becca tried to give them back to the girl, not quite understanding why everyone was totally ignoring the fact that Becca was not here to audition. “No, I don’t need these. I’m not auditioning.”
“Look, I have a job to do.” The young, pretty blonde seemed to be getting irritated. “Just fill out the paperwork, then let me take you back there to talk to Mary. You’re not going to book it,” the girl said as she gave Becca a once-over that Becca clearly did not pass. “Just let me do my job.”
Becca looked up at Brian for backup.
“Listen, Cherry…” Brian began, and Becca was sure that he was going to stand up for her, explain the situation, but Becca didn’t hear any of that because all she could think was…Cherry?! This girl’s name was Cherry?
Becca was snapped out of her fascination-name-fog as one of the guys in the room, who had been waiting there almost as long as Brian and Becca had been there, stood up. “Can we move this along? I have another audition across town.”
Cherry turned to him. “What’s your name?”
“Peter French.” The guy looked happy to finally have the attention focused on him. He even rolled his shoulders back and flexed his muscles, which made Becca roll her eyes.
Cherry scanned down her clipboard and checked something off. “Okay, Peter. You’re free to go.” The man started towards the hallway, but Cherry stepped in front of him. “No, you’re free to leave. I’ve removed your name from the sign-in.”
“What? Why did you… I was just saying”—the guy turned towards Becca, breathing loudly through his nose as his hand flew up, motioning to Becca—“she needs to stop playing hard to get and go in already.”
Brian stepped between Steroid Boy and Becca, “You need to leave. Now.”
Fairytale Love - Becca & Brian Page 4