Watch Me

Chapter 4

There she is. 8:30 as always, sitting in her pajamas on the couch and wrapped up in some TV show. She looks peaceful. My beautiful queen, safe behind the walls of her fortress where she belongs. Safe from the thoughts of the world. No one understands her like I do, and no one ever will. Oh, my sweet goddess, I'll keep you safe. Rest well, my love...

Colton walked into his brother's house and saw Dale sitting on the sofa watching TV. He was wearing a plain white T shirt and blue basketball shorts. His blonde hair still wet from the shower he took as his grey blue eyes looked at him.

"That was a long day. Where were you?" Dale asked as Colton put his bag down and joined him on the sofa.

"We had an audition today for an upcoming show and they have a tradition of going to a Chinese place for dinner afterwards. I got an invite to go with them."

"Aww, my little bro's already making friends." Dale threw his arm around him laughing.

"Yeah, yeah. Get off me," Colton said as he pushed his brother away laughing with him.

"Seriously, though, how was today?" Dale asked with a serious tone.

"Good. Great if I'm being totally honest," Colton said, smiling as he remembered his walk with Zoe. His stomach did a flip just thinking her name, his lips set in a soft smile.

"Oh no, I know that look," his brother said as he got up and headed into the kitchen.

"What look?" Colton asked.

"Want a beer?" Dale asked as he got to the fridge. Colton nodded and Dale grabbed two and made his way back to the sofa. "What's her name?" he asked as he sat back down.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I met a number of women today," Colton said as he sipped his beer.

"Yeah right." Dale sipped his beer and looked at his brother. "Did you at least get her number?"

Colton smiled at Dale. "Not till tomorrow."

"Ok, people, listen up." Robert said as everyone stood in the rehearsal hall the next day. "I know you're all wondering why the cast list isn't up yet for our next show, but we want to try something different this time around. The show that we're doing is very different from anything we've done before. So, Jesse and I have decided to do a second day of auditions today. Instead of our regular class rotation, today, we're going to teach you a small two-minute routine that you'll learn with pairings of our choosing. This day is going to be a long one. And since Anna doesn't want to put poor Mrs. Chang out of business or having you stuff junk in your faces two days in a row, we've made arrangements to have food and drinks brought in for you." Robert looked around and smiled. "Finish warming up and Jesse and I will see you all in half an hour in Studio 1."

"Well, this is different," Natalie said as Zoe and Kristen finally shook off the shock. "I wonder what they're planning."

"Sounds big," Zoe said as she untied her sweater and went into her bag for her shoes. "I don't think Robert has ever done two-day auditions."

"Or pairs," Kristen said. "Wonder if it has anything to do with you know who."

"Maybe. I mean, he's never seen him interact with one of us before. Hell, I'm not sure if they've ever seen him do partner work period," Natalie said as she finished putting on her shoes.

"I'm sure they sent something from San Francisco," Zoe said as she started putting on her second shoe. Natalie and Kristen stopped and looked at her. She felt her friends staring at her. "What?"