𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐫𝐚 || 𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐫 ✓

Prologue

A/N: hiii welcome to my new fanfic! I've posted this here as well as tumblr and ao3. If it does well, I will post the first chapter soon. I hope everyone enjoys the prologue!

the soundtrack for The Extra is linked on the side.

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January 2020

The crowd's vibe is wild and electric, with people jumping and screaming in anticipation. I'm one of those people, channeling my inner fan with everything I've got. Elvis walks on stage, and the crowd erupts even more. I can't see him, though, and I fight to the front of the stage to get a better glimpse. In my struggle to get to the front, I hear his voice boom into the microphone. I miss the dialogue due to the crowd's shouting, but by the time I get to the barricade, I'm satisfied with my view.

"If you're looking for trouble, you came to the right place. If you're looking for trouble, then look right in my face." Elvis's voice is thick with Southern drawl, and I'm sucked in immediately. I still can't see his face too clearly since his hair covers some of it.

"I was born standin' up and talkin' back. My daddy was a green-eyed mountain jack."

The people around me go insane as the tempo of the music begins to rise, and Elvis starts to move erratically. He moves from the middle of the stage over to the left, where I'm standing, and I begin to get nervous. One of the girls next to me is all but scaling the side of the stage, trying to get onto the platform to Elvis. Before she can fully get herself hoisted, Elvis drops to his knees right in front of me, thrusting his hips upward. His eyes meet mine, and I finally get a full view of him. Shock fills my body from top to bottom, and everything around me seems to stop. Before I can react, he reaches down and grips my jaw fervently, looking directly in my face as he sings. My face is one of pure astonishment instead of glee and excitement like it's supposed to be. The feeling of his fingers digging into my skin sends a familiar blinding fire through my body. The time I've spent trying to forget that burn has just been completely forgotten.

Everything is a blur after that, but I continue to scream and move with the crowd like I'm supposed to. Pretty soon, a police officer comes and whisks Elvis off the stage, and the crowd erupts in a fury with people pushing and shoving everywhere. The police escort Elvis to a patrol car as the crowd becomes out of control. I'm still at the front of the stage and am the only one not doing anything violent. But I don't really have to because I'm out of shot.

"Cut!"

Everyone stops what they're doing immediately, and everyone behind the cameras begins to clap.

"Great job, everyone!" Baz, our director, claps, "You can all take five."

As I'm walking over to the break area, Baz stops me.

"Roman, good job at your reaction. It was so real that it gave me goosebumps," he says with a smile before walking back to his chair.

I almost wanted to laugh because my reaction was real, but no one has to know that. No one has to know.

"Roman?"

I whip my head around to the familiar calling of my name and regret acknowledging it immediately upon laying my eyes on the person.

"Yes?" I ask, glancing around me to see a few people watching our interaction, much to my embarrassment.

"It's me, Austin."

"Oh, uh, sorry. I don't think I recognize you?" I scratch my neck awkwardly, not making eye contact.

Austin's face almost mirrors what mine looked like earlier while filming, "What?"

"You don't look familiar," I shake my head, finally meeting his eyes.

"Oh," he says plainly, his eyes a tad glossed over.

I almost feel bad for pretending I don't know who Austin is, but I couldn't emotionally afford to be friendly with him.

"Yeah, I'm just an extra. I don't really know anyone here, sorry," I emphasize, turning on my heel and walking to the break area without another word.

I'm not ashamed of being an extra at all. I've been an extra in movies and shows for as long as I can remember. My whole career is based solely on the fact that I'm an extra- nothing more, nothing less. People everywhere have followed my career since the beginning, almost making it a game to see what movie or show I'm in next. I don't want to be an actress because I don't like a lot of attention. The amount I got as a popular extra was enough to satisfy my love for acting. I'm well known in the industry for being an extra, so as my career has progressed, I've been offered more roles in bigger movies. I was an extra whose car got destroyed in an Avengers movie and even the shopkeep in one scene of Bohemian Rhapsody. I was known by many but at arm's length, and that was enough for me. So when I was offered to be an extra in the new biopic on Elvis Presley, I was ecstatic. Even more so when I found out I'd be in several scenes. In every scene with an audience, I'd be up at the front of the stage. Of course, I'd be made up to look different every time, but this was my most significant opportunity yet, and I didn't mind being somewhat seen more. There have been times I've thought of being an actual actor, but the thought of people perceiving me in an outright way terrifies me.

One downside of being an extra is that I often don't know who the lead actors are, which was the case this time. If I had known my ex-boyfriend of five years was going to be Elvis Presley, I would've thought twice about being in the movie, even if it meant not progressing in my career. The breakup hurt that badly. Austin had made it clear that compared to what he was doing at the time, which wasn't very much at all, being an extra wasn't that big of a deal. He didn't understand why I didn't want to go further with my career while he did. So while Austin got better roles, I stayed back in the limelight. I was always proud of him, but he always seemed disappointed in me. It caused a rift soon enough, and I eventually broke up with him. It almost stung to see that he was playing such a significant role while I was still an extra, but that's what the both of us wanted. And I'm still proud of him as much as I hate to admit it.

But I can't let anyone know the two of us dated. I hope no one here knows we dated because we both kept it on the down-low. I want to act like I have no idea who Austin is because after we broke up, it felt as if I never knew him in the first place. He was always nice, charming, and humble, but how he treated me when I didn't want to change my life drastically shocked me. Maybe he's changed, but I don't want to waste my time finding out. It still hurts a year later, and I was healing just fine.

So much for that.