L.A. Spa

Chapter Nine: The Audtion

Emma's POV:

My best friend Jane looked at me, and her mouth dropped.
       
"You like him."
       
"I haven't told you anything about him!" I exclaimed a little too loudly the next day during our shift at the coffee shop. We tried to work most shifts together.
       
"I know, but every time you talk about him, you get this smile on your face and this glow in your eyes. You like him."
       
"I don't. He's my client and, in this case, my boss. It's a nice gig; I can't screw it up. The extra money could really help...."
       
"I hear ya," she said, thinking about the endless debt she had acquired from college. She had gone to school and got her bachelor's degree in theater arts. I had skipped out on college and decided to become a massage therapist; it was fast and cheaper. So far, I have enjoyed it, and the new opportunity with Jordan Ryan was paying off.
       
We were getting off our shift when Jane pulled me down the street with her. "Where are you taking me?" I asked her as we kept walking farther away from my car.
       
"A casting call; it's just a few more blocks."

From time to time, I would go on casting calls with Jane and just wing mine. "Do you have the script for it?"
       
She handed me a piece of paper. "It has two lines on it," I said to her.
       
"I know it's awesome. Maybe I can trick them into thinking I know what I'm doing for a whole two lines."
       
"Nonsense, you'll do great, darling. Plus, by me doing it, you'll look even better."
       
"I don't know about that."
       
I read the lines over as we opened the door to the building; it was a nicer building than I was used to when we came to her casting calls.
       
The line was long, but it was worked through fast since the women in front of us only had to say two lines.
       
I winked at Jane when she was the next up in line. "Good luck," I whispered to her; some of the other women and a guy down to my left glared in my direction. I had seen many of these casting call freaks; they probably hated my and Jane's friendship because they were all vapid people who didn't believe in manners.
       
Jane walked out a few minutes later, and I could see the disappointment on her face.
       
"You're up," she said, smiling at me.
       
I walked into the conference room; there was a table at the back. Four figures sat at it—one male in a baseball cap and sunglasses and three females. The male on the left straightened up when I walked into the room.
       
The woman to the right waved me to get going. "You can start," she said, looking up at me.
       
I swallowed and spoke, dropping the paper Jane had given me on the floor in front of me like I was dropping a flower I would have been holding in my hand.

"I never understood you. I never understood the look in your eyes or the spark from your touch. I never understood it because I never knew what love meant."

One tear dropped from my eye involuntarily; I brought my hand up to brush it away, and as I brushed it away, I just looked at the water that sat on my hand. I couldn't recall the last time that I had cried. The sensation I was feeling at this moment was something I did not like.
       
No one at the table said anything; they stared at me for a while. I had been on a handful of casting calls with Jane, but I had never had this happen to me before. Most of the time, the people would gawk at me and tell me to leave. I stood there waiting for a verdict or for them to laugh.
       
"Could you do it again?" the lady in the middle asked.
       
"I never understood you. I never understood the look in your eyes or the spark from your touch. I never understood it because I never knew what love meant." Like last time, the tear from before breaks down across my face. I wipe at it again, letting it run down to the tip of my finger.
       
"Can we have your resume and headshot?" The woman who spoke first asked me. She had a red scarf around her neck even though the temp was in the high seventies. The woman next to her had a stern look when I walked in, but after my second go-through, she looked hopeful. I couldn't see the look on the man's face, and the third woman sitting next to him whispered something in his ear, and he shook his head in agreement.
       
"I don't have one," I said; I enjoyed this part of the casting call.
       
"You don't have one?" The woman on the far left finally asked me a question.
       
"I don't. I just come in and do this for fun." I said to her, smiling.
       
"For fun?" She said back to me in a dry tone.
       
"For fun." I shook my head in agreement. "It was nice meeting you all."
       
The four of them broke out in whispers as I made my way to the door.

"Wait." The woman with the red scarf stood up. She handed me her card. "Do you have a card you could at least give me with your contact information?" She took her phone out and snapped a picture of me before I could object. I looked down, realizing I still had my green apron on. I untied it and wadded it up behind my back. I wore tight blue jeans cropped at my ankles and a white tunic tank top. It was far from the long sleeve t-shirts sitting at the table in front of me.
       
I reluctantly took my card out of my back pocket, wishing I wouldn't have any.
       
"A sleep tech?" the lady said, looking at my card with my cell phone number on the card. I dug into my shoulder strap bag, pulled out a different card, and handed it to her. "Here, use this one," I said; my massage therapy card said LA Spa on it. "And a massage therapist."
       
"And as you can obviously see, a café barista." I did a mini curtsey in front of her. I checked my watch on my wrist and saw I was running late for the hospital. "It was nice meeting you all," I said, smiling at them. "Have a great day. Hopefully, you find the one out there for the part. I wish I could say I would watch it, but I normally do not watch movies."
       
"What do you do for entertainment?" The older lady at the end asks as I step out.   

"Are there enough hours in the day for that?" I laughed.
       
"Well then, where are you heading right now?" the middle lady asked me.
       
"The hospital," I said as the guy in the hat shifted in his seat with this information. "I read to the peds department every Monday and Thursday afternoon. We are still working our way through the Harry Potter picture book. It is a riveting story; you should read it." I smiled, and as I opened the door to leave, the guy who hadn't said a word yet stood at my departure as if he was standing up for me before I sat down at a table. I nodded my head at him and departed through the door.
       
"You were in there forever" Jane jumped on me as soon as I walked out of the door.
       
I shrugged. "They were probably more intrigued with the fact that I was wearing an apron and that I have three jobs."
       
"How did they know you have three jobs? Did you finally bring a resume?" she asked me excitedly.
       
"No. You told me about this an hour ago. They asked for a business card, and I gave them the sleep lab business card and my massage therapy one."
       
"They asked for your card even though you didn't have a resume?" She asked in awe.
       
"Yeah, it's not that big of a deal."
       
"No, it is," she said, looking at me with all bright eyes still. "They handed my resume back to me. They said it was to conserve on paper, and the guy who was in there didn't look up from his phone once while I recited the lines. I don't know why I keep doing this. I should have just gotten a business degree like my dad told me to."
       
I bumped into her shoulder. "You'll get there. Everything takes time. But I have to get going if I want to be on time."
       
"Yeah yeah. Next time I'll go with you." Jane always said next time she would go with me, but I knew that hospitals creeped her out, and it was even worse for her that it was little kids there. I had had some of the same patients for a long time and had lost a few since I started the reading program at the hospital.
       
Kate sent me a text saying she was running behind as well. Kate always attended with me if she didn't have any school programs. I was a proud older sister.