Hinder • {Bill Skarsgård}

||Chapter One :: Pilot Season||

April, 2011
-Los Angeles, California
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Ella stood staring into the crowd of people—actors and actresses who had flown in from all over the country, some even from other parts of the world to audition.

It was pilot season, which meant young fools put their lives on hold to chase after something nearly unattainable, their dreams.

Sure most were talented, but over half had no credits—no agent and no manager to help vouch to the production agency when it came time for casting.

That had been Ella Cates' mistake.

She had been living in Los Angeles for nearly half the year; moving across country from New York to LA in early October to get adjusted to her new life. Pilot season lasted from January to April. It was now April and Ella had yet to get a callback. This was her final audition and truthfully, it hadn't gone well.

She continued to stand in the crowd, watching the others swarm in a maddening sea of chaos. Some had gathered in groups to go over lines while others read amongst themselves.

It was odd that the studio for the casting of the pilot had garnered both male and females for the casting call on the same day—it just proved that they were racing toward a demanding deadline.

Ella's audition had been over twenty minutes ago, but she couldn't find the strength to leave.

This was it—this was the last tryout for the rest of the season. She would be forced to go back home to New York; unless she wanted to live in her car. Her savings had run dry and for the first time in her life, she wished she had followed in her father's footsteps and pursed a career in law. Hollywood was not for the faint of heart—she was learning that the hard way.

She sighed heavily in defeat as her eyes scanned over the crowd once more. That's when her gaze fell on him.

He stood tall, nearly towering over everyone else in the massive horde of people. His brows were furrowed as he stared down at the script in his hand—folded arms and twisted lips. His dark blonde hair with a long fringe. He stood lean, wearing a beige long sleeve shirt and dark straight leg jeans. His boots were black—Ella stared, wondering if the heel of his shoe had anything to do with his height.

Her eyes wavered quickly when seeing his gaze shift in her direction. She pretended to study the herd of amateur actors, but still watching him in her peripheral; seeing that he was now watching her.

She noticed him tuck the script under his arm; his body facing hers now as he began approaching. Her eyes shifted to him once more then averted quickly, then doing a double take to be sure she wasn't imaging things.

She wasn't.

He wore a smirk; his eyes smiling to match his lips—his hands were folded in front of his waist taking large strides.

Ella smiled nervously, looking behind her to be sure he wasn't approaching someone else.

He stopped with a stomp, whipping the script out from under his arm. "This is shit." He said, smiling wide exposing rather large teeth and dimples. The full plump lips Ella had noticed seemed to disappear within his genuine grin.

"Yeah, it's definitely not the greatest, but..." Ella trailed with a shrug.

"This pilot isn't going anywhere. It's not gonna get picked up." He folded the script, putting it away in his back pocket. "Did you already audition?" He crossed his arms, moving his lips together in a hard line. His eyes were large and pale—the roundness of his irises a light green.

"Yeah, have you?" Ella asked, wanting to know his name.

"Not yet, but I'm thinking about not doing it. I mean... you read this thing, right?" He laughed softly, motioning his hand toward the script in Ella's hand. "I'm Bill, by the way." He said, extending his palm.

She stared at his hand in awe, noticing how clean his fingernails appeared; the shape of his nails were perfect, his cuticles unscathed revealing he wasn't a biter. She placed her hand in his, looking up into his magnificently large eyes. She couldn't decide if his nose was upturned or button. It had the potential to be a button nose, but with a slight upward tilt, or perhaps there was an indention in the tip.

"I'm Ella." She felt a blush on her cheeks, nervously taking her eyes off the tall, fair young man.

"Are you from here- LA?" Bill asked, removing his hand from hers. She shook her head, tucking her dark auburn hair behind her ear.

"No, I'm from Maryland. I've been living in New York most of my life though. I moved out here in October. It's not been going well." Ella admitted, putting her weight to one foot, trying not to look intimidated. It was difficult—he was incredibly tall and although he had an innocent kindness in his eyes, he also had a face for anger.

"I'm from Stockholm. I've been living here for about three months, I think... Not long." Bill shook his head. It was clear that he was not nearly as desperate as Ella to land the job.

"So you're Swedish! I knew there was something different about you." Ella smiled wide.

Bill laughed, looking down at his feet; the chuckle exposing the faint dimples in his cheeks once more.

"What are you doing after this?" Bill asked, his gaze wavering back to Ella—his lids narrowing with a half smirk.

"Probably moving back to New York." Ella's eyes went wide as her cheeks filled with air; she wasn't ready to move back home, not yet.

"No, I mean... after you leave here."

Ella wasn't sure. But by the look in Bill's eyes, she knew that he was asking her to go somewhere with him.

"Going out for drinks... with you?" Ella giggled; her face flushing a vibrant red.

Bill laughed again, shrugging his shoulders. "I mean, why not, right?"

"Yeah, why not?" Ella returned the gesture.

"You wanna go now? I'm not auditioning for this thing... it's a piece of shit." Bill pulled out the script from his back pocket, dropping it to the ground. His action was a bit childish, but Ella could see that he was flirting and that (for some reason) made it okay. "Let's go." Bill said, nodding toward the exit.