New Beginnings: A Broadway Fanfiction

Six

After Christian shut the door behind him, I stood up from where I sat at the counter and let out a long sigh. The way he grabbed my hand had given me butterflies, something that I had never experienced from him before. It was a little unsettling, to be honest. "Dear God, Audra." I whispered to myself, massaging my temples. As I grabbed my makeup bag from where it lay on the ground, I glanced in the mirror and noticed that my cheeks still held a flushed look, a cherry blossom pink color that I was hoping would go away. "Forget about it." I whispered again, mentally cursed myself for letting Christian make me this flustered. I pulled out a makeup brush and began carefully apply my foundation, praying it would cover up the blush in my cheeks. Christian was one of those people who possessed a very forward and recognizable charm, a mix of chivalry and lust. It was the undeniable reason that so many people fawned over him. Nevertheless, no matter how leering and bright his eyes were, or how engulfing and brilliant his smile was, Christian was someone who I could not afford to fall for. He was much older and it sure would cause a lot of drama within the cast. Hell, we hadn't even opened the show yet, so drama was definitely something that we didn't need. I sighed once more and finished applying my makeup.

—

Just as I pulled my dress up over my hips there was a soft knock at the door. "Hey, Audie?" I recognized the gentle voice the immediately as Ben's. "One second," I mumbled, making my way to the door and pulling it open. "What's up?"
"We only have like ten minutes until the dress rehearsal starts." He spoke sheepishly, rocking back and forth on his heels and looking down at the ground. "I was just coming to see if you were ready to go on stage and I thought we could walk on together and-" I cut him off with a giggle, causing his to look back up at me with confused eyes. "Of course." I moved out of the doorway as I said this so he could enter. Ben happily nodded his head and filed inside, finding himself a seat on the comfy maroon couch in the center of the room. "Do you mind buttoning me up?" I asked as I shut the door, pulling my hair up and gestured towards the open back of my dress.
"I-uh, sure. Sure I will." I heard Ben gulp as he stood up and approached me, his soft hands eventually meeting at the small of my back. With utmost effort he slowly connected the buttons, taking precise care in making sure each and every one was secure.
"All done." He mumbled, taking my hair from my hands and displaying it out over my shoulders. He then shuffled away and dropped back onto the couch.
"Thanks, Ben." I let out a chuckle and smiled appreciatively before making my way over to the acapulco chair across from him. We sat in silence for a few moments, both of us distracted by our own thoughts. "Is everything alright?" He asked eventually, causing me to look up.
"Ben, can I ask you something?"
"Yes..."
"What do you think of Christian?"
"Christian?" Ben scoffed. "What does it matter what I think of Christian?"
"Just answer the question." I pleaded, crossing my legs.
"He is nice, but I think he is sort of stuck up." He grumbled, almost incoherently. "I don't exactly know how to describe it, but he seems like someone who would have like twenty girls at a time... all of them hanging off of him or something. Why do you ask?"
"Oh..." I hummed, a little disappointed. "No reason." Ben nodded his head and we returned back to an awkward silence.
"You know what," I finally murmured. "They must be waiting for us. Lets go." I stood up and held out my hand to Ben, which he gratefully took. We quickly exited the room and started making our way to the stage, him closing my dressing room door behind us.

—

Ben and I were the first two on stage except for Brian, all of the other actors seemingly to have been running a little late. "Hey, you two." Brian called as we enter his view. "Take a seat in the first two rows for me, would you?" He asked, pointing his finger towards the house. Ben and I nodded, marching into the aisle and sitting down in the front row. Andrew was the next on stage, followed by Heidi and Kristin, the two older women in the show. All of them stepped down in the aisles and plopped down into seats, Andrew next to me, and Heidi and Kristen behind Ben. The rest of the actors began appearing soon after, the first and second rows almost filled with all except one; Christian. He came in a few minutes later, his hair perfectly combed and his costume coat hanging over his shoulder. "Wonderful of you to join us." Brian scowlded sarcastically, motioning towards the rest of us sitting in the house. "Please take a seat." Christian flashed a bright smile in Brian's direction before finding his way to the seat behind Andrew.
"Alright people, down to business!" Brian yelled, picking up his clipboard from the apron of the stage and cradling it under his arm. "Today is a big, big day! Not only do we have our final dress rehearsal this morning, we have our first preview tonight!" He hesitated as we all cheered. "This is the big leagues, kids. We are ON BROADWAY. So I want each and every one of you on your toes today, as well as every other day that you perform! And now, some quick words from a special guest!"

Brian paused and gestured towards the wings from which Thomas Kail, our director emerged. We all applauded, and he put his hands up to silence us. Thomas gave a long and inspirational speech about staying true to our characters and such, ending it with a bold: "Now get your butts up here and let's dress rehearse the crap out of this show!" And we did just that.