The Man Next Door

Chapter 5

As Meredith walked into the stage door for her audition she was greeted by the shows creator Shannon Rhymes and the producer Betty Beerley. Shannon looked at Meredith with a satisfied smile on her face while Betty smiled warmly and invited her to sit down with them.

"Meredith, we are so pleased to have you here" Betty said when they were seated.

"Thank you, but the pleasure is all mine. I've read through the script and I'm very impressed with the writing and the characters. I really look forward to hopefully playing Ellen, she seems like quite a character." Meredith stated warmly trying to keep a composed and calm appearance on the outside. But on the inside, her heart was pounding. This was the first major role she was auditioning for and she didn't want to screw it up.

"Well we're really excited to hear that Meredith. Now if you could turn to the first scene and start reading out your lines with me we'll get started." Shannon replied. The girl had not spoken more than two sentences to her and she was already sure of her decision. But Meredith didn't need to know that yet so she ushered her to begin acting out her lines.

"The game. A person either has what it takes to play, or they don't. My mother was, one of the greats. Me on the other hand, I'm, kinda screwed" Meredith began, stepping into her character. Whenever she would act she was able to step out of her world, step out of reality and really become another person. She always found it refreshing to have that sort of escape from reality….

As soon as Meredith finished reading her lines Shannon and Betty looked at one another, nodded and stood from their seats. Meredith followed, 'Crap, they're kicking me out. Of course this has to happen to me!' she thought to herself.

"Thank you so much Meredith. Now if you could please go back outside in the waiting room we have a few things to discuss. We'll be with you shortly." Betty said with a smile.

'Well, they didn't say no, but they didn't say yes either,' Meredith thought to herself.

Derek began to follow Meredith through the pathways around the lot curiously. She hadn't seen him yet and he was just about to call out to her when he felt a tap on the shoulder.

"Excuse me sir but are you here for the audition of Dr Patrick Dempsey, neurosurgeon?"

"Umm, yes," Derek responded trying to see where Meredith had disappeared.

"Come with me please" he nodded leading Derek to another building with a sign stating that they had dedicated this to auditions for his character only. If you could take a seat Shannon and Betty will just be a moment. They're just auditioning the actress for your characters love interest, Dr. Pompeo."

Derek nodded and sat down running through his lines again. He as had mild dyslexia so it always was a bit of a struggle for him to remember lines. As a result, he went over them as much as he could.

After half an hour two women entered the room.

"Hi, I'm Shannon the creator of the show," the plump lady with chocolate skin said to him, while shaking his hand.

"And I'm the producer. Please come with us, we're excited to hear your audition. You're our last actor to see before we make our decision, with the help of your character's love interest of course!" said the tall, skinny blonde next to her smiling. At the sound of that Derek began to get a little nervous. What if he didn't have the chemistry with this other person? Trying to shrug it aside he began reading his lines. Throughout the whole audition Derek noticed Shannon stare at him strangely the whole time. He couldn't read it her expression, she just had a poker face on the whole time and he was getting slightly agitated. Betty on the other hand was very friendly, doing all the talking while Shannon just sat and stared. At the end of the audition he didn't think he had gotten the role. As he walked he was asked to stay back in the waiting room while they went to bring his possible costar in. Confused, he sat down. 'At least they didn't reject me, but they didn't say yes either' he thought to himself.