The Fame

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Noelle smoothed out the little black dress that showed off her long toned legs, before calling out, "Hello?" She looked around the studio, but there was no one in sight.

"Noelle! So nice to finally meet you! We're thrilled that you've decided to come on board for this project," a tanned, young woman with shiny, long, black hair, who Noelle assumed to be the director, said as she entered the room.

"Thank you for the opportunity."

The woman shook Noelle's hand. "I'm Jessica. I'm the director for this movie!"

Noelle hesitated for a bit before responding, "Awesome. It's really nice to meet you."

Jessica wasn't stupid and saw right through Noelle. "I'm sensing some hesitation... I had a feeling... Did Julian sign you up for this without asking you? I have worked with him before and I know he has the tendency to do that. "

"Um..."

"You can be honest, darling. I like having everything out in the open!" The exotic beauty tried to make Noelle feel as comfortable as possible.

Noelle decided to tell the director the truth. "Well, to be honest, yeah, he did. I really am excited about this movie though. I just haven't had some time to myself in a long time is all."

Jessica shot Noelle a reassuring smile. "We'll be changing that! I don't like to burn my crew out. We won't be filming long days, or working six days a week... I have a family of my own I need to attend to, you know? I strongly believe in balancing work and fun."

"Wow, that's so generous. So what am I here for today?" Noelle asked curiously.

"The four men who could potentially play the male lead are here. I'm going to call them in one at a time and then you guys will run some lines. Just a quick little scene, to feel each other out and see how the chemistry is. This is a romantic comedy, so we think it's really important for you guys to have that spark."

"Okay, good."

This was actually the first ever romantic comedy that Noelle had worked on, where the producers actually cared about the bond between the lead characters. Most times, she was just expected to work with whoever they picked as the male lead without caring about the chemistry.

 "So anyway, let's bring the boys in! First up we have..." Jessica looked at the notepad she held in her hands and read the first name, "Marcus. Marcus, you can come in!"

A tall, skinny guy with glasses and slicked back hair walked in. He didn't have any prominent muscles and the glasses made him look a little nerdy.

"Hey there," Marcus said as he shook Noelle's hand.

"Hey! I'm Noelle. Marcus? It's really nice to meet you." Marcus's hand was a little shaky and sweaty, like he was scared to meet Noelle.

"You too, Noelle! I have to say, you're an even nicer arrangement of atoms than I'd thought!"

Noelle had no idea what Marcus just said, but nonetheless she thought it sounded cute. "Oh, thank you, Marcus. That may be one of the sweetest things a guy has ever said to me."

Jessica decided to let Noelle and Marcus know that she was, in fact, still there and started talking, "In this movie, you two are best friends who decide to start dating... After all your friends start to get married. It starts out as a joke, but ultimately, you end up falling in love. Why don't we try out the scene where you two first make the decision?"

Noelle nodded. "Sounds good."

Marcus easily agreed. "Certainly. Let's do this."

They started the scene and everything was running smoothly. When they started acting, Marcus didn't seem nervous at all. When they were half through the scene he started getting nervous though. All of a sudden he began to stutter and forgot the lines he was supposed to say. Noelle knew what it was like to forget lines, so she decided to help Marcus a little by kind of saying his lines, so he could remember what his lines were. Luckily, it worked and they could finish the scene as smoothly as they started.