The Theatre & Him

The Audition

I feel my hands shake as I walk towards the stage, my knees are weak and my arms are heavy. The lights are blinding and all I can see of the theatre are the first few rows.

"I was crazy to think I could do this" I whispered to myself as I face the director and lyricist of the show. "Good afternoon, this is Eddie Perfect and I'm Alex Timbers and I'll be directing Beetlejuice. What's your name, age and who will be auditioning for?" the director asked politely. "Hi, I'm Krystal Parker, I'm 25 and I'll be auditioning for the role of Lydia Deetz" I answer somewhat confidently. "Lovely to meet you, Krystal, Once you're ready, take it away" Mr. Timbers replied smiling.

I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm my nerves and get my breathing under control. I took one last look towards the casting director's table and start the revised version of 'Dead Mom'.

"Hey mom, dead mom
I need a little help here
I'm prob'ly talking to myself here
But dead mom, I gotta ask
Are you really in the ground?
'Cause I feel you all around me
Are you here, dead mom?
Dead mom"

I take a breathe and mentally prepare myself for the next few lines. You've got this, you've been preparing for this for far too long to mess it up now.

"Cause daddy's in denial
Daddy doesn't wanna feel
He wants me to smile
And clap like a performing seal
Ignored it for a while
But daddy's lost his mind for real
You won't believe the mess that we've become"

As I finished I realised that I'd shut my eyes and got caught up in the moment, opening my eyes I look towards the casting directors table. "Eddie, do you know if Alex is still hanging around here anywhere?" Mr. Timbers questioned the lyricist "Hang on a sec I'll call backstage" Eddie said as picked up his walkie talkie, "Hey guys, is Alex back there by any chance?" "Yeah, we've just finished his measurements" said a member of the costume team. Eddie replies asking them to send him to the stage.

Mr. Timbers looked towards me and started speaking, "That was fantastic! I've just asked backstage to send Alex out  and we'll see how your voices mesh. Sound good?" I looked blankly at Mr. Timbers "Who's Alex?" "Ah that'd be me, nice to meet you" a man who looked about my age chuckled as he walked across the stage.

He walked up to me and gave me a hug. As he pulled away we made eye contact and wow he had really pretty eyes. "This is our Beetlejuice, Alex Brightman" Eddie chirped up. "Oh, that actually makes a lot of sense, not that you look like a demon hellbent on wreaking havo-" "Hey, relax I know what you mean" he laughed. My cheeks were burning bright red, but I managed to get an "I'm Krystal" out.

"Okay now we have formalities out of the way, can we get the shortened version of 'Say My Name' lyrics for Krystal and are you guys okay to do it Acapella?" Mr. Timber asked. A member of the backstage crew passed me a sheet of paper with lyrics and offered them to Alex, but he said he'd be fine and if he got stuck he'd just glance at mine. For some reason that made me blush slightly. "Come on girl you need to get ahold of yourself, be professional," I said so only I could hear. I must just be deaf because I clearly said it loud enough for Alex to hear me. as he let out a chuckle "You'll be fine it's a fairly easy song to get" he murmured back to me. Okay, so he didn't get what I was talking about and just thinks I'm nervous because of the song, alright we can work with that. After about fifteen minutes I was ready and Alex started.

"You could use a buddy
Don't you want a pal?
(Yes I do! Yes I do!)
Girl, the way I see it
Your daddy should be leavin'
And you should stick around"
Alex puts his arm around me as he sang his line and I almost got caught up in the moment wondering if he'd ever do this when we weren't rehearsing. STOP!! You need to focus and nail this song if you want this part!

"And kill him"
Alex deadpans as he ducks and weaves around me

"What?"
I glance at him as though I hadn't heard him right

"Nothing"
He answers me innocently before looking away and delivering the next lines of the song.

"So, Lydia, don't end yourself
Defend yourself
Daddy is the one you should maim
Together we'll exterminate, assassinate"
He gives me a confident, but evil smirk as he delivers his line.

"No"
I cry pushing Alex away and walking away from him. He follows and continues on:

"The finer points can wait
But first you gotta say my name"
He grabs my shoulders and hops to the other side of me and gives me a mischievous grin.

"I don't know your name"
I deadpan looking at him with a blank expression plastered on my face.

"Well, I can't say it"
He says in a frustrated tone.

"How 'bout a game of charades?"
I suggest, my voice laced with boredom

"Yes, let's play it"
He exclaimed, with hope in his eyes.

"Two words"
"Right"
"Second word"
"Uh-huh"
"Drink?"
"No"
"Beverage?"
"No"
"Wine?"
"No"
"Juice?"
"Yes"
"Okay"
"First word"
"Okay"
"Bug?"
"No"
"Ant?"
"Close, but no"
"Beetle?"
"Yes"
"Beetlejuice?"

"Wow, I'm impressed
And all you gotta do is say my name three times"
Three times in a row it must be spoken, unbroken
Ready?"
"Yeah"
"Okay, go"
"Beetlejuice"
"Yes"
"Beetlejuice"
"Yes"
"Beeeee-"
I tease him putting my hand on his left shoulder and tracing across his back to his right.

"Oh, oh, this is gonna be so good"
I almost choked when he rolled his eyes into the back of his head and gave me a sly grin. This man just proved that hot and cute can exist at the same time. I'm really in trouble now... just wow.

"-cause"
I pull my face away from his and face out towards the auditorium.

"What?"
He says as his face completely drops.

"You're so smart"
I boop him on the nose, turn on my heel and walk away from him

"A stand-up bro
I'll think about your offer
Let you know
But I prefer my chances down below"
I face the casting table with my arms crossed and a brave smile on my face as I deliver the last line.

"Well, I think I speak for all of us when I say that was amazing!" Mr. Timbers exclaimed looking at Eddie who had an excited look on his face. "This is everything I envisioned and more!" Eddie says as he clapped. I can feel Alex's eyes on me as I'm listening to Eddie and Mr. Timbers. Why is he looking at me? Was I too much? Did I smear my mascara?

"Thank you for coming in today Miss. Parker, we'll be in touch within the next week via email, I don't want you getting your hopes up as we still have a few more auditions to go through, but this is going to be quite hard to top" Mr. Timbers informed me with a proud smile on his face.

"Thank you so much, everyone. This definitely wasn't as nerve-wracking as I thought it would be" I say directing it mainly towards Mr. Timbers and Eddie. I turn to Alex who was standing quietly beside me with a small smile on his face. "Thank you, Alex, you were great to work with and I actually had fun" I complimented him with a grin on my face. "The pleasure was all mine, Miss. Parker" he said laughing as did a bow, "I'll walk you out if we're all done here" he looked towards the casting table for approval "Yep I think that's pretty much it, again, thanks for coming Miss. Parker" Eddie confirmed nodding. As I was about to leave, I suddenly remembered I hadn't done any of my speaking lines.

A/N
Hi guys, as mentioned in the description, this is my first book ever so any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
The goal is at least 1 update a week, but with the whole isolation thing, I've got quite a bit of free time on my hands so who knows what'll happen haha.
But thank you so much for reading and hopefully I'll see you in the next chapter 🥰

- Coco xx

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