“It’s Shannon,” she said, taking another sip of her water. “Which means she will needlessly remind me about the time I tripped in front of her?”
“At least she’ll see you,” There was the warmth I remembered, but it wasn’t directed at me. “Amy, you’ll go with Porsche after your English class this afternoon. If you’re feeling up to it.” His eyes bore into me, but I held my ground.
“I’m fine,” I said.
“Just for an acting call,” Porsche tried to reassure me. “We won’t force you to be a triple threat yet. Use the monologue you did for Beauty, it’ll be perfect.”
“Right,” I nodded, my heart hammering in my chest. I knew he was right. They both were. This industry was as much about whom you knew as what you could do. So, deciding to take the high road, I nodded. “Thank you.”
“What am I calling Shannon for?” Liam said, just as he turned to leave. “She’s probably casting 80 things right now.”
“Gatsby,” Porsche replied, rolling her eyes. “I told you about 60 times.” He raised an eyebrow.
“And you think you’d be a good Daisy Buchannan, then?”
“No, but Myrtle Wilson played by Porsche De Ritter has a nice ring to it.” She winked at him, and he sighed, heading out.
“Break a leg. And Amy?” He barely looked at me. “Try not to waste the whole day telling everyone. You have school work to focus on.”
“I’ll do that,” I replied, trying hard not to glare after him. He didn’t look back, strolling off as if he had said a pleasant goodbye. When the tension in the air cleared with his exit, I cleared my throat.
“Gatsby?” I turned to Porsche in shock. “That’s a huge production! Everyone in the school submitted for that at least twice. I think I submitted three times. Isn’t it set to star a Hollywood superstar as Gatsby himself? And that’s Shannon Valirie casting it? Didn’t she cast Wicked and Phantom and….” I could barely catch my breath.
“Sure is,” she grinned. “You read it?”
“I read it at home, by myself. I know the story. But…”
“Then you’ll do fine,” she replied. “Most actors have so many auditions they show up without a clue, anyway. But don’t focus on that now. You came here to rehearse something else, I think.”
“I did,” I nodded, but suddenly, Beauty and The Beast didn’t seem so important.
The day went by in a blur. It took every ounce of concentration I had to not think about it. Even though I managed to get through class and rehearsal and no one asked why I was actually like a space cadet, I still couldn’t help but watch the clock every ten seconds. At least watching the clock kept me from watching out for Liam.
It still happened, much to my annoyance. I found myself quickly searching a room for him, or my heart skipping half a beat when he walked in. If our eyes happened to meet, they still lingered for half a second, but now, they held no warmth.
At exactly 2:55, I met Porsche at the front of the school.
“Do you think this is ok?” I asked, gesturing down to my outfit. “I mean, do I have time to change?”
“They want to see you, not your wardrobe. You look fine,” she assured me, placing a hand on my shoulder. It was only then that I noticed the band-aid on her arm.
“Are you ok?” I asked, pointing to it as we began to walk. It was a 25 minute walk to the audition studio.
“Sure,” she shrugged, pulling her sleeve over her hand and putting her thumb through one of the fashion-placed holes in the cuff. “A little infection a couple days ago. Nothing that an IV wouldn’t take care of.”
“I know that story. You’re still on AZT, right? Nothing yet?”
“I am,” she looked to me. “It’s nice to have someone who actually understands the medical jargon.”
“Yeah.” I nodded, giving her a grin. “It is.”
Porsche took a deep breath, looking me up and down before continuing.
“It doesn’t really matter anyway. I’ll live my life and then when it comes to its natural end, Liam turns me.”
I knew that. In the back of my mind, I had known that about her. He had told me. But hearing her say it out loud was still shocking.
“But why would you go through all of it?” I asked. “Once the disease descends into full blown AIDS, it’s going to be brutal, and we all know that.”
“Because I will have all of eternity to be immortal,” she replied. “And a very short time to remember what being mortal is.”
I didn’t really know what to say to that, how to continue this conversation. It was surreal to be talking completely seriously about vampires.
“He’s a good person, Amy…” she started, and that’s when I caught her off.
“I really don’t want to talk about it, Porsche,” I snapped, shaking my head. “It happened, and it’s over. And it’s a lot more complicated than him simply being…what he is.”
“I get that,” her voice was still gentle, despite my tone.
“Well, you don’t, because you get to be immortal when it’s done,” I replied. She glanced at me, sharply.
“And you want that?”
“No!” The thought had never even crossed my mind. “Can we talk about something else?”
“Sure,” she looked away and despite our agreement, we lapsed into silence until we hit the audition studio. It was small, smaller than I had been expecting, and there were very few people in the waiting room when we walked in.
“Professional auditions are smaller,” Porsche told me, as she signed us in. “You usually have to have a resume a mile long and be personally known by the director.”
“Lucky me,” I said, as I took a seat. The other two people in the waiting room were beautiful male actors, probably not much older than me. I was grateful for the fact that we didn’t have to sit there with someone competing directly with us, and so I settled in comfortably, watching them warm up. “Are you guys dancers?” I asked when I had caught their gaze one too many times.
“Yes,” One of them, the more beautiful of the two, I felt, nodded. He had dark hair and light blue eyes that contrasted beautifully with his dark skin. “Are you?”
“No.” I shook my head. “She is, though,” I said, indicating Porsche, who uncrossed her legs and smiled, although it was tight lipped.