Three Girls And A Leading Man (13 page)

“She has a previous engagement
tonight, but at our next rehearsal, you’ll be meeting our stage manager,
Christina Goodwin. She’s the best in the area.”

There were a lot of murmurs at
that. Even I knew who Christina Goodwin was. She had worked
everywhere
. That nervous feeling was
starting to return with a vengeance. It was hard not to think that I was out of
my league here.

To make matters worse, Jenner
decided that we should go around the room and introduce ourselves. Of course,
the other actors took this as an opportunity to share the greatest hits of
their resume. As one middle-aged woman droned on and on about her experiences
doing summer stock with the Berkshire Theater Festival, Tyler kicked me under
the table. I suppressed my grin.

Once everyone had had their chance
to brag, we got down to the read-through. I had read bits and pieces of the
script from the callback materials I had gotten, but not quite enough to get a
feel for the quality of the work. Within a few scenes I knew that the play was
amazing, totally up my alley. It was emotional and poignant but also funny and
satirical. Very, very clever. I felt my unease melting away as I enveloped
myself in the story. How had I gotten so lucky to be chosen for this?

After the read-through, Jenner and
Tabitha wanted us to talk about our characters—how we saw them, what we
thought might be motivating their actions. It was a little scary, having only
read the script once, but Jenner’s enthusiasm and easy attitude was contagious.
Soon I was happily brainstorming with the rest of the cast, my inhibitions
forgotten.

All in all, it was a cool first
rehearsal. I felt like I was already well on my way to getting to know my
character and the script. I no longer felt so intimidated by the other actors;
my worry was replaced by excitement. And the idea of possibly taking this show
out of Detroit, maybe even to New York…it was the kind of thing that I couldn’t
even let myself imagine.

After we had said our goodbyes,
everyone headed off to their respective cars—except for the brunette girl
(whose name, incidentally, was Jasmine), who instead hovered around Jenner as
he and his associates gathered their materials and made plans for the following
night.

“She’s something else, isn’t she?”
Tyler asked me as we headed down the stairs into the main bar. “I’ve worked
with her before and she’s always this way—trying to align herself with
the most powerful guy in the room. I can’t believe her head didn’t explode when
she found out she’d be working with Collins.”

“Do you know him at all?” I asked,
glancing over my shoulder to make sure none of the others were behind us.
“Jenner? Is he the type to hook up with a groupie like that?”

“I haven’t worked with him, but he
doesn’t have that kind of reputation, from what I hear.”

“Good,” I said, holding the door
open for Tyler. “I hope he rejects her and she’s humiliated.”

Tyler laughed. “Wow, you’re a lot
more competitive than I thought.”

“Damn straight,” I replied as we
walked out into the cool evening air. “Mmm,” I said, pausing for a moment on the
sidewalk. “I love the smell of fall in the air.”

“Me too,” Tyler agreed. “It’s the
perfect time for hanging out and having a beer.” He looked at me with raised
eyebrows, as if offering an invitation.

“Maybe we could do that sometime,”
I told him with a smile, effectively shooting him down while still leaving the
possibility of changing my mind. It was a favorite tactic of mine in dealing
with cute boys that had the potential of being dangerous.

As we reached our cars, Tyler gave
me a little smirk. “I’ll hold you to that,” he said, then turned and was gone.

Chapter Seventeen

“Is there anything else I should be
doing?” I asked Jen, looking around at her piles of plastic bags, notebooks,
and card stock.

“Nope, I think we should be pretty
much set,” she said, looking down at her notebook. “Oh, wait, on second
thought, would you mind giving me a hand with the guest list? I want to make
sure I have everyone important.”

Jen and I were sitting in the
living room, going through the final preparations for the benefit. She and Kiki
had been working on the event for the last several days, and I had a feeling
they had already put in more hours than their paltry budget allowed for.

“Okay, read me the names,” I said.

As Jen went through the list of
guests she had invited, I checked each name against the list Marilyn had given
me.

Towards the end of her reading, she
got to my personal guests.

“Okay, then we have myself, Matt,
Kiki and Eric, Ginny and Josh. Is that all? You didn’t invite your mom?”

“No,” I said, suppressing a shudder
at the thought. I paused for a moment. “So all the significant others are
coming too?”

She looked at me in surprise.
“Well, yeah. I mean, I thought that was…is that okay?”

“Of course,” I said hurriedly. I
shouldn’t have been surprised. Of course Ginny and Jen and Kiki were going to
want to bring their guys along. I just hadn’t realized I would be the only
single one of my friends.
 

I checked back through the list and
realized that I would probably be the only single one period, even including
the other theater employees and the donors.

I sighed a little, and regretted it
when Jen heard me. “Seriously, Annie, if you want this to be just a girls thing
that’s totally fine. I’m sure no one will mind.”

“No,” I said firmly. “Of course I
don’t want that. Please. You guys don’t need to feel bad for me.” She looked at
me with slightly raised eyebrows. “I chose this whole single thing, you know?”
I told her. “I always have fun at a party, dateless or not.”

“I just don’t understand why you
are dateless,” she said.

“What do you mean?’ I asked.

“I mean Nate, of course!” she said.
“Why isn’t he coming with you?”

“Jen,” I groaned. She had brought
up Nate no less than a dozen times in the week since I had last seen him.

“Annie,” she mimicked. “I don’t get
it. I mean, you both clearly like each other. What’s the big deal?”

“There is no big deal,” I told her.
“I’m just busy. You know that I have rehearsals every night.”

It was true. Since I had found out
I’d been cast in the show, I had been working my butt off. When I wasn’t at
official rehearsals I was studying my lines. I had even met up with some of the
other actors at a coffee house to work on getting off-book.

“You don’t have rehearsal the night
of the benefit,” she said. “So it sounds like the perfect time to see him.”

I sighed. She had a point. But
after I had blown him off so spectacularly the last time…

“What is it?” she asked, watching
my face closely. “I know that expression, Annie. What did you do?”

“I was a little rude to him last
time I saw him,” I admitted. “I had just found out about the show and I was in
a hurry to get home and tell you. I guess I blew him off. He didn’t seem too
happy about it.”

“So call and apologize,” she said.
Jen always made everything sound so simple.

Before I could respond, there was a
sound on the front porch. “You expecting someone?” I asked.

There was really no need to ask.
Her entire face had lit up in the way it only did when Matt was around. Sure
enough, a second later he was opening the door. I guess he’d taken my advice
about not needing to knock.

“Hi, girls,” he said pleasantly.

Jen was already up on her feet,
rushing forward to hug him as if she hadn’t seem him in days, though in fact I
had spotted him in my kitchen in his boxer shorts that very morning.

“Hey, Annie,” he said, coming over
to sit on the couch after they had kissed a million times. “How’s it going?”

“Pretty good,” I replied. “Jen and
I were just going over some of the final details for the benefit.”

He scrunched up his nose a little
bit. “Do I have to wear a suit to this thing?”

“Of course not,” I laughed. “Wear
whatever you want.”

Jen made a face behind his back
that made me think I’d be seeing Matt in a suit no matter what. I hid a smile.

“So what are you guys up to
tonight?” I asked, stretching my legs out against the floor. I’d had an early
afternoon rehearsal so for once I had a free evening.

“I was gonna make some dinner,” Jen
said. “Then we were planning to stay in and watch a movie.”

“You in?” Matt asked me politely.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw
his hand resting lightly on Jen’s knee. Something about the casualness, the
easiness, of that position made my heart ache a little. Suddenly I had no
desire to be in the room with them for a second more.

“I don’t think so,” I said. “I
really want to be off- book for rehearsal tomorrow. I think I’ll just shut
myself up in my room.”

“Are you sure?” Jen asked. “You
won’t even eat with us?”

“Nah,” I said, wondering if I had
ever once in my life turned down Jen’s amazing cooking. “Save me something?”

“Sure,” she said.

I caught her expression and noted
that she seemed concerned for me. I shrugged it off and headed to my room. Once
there, I lay down on my bed, throwing my hand over my eyes.

What was wrong with me? Since when
did I feel jealous of my friends? I was revisited by that same emotion I had
when watching Ginny and Josh the day Kiki told us about Vegas. It was strange
and I wasn’t sure that I liked it.

My mind wandered involuntarily to
Nate. I had been missing him this week, in a way that scared me. It was so
unlike me to spend so much time thinking about a guy. Then again, it was unlike
me to spend so much time with any one guy.

Is
that really a bad thing?
I wondered. I mean, it wasn’t like I wanted to
marry him. Would it really be so bad to have a boyfriend? It didn’t have to be
any huge, serious deal. I thought back to his words our last night in Vegas.
We have fun together. Why can’t that fun
continue in Detroit?

Well, why couldn’t it? If he could
be understanding about my need to rehearse, and to spend time with my friends
and Danny, why couldn’t I see him sometimes?

That is, if he even wanted to see
me. I had been pretty rude to him. Maybe he’d had enough of me. The thought
made me feel strangely anxious. Nervous, almost. For some reason I couldn’t
quite place, I really did not like the idea of Nate being upset with me.

Before I could talk myself out of
it, I grabbed my phone and found him in the contacts. While it rang, I held my
breath.

“Hello?” he finally said. I felt a
rush of relief.

“Hi, Nate,” I stammered. “It’s
uh…it’s Annie.”

Hearing his voice had done nothing
to help with my nerves. What was wrong with me?

“Hey, Annie,” he said. His voice
wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t exactly warm, either. It sure didn’t sound like he
had been dying to hear from me. Damn. Maybe this had been a mistake.

“How have you been?” I asked.

“Pretty good,” he replied. “Work’s
been busy. How about you? How’s the play?”

“Really good,” I told him. “I’ve
been really bogged down with it.”

“But you’re enjoying yourself?” he
asked, and there was a definite edge to his voice now.

“It’s a really good show,” I told
him. “I feel really lucky to be a part of it. I hope that you’ll be able to
come see it.”

“I’m sure I will,” he said, his
voice softer now. “So, what’s up?”

“Well, I was wondering if you had
plans on Friday,” I told him, crossing my fingers. “I know it’s short notice…”

“I was going to meet some friends
for a drink after work,” he said, and my heart fell. “But nothing’s set in
stone…”

“I have this benefit,” I said in a
rush. “For the theater. A fundraising kind of thing where we honor our donors.
It will probably be pretty boring but I wondered if you might want to come with
me.”

“Wow, you really know how to sell
an event, Annie,” he said, and I noticed that the slight teasing tone I had
become so familiar with was back in his voice. For some reason, it made me feel
happy.

“Maybe I should rephrase,” I said,
laughing a little. “I’m going to this super glamorous, super exciting benefit
on Friday and I just happen to have an extra ticket. There will be a ton of
really interesting, very cool people there. Including the billionaire David
Barker and his glamorous heiress daughter. If you play your cards right, I
might just give that ticket to you.”

“Oh my God,” he breathed. “Would
you really?”

I laughed again, and was pleased to
hear his own warm chuckle on the other end of the line.

“Well,
now
you’ve sold me,” he said. “What time is this thrilling event?”

I told him the details. “Want me to
meet you there or pick you up?” he asked.

Hmm, meeting there was definitely
the safest option. But if we went together maybe the night wouldn’t have to end
with the benefit. The thought of having Nate stay over sent a little thrill
though me.

“Would you mind picking me up?” I
asked casually. “If it’s not out of your way, that is.”

“Nope, you’re directly on the way,”
he replied. “So I’ll pick you up at seven?”

“Perfect,” I said, smiling broadly.

“I’m glad you called, Annie,” he
said, his voice softer.

“I’m glad I did, too,” I admitted.
“And I’m glad you can come with me.”

“I’ll see you in a few days,” he
said.

After I hung up my phone, I
stretched out on the bed, feeling much better about things.

I pulled out my script, deciding
that I may as well do what I had told Jen and get my lines nailed down. As I
opened to the first scene, I caught a whiff of the unmistakable smell of Jen’s
lasagna.