Next to You

Jess P.O.V

“This is absolutely ridiculous.” My best friend said, as she sat there on the floor picking out the onions from her McDonalds burger. Yeah, we don’t have much furniture yet. “I freaking hate it when they peel the whole fucking onion on your burger.”

I looked up from eating my fries and reading at the classifieds to laugh at her.

“That is why you say without onion.” I said. “Like me, I say I don't want any lettuce so I avoid the onion.”

Nicole laughed, throwing her burger on the greasy paper. “There is no point, it’s like they baked the onion into the bread.” she said.

She got up off the floor and came over to sit next to me, looking over my shoulder at the newspaper.

“There is nothing in here.” I said to Nicole, shaking my head and turning the page. “I really want to go back home, but I don't want to prove anyone right.”

Nicole nodded, as I let her take the newspaper away from me. “We need to prove to everyone we can do this.” She said turning the pages, “Here, what about this one for you? The auditions are running all today.”

I put down the box of fries, leaning over her shoulder as she turned the newspaper towards me a bit, so I could read what she was pointing to. “Fuse Modern Dance Company: dancers wanted for music video.” I said aloud, reading the title.

I thought for a second and looked at Nicole, who gave me an encouraging nod.

“Read it!” She said quickly, “This music video will be playing nationally as well as abroad, so it would be a great opportunity if you are looking for exposure. All applicants must provide a phone number, profile photo and must be between the ages of 18-25.” She stopped reading and looked up at my face to see my reaction. “That is pretty much your whole resume.”

“That does sound good.” I sighed. “Do you think I should go check it out?”

“Yes!” Nicole answered. She stood up, grabbing the newspaper off the floor, throwing my leather jacket at me. “C’mon, we are wasting valuable audition time.”

I smiled and got up of the floor. “I’ll meet you downstairs; I’m just going to make myself more presentable.”

Nicole nodded as she walked out of the door closing it behind her. I went over to my many bags, which were sprawled out on the hard linoleum floor, and pulled out a pair of black tights; an oversized white jumper with a black tiger on the front; and my dancing shoes. I got changed rather quickly, not wanting to keep Nicole waiting, put up my air into a messy pony-tail, put on some light makeup. I quickly ran over to the pile of envelopes that were on the floor, grabbing 10 for Nicole, and 10 for myself. Back in Dallas, we had copied about 100 resumes each. I remember that day like it was just yesterday.

Nicole and I wanted to study music and dance at college, but the school we went to didn’t offer the right prerequisites. So, the summer after we graduated we decided to move to Los Angeles. Both of our families thought that we couldn’t do it; that we’d get halfway to L.A and we’d want to go home. We spent a whole day writing up our own resumes and putting them into envelopes.

“It’s about time.” Nicole said. The elevator doors opened to reveal her leaning against the hard granite wall. I smiled, throwing the 10 envelopes at her, as we stepped out onto the sunny Los Angeles street. There were people almost everywhere, and it wasn’t hard to spot the tourists; camera’s in hand, pointing at everything interesting.

“So, what is the address?” I asked.

Nicole grabbed out the map which she seemed to have, and started to trace her finger over the top of it slowly. “It should be just down the road.”

We both looked up from the map, and stared down the busy street. Last week, we got lost trying to find this one audition - I have a feeling we were going to get lost this time too. We started walking, trying to dodge the many people who filled the streets. “Are we even going the right way?” I said.

We stopped on the corner after we crossed the road. “I have no idea.” Nicole said. We both were turning around, looking in every direction, trying to find something to signify where we are.

“Over there?” I said. I pointed across the intersection at a building next to IN-N-OUT Burger, which had ‘Fuse Modern Dance Company’ right across it, in big bold black lettering. Nicole nodded, as we once again crossed the intersection. “Oh my GOD! I am so nervous.”

Nicole gave me a comforting smile and rubbed my back as we walked up to the building. “You’ll be fine, you’re a fantastic dancer.” I gave her a small smile back, as we walked into the building. It was cold inside and the air smelt like fresh paint. Nicole and I looked at each other, and walked up to the reception. A young blonde woman with glasses sat there at her desk, typing on her computer hastily.

“Hello, how can I help you?” the receptionist with Barbara on her nametag, asked.

“Hi.” I smiled. I took the newspaper from Nicole and showed Barbara. “I’m here for this audition.”

“Ah yes, of course.” She smiled, getting up off her swivel leather chair, turning behind her to get out papers from the filing cabinet. “Are both of you auditioning?”

Nicole shook her head. “Uh, no that will just be me.” I smiled. Barbara smiled back at me, and placed the papers down, with a clipboard.

“If you could just fill this out, we can get you all sorted.” She handed me a pen, “Do you have a resume?”

“Oh yes, of course!” I handed Barbara the large envelope and she grabbed it gratefully.

“I think you’re one of the first participator to actually bring in a resume.” Barbara smiled. I smiled back at her, taking the papers off her desk and waking over to a group of chairs in front of a table with flowers and pamphlets.

“She was a bit cheerful.” Nicole said, sitting down next to me on the chair. I smiled, and started to fill out the forms. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve filled out these forms I’d be a millionaire by now. I filled out the papers within 5 minutes, handed it back to Barbara who lead me through heaps of corridors to a door that said “dance studio 4”.

“Okay, you can go in whenever you want.” Barbara said. “Good luck!”

I smiled at her, as she turned her back to the both of us. I looked at Nicole who smiled excitedly. “You’ll be great.” Nicole said. “I’ll wait out here for you! Now go, they are waiting.”

I nodded, turning to face the door, taking a deep breath. I gripped my hand around the silver door handle, and turned it, stepping into the dance studio.

There were a panel of 5 people to my left, as they all shuffled through their papers. There were 2 males and 3 females; all in their late thirties to early forties; all looking tired and annoyed, which made me even more nervous. I held my hands together, walking in the middle of the room.

“Hi, when you are ready.” One of them women said to me. I flashed them a smile, looking down at my feet while taking a deep breath in. The music started to blare through the big room.

This is now or never.

Nicole’s P.O.V

I leaned against the white wall, looking at all the pictures, waiting for Jess to finish. People kept walking past, asking me what I was doing here and to be honest it was getting quite annoying. After 5 minutes, the music from inside the dance studio stopped and Jess stepped out. She was all hot and sweaty!

“How did it go?” I asked. She closed the door, and I handed her a water bottle which I got from the vending machine, as we started to walk back through the corridors.

“Okay I guess.” Jess sighed. “I don’t know if I got it or not...”

“Hey, I’m sure you were great.” I said. “What did they say?”

“That I’ve gone on the call back list.” Jess said. I turned to her shocked, and started screaming. “Don’t get too excited! There are 4 other people on there; they said they weren’t going to promise anything.”

“Yeah, but still, it’s better than nothing.” I said. We had finally made it out of the building, smiling at Barbara, stepping out onto the L.A street again. “Sometimes what you want, isn’t what you get, but in the end what you get is so much better than what you wanted.”

“I guess so.” Jess sighed. “Wow, Nicole. I never knew you to be so serious.” We started walking to the left, in the opposite direction which we came from.

“Yeah I surprise myself sometimes.” I smiled. “What do you want to do now?”

“I think it’s time for some window shopping.” Jess nodded. I laughed, as we linked arms walking down the street, looking in the various windows.

“It’s a pity we can’t afford anything though.” I said. Jess and I stared at a lovely YSL bag.

“One day.” Jess sighed. We both started walking again casually, when I noticed an ‘AUDITIONS INSIDE’ sign, just across the street.

“Hey, over there!” I said. Jess looked at me, to see where I was pointing.

“Oh my god.” Jess said. “C’mon, let’s go!”

We both ran across the street, as the traffic subsided and stepped into the almost 10 story building. We didn’t even have time to look around the place, when a young Asian woman came rushing up to us. “Are you the last 2 for the auditions?”

Jess looked at me, and I nodded. “Yes, so sorry we are late.”

The Asian rolled her eyes. “Where are your resumes?” Jess and I handed them to her, startled, as she grabbed us by the arms, leading us through many corridors. Jess and I glared her, as we got to a door. “Now who is the singer and who is the dancer?”

“The singer will be me!” I said slowly, raising my hand in the air with caution. She shoved papers into my hand, pushing me into the room.

“You are on first.” She said. “Now go, and fill those out too.”

She turned around to face Jess, who was trying not to laugh, as I rolled my eyes at the Asian woman. I turned around, filling out the papers as I walked, when I realised I was standing in the middle of a massive stage, with 3 lights on me. “Oh my goodness.” I whispered to myself. I let my hands fall to my side, raising my hand to cover my eyes, trying to see who was in the audience.

A young woman with brown hair, an older woman with white hair, and 3 males: one of them looking like that Ryan Butler guy Jess is in love with. I started to wonder what I was auditioning for, when I looked to my right and saw Jess with the Asian woman, trying to keep up with what she was saying.

“Uh, hi.” I smiled; giving the people in front of me a small wave, turning to the front again.

“Hi, sweetheart. We’d introduce ourselves, but I think you know who we are by now.” The older woman said. I tried not to laugh, because clearly I had no idea who these people were.

“You are the last singer we are seeing for today, I hope you amaze us.”

“I’ll try my best.” I smiled. A small woman came out of nowhere, and grabbed the papers from my hand, bringing them over to the people in front of me.

“What will you be singing today?” She asked me.

“I’ll be singing If I Ain’t Got You, by Alicia Keys.” I nodded.

The woman leaned back in her seat, as all the people leaned forward, ready to listen to me. I suddenly felt nervous, as I begun singing. Auditioning for something I had no idea what I was in for.