The Cast Mate

In the morning, Silver was sitting at the island in their apartment, staring into her cup of coffee. She was upset. She had wanted to keep that part of her life a secret from them. She was a little embarressed about singing on stage. That was why neither she or Sam, Nick, or Winston ever invited family or other friends to see them. They were all a little embarrassed. When her phone went off, she picked it up off the counter and grimaced when she saw Norman's name. She closed her eyes and cleared her throat.

" Hey." Her voice sounded quiet. He sat back in his couch. He put one hand behind his head and smiled to himself.

" Hey, are you busy? Did I call at a bad time?" He asked.

" No." She said. She was going to wait for him to bring it up.

" You sound tired." You should be, you were rocking last night, he thought.

" I guess I am. Late night." She said.

" Yeah, I had a late one too." Norman said. " So I know you said you couldn't go out Friday or Saturday nights so I'm asking you to come out and get lunch with me." Silver couldn't help but smile and blush.

" What time?" She asked.

" I could pick you up at noon." He said. Silver bit her lip.

" Yeah, okay." She said.

" Alright, cool. So I will see you than." He said.

When he picked her up, her stomach was a mess. She didn't know what to say about the band, she didn't know what he thought about it. Did he think it was stupid that she was in a band? They had rode the elevator down in silence. She was holding onto the straps of her bag, he had his hands in his pockets and was staring at the floor numbers as they ticked by. They walked outside and rode to the little cafe in silence.

They ordered drinks and lunch, still not talking much. He had been glancing up at her, not sure if he should say anything to her about seeing her or let her bring it up. He didn't think she knew that they were there but she was acting strange. Maybe she didn't like him like he liked her. When their drinks were brought, she rolled her cup between her hands and stared into the water.

" I saw you." She finally said.

" Ah, where?" Norman asked. She tilted her head and looked at him.

" You know where." She said. He smiled and chuckled as he leaned forward. Both his arms were resting on the table and his hands were linked loosely together.

" Yeah, so that was amazing." He said. " Why didn't you ever tell us you were in a band?" She shook her head and dropped her eyes again.

" I didn't want you guys to know." She admitted.

" Why not?" He asked. She shook her head again and sat back. She started playing with the table cloth.

" Well, most people think it's stupid that we are 29 and 30 and in a band."

" I don't. Sean doesn't. You guys were great. Look how many people love you. And you're good. You seem to love it on stage." Silver sighed and met his eyes again.

" Just do me a favor, don't tell anyone else. And tell Sunny that if he tells anyone I'm going to kick his ass." She said, making him smile.

They talked together throughout their lunch. He asked more questions about their band and she was surprised at how into it he seemed to be. He was easy to talk to about it. She and her roommates had kept the band a secret from people they knew for so long it felt weird talking about it so openly. But she answered all his questions with a shy smile. She dropped her eyes a few times feeling embarrassed by it but he seemed excited about her band. At the end of the lunch, he paid for it even though she wanted to pay for hers.

That was when Norman got really confused. He had wanted their lunch to be a date but she didn't seem to have picked up on that. He had to wonder, did she like him or not? Maybe he wasn't trying hard enough. He liked her...a lot. He wanted to be around her more. Maybe he should just come right out and tell her that he liked her, that he wanted to date her. But he wasn't the competely straight forward type of guy. He was a little shy and awkward and he knew it.

She wasn't that surprised when they showed up at the club that night and watched their show. They stayed in the back, letting the shadows help keep them covered but she knew it was them. Silver tried to ignore the nervous feeling in her stomach. She hoped she had just acted normally and thought she had. The fans were still going crazy.

When Sunday came, Norman had texted her asking her to go out to a bar with him. She had agreed then gotten ready quickly. Sam, Winston, and Nick were excited. They kept telling her he was asking her on dates but Silver refused to believe it. Why in the world would someone like him want to date a regular girl like her?

Once they settled into the bar and ordered drinks, he could tell she was nervous. She was looking around, and fidgeting. She hadn't been able to stand or sit still since he had picked her up. Neither spoke about them coming to concert but he was sure she had seen them. He thought she had looked over to them at least once.

" Okay, so I'm just going to come right out and talk. I don't like hinting around about this, or doging shit so I'm just going to say what I'm thinking." Silver said as soon as their drinks were set down.

" Okay." He said. She turned towards him but was staring into her drink. She seemed to be thinking for a few minutes.

" I'm very uncomfortable with you guys coming to the concerts." She said once she finally looked at him. "This is a part of my life that I like to keep hidden from people I know."

" But why? I mean, you guys are good. You could get a record deal and shit." He said. Silver shook her head as she looked at him.

" We don't want that. None of us do. We don't want a record deal, we don't want to travel around the country, we don't want to be sell outs, you know what I'm saying? We loved the fan base we have. It allows us the freedom to interact with them on a more personal level. We don't have to hide out in hotels because of there are storms of people looking for us. We don't want to have our pictures taken every five seconds. Can you understand that? Can you understand why we want to keep this private?" She asked.

" Actually," He said as he sighed and picked up his beer. " I can."

" See, the difference between you guys and me is I don't want to be in the spotlight. I fully intend on doing this movie, doing the interviews and shit that I said I would do, then fade back into the shadows. Soon after the movie comes out, I'm going to go from Who's that girl to There was a girl in that movie?" Norman smiled before he took a drink. " And I'm totally okay with that. I'm not out to own the world. We make enough from the gigs we do and our other jobs that we all live just fine. We make our own CD's for the dedicated fans, we put on the concerts and that's all."

" Have you ever been oftered a record deal?" He asked.

" Yes and after reading the fine print, we decided, as a group, to turn it down. They wanted to own us for the next five years. They had a list of songs they wanted us to perform. They were going to use some of our stuff but a lot of it was their own songs. They even had a certain way they wanted us to look. That just wasn't what we wanted." Silver said. He rested his left elbow on the counter and his head in his hand as he looked at her.

" So why did you audition for the movie if this isn't what you want?" Norman asked.

" I didn't. I was coming out of a store and ran full force into Troy. I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. He made this big deal about how I looked just as he pictured Aurora and asked if I would just read some of her lines for him. I thought, no big deal, sure thing. So I did. He said he was going to show the studio the tapes and again I thought, no big deal. I thought there was no way they would ever choose someone with no acting history." She explained.

" But they did." She nodded.

" They did and here I am. Troy begged me. He was I was perfect for her and I felt like I had no choice. Not that I regret it. Being around you guys is fun and it's been awesome to hang out and shit but after this movie is done, so am I." She said.

" So there are no deals you want? You don't care that you're a good actress and could make a shit ton of money in films." He made it a statement. Silver shook her head.

" Yeah, see, I don't think I'm that good. There are no deals I want and I don't think the movie roles are going to come pouring in."

" You have no idea, Silver, you really don't." He said as he dropped his arm. " You're good and we are just doing the read through. You're completely natural, I told you that before. You're funny, talented, beautiful and sexy. They are going to be calling you. Deals are going to be thrust your way. Magazines, interviews, TV shows, shit even playboy's going to call you." He said, making her laugh.

" Oh yeah, I'm completely playboy material." She said as she picked up her drink.

" I'm not going to say I won't buy the issue because I'd preorder it." He admitted without thinking.

He shook his head, blushed and looked away, feeling like a jackass. Silver set her drink down and started laughing. Something else struck him as strange with her. She really didn't seem to be picking up on anything he was saying. She didn't understand that he was hitting on her. She didn't think the things he was saying were true. He frowned slightly. Did She really not get that they were on a date? Did she not get that their lunch together was meant to be a date? She didn't get that he wasn't saying things to be nice. He was things because they were true. He thought she was funny, he thought she was talented, beautiful and crazy sexy.

" Anyway, to comment on your statement, I'm turning them all down. I'm content with my life as it is and the reason I brought this up is because I know the three of us are supposed to do a lot of interviews when the movie comes out. I had to sign an agreement to do a lot of them with you two and I don't want my band brought up. I don't want anything said about it."

" Even if it could earn you more fans?" He asked when he looked at her.

" I want to earn fans because they came to our concert and liked us not because I was once in a movie the great Sunny and TR." She said, making him smile.

" I can understand that. I really can. And before you ask, I will tell Sean to keep it quiet but we both bought your cd and we want to keep coming to the concerts." He said.

" Just keep a low profile while you're there then. I mean, I'm not so much worried about you because you seem to do it anyway but Sunny." She laughed and shook her head. " I don't need to tell you that he's loud and craves attention. We have had that talk." He nodded, still smiling.

" We have." He agreed.

" Okay, so now I feel better. I don't feel as tense or nervous." Silver admitted before taking a drink.

" Why were you nervous?" Norman asked.

" I didn't want to come off nasty or like I was putting you down for being an actor." She said.

" No worries, alright? It's just not what you want for your life and that's cool. You have a plan for yourself and I respect that. Now, can we just enjoy our night?" He asked. Silver smiled and nodded.