Once Upon a Time

“Wake up sleepy head.”

I groaned, I slowly opened one eye and looked into the dark eyes of my oldest friend/bitch of a room mate who’d just woken me up. She was smiling, far too happily in my opinion.

“What the hell Lea, what do you want?” I tried desperately to pull the comforter up over my head. It was far too bright, this East facing bedroom was crap and even though I’d only been here for 3 days I’d already put blackout curtains on my list of things to purchase.

“It’s time to get up silly.”

I knew it was a mistake, relenting and pulling the comforter down. The alarm clock on my nightstand read 7:42AM. What… the… hell.

“Ryan wants us on set by 9 to go over numbers and all that.”

Oh yes. I’d almost forgotten about my job. I groaned and threw the covers off of myself, noting how chilly it currently was. I shooed Lea away and headed into the bathroom to get dressed for what was bound to be an awful day.

I hate to sound as though I’m not appreciative, I truly am, but at 7:42 in the morning appreciative was a hard emotion to conjure. It had been roughly 3 days since I’d moved to LA. Lea had been a friend of mine since I’d been 8 and she 11 and we’d worked together in an off Broadway production of Annie. I still remember Lea at 11 years old, angered and dismayed by the fact that I had been playing Annie. Jealousy was definitely a strong suit of hers, it always had been. It was one of the many qualities I admired in her. When she’d left me in New York to move out to LA, I’d been rather disappointed. I’m sure the disappointment was almost as raging as the amount my mother had had when I dropped out of Tisch School of Music. However, when your best friend calls and says “We need dancers for this new show I’m on. My director wants you to come try out.” You can’t really deny such a request.

I hurriedly showered, throwing my wet hair into a ponytail and pulling on my standard dance gear, black tights, loose black tank top and per Ryan’s request sneakers instead of my dance shoes.

Lea was already waiting for me, sitting at the breakfast bar eating her normal breakfast of oatmeal and yogurt. I saw sitting beside her my thermos with some half and half and Splenda, and realized exactly why I loved the girl as much as I did.

“I’m ready.” I stated, pouring the half and half into the termos and stirring it quickly with my index finger. Lea laughed as she threw her spoon and bowl into the dishwasher and led us out of the apartment.

“What do you think would happen if you went one morning without coffee?” she asked as we hurried down the stairs of the building, stupid walk up.

“Mass chaos ensuing in holocaustic fashion.” I mused before taking a sip of the strong dark liquid, Lea sure knew how to make a cup of coffee just how I liked it.
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“You don’t seriously expect me to wear this?”

It was my fist time in wardrobe. Lea was busy with Paul, the vocal coach, and after Len, the choreographer, had tired of me had sent me down here to get fitted for wardrobe since filming started in less than a week.

Looking down at the skimpy red uniform, I wanted to vomit, or run away, or both. I looked up at Lena, I couldn’t blame her, this is after all what Ryan wanted. I grabbed the hanger from Lena and rushed into the changing room. I slipped the short red skirt and matching red bloomers on and looked at myself in the mirror.
“If only my mother could see me know.” I chuckled to myself before pulling the top on. It was slightly tight, if slightly consisted of barely being able to breathe and my breasts being flattened against my chest like flap jacks. I didn’t even want to walk out, the only thing getting me through this fitting was the fact that I was done with my portion of rehearsals after this, as was Lea.

Lena stuck me mercilessly for a good 15 minutes trying to alter the fit of the skirt, which was too big and seeing which seams she could let out on the top so that I would’ve hypervenalate during the dance numbers. According to Lena, this would not be a problem, I decided to take her word for it and after I was finished made my way to the set to get Lea.

She seemed to still be busy at work with Paul as I made my way into the rehearsal room, and I sat down in one of the plastic chairs and got out my phone. I didn’t notice how long it was before she was finally done, too concentrated on trying to beat a level on Angry Birds that had been pissing me off for the last two weeks.
“Elle!” Lea’s excited voice finally broke me from my concentration and I put my phone away, ready to shower and take a nap. “So Diana wants to get everyone together tonight. Go out to dinner, maybe to a club afterwards. So I told her we were in.”

I couldn’t help but groan, not that I didn’t enjoy the company of the cast. I just felt like a mild outsider. I wasn’t acting, I wasn’t a part of that cast, I was merely a dancer and I still wasn’t sure how long that gig would last.

“You’ll live drama queen.” Lea smiled, taking my arm and leading me out of the building and into her car. During the ride I found out I’d have a little less than 4 hours before we would be going out. Just enough time for a nap.

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Lea finally managed to wake up from my nap about an hour before we were set to meet up with everyone. Apparently, they’d decided to go to a karaoke bar. Diana had managed to get everyone to come out including Kevin, which apparently was a mighty feat to have accomplished. They were currently sitting around one of the large tables at the front of the stage, Lea and Diana diving deep into the songbook that they’d stolen from the host that evening. I’d left them and situated myself at the bar. It was a Thursday night, I wouldn’t have assumed this place would have been so incredibly busy on a Thursday evening, but it was making it incredibly difficult to get a drink. I’d been standing, patiently waiting, for roughly 15 minutes while scantily dressed slut after scantily dressed slut got served when I felt someone stand beside me. I looked over to see a young man at my side, he was looking ahead at the bar as he raked a hand through his unruly dark curls. He looked… interesting.

When his face turned to meet mine, I felt the blush rise to my cheeks and cursed my mother for the pale complexion that made it all the more noticeable. I couldn’t help but to look back up to see a smile on his face.

“How long have you been waiting here?” he asked. He turned his body towards me slightly and I unconsciously felt myself doing the same.

“Too long. I guess I should’ve dressed in something made of polyester that I bought in the kids section if I expected to get a drink tonight.”

He laughed, it was one of those hearty full laughs, his smile was wide and his eyes crinkled up slightly. “What’s your poison?”

“I can buy my own drink thank you.”

“So you’re one of those.” He countered. I looked at him, raising a brow at him questioningly. I wasn’t sure where this conversation was going. “A feminist? Either that or you think I’m trying to get into your pants, which just in case you were wondering wasn’t my end game here.”

I knew the look on my face must’ve held a hint of the offense I felt from his comment, but as I looked into his eyes, they were some hazel green combo, I could tell he was joking. “A Long Island.”

“Someone likes to go hard.” He mused. Surprisingly, he managed to get the attention of the bartender within a few minutes and I had a drink at my side not to late after that.

“So did you have to sell a kidney to get this so quickly.” I smirked before taking a large gulp of the drink, it was strong, just as I liked it.

“Bartender’s a friend of mine.”

“Friends in low places.”

“You could say that. You here by yourself tonight?”

“No.” I started, pointing towards my friends at the table, Lea still seemed to be going through the song book. More than likely trying to find something to blow away the crowd, that was my Lea. “Friends/Work outing.”

“Where do you work?” he asked. He lifted the glass up to his lips and took a small drink, from the smell I could tell it was bourbon. Man had good tastes.

“You can’t laugh at the cliché. I’m a dancer on some new show and that’s some of the cast.”

“No judgement. I’m an actor as well. I think everyone in LA has some sort of ulterior motive for being here.”

“Same as New York.” I stated. “Only people in New York tend to dress a little better.”

Our conversation continued on for another 30 minutes, him telling me about his recent move to LA, his production company he started with some friends from College, and about some Harry Potter musical they’d posted on YouTube and allowed him the ability to move out here. I gave him a quick rundown on Lea getting me a job on this show, giving as much information has I could without breaking the confidentiality agreement Ryan had us sign, and my dropping out of Tisch.

Our conversation was rudely interrupted by Lea as she ran hurriedly up to the bar.
“I signed us up to sing a song. Come on!” she grabbed my hand in an attempt to pull me with her. I held up a finger, signaling I’d be there in a moment and turned to the man beside me.

“That’s your friend?” he laughed. I nodded and finished off what was left of my Long Island. “She’s ugh… energetic.”

“That’s the nicest way to say it. It was nice meeting you…” I stalled, realizing I’d never gotten this stranger’s name.

“Darren.” He finished.

“Elle.” I held out my hand to Darren, he shook his head no and extended his hand to me.

“Phone.”

Hesitantly I took my phone from my purse and handed it to him. He made quick work of whatever he was doing and handed the phone back to me with a smile.
“You have a good evening Elle.”

He pulled me into a quick hug and gave me a kiss on the cheek before turning and walking away. My mind was buzzing, unsure of what exactly just happened when my phone vibrated in my hand.

Darren: don’t leave your friend waiting to long. Would hate to make a bad first impression ;)

I couldn’t help but smile, the cheeky little bastard.
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