Beautiful Box Set

Chapter 9

Chapter 9

There’s an interview before the audition that Johnny blows. He can’t concentrate—his ears ring with shouts and every time he blinks, he sees the afterimage of a dozen flashes of light. His eyes are dry, his retinas burn. He sits next to Lou at a conference table, facing three people whose names he didn’t catch. Two women and one man, the guy so flaming, Johnny’s surprised he doesn’t spontaneously combust. And Lou’s worried about him?

Every other question, Johnny glances at his manager, fielding them his way. He doesn’t know what the execs across from them want to hear. What’s he been doing since his last acting gig? Working at a tanning salon, he starts to say, but Lou interrupts, glossing over that one to move onto the next. And the next. And the next. Damn, it’s worse than a job interview. Johnny thought he’d get ten minutes in front of a small audience to work his magic and they’d be on their way.

But no. After the interview, Johnny’s asked to wait a moment while they set up for the auditions. A half hour later, he’s led into a small room with nothing in it but the proverbial casting couch and three chairs. The execs each take a seat, leaving Johnny the couch. There’s a copy of the script beside him, and he’s given two minutes to read through the scene. His mind still chatters with the raucous crowd of paps that had bombarded him outside, and every time he thinks he’s found his focus, that sinuous voice trickles inside him again. Hey, Johnny. The more he remembers it, the more it sounds like Brett. He wants to call the photog, make sure he’s at his own studio and not hanging around outside this one, but he hasn’t had a moment alone since he entered the building. The audition is the first time Lou’s let him out of his sight, and now he has these three studio execs breathing down his neck….

“Johnny?” one of the women asks, startling him. “We’re ready when you are.”

Somehow, it all comes back to him—the lines are there when he opens his mouth, and his timing is flawless. He becomes the character without even trying, just loses himself in the part like he used to do. His head clears, his nerves dissolve, and he doesn’t read from the script, he lives it. He lets the moment carry him and the words ring true, every last one. He nails it on the first try, he knows he has it in the bag, and when he’s finished, both women daub at their eyes to keep tears from ruining their mascara. The man whose name Johnny hadn’t bothered to learn even stands as he claps. “Why you ever got out of the business, son, I’ll never know. But thank the Lord you’re back.”

Johnny’s grin threatens to split his face. “So did I get the part?”

That sobers them up. There’s talk of seeing the other auditions, and doing a screen test, and meeting with Roxy herself to make sure the chemistry is there. But Lou is ushered into the room and when he sits down on the couch next to Johnny, he claps a hand on Johnny’s knee that tells him the role is as good as his. It’s an old gesture Johnny remembers from when they worked together before—that hand signifies Lou thinks Johnny has it in the bag.

Now start the negotiations. Lou begins speaking in tongues almost, contracts and clauses and addendums that make Johnny’s head swim. Removing Lou’s hand from his knee, he clears his throat and says softly. “Excuse me.” Four sets of eyes turn his way, as if they had forgotten he were even there. Half-standing, Johnny asks, “Bathroom?”

“Down the hall, sweetie,” one of the women says with a smile.

A second later, she’s back to spouting studio-speak that Johnny can’t follow. He slips from the room, one hand already fishing out his cell. He dials Brett’s number and ducks inside the bathroom just as the phone starts to ring.

And ring. And ring. And ring. When the voice mail picks up, Johnny ends the call, then hits SEND twice to redial. He watches himself in the mirror above the sink as he listens to the tinny ring in his ear. The voice mail answers again, and he hangs up a second time.

And redials.

This time, Brett answers on the first ring. “Johnny,” he gasps, as if he’s just run to answer the phone. “Babe, what’s up? You know I’m in the middle of a shoot.”

“Sorry,” Johnny says, sounding anything but. “We just finished the audition.”

Brett waits a moment, but when Johnny doesn’t say anything else, he prompts, “And? How’d it go?”

“All right.”

Silence. Johnny wants him to ask something else, or say something intimate, make him feel good, but he’s busy, Johnny knows that, and in another minute or so, Lou’s going to come looking for him. Finally Brett asks, “Well? That’s it?”

Johnny shrugs, a movement Brett can’t see. He wonders if he should mention the paparazzi, but he doesn’t think the cameras would have the same effect on Brett as they did on him. Still, he wants to say something unexpected, something to keep his lover on the phone. “You ever heard of some chick named Roxy Greene?”

“That punk rocker with the TV show?” Brett laughs. “What’s she got to do with this? No—wait. Don’t tell me.”

A smile spreads across Johnny’s lips. “The movie I auditioned for?”

Brett laughs again, pleased. “No way. Johnny, that’s great! I heard rumors they were going to film something with her soon. Is that what you read for?”

“Yeah.” Brett’s laugh is infectious, and Johnny can’t stop grinning. Apparently this girl’s bigger than he thought. “Lou thinks it’ll be good exposure for me.”

“No s**t! That’s awesome.”

Brett falls silent, and for a moment, they listen to each other breathe. Johnny’s about to say something else, tell him the audition went well, tell him he practically has the part, when Brett clears his throat. “Listen, I’m really in the middle of things here. Are you still coming by or what?”

Johnny’s elation deflates, leaving behind a sour aftertaste he doesn’t care for one bit. Beads of water rim the sink; absently he runs his finger over them, smoothing them out. “We haven’t left yet.”

“Call me when you do. I have to go.”

Johnny flicks the water off his finger, aiming for the mirror. “I know.”

In his ear, Brett sighs. “Are you okay, Johnny?”

“Fine,” Johnny tells him. He decides Brett’s voice sounds nothing like the one he heard earlier, and that cheers him up a bit. “Fine, Brett. The audition went well. Lou’s in there talking semantics so I think I’ll probably get the part.”

“That’s great.” Brett sounds sincere, but Johnny wishes he were with him now, standing here, holding him. He wants to look into those warm eyes, feel those strong hands on his body, taste that tender mouth again. “Listen, I really have to go.”

“I know.” But still Johnny doesn’t hang up, doesn’t say anything to end the call. When Brett sighs again, Johnny swallows his pride and asks, “Will you stay with me again tonight?”

He’s afraid of what the answer might be, but Brett was the one who said they were boyfriends, didn’t he? And the smile is evident in the photog’s voice when he replies, “Do you even have to ask?”