Brielle Smith

About a couple of minutes past twelve noon, I got a call from my manager at the agency where I was registered.

Alec had said Ben wanted me at the studio in half an hour. There had been a kind of agreement I wasn't sure of yet, and it wasn't like Alec would tell me about it over the phone or even in person. That tight-lipped guy.

The only thing he felt I needed to know was what he had said, "Hey, Brielle, go back to the studio now. Ben wants you there in thirty minutes," like that wasn't tension on its on.

I was cabbing it down there. Well, yeah, I had a car—a good car, but I never enjoyed driving. It was one of those things. Take swimming for example; those that enjoyed it, and those that learned it for safety reasons.

"Keep the change," I said to the cab driver and climbed down.

The street was tree-lined and quiet. I stopped looking around and faced the people—crew—that lurked the premises with giant cameras, doing work.

Getting inside, I wondered how this kind of chaos could be in a quiet street. It was good chaos, though. Productivity.

Alec was already waiting inside, discussing god-knew what. As soon as I saw his rusty gold hair, I grabbed my bag firmly and stepped up to him. "Hi, Brielle." He immediately walked me to a secluded corner.

"What's going on?" I looked around and then at him, tension rising. All their supposed jocular faces looked stern. "Did I do something wrong?"

He palmed his face. "No, Brielle, something exciting happened." Okay? "You know that you put in for Natasha's role in Wild Reverence?"

I nodded. I could not even guess where this was going, but since he'd said exciting, I needed to calm down. "Was I selected?"

"That's the thing." He grabbed my shoulder with delight and said, "They don't want you as Natasha. They want you to play Ashley..."

Before I would gasp, I heard an 'if', so I became attentive again.

"...and only if you nail an audition right here, right now."

"Oh, what?"

It was too much to process. Ashley was the lead character. She was the book itself. It started with her and probably ended with her. Let's forget that for a moment and talk about the loads of sex scenes, sorry...extreme sex scenes she and Cullen would have. I wasn't down for all of that, even though it was a big opportunity.

It could make me a star real quick because Ben was Ben—good at what he did, but could I strip myself on set and have a man I wasn't dating hover me, and he'd pretend to love whatever he'd be seeing, irrespective of his preferences as a man and not a character?

Christ. "I had enrolled Natasha, not Ashley Grant."

"Honestly—" I hated him saying that, his honesty was too honest for me—"I didn't enroll you for Natasha's role. You deserve better than that, Brielle."

I knew it. His honesty was always too honest. Why would he do that behind me? "You're supposed to consult me first, aren't you?" I found the balls to ask, and he nodded. "So why didn't you at least prepare my mind for it."

"Yes, I weakly thought it was too huge for you, since you have never been a lead character, but I remained positive."

I laughed tensely.

Dreams. Only in dreams did things like this happen. I had even been eating ice cream when his call came in, so yeah. It still wasn't sounding real to me. Not until Ben started walking down with an inviting smile.

"Relax, Brielle. We don't bite," he said and then pointed to where he had come from. Only god knew what expression was on my face. "Those are the three other people you need to impress. That's Mike, the producer; that's Gideon, the casting director. We call him Giddy. And that's—you may already know him—Dylan Walker."

I freaking froze. Dylan Walker. Like the actual Dylan Walker that starred in Prudence, Sacred Love, Perfect Fascination and others I couldn't remember? What was he doing here and why did he need to see my audition?

I guessed Ben read my mind because he replied me at once, "He'd be co-acting with you if you do great."

"When I do great." I didn't know when I rephrased his words, though I hoped he didn't see it as rude. "What am I going to be auditioning with?"

I seemed ready, but I wasn't. Ben's presence didn't bother me that much. Not the rest of the production team. But if famous Dylan Walker—an actor like myself, shit...an actor better than myself—was going to be looking at me on stage, I needed to prove that I was good for this, even though that role bothered me for a number of reasons. Dylan needed to see something in me, a drive or anything stronger.

Ben came back with a folded script and poked a line, indicating down the page. "Twenty minutes. We'll be waiting." He started to turn but faced me again. "Make it count, Gabriella—"

"It's just Brielle," I cut in, worried that he thought to add a prefix and even a suffix.

"Whatever it is, just know that Dylan flew into Miami today because of you...and her. He could have been enjoying the California weather or having some family time, but he insisted on meeting you. Make it count."

Make it count.

I had to. He was just there, talking and laughing with Mike and what was his name...Giddy. Was he a critic, was he kind? I only knew him through his movies and media rounds, I couldn't tell his personality at all.

"I'll be watching you, Gabriella," Alec said and I freaking laughed out some anguish. "Exactly. Don't make it a chore, be serious and be jovial. Be yourself and be your character. Own her, it's what we do." He rubbed my hand a final time. "It's what you do."

Fair enough. I was used to letting contradicting emotions rule me. It was too easy, but tension wasn't anyone's friend except physics.

Twenty minutes came by in the blink of an eye and Shana took the stage first. The script was remarkably surreal, I wasn't done fantasizing, but I needed to watch my opponent.

Bold and proud, Shana swaggered around the stage as if she owned it, though Dylan packing a small circle was distracting the corner of my left eye. He pranced around like he was a god—heavily and assertively, arrayed in a tissue shirt and carrying his jacket inside his elbow. 

When Shana forgot a line in the script, I didn't know until Dylan gave a twirl to his beard and tsk-ed. He looked worried for her, I hoped he was for me too.

A small clap went on for a while and I replaced Shana. I was a fast learner, cramming scripts was no problem for me, acting too wasn't, it was just that confidence I knew I lacked, but I didn't stress on it because the little I had read about Ashley Grant, I knew she was a battered character that struggled with her own confidence. I let myself flow through her like Alec had said.

I wasn't too timid, but I didn't try to be too powerful. A woman who was dumped by her first boyfriend after six years could not own a stage, she could only take a small spot and speak of her pain from the depth of her heart. Which was exactly what I did until I didn't have any more words on the script to say.

I raised my eyes to the men that watched me, but I only cared to know what Dylan thought. The small smile on his lips said a lot. Even if I didn't get the spot, that was enough for me.

The trio went to have a talk after I was done, Alec was already on the phone with someone at the far end of the studio.

When I turned, I was startled by him. The god in human flesh. I didn't mean to idolize him, but I could not help it. Strong blue eyes, handsome lips, a shade of brown hair I was interested in trying. The tall frame and that voice when he chuckled.

A human could not be so divine.

Dylan's held this position for like ten seconds, a smile still set on his face. "That was impressive, Brielle," after which he slid left and disappeared from my line of sight.

I had forgotten to breathe because I was obviously star-struck. I picked my jaw and looked away from his sexy gait before my eyes would fall off their sockets, or before I'd dislocate my neck.

The man was totally hot. In person.

Ben returned after I'd lost track of how much time they'd been gone for. They didn't say if I did great or got the role. He simply slammed the script in my palm with a hard smile and held my shoulder.

"Binge on it. You'll be sent the call sheet to know when you'll start coming in." He eyed me to see my reaction but I was happy to the point of being bland. "And for that ice that's under your feet, Cinderella, there's plenty of heat around me for it to stay."

I breathed out a laughter. He was too jocular. "Thank you, Ben. This means so much to me."

It sure did, despite that I was still figuring if I wanted to play Ashley Grant.

"Let me know if you need anything. Let me know if anything is wrong with the script. Let me know if you have anything in mind. Fair?"

"Completely!"

I couldn't wait till I was outside the studio to scream out all my bottled up satisfaction. Alec rushed into me with a hug.

"You did it, Gabriella."

Laughing till my stomach hurt, I said, "Thank you for believing in me Alexander." And the look on his face changed to slight irritation.