Tre Ragazzi e Una Ragazza

2 ~ The Audition

 We all stood there, staring each other down in confusion. Cosimo was the first one to speak. "How do you know her?" He asked Lucio and Amedeo. 

Amedeo looked at me as he spoke. "I met her at Caffè e Dolci this morning. The owner brought us the same order and we started talking. We found out we're both Italian, and she welcomed me to San Francisco." He chuckled. "I probably would've stayed longer and potentially missed the audition if my phone hadn't rung." Amedeo looked back at Cosimo. "How do you know her, Cosimo?" 

Cosimo grinned. "We met on the cable car while I was on my way here. I nearly fell on top of her twice; once because I almost didn't make it on the car, and the other because I'm a doofus. We also found out we were both Italian, talked about San Francisco, and then I made her miss her stop because I was chatting her up so much." He gave me an apologetic look and mouthed an 'I'm sorry.' "And then I was so caught up with our meeting that I ended up taking the car another two blocks before realizing I also missed my stop." The boys all burst out laughing. Then, Amedeo and Cosimo both looked at Lucio. "And you?" 

Lucio looked at me and stood up from his seat, walking towards me. "We literally bumped into each other on the street." He laughed. "Now I understand why you asked if I was Italian, since you had just met two other Italian men that day." He continued on with his retelling of the story, the smile never once leaving his face. "I was super embarrassing while I was trying to compliment her, and I was sad because I thought we would probably never see each other again." His eyes brightened and those golden specks shined. "Until now." I broke out in a smile.

The other two stood up from their seats as well and gestured to the seat next to them all. "Would you care to sit with us? We don't know anybody here but each other." I nodded. "That would be great, since I don't know anyone here but you three either." All of their faces brightened as I squeezed into the seat and they sat down after me. Lucio was sitting right next to me, our shoulders almost touching. Amedeo and Cosimo both looked over at me. "What a coincidence we all met this morning!" They turned to talk to one another, and this is when Lucio turned to me. "Coincidence or meant to be?" His look lingered on me before he also turned his attention to their conversation. I felt a blush coming on. 

The judge walked onto the stage and clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. All the people in the theatre whipped their heads around to give her their full attention. She looked very professional and put together, wearing a navy-blue pantsuit, black stockings, and her short black hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail. "Welcome everyone to the Solstice Theatre Annual Opera Showcase auditions." We all clapped for a moment. "As you probably all know, this is a very important performance meant to showcase the best opera singers in the state. Many talent scouts from around the world attend our showcase to seek out new talent. We've had former participants garner lucrative contracts for here in San Francisco, New York, Paris, and Italy." At the mention of Italy, I immediately perked up and smiled hopefully. The three men turned to look at me, a knowing look on their faces. It was as if they were saying, Ah, so that's her dream.

The judge continued. "I will call you up in random order to sing a 30 second song of your choice. Please make sure to bring your sheet music to the accompanist, state your name and song title, and then begin when you're ready." She left the stage and seated herself near the front of the stage, behind a counter. She put on a pair of skinny, black glasses and began looking through a clipboard holding a list of the auditioners. "First, number 341." I heard rustling and saw that Amedeo was getting up from his seat, a nervous look on his face. Cosimo was patting him on the back and encouraging him and Lucio was pumping his fists in excitement. I caught Amedeo's eye. I gave him a supportive smile and two thumbs up. He relaxed a little bit and chuckled, then gathered his sheet music and went up the stairs to the stage. He gave the accompanist his sheet music and moved to the center of the stage.