untitled |h.s|

twenty-six

Ariella

"Let's run that scene again."

I fight the urge to roll my eyes at the director's commands, trudging to my starting position while trying to gather the tiny shreds of patience I have left.

We've been working on this scene for five hours. Five. Freaking. Hours. I don't even want to know how many times we've gone through it at this point, but I do know I'm about ten seconds away from ripping my hair out.

I love most of my costars- keyword: most. The girl who plays Ursula really lives up to her role, she's a raging bitch. A bitch who doesn't know her fucking lines.

We start the scene over for the millionth time, and everything goes smoothly...until we get to the part Becky has managed to mess up every single time we go through it.

"Nonsense! We're family," she says dramatically as I brace myself for her next line, praying she doesn't fuck it up this time.

"Father says you're wicked and hateful," I respond, almost having to force myself to stay in character.

"Mmm yes! But he thinks the same thing of people, doesn't he? And we both know that's wrong, isn't it, snookums?"

"Cut!"

I toss my head back with a sigh, losing the ability to conceal my frustration.

"Becky, I really need you to get these lines down. We need to wrap up act one by Friday," the director, Maria, says while sauntering down the stairs of the auditorium.

"I will," Becky responds, her voice wavering in false confidence, "I'll work on them tonight."

"I know you will," Maria tells her, setting her stack of papers down before she climbs onto the stage, "because we'll be here until you get them down. I've got all night."

I stifle a laugh at Maria's complete lack of modesty, earning a glare from my costar.

Maria glances down at her watch before turning to face the rest of us, "Everyone else is free to go for tonight," she announces, quickly earning a round of quiet cheers from the room, "I expect everyone to come with their A-game tomorrow, though. We'll be finishing up this scene."

With that, I shuffle off the stage to join the rest of the cast in the green room and start gathering my stuff.

"Get dinner with us?" Ivan, who plays Eric, slams his palms against the vanity beside me, scaring the shit out of me.

"Jesus, Iv, don't do that," I turn to him, playfully hitting his arm.

"Sorryyyyy," he says in a sing-song tone, earning an eye roll from me, "pretty please come with us?"

"I can't tonight," I sigh, looking away from his begging puppy eyes. He's way too good at that for a grown man.

"Right, Mr. Mystery Boyfriend is more important than us," one of the other actresses, Olivia, interjects while coming up to lean her arm on my shoulder.

Harry and I have only been dating for a week, but he's already come up a handful of times as the reason for my busy evenings. Our only chance to hang out is after I get home from rehearsals, even if both of us are tired, and we try to take as much advantage of the little time we can find.

As for the mystery thing, that started as a joke, but it quickly turned into a fun bit to keep up with. I know Harry's eventually going to meet them, but it's way too fun messing with my new friends who are dying to know who "the man who stole my heart" is, as Ivan put it.

"It's actually not him tonight," I respond, shrugging Olivia's arm off of me, "I haven't talked to my friend back home in forever, I promised to call her tonight."