Mattory: A Matt and Mallory Fanfiction (Studio C)

2

Matt's POV

I watch from offstage as the seats quickly fill up.

"Hey," I hear. "Don't worry. You're gonna be great."

I turn around and see Jared standing a few feet away from me.

"I don't know, man," I say, wringing out my hands. "I'm really nervous, and I never get nervous. Is it a sign?"

"You're idea for Studio C is amazing. BYU.tv has already approved it, and all of those people out there are here because they want to be a part of it. What are you worrying about?"

"You're right," I say, looking out into the crowd. I turn back to Jared. "I'm ready."

"Awesome," he smiles. He grabs a handheld microphone from a tech table and casually walks out onto the stage. Everyone bursts into applause, including me. Jared tries to calm the audience down, but they cheer even more. Finally, after about 2 minutes, the last pair of hands are done clapping, and Jared begins talking.

"Hi, and welcome to Studio C auditions! I'm Jared Shores, one of the creators of this series. Thank you all so much for being here. It means a lot that we had this many people show up. Sadly though, we can't keep all of you." He pauses to scan the crowd. "I recognize a lot of faces that I had the pleasure of meeting earlier. If I didn't get the chance to talk to you, find me afterwards." Jared flashes one of his famous smiles. "Now I'm going to turn it over to the man who started it all, Matthew Meese!"

Crap.

I quickly grab a mic from the tech table without realizing how sweaty my palms are. It almost slips from my grip; I set the mic down, wiping my hands on my jeans and trying to calm myself down.

"Maaaaaaathewwwwwwwww," Jared drags on. "Where are youuuuuuuuuu?"

I snatch up the mic and attempt to be funny.

"But Jaredddd," I say, trying to sound like him, "you're face is so ugly that I won't be comfortable around you!"

"OOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!" the crowd screams. Jared laughs, luckily knowing that I'm just joking.

"Come on, Matthew. Get out here!" Jared turns to the crowd and gestures to the wing I'm standing in. "Matth-ew! Matth-ew! Matth-ew!"

To my surprise, the whole audience joins Jared and begins chanting my name. "Matth-ew! Matth-ew!"

From where I am offstage, I can only see the front row. A couple of people start standing up, and from what I can hear, other people start standing up, too!

"Okay. You can do this," I say under my breath.

I find my courage and walk onstage...

...which was probably a bad idea.

The roar of cheering and clapping is enough to make someone go deaf. The crowd is on their feet; some are pumping their fists in the air, others are stomping their feet on the ground.

Today is going to be great.

Mallory's POV

The guy - Matthew - eventually gets everyone to calm down.

"Hey there." He waves nervously. "Welcome to Studio C Auditions!" He pauses for a moment. "Wait, Jared already said that."

Everybody laughs. Matthew laughs with us. "Sorry, I'm just really anxious to get this started. Anyways, as you can see here," he gestures behind him and the back curtain opens, revealing 4 wooden doors, "we will be separating you. Last names A through G will go to the first room with me, H through N in the second room with Jared, O through T in the third room, and S through Z to the fourth room. I will accompany the third group later on and Jared with the fourth group. Okay?"

"Okay," we respond.

"Great. O through Z, y'all can stay here and mingle a bit. H through N, go with Jared, and A through G, follow me."

Mallory Everton, that's an E. A, B, C, D, E, F, G... I'm with Matthew!

Everyone stands up and goes to their designated areas. The couple I embarrassed myself in front of (Stephen and ...?) shares a hug and then separates. The Stephen guy heads to Jared while the girl goes to Matthew.

Dangit! She's in my group!

I stand up and make my way to the clique surrounding Matthew, who's handing out something. As I join the circle, Matthew looks straight at me and smiles.

"Hello, what's your name?"

"Mallory Everton."

He shuffles through some papers until he comes upon what he's looking for.

"These are the two monologues that you will be performing. The first one a humorous by yourself, and the second one you will be performing with a group."

"Awesome. So no dramatics, right?"

Matthew rolls his eyes playfully. "No. This is a sketch comedy group."

"Okay. Just double-checking," I tease.

He chuckles. "You know, you're re-"

"EXCUSE ME?"

We both turn around to find a plump woman wearing leggings and a loose shirt. Her face is beet red and she is clutching a manila paper.

"Yes ma'am?" Matthew asks sweetly.

"IS THIS THE YOGA CLASS?" the lady yells.

"No, ma'am, that's next door."

"OKAY, THANK YOU!!" she says, sauntering away.

Matthew and I share a look and laugh.

"That was...interesting," I say while clutching my middle, laughing. I glance at his hands and notice that he's still holding my papers. I clear my throat, inclining my head towards the packet.

"Oh, duh," Matthew hands me my monologues. "That reminds me..." He turns around and claps his hands loudly. "Hey, everyone! Gather around!"

All the people with last names A through G surround Matthew in a massive circle.

He turns and winks at me before saying, "Let's get started!"

•••

SO sorry for the wait!! I'm trying to write longish chapters, so bear with me here.
To clear up confusion that has probably been going on, Mallory keeps thinking of Matt as "Matthew" because that's what Jared called him on-stage. She'll come to know his as Matt soon enough ;)
Anyways, what did y'all think? Hopefully this chapter was good, even though it didn't get very far.
Please vote and leave a comment about your thoughts! Thanks!:))