Page 67 of Inside Out
“Me too,” Clara and Ellie said.
“I know it was just the first night of auditions, but he blew me away,” Ellie told me.
“Ditto,” Clara added. “His stage presence, delivery, and the passion he put into his performance gave me chills.”
“The dude can sing like it’s no one’s business too,” Julius said. I gave him a look that conveyed he wasn’t helping. He just shrugged.
“He’s definitely at the top of my list for Diego right now too,” I admitted. “Open minds though, right?” Everyone nodded in agreement.
Thirty more students graced the stage over the next two hours. Afterward, Clara, Ellie, and Curtis handed over their audition sheets to me before they left. Once we arrived home, Julius poured wine while I ran over to Lily’s to pick up Dolly. I found Julius waiting for me on the sofa in my favorite room of the house. He’d chosen an Ella Fitzgerald album to play in the background while we looked through the audition notes the five of us had made.
I sat beside him and accepted the glass of wine he offered. I took my first sip and sighed. “You’re getting really good at picking out wines.”
“Now that I know what you like, I find it fun experimenting with the different brands.” Jules swirled the glass around then inhaled deeply, mimicking a scene from a movie we’d watched over the weekend. “I’m getting floral and citrus undertones.”
“I’m not that pretentious,” I said, nudging my shoulder into his. “Don’t you dare swish it around in your mouth and spit it out either.”
“Spitters are quitters,” Jules replied with a leering smile on his face.
Of course, I’d just taken my first sip of wine when he said that. “You’re so mean,” I said once I safely swallowed my wine. “You’re lucky I didn’t spray your face with…” My words trailed off when he smiled wickedly.
“We have work to do,” I said, pointing to the stack. “Normally, I’d let tonight’s performances settle before I start culling the herd, but there are just too many. I figured we would sort them into three categories: no, yes, and maybe for a different role. There were a few kids who acted wonderfully but they lacked the musicality needed for the lead roles. I could see a couple of them playing different parts if they were interested.”
“I made that notation on several sheets too,” Julius said.
“I’m curious to see how our remarks compare. But first, I need to do something I’ve been thinking about since we left the house this morning.” I set both our wine glasses on the table then straddled his lap and took his face in both my hands. “I missed you today.” I saw him at lunch and during auditions, but he knew what I meant. It was so hard to be in the same room with Jules and not be able to touch or kiss him. I had to be careful of what I said or how I acted around him. Our homes were our sanctuary where we could be ourselves to kiss, strip each other down, and make love while Ella sang to us.
We eventually got around to reviewing notes and drinking the wine he’d poured for us. I wasn’t surprised to see Jules and I had made similar notes on the audition sheets, but I was amazed to see the three teens were in sync with us nearly every step of the way. I thought it bode well for the remaining three nights of auditions.
At the end of the week, the five of us met in my office to go over our next step. No one had come close to matching Mark’s performance for Diego, so he was our unanimous choice for that role. As for Alexandra and Tiffany, I had whittled it down to three possibilities for each character. Some of the kids we passed over for the main roles, were our first choices for the supporting cast. We didn’t know if they would be interested in those roles. Some kids would be too upset and others would be excited for the opportunity.
“Callbacks?” Clara asked.
“It’s the only fair way,” I said. “This time, I want to see the performances back-to-back.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Ellie said.
We held the callbacks on Monday and finalized the cast on Wednesday evening.
“The real work begins now,” I told them. “Are you ready?”
The teens nodded eagerly while Julius smiled at me.
“Out you go,” I told the kids, shooing them out of my office. I knew what Julius was ready for, and it was rude to keep my man waiting. Maybe it should’ve scared me how hard and fast I fell for Julius, but I was too busy being enamored to allow doubt to take root and grow.
The following week at school was insanely busy with Julius and me running in every direction except toward each other. Jules had his final three tennis matches of the season, I observed classes in the elementary school every day which prevented us from having lunch together, and the first rehearsals forInside Outbegan in the evenings. We made as much time for one another as we could. I went to his tennis matches because I knew how proud he was of the team; Julius came to the play rehearsals even though he didn’t know anything about acting. I passionately loved theater and working with the kids, and I was ecstatic he wanted to share this with me. We kicked rehearsals off by sitting in a circle so they could begin memorizing lines. It was rough going at first, but with patient coaching, they went from saying the lines with little to no inflection and expression to projecting passion and emotion. By Thursday, the cast still relied on their scripts, but they were up and moving through the scenes. The kids soaked up my instructions like little sponges, and I knew they’d blow the audience away with their performances.
I made arrangements to use the Getty Theatre for a few rehearsals so the kids could experience the environment and get a feel for the difference in the stage size. Our first opportunity came the first week of rehearsals, and the kids were excited to stand on the historic stage. Even so, the long week had taken its toll on everyone, and the kids started to get a little sloppy and slap-happy.
“I don’t want your symphony, Mom,”Mark said to Carrie Ambrose, who played Diego’s mom.“I want compassion and love.”
Carrie’s eyes got big when she heard Mark’s blooper, but I had instructed them to ignore mistakes and continue with their lines. I thought Carrie was going to pull it off, but when she opened her mouth to say her lines, a loud squeak came out instead. She covered her mouth in shock then dissolved into uncontrollable laughter.
Mark started laughing too and looked at me for guidance. “What’s so funny?”
I was trying hard to keep my composure, but Julius didn’t bother with pretense. It was all I could do to keep from pulling him in my arms and kissing his neck. Feeling his joy vibrating beneath my lips was one of my favorite things, and because we laughed a lot, I got to experience it often. He smiled at me, his heart in his eyes, and I knew he was reading my mind.
“You told her you didn’t want her symphony instead of sympathy,” I told Mark.