The Actor

Chloe knew she'd nailed that one.

She left the audition with a bounce in her step. She was getting this role, she just knew it. She'd prepped all week for this. Practiced in front of mirrors, reviewed recordings of herself, ran the lines until she knew them forwards and backwards. This was her first ever callback audition and she was determined to be perfect. Heck, she's pretty sure that audition was perfect.

She decided to walk back to her apartment. It was a nice spring day, warm but not too warm, and she felt way too pumped up to just sit on a bus. Plus, she wasn't that far away from home. As she turned and began to walk down the sidewalk, the blonde twenty-three year old pulled out her phone from her purse. She just had to share how well that went. She pulled up her contacts and her finger hovered over her mom's number, before she decided to call her best friend and current roommate, Molly instead. But just as she was about to press the dial button, another call starting coming in.

“Thomas it went great!” Chloe nearly shrieked into the phone.

“Chloe I...what are...” Thomas stammered before recovering, “OH! Your callback! Yeah, I...I was just calling to see how it went...”

“Amazing! I'm getting this role Thomas, I can just tell. I'm going to land this one!” Chloe gushed.

Thomas chuckled gently through the phone. “Well, let's not count our chickens before they hatch Chloe. Remember what I said, we have to cast-”

“Yeah, yeah, 'cast a wide net and hope for the best.'” Chloe interrupted. She was glad her agent couldn't see her rolling her eyes at the phrase she was growing to hate. Thomas just loved to trot that one out. Still though, it did nothing to dim her beaming smile. She didn't think anything could today. Until her manager cut back in.

“Actually Chloe, I want to talk to you about an opportunity...”

“I told you I'm landing this role Thomas! I don't-”

“I'm sure you did great Chloe,” Thomas interrupted, “but we can't afford to pass on other casting calls while we're waiting to hear back from this one.”

Chloe sighed exaggeratedly, but her smile held fast. Thomas had an annoying habit of being right about these things.

“Fine,” she said in mock exasperation, “What did you have in mind?”

“Ok, hear me out on this one...it's a reality dating show.”

“Absolutely not,” Chloe's smile had finally slipped from her face. “Thomas, there's no way you're serious.”

“C'mon Chloe-”

“NO! You know I'm trying to stay away from that trash. I'm trying to focus on more serious roles!”

“And how's that going for you?!” Thomas snapped. “You just got your first callback after sending in how many audition tapes?”

Thomas' outburst stopped Chloe in her tracks. She stood stock-still in the middle of the sidewalk, her blue eyes wide and stunned as other pedestrians tried to maneuver around her. She had just been excited about a great audition, and then Thomas snapped at her? He'd never done anything like that before and she wasn't sure how to respond. She could hear Thomas take a long deep breath, then sigh heavily.

“I'm really sorry Chloe...I just...look, I'm just trying to look out for you. Maybe you need to widen your net some more. If nothing else the extra exposure could be good for you.”

…

“Chloe...? Chloe you still there?” Thomas asked hesitantly.

“Yes,” she responded finally.

“Again, I'm really sorry Chloe. I'm just under a lot of pressure right now, but I shouldn't have taken it out on you. All I'm asking is that you just send an audition tape in. That's all, OK? This is a brand new show and it's going to get shopped around to several different networks. It'll give you a chance to get your face in front of some people who might not otherwise see it.”

“Ok,” she was feeling absolutely deflated now. She could hear Thomas sigh again.

“Just think about it, OK? Just give it some thought. Talk to you tomorrow?”

“Sure,” Chloe managed to **** out before she quickly hung up. She resumed her walk towards her apartment, but the bounce had vanished from her steps. She now trudged along, eyes unfocused, staring off into the middle distance.

Why had Thomas snapped at her? She knew at its core, her relationship with her agent was strictly a business relationship, but he'd always been so good in the past about supporting her, even if she wasn't landing roles regularly. She knew that was partially her fault. There were plenty of bit roles for cute blonde-haired, blue-eyed girls in their 20's, but Chloe wanted to be more then just a pretty face. She wanted dramatic roles with meat on them, roles that actually meant something. It meant passing up on a lot of casting calls to the frustration of her agent, but he'd always taken it in stride in the past. Why was this one different? Today was the furthest she'd ever made in it in the audition process, surely that was worth some excitement? And it had gone so well.

Thinking back to the audition brought some of the spark back to her eyes. Ever since she had decided she wanted to become a professional actor people had been telling her how hard it was, how unlikely success was, how lucky you had to be, but that hadn't been her experience. Chloe had always been a hard worker, and she had always seen that effort pay off . Sometimes it took a while, but eventually someone always recognized her excellence, and her sacrifices would be rewarded. Chloe's steps were becoming more determined as she continued down the sidewalk. She'd proven her doubters wrong before. If Thomas turned out to be one of them, then so be it.

By the time Chloe reached her apartment her confusion and hurt had given way to optimistic determination. She'd been told she couldn't do things her whole life, and it hadn't stopped her yet. She bounded up the steps of her apartment two at time with a smile on her face. Her earlier giddiness was gone, but she wasn't going to give up. Nothing could ever make her give up. Chloe stepped through her apartment doorway, eager to tell Molly about her audition.