The audition ends abruptly

The song stops abruptly, leaving your with your hands behind your head and your chest thrust out. It takes you a moment to realize that the music has been turned off, and another moment to cover your breasts. The embarrassment that you didn't feel during the dance hits you full **** and you feel yourself blushing.

"Well that was... nice?" Andre says, looking at the two producers, who shrug in a dispiritingly bored kind of way. "It was alright. Thank you for auditioning."

"Wait... what?" you say after a few long seconds go by.

Andre looks up from gathering pages with a slightly puzzled look while the producers don't even bother. Even the cameraman is ignoring you and dismantling the camera.

"That's it?" you ask Andre, who gives a pained look to the only other woman in the room.

Julie - that was her name, wasn't it? - steps forward, a frozen smile on her face.

"Andrea..."

"Ashley," you correct.

"Ashley then. Please understand, we've spent the day looking at women shaking their behinds and wiggling their boobs in our faces and at this point... Well, even the horniest man alive would feel a lack of enthusiasm for your performance."

"My performance....? Listen... Jackie...."

"Julie," she corrects, her perfect teeth gritted this time.

"Right. Julie. Are you telling me my performance was bad?"

"No no, we just need to take a break and review the footage of all the auditions when we're fresh. See how fat you look on film, you know."

"Fat?" you stick your fists on your hips, then remember your uncovered breasts and fling a hand in front of them.

"Plus there's that," Julie smirks.

"That what?" you ask with narrowed eyes.

"We'll be reviewing the videos to see how well each girl danced, what their bodies look like on film, how uninhibited they were... Once we've done that we'll have a smaller list of girls for us to call back."

"Call back? You mean this..."

"Is just the first round, of course. Why, did you expect to see a paycheck right away?" she looks scornful at the thought, and you bite back the big yes that threatens to escape you.

"No no, of course not," you say instead, calling upon your copious acting abilities. "But, um, when might the second round take place?"

"Oh, a week.... or two," she shrugs, gives you a smile, and turns away.

You lift your arm as if to call her back, then remember again your breasts uncovered and instead hug yourself as you are left alone in the room.

As you hunt down your strangely elusive top, bra in hand, you wonder what you'll do now? You've already been dodging your landlord, if you reach a third month without rent he'll kick you out for sure.

This is the first strong lead on a job you've had in ages, so you know you can't afford to blow it, and they'd been distinctly unimpressed by your performance. What was it Jackie - Julie - had said? How uninhibited you are, how well you dance, and how you look on film? Maybe those were clues, slipped from her to you in as unobtrusive a way as she could manage, telling you what to work on to really wow them at the next round of auditions. You have to lock up the job next time or you'll be homeless.