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“This is… wow.” Leo pressed his hand over his heart.
“Speech!” Sam shouted.
“Thanks, Sam.” Leo sighed. “I—uh—I want to assure you all that I’m extremely grateful for this opportunity, and I won’t take it or any of you for granted.” He made direct eye contact with Piper, and she had the urge to hide from his piercing stare. “I may be a bit hard on you, but just know it’s because I think this is important. We’re all going to have our names permanently attached to a show with Alejandro Moreno.” He gave Moreno a nod and continued. “I don’t take it lightly that he’s entrusting a piece of his reputation to us. We’re going to work hard, and I’ll be expecting a lot from each of you.”
Piper found herself bobbing her head along with his speech, swept away by the camaraderie and energy of the room.
“In the end, we’ll do this show justice.”
Fifteen
LEO
Leo was going to either throw up or perform a touchdown dance. Both seemed unlikely due to his stomach of steel and his lack of desire to ever play American football or dance, but so had getting the head director position. His name was going to be printed on a program with Alejandro Moreno as a fucking director. Not even with him, but above him. The weight of that was terrifying. It was also something Leo could finally point to and say that all of his hard work hadn’t been for nothing. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t gotten into film school—all those producing, filmography, and directing courses he had saved up for by painstakingly tutoring rich people’s kids in high school had landed him a full-ride scholarship to Fletcher. A theatre major was a roundabout way to get where he wanted to go, but he’d had to make sacrifices, and Moreno had lobbied for him during the entire scholarship process after his first video interview. Leo had kept his grades up. He had worked his ass off, and now it was finally paying off, both figuratively and literally. The director position paid more than assistant directing, and while it wasn’t a lot, it was still something.
After a brief stint in the bathroom, where Leo determined that he was in fact not going to empty the contents of his stomach, he made his way back to the stage, passing cast members along the way. He shook hands and took the congratulations with a smile. Compliments, when they were sincere, made him feel like he was doing something right. Something worthwhile. Especially when they were from his family, who were all blowing up the family group chat.
Varo 8:32 PM
Yooooooo. Get that dinero!
Mamá 8:32 PM
We are so proud, mijo. Abuelita dice buen trabajo.
Papá 8:33 PM
Buen trabajo mijo.
Mari 8:33 PM
Leo’s going to be famous!
Marcos 8:34 PM
¡Felicidades! Harper and I are expecting to see your ugly face in the tabloids soon.
Antonio 8:35 PM
¡Con la novia!
Antonio 8:35 PM
Oh, right. Pero no tiene.
Antonio 8:35 PM
And Saanvi and I say congrats!
As usual, the group chat had turned into a roasting session, and Leo quickly shot back something snarky in response.
Leo 8:36 PM
I don’t need a girlfriend to be wildly successful.
Varo 8:36 PM
There’s that humble guy we all know and love.
