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Chapter Thirty
Kenzie had transformed herself. She stood across from Jasper in the audition room with her hair parted down the middle and rolled into a tight bun at the back of her neck, her dress a drab shade of gray, and her makeup so understated it made it look like she wasn’t wearing any. Aurora Boring come to life.
She’d insisted Jasper shave his face smooth for the audition—Eddie Ecstatic wouldn’t have stubble—and he was wearing a bright-pink polo and chinos. They’d been practicing this office scene for hours every day since they’d arrived in LA. But this time, the director and one of the producers were sitting in the room, ready to see them perform and determine Jasper’s fate.
The four of them had met beforehand to discuss the concept for the show, and Jasper had gotten every impression that this part was ninety-nine percent his. He just had to not screw up during this audition, and it would be done. This was it. The moment he’d been waiting for as long as he could remember. He took a deep breath and nodded at Kenzie. She winked, all confidence.
“Ready, guys?” Angie, the director, asked as she leaned back in her chair and set her reading glasses on top of her sharp-edged black bob.
“Yep,” Kenzie said. “Ready, Jas?”
“Ready.” He rolled his shoulders, getting into character. This was just another stage. He didn’t need to freak out about it.
“Start at the beginning of the office scene,” Angie said.
Kenzie started the scene, delivering everything with a flat tone and life-is-exhausting expression. Aurora Boring in every mannerism, every word. The sight eased some of Jasper’s nerves. He and Kenzie had done these two characters so many times when they were performing sketch along with the improv that it felt like visiting old friends. He waited for his cue and then walked into the scene, saying his lines and slipping into the overenthusiastic role.
The two of them went on for a few minutes, and he and Kenzie fell into a well-worn rhythm. He could anticipate her choices, play off them. Kenzie had been right. They were bad in a relationship, but onstage, they had the dance down. Symbiotic in the way that only came from years of improv together.
“Stop,” Angie said, the word clipped.
Jasper startled, having forgotten there were two other people watching. He turned to the director. Angie had her hand lifted and her eyes on the pages in front of her, the reading glasses back on her nose. She glanced up and met his gaze. “Jasper, can you stay on script?”
He blinked and cleared his throat. “Uh, sure. I thought I had. I’m sorry.”
The director frowned. “Your lines were on script, but you’re improvising a lot of the stage directions. I know you both have improv backgrounds, but we really want to keep this pretty tight to script.”
He stiffened. No improvising. That was like telling him not to breathe. But he understood. If they were on a tight production schedule, he couldn’t do a scene ten different ways and expect them to take the time to cut all of that together in a cohesive way. “Right. Sorry. Got it.”
Kenzie gave him a look. He recognized that one from their time dating. It was the don’t-fuck-this-up look. He nodded at her.I’ve got this.
“Start again from the top,” Angie said.
Kenzie began the scene again, and Jasper gave it everything he had, sticking to the script like glue. By the time they’d made their way through the scene, his blood was pumping and he almost felt high. Kenzie delivered the last line and then grinned wide at him.
They both looked over at the people in charge.
“Thank you. Give us a few minutes,” Phil, the producer, said, and then leaned toward Angie to confer.
Jasper followed Kenzie out into the hallway. As soon as the door shut behind them, Kenzie rushed to Jasper, threw her arms around him, and gave him a smacking kiss. He was too stunned at the contact to respond. She pressed her hands to his face, squeezing. “Oh my God. You nailed it! We justnailedit. This is going to happen!”
She leaned in to kiss him again, but he grasped her shoulders and eased her back. “Don’t.”
She blinked. “What’s wrong?”
“We can’t do that. The kissing thing,” he said, lowering his arms to his sides. “We’re acting partners. That’s it.”
She frowned. “Jas, we’re going to be kissing all the time on the show. Aurora and Eddie have a romance story line the first season.”
His stomach turned at the thought. “That’s for the part. We aren’t Aurora and Eddie. I’m not here to start things up between us again. We weren’t good for each other.”
She gave him a smug look. “That’s fine. But you’re naive if you think we’re going to be working this closely and things aren’t going to happen. Our relationship has never been one hundred percent professional. We’re not very good at boundaries.”
“Kenz—”
“You can come back in,” the producer said.
Jasper swallowed hard and followed Kenzie back into the room. Phil invited him and Kenzie to sit down at the table with the two of them. Angie was tapping a pen against the script, a pensive look on her face. Jasper thought he might throw up. He remembered the last time he’d been told no at an audition, how that had felt puncturing through all that hope. But then Angie smiled.
