Rebel at Spruce High (Spruce Texas Romance #5) - Daryl Banner Page 0,39

the start … of a much … much longer one? And no,” I add, nodding toward an invisible seat at my side, “I haven’t ordered yet. This place has killer pancakes, if you want to join me. Unless you prefer a dish of Fancy Feast. Or Purina Pet Chow. Or whatever the dumpster out back provides.”

And in the ringing silence that follows my audition, even from up here on the stage, I see the corner of Vann’s lips curl upward.

I’ve amused him.

“Um, alright, wow!” exclaims Tamika suddenly. She rises from her seat and faces everyone. “See? Anyone can audition for any ol’ part they want! It’s fun, right? You can do it for the experience, like Toby here just did!”

“Oh, he did it for more than just the experience,” mutters Ms. Joy to herself, and I’m not sure if she meant anyone to hear that, but it throws Tamika off, earning a strange glance from her.

It doesn’t matter to me either way. My real mission has been accomplished, and after coming down from the stage to return the (now crinkled) sheet of paper to Tamika, I feel Vann’s curious eyes on me as I pass by his row on my way down the aisle to the back, where a very excited Kelsey awaits my return to congratulate me. And while a few other walk-ins take their turn on the big stage to audition, including Kelsey herself, I enjoy a new view of Vann as he stares blankly ahead at the back of the chair in front of him, appearing lost in thoughts, his own sketching forgotten.

I wonder if those thoughts include me.

It’s barely 5:00 PM when Tamika announces that auditions are over, there will be no callbacks, and the cast list will be posted within the next half hour, to avoid the usual torturous wait until Monday morning. Everyone is politely asked to hang out in the hallway outside the auditorium until decisions are finalized. I sit on a bench next to the glass windows that overlook the parking lot with Kelsey and her friends lounging on the floor nearby, the three of them in a giggly debate over who Frankie Lopez will play. My “fun little stunt” with auditioning for the role of Danielle has them jokingly casting Frankie in a whole assortment of fun roles, from Danielle’s sister to Kingsley’s overbearing grandma, even to the despondent café waitress who has a scene-stealing line or two. I just lean against the glass of the window at my back, hot from the afternoon sun, and gaze down the hall at a certain someone who’s sitting apart from the crowd, hugging his sketchpad glumly.

I must be staring at him too obviously, because Kelsey nudges me in the leg and gives me a saucy wiggling of her eyebrows, which causes me to snort and look away. “Hey, after the cast list is posted, can I go with you to Biggie’s for your shift tonight?” she asks—or begs, rather. “I swear I won’t be in the way like last time.”

I throw her a warning look. “You know dang well Mrs. Tucker is gonna have your head as well as mine if you occupy one of her booths a whole Friday night again.”

“That was just once,” Kelsey insists defensively.

It’s only twelve minutes later that the auditorium doors burst open, and a chipper-faced Tamika struts up to the bulletin board on the wall. She pins the cast list in place, then waltzes innocently away as a storm of faces rush up to drink in its names like liquid gold. At once, there’s gasps and murmurs and shouting.

Kelsey, surprisingly, doesn’t so much as move from her spot, even after her two friends take off. “Wouldn’t it be funny, Toby?” she asks me. “If we got the lead roles, you and I? And we had to be lovers and kiss each other onstage as Kingsley and Danielle?”

“Yeah, I think I had that nightmare once,” I admit, to which Kelsey smacks my leg again—hard—and I laugh.

When the crowd clears enough, we vacate our spots and take a look at the list ourselves—and what we read leaves us speechless, my laughter silenced at once. Printed next to the name “Kingsley” is Donovan Pane. Underneath, instead of the expected “Danielle”, there is “Danny”. Right next to it: Toby Michaels.

06 | TOBY

“Wait a sec, hon. Are you tellin’ me they’re doin’ a gay play for the fall show this year?”

I’ve barely been able to get a breath in. Biggie’s Bites is