*It's very important, in the early days of your relationship, to keep your options open. I'm not recommending that you date more than one man at the same time, but I also wouldn't recommend that you get so caught up in someone that you close your eyes to other opportunities. You simply never know when or where your soul-mate might arrive.'-The Single Girl's Guide to Finding True Love Pulling up outside of the bar that would be our rehearsal s.p.a.ce for the next week, I tried to remember what Jen had told me about confidence. It was not something I normally had an issue with; overbearing was usually a more apt description for me. But this was different. Inside the private room upstairs that Collins had reserved for us were serious professional actors. People who had worked in Chicago and New York. Freaking Jenner Collins, a movie star.

They wanted you for this part, I told myself. Over any other more established actress. They picked you.

The pep talk calmed me down a little and I got out of the car, determined to show a little of the swagger that Jen had recommended.

I made my way to the private room above the bar, hearing a babble of noises already. I straightened my faded old Ramones t-shirt (a good luck charm I'd had ever since high school), took a deep breath, and walked in.

There were about six or seven people already gathered inside, making small talk. I recognized a few of them from my callback. The room was on the small side, paneled in dark wood with low-hanging beams. It had an old world pub feel to it that I immediately liked. I made a mental note to bring the girls back here sometime to hang out, before I turned my attention to the group of people standing in the middle of the room.

It appeared as if some of the other actors knew each other, but there were a few people looking about as awkward as I felt. I approached the group with a smile on my face.

"Hey," I said, as everyone turned to look at me. "I'm Annie."

"Hey, Annie," said a good-looking older guy with distinguished graying hair. I immediately recognized him from my callback, as we had read together several times. "I think you're my daughter."

Everyone laughed at this, and I smiled. "Awesome," I said.

A very pretty brunette about my age was glaring at me from the edge of the group. I ignored her, used to this kind of obvious loathing. Even in college it had been rampant in the theater department. Actresses were, by nature, jealous beings.

"Hey, Annie," a voice said from just next to my ear. "I'm Tyler."

I looked over and saw a very cute guy standing right next to me-a little too close, to be honest. He was tall and somewhat thin, with s.h.a.ggy dark hair and what Jen would refer to as *designer stubble'. He was attractive, in that creative-type way. I remembered him from my audition as well. This was the guy I had felt such a spark of chemistry with.

"Hi," I said, feeling my heart rate quicken a little. He was giving me a very obvious once over, and the little smile never left his face.

"I think we fall in love," he said softly, his smile turning more smirk-like. I stared at him, not knowing how to respond. "In the show," he clarified, grinning bigger. I had the feeling that he was enjoying making me feel a little uncomfortable.

I grinned back. "Lucky you," I said in my most above-it-all voice. Two could play at that game.

Before he could respond, there were voices on the stairs behind us and everyone turned to look as Jenner Collins entered the room, followed by the tall skinny man I knew to be Jackson Coles, and a woman dressed head-to-toe in black, including a flowing cape sweater thing. From the cape to her severe bun and black rimmed gla.s.ses, she had *artist' written all over her.

"Hey!" Jenner said, in his easy, comfortable way. "I'm so glad you guys are all here!"

Everyone said h.e.l.lo while a few of the braver (or more conceited) amongst us went over to shake his hand. I overheard quite a bit of a.s.s-kissing going on over there, and I struggled not to roll my eyes.

"It's kind of gross, isn't it?" Tyler said, still standing next to me. "Look at how they all throw themselves at him."

I shrugged. "I guess it's part of the game, isn't it?"

"True. Don't think I'm above it. But I'd rather wait for a more intimate time to make my mark." His words dripped with double meaning as his gaze dropped down to my lips, and this time I did roll my eyes.

"So, let's get all the actor measuring-stick bulls.h.i.t out of the way now," he said.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know. Every time people like us get together we follow the same song and dance. One of us casually mentions a show we worked on and everyone else spends the next ten minutes looking for a way to nonchalantly one-up each other."

I had to laugh at that. It was very true. I couldn't count the number of times I had sat waiting for an audition overhearing that exact conversation. The name-dropping and backhanded bragging that went on when actors got together was a given.

"Not a lot of bragging to do here," I said. "Unfortunately I haven't had many big roles since college."

"Interesting," he said. "A modest one. We don't see too many of your kind in these places, Annie. Hmm, maybe you're waiting to brag about your college experience. Okay, I'll play along. Where did you go to school?"

I laughed again, already liking him a little better than I had a few minutes ago. "I went to Wayne State."

He raised his eyebrows. "So you performed at the Bonstelle Theater, huh? Certainly nothing to be ashamed of. So what shows did you do down there?"

I arranged my features in the faux-modest expression I had seen on countless girls in this situation. "My two most challenging roles were Celia in As You Like It and Alma Rose in Arthur Miller's Playing for Time."

"I am duly impressed. Now I'll tell you that I went to Northwestern and got my MFA and was slogging away in the pitiless Chicago scene until I was accepted as an intern at the Purple Rose."

"Wow," I said. "That's pretty amazing." I was being totally honest with him: not only was Northwestern a really great school, but interning at the Purple Rose Theater was a seriously big deal. It was a small company located in Chelsea, which was pretty far out from the city. But it had been started by another local actor turned Hollywood star. They were constantly putting up amazing new shows and their reputation was top-notch. I would kill to work at a theater like that.

"Thank you," Tyler replied. "Now we've got all that bragging out of our system, we can just relax and have fun. Sound good?"

I laughed. "Sounds perfect."

Before we could say more, Jenner Collins was calling for our attention. Jackson was walking around, handing out full scripts, and I felt a thrill of excitement. There were few things in the world I loved more than reading a new play.

"So tonight we're just going to do a pretty basic read-through," Jenner was saying. "We'll also be talking about your characterizations as we go through. I'd like everyone to be off-book as soon as humanly possible; we're on a short schedule and we don't have much time to mess around."

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you could grab a seat," the cape-lady called out, gesturing to the table in the center of the room.

Tyler followed me over and took the seat to my left. The brunette I had noticed earlier was hovering around near Jenner, clearly waiting to see where he would sit before choosing her own place.

Once we were all settled, Jenner smiled at us. "I'm so excited to get started on this show," he said. "It means a lot to me. A good friend of mine wrote the script, and I can't wait to bring it to life with your help."

It was pretty standard director stuff, but he seemed genuine enough. The brunette was absolutely simpering over him.

"Now, there's some pretty exciting news I need to share with you all. We have an opportunity with this show, and while it might not pan out, I still think it's important to mention it."

You could have heard a pin drop around that table. Every single one of us was leaning towards Jenner slightly, eager to hear what he was going to say.

"There's been some initial interest in taking this show to an off-Broadway run."

If it wouldn't be considered so uncool, I bet every single person at that table would have been screaming and jumping up and down. An off-Broadway run was a huge, huge deal. I knew that a few of Jenner's other shows had made similar jumps, but it was still a very rare thing for any production.

"There are some investors interested in working with us," Jenner said. "The plan, for now, is to run the show in Detroit through Christmas then take it to Chicago early in the New Year."

This made sense. For a regional show to make it to New York it needed support and a lot of good buzz. Chicago was a bigger market then Detroit. If we could get some good reviews there...

"Obviously, no casting decisions beyond the Detroit run have been made," the cape-lady said, reminding us all that there were no guarantees in this business. As if any of us didn't realize that.

"Regardless," Jenner said, "the best thing any of us can do is to work really hard and ensure that this Detroit run is as successful as possible. Now, let me introduce my a.s.sociates. You may have met them during your various auditions. This-" he gestured to cape lady-"is Tabitha Washington, my a.s.sociate director. Tabitha will be stepping in on those occasions when I can't be at rehearsal. She might also do some one-on-one character work with you. She's highly regarded in our field and you should consider it a great opportunity to work with her."

Tabitha merely nodded imperiously at us all, and I warded off a little shiver. No matter what Jenner said, this lady looked scary as h.e.l.l. No way was I looking forward to working with her, one-on-one or otherwise.

"This gentlemen here," Jenner continued, pointing to the skinny guy who had run the callback, "is Jackson, my personal a.s.sistant. He'll be helping us with any number of issues during the run of the show. So be nice to him." We all chuckled politely, while Jackson glared around at us, probably thinking of all the additional work we were going to be creating in his life.

"She has a previous engagement tonight, but at our next rehearsal, you'll be meeting our stage manager, Christina Goodwin. She's the best in the area."

There were a lot of murmurs at that. Even I knew who Christina Goodwin was. She had worked everywhere. That nervous feeling was starting to return with a vengeance. It was hard not to think that I was out of my league here.

To make matters worse, Jenner decided that we should go around the room and introduce ourselves. Of course, the other actors took this as an opportunity to share the greatest hits of their resume. As one middle-aged woman droned on and on about her experiences doing summer stock with the Berkshire Theater Festival, Tyler kicked me under the table. I suppressed my grin.

Once everyone had had their chance to brag, we got down to the read-through. I had read bits and pieces of the script from the callback materials I had gotten, but not quite enough to get a feel for the quality of the work. Within a few scenes I knew that the play was amazing, totally up my alley. It was emotional and poignant but also funny and satirical. Very, very clever. I felt my unease melting away as I enveloped myself in the story. How had I gotten so lucky to be chosen for this?

After the read-through, Jenner and Tabitha wanted us to talk about our characters-how we saw them, what we thought might be motivating their actions. It was a little scary, having only read the script once, but Jenner's enthusiasm and easy att.i.tude was contagious. Soon I was happily brainstorming with the rest of the cast, my inhibitions forgotten.

All in all, it was a cool first rehearsal. I felt like I was already well on my way to getting to know my character and the script. I no longer felt so intimidated by the other actors; my worry was replaced by excitement. And the idea of possibly taking this show out of Detroit, maybe even to New York...it was the kind of thing that I couldn't even let myself imagine.

After we had said our goodbyes, everyone headed off to their respective cars-except for the brunette girl (whose name, incidentally, was Jasmine), who instead hovered around Jenner as he and his a.s.sociates gathered their materials and made plans for the following night.

"She's something else, isn't she?" Tyler asked me as we headed down the stairs into the main bar. "I've worked with her before and she's always this way-trying to align herself with the most powerful guy in the room. I can't believe her head didn't explode when she found out she'd be working with Collins."

"Do you know him at all?" I asked, glancing over my shoulder to make sure none of the others were behind us. "Jenner? Is he the type to hook up with a groupie like that?"

"I haven't worked with him, but he doesn't have that kind of reputation, from what I hear."

"Good," I said, holding the door open for Tyler. "I hope he rejects her and she's humiliated."

Tyler laughed. "Wow, you're a lot more compet.i.tive than I thought."

"d.a.m.n straight," I replied as we walked out into the cool evening air. "Mmm," I said, pausing for a moment on the sidewalk. "I love the smell of fall in the air."

"Me too," Tyler agreed. "It's the perfect time for hanging out and having a beer." He looked at me with raised eyebrows, as if offering an invitation.

"Maybe we could do that sometime," I told him with a smile, effectively shooting him down while still leaving the possibility of changing my mind. It was a favorite tactic of mine in dealing with cute boys that had the potential of being dangerous.

As we reached our cars, Tyler gave me a little smirk. "I'll hold you to that," he said, then turned and was gone.

Chapter Seventeen.

"Is there anything else I should be doing?" I asked Jen, looking around at her piles of plastic bags, notebooks, and card stock.

"Nope, I think we should be pretty much set," she said, looking down at her notebook. "Oh, wait, on second thought, would you mind giving me a hand with the guest list? I want to make sure I have everyone important."

Jen and I were sitting in the living room, going through the final preparations for the benefit. She and Kiki had been working on the event for the last several days, and I had a feeling they had already put in more hours than their paltry budget allowed for.

"Okay, read me the names," I said.

As Jen went through the list of guests she had invited, I checked each name against the list Marilyn had given me.

Towards the end of her reading, she got to my personal guests.

"Okay, then we have myself, Matt, Kiki and Eric, Ginny and Josh. Is that all? You didn't invite your mom?"

"No," I said, suppressing a shudder at the thought. I paused for a moment. "So all the significant others are coming too?"

She looked at me in surprise. "Well, yeah. I mean, I thought that was...is that okay?"

"Of course," I said hurriedly. I shouldn't have been surprised. Of course Ginny and Jen and Kiki were going to want to bring their guys along. I just hadn't realized I would be the only single one of my friends.

I checked back through the list and realized that I would probably be the only single one period, even including the other theater employees and the donors.

I sighed a little, and regretted it when Jen heard me. "Seriously, Annie, if you want this to be just a girls thing that's totally fine. I'm sure no one will mind."

"No," I said firmly. "Of course I don't want that. Please. You guys don't need to feel bad for me." She looked at me with slightly raised eyebrows. "I chose this whole single thing, you know?" I told her. "I always have fun at a party, dateless or not."

"I just don't understand why you are dateless," she said.

"What do you mean?' I asked.

"I mean Nate, of course!" she said. "Why isn't he coming with you?"

"Jen," I groaned. She had brought up Nate no less than a dozen times in the week since I had last seen him.

"Annie," she mimicked. "I don't get it. I mean, you both clearly like each other. What's the big deal?"

"There is no big deal," I told her. "I'm just busy. You know that I have rehearsals every night."

It was true. Since I had found out I'd been cast in the show, I had been working my b.u.t.t off. When I wasn't at official rehearsals I was studying my lines. I had even met up with some of the other actors at a coffee house to work on getting off-book.

"You don't have rehearsal the night of the benefit," she said. "So it sounds like the perfect time to see him."

I sighed. She had a point. But after I had blown him off so spectacularly the last time...

"What is it?" she asked, watching my face closely. "I know that expression, Annie. What did you do?"

"I was a little rude to him last time I saw him," I admitted. "I had just found out about the show and I was in a hurry to get home and tell you. I guess I blew him off. He didn't seem too happy about it."

"So call and apologize," she said. Jen always made everything sound so simple.

Before I could respond, there was a sound on the front porch. "You expecting someone?" I asked.

There was really no need to ask. Her entire face had lit up in the way it only did when Matt was around. Sure enough, a second later he was opening the door. I guess he'd taken my advice about not needing to knock.

"Hi, girls," he said pleasantly.

Jen was already up on her feet, rushing forward to hug him as if she hadn't seem him in days, though in fact I had spotted him in my kitchen in his boxer shorts that very morning.