Auditions
Sara spun around in her netted ergonomic swivel chair. She let out a loud irritated sigh, letting the heels of her black pumps scrape against the dark hard wood floors of the windowless wood paneled room. She closed her eyes and massaged her forehead with her hand, the bright track lighting in the room was beginning to give her a headache. She placed her hands on the refurbished prairie barn wood desk that she'd been sitting at for the last several hours.
"Stop groaning." Allison instructed, flipping through papers in a large binder, her eyes scanning each page quickly before turning to the next. "I've been here just as long as you have, and have ingested just as many cups of that tar that they're trying to pass off as coffee." She muttered, ripping a page out of the binder. "This guy was horrible. We all agreed, right?" she nudged Sara's leg to get her attention.
"He was the worst." Doyle said, as he checked the camera to make sure there was still some battery charge. "Let's be honest, you can probably just burn that binder, today has been a waste of our time."
"Don't sugar coat it or anything," Allison grumbled, unimpressed, as usual, with Doyle's shitty attitude. "Why did you volunteer for this casting job anyway?"
Doyle looked up from the camera and gave her an angry glare, "I didn't volunteer, Grayson told me I had to be here."
"What?" Allison demanded, "Evan told you you had to work this job? With me?"
"You are the producer." he said rudely, turning back to his equipment.
"Can you believe this?" Allison whispered to Sara. "Why would Evan make Doyle work with us, he knows that we hate him."
"And he hate's us." Sara nodded, pushing her black circular glasses further up the bridge of her nose.
"Obviously Evan and I have only been dating for a few months, but this is a total dick move." Allison said, quickly becoming angry.
"Or." Sara opted, leaning in closer to her best friend, "He made Doyle do it because he's the best camera man we have, he oversees the entire department." she quickly pointed out, "And this is the biggest budget Petit Film Industries has ever gotten to produce a film, so this is a big deal."
Allison appeared to be thinking about what her friend had just said, she tapped her index finger to her chin thoughtfully. "I suppose that could be a possibility." she finally said.
"I should be upstairs running the front desk and the records, but instead we've been in this room for the past week trying to cast this thing and I'm about to go mad." Sara admitted, changing the subject. "Doyle stopped bothering me a few hours ago. How is that possible? When he talks I don't want to punch him in the face, I just don't care anymore. That must be a sign of madness."
Allison leaned down to the eco-friendly, chrome coloured mini fridge that sat beneath the desk. She quickly passed her friend a recycled bottle of spring water, "Here." She offered. "I know it's been a long three weeks. But, I mean, look at what we've gotten so far!" She passed a much smaller binder to her friend. Sara, knowing exactly what it was, rolled her eyes, but humored Allison by opening the binder. She saw tabs along the edge, each with a character's name, and behind each tab were two to three potential actors to take on the rolls in the upcoming film. "Every single character is done, our job here is almost at an end. When we're done casting the male lead, you can go back to your records, and I can move on to the final live auditions and cuts, which I assume Evan will be present at."
"I'll be there too." Doyle chimed in, his voice sounding annoyed and dry.
"God damn it, Doyle!" Allison cried, "You sound like a goon, and you shouldn't be listening in to our conversations."
"What else am I going to listen to? All you do is talk, there's nothing else that I could possibly concentrate on! I wish I could turn away, but your shrill voice always seems to burrow its way into my skull."
"Enough children." Sara called. "We've been trying to cast the male lead for the last two days and it's been a rough go of it. We're all cranky and tired." she recapped the situation for them, pausing to take a sip of the chilled water. "Maybe we should just call it a day? Start fresh tomorrow?" She tapped the home button on her phone, sitting on the desk in front of her, it was just past five, she knew the office upstairs would be shutting down soon, the few night staff coming in for their shifts.
"We still have one more guy to see." Allison said, waking her computer up and checking her detailed audition schedule.
Sara groaned, "You don't need me here, do you?" she asked, her voice pleading, "I'm only here to keep records and take notes. I'm the most non essential person here, I input data, Doyle can do my job."
"No, Doyle is doing his own job." he said from behind them.
"Sara, you're here to make sure we have all the information on the actor, and his agency. You need to make sure the video Doyle's attempting to shoot, is properly uploaded to Evans livestream and our directors Dropbox, plus you help record my thoughts, because God knows I can barely keep them straight." Allison finished, pulling a granola bar out of her purse.
"Gross, how long has that been in there?" Doyle said, sneering at Allison's snack.
"Shove it, Doyle." Allison snapped, "I put in in there this morning." she quickly added.
"You're basically saying that I'm your glorified assistant?" Sara said, ignoring that spat going on beside her.
"You keep this entire company organized." Allison pointed out, "You and Kasie and what's-her-name…"
"Sophia." Sara quickly said, shaking her head, aware that Allison had been completely incapable of remembering her overnight employee.
"Right, Sophie." Allison nodded, with a look of pure confusion on her face. "Anyway, you're the best at what you do, we need you on this project because, as you said, Evan is pulling the best he has to work on this film."
Sara sighed in response, not really caring about the logic in it, more wanting to be away from this room, which was beginning to remind her of a coffin. She wanted to go out and have a drink, or go home and read a book, anywhere that wasn't in this audition room.
"Doyle and I are like Ghost Busters." Allison continued, apparently taking her friends silence as not understanding what she'd been attempting to convey, "And you are Janine."
"Could I be Gozer?" Sara asked.
"No." Allison quickly answered. "Alright, back to work. One last guy, then we can call it a day and start anew tomorrow."
"Who is it?" Sara asked, turning to her small laptop sitting just off to the side. She tapped the mouse to rid the screensaver and scrolled down her own audition chart. "Tom-"
"Hiddleston." Alison cut her off. "It says he's been mildly successful in the UK, mostly plays, a few mini-series, and even fewer films."
Sara scanned the resume that the agency representing him sent over, "Really successful in the theater." she agreed, impressed with the awards he'd won for acting on stage. She switched over to the internet and found the compiled and saved pages she had bookmarked the night before, on the men who were auditioning that day. "Right, I was looking at him last night. There were multiple articles, all from noted journalists, saying that Hiddleston was offered the role of Loki in the Thor and Avenger films, but he turned it down to act in The Hollow Crown, that Shakespeare mini-series with Jeremy Irons?"
"Don't you hate Jeremy Irons?" Allison asked.
Sara's head snapped up from her laptop, her eyes narrowed and her voice lowered, "Yes." she hissed.
Doyle shook his head, clearly disgusted by the two girls he'd been forced to work overtime with on a daily basis.
"Anyway," Allison turned towards Sara, abandoning her own computer, not having half as much information that Sara did. "I have heard of The Hollow Crown."
"Yes." Sara continued, "It was BBC, really good reviews."
"And he turned down Loki for that?" Allison asked skeptically.
"Yeah, Paramount went on record saying that he was offered the role, but had prior commitments."
"Wow." Allison nodded her head. "That's crazy." she was silent for a moment, then a large smile grew on her face, "I'm excited now! Maybe he will be great! If Marvel Studios was all about it, then that's saying something."
"Was this character supposed to be british? We haven't auditioned anyone with an accent, it's all been tall, blond, american or canadian accent-I still liked Ryan Gosling, and he was the most notorious-"
"We are not getting into this again!" Allison shouted.
"I swear to God I will throw this camera at you!" Doyle joined Allison.
"Alright, I'm sorry!" Sara cried, holding her hands up in the air. "I know, you think he looks too young,"
"Damn right, that perfect Canadian specimen has a baby face for DAYS!" Allison complimented him, "Our character, Dorian, he's supposed to be a 35 year old guy."
"Ryan is 35!" Sara pointed out, having said this exact statement many times over the last two days.
"No!" Doyle yelled, walking up to the girls, and pointing a finger at both of them. "I refuse to fight about this AGAIN!" He waved his hands in the air, the sleeves of his dress shirt that he'd rolled up, falling down his arms. He let out an annoyed grunt and began to roll them back up. "We've talked about this enough-no, we've talked about it too much! He is out. We're done. No more discussion."
"Fine." both girls said in unison.
Allison glared at Doyle "Go get the damn man."
Doyle glared back but grudgingly marched towards the door that led to their reception area. Allison chewed slowly on her granola bar and continued to glare at the door while Sara sat down in a chair beside her and brushed out her peach coloured dress as she crossed her legs.
Doyle came through the door followed by Tom, who was wearing a leather jacket thrown casually over a blue-grey sweatshirt. He took off the sunglasses he had been wearing as he entered the room and placed them into his front pocket. "Hello there." He said in a smooth British accent as he approached Allison, who was staring at him with her granola bar lifted halfway up to her mouth, as though she had been frozen mid-bite. "Oh- hi" Allison said as she hastily put down her snack and shook his hand. "I'm Allison Bench, producer at Petite Film Industries." Tom nodded politely and then discreetly brushed his hands together to remove the granola crumbs that had been transferred.
Sara watched the whole thing in slight bewilderment and chimed in. "And I'm Sara Wilson, associate producer and casting director." She felt her heart race slightly as Tom firmly shook her hand and met her eyes with his own icy blue ones.
"Nice to meet you, Sara," said Tom. "I'm excited about the project."
"As are we." she was quick to answer, "I hope you don't mind me asking if you can read the part with your accent, and a second time with an american accent?" she was blushing, taken aback by how good looking he was, and decided to dive right into the business end of it, in hopes of calming her nerves.
He smiled, and placed his jacket on the vegan leather couch that sat next to the door. "Absolutely." he nodded, the smile leaving his face as he mentally prepared for the scene.
"Perfect." Sara said, nodding her head and quickly typing a message into her open google docs program 'I don't know if he suits the part.' she quickly typed out.
Allison, who was linked into the open file, immediately saw what her friend had typed. 'What are you talking about? He looks good to me.' she replied, her own fingers quickly pressing the keys, wanting to be discreet.
'Dorian is portrayed as the hero, for the most part, in this film.' Sara began to type, 'but the underlying story is that he is a villain. The writers have already begun to write the script for the sequel.'
'Shocking...already a sequel.' Allison typed, knowing that Sara would pick up on her sarcasm, even though the internet.
'This guy is gorgeous, but he doesn't quite seem the 'evil' type.'
'You JUST told me that he was offered the lead villain role for Marvel.'
Sara pushed away from her computer, picking up the script and letting it open to the well worn page they'd been looking at for the last couple days. "Page 85, yeah?" Sara asked him, ignoring Allison's comment.
"Of course." he said with an amused look on his face. Sara narrowed her eyes, wondering what he thought was so funny.
"Ready whenever you are." Doyle said from behind the camera.
Tom nodded, and began the scene, staring intently at Sara as he began his dialogue. "Kate, you can't just walk in here and act like everything is peaches and fucking cream." he said sharply, any trace of his british accent having faded away. "Things are not going to get better, they're only going to get worse! Why can't you seem to grasp that idea?!" he angrily sneered, then took in a deep breath, calmly letting it out. "Listen, I'm not trying to scare you, I just need you to understand the severity of the situation. You can't go walking around alone at night, not when he's out there looking for you." his anger seemed to have melted away to a pleading-like tone. "You're the only thing that I care about in this world, and I can't always be around to protect you."
"But I didn't mean to-" Sara fed him Kate's line.
"I don't care!" He quickly cut her off. "I know your intentions are always good, but please…" the words died in his throat, he looked directly at Sara, tears welling in his eyes, "Please, you need to be safer, you need to for once, just for ONCE, listen to me."
Sara stared at the actor, trying to wrap her mind around the multitude of emotions he was doling out. It was impressive, but not shocking for a trained theater actor. No one had read the part this intensely as of yet, not even Ryan Gosling. Was this what they'd been looking for though? The intensity was right, but was he edgy enough?
Sara was suddenly pulled from her reverie by Allison kicking her leg, motioning for her to feed Tom the next line.
"Oh." she shook her head, banishing the thoughts, "Dorian, please...I...I'm sorry." she stuttered the line, delivering it as though she'd written it herself.
Tom let out an exasperated sigh, "Fuck it, come here." he instructed, his voice both determined and defeated.
Sara stayed in her seat, seeing as most actors continued the lines at this point, knowing that the casting director wasn't about to lend herself as a stand in. "Sara." Allison hissed, pushing her friends arm, "Go!" she mouthed the words, not wanting her voice to be picked up by the recording equipment. Sara's eyes widened in horror and embarrassment as she slowly stood from the chair, and walked around the desk, straightening her black blazer as she did so. She took a deep breath as he held his hands out to her when she approached.
She placed her hands in his and he pulled her close to him, crushing her against his shockingly muscular chest. "I don't want to have to rely on you, I need to fight my own battles." she said the line from memory.
He grabbed her upper arms and looked directly into her eyes, "You're more than capable of fighting your own battles, but you don't need to do it alone. This isn't something you can get over, or work past, this is a very bad and powerful man coming to get you, to take you away from me." the way he delivered the last word sounded as though he possessed her, as though she was his property.
Sara couldn't take her eyes off his, transfixed by the tone of his voice. She tried to take a deep breath but found that her throat was feeling choked, "What are we going to do?" her words came out sounding tense and strangled.
He pulled her to him, this time more gently, "We'll figure it out. Ana will be home in another few hours, I'm sure she'll have several ideas, and until then I'm staying with you." He put his hand on the back of her head, and lovingly stroked her hair. "I promise I won't let anything happen to you." he vowed.
"How can you promise something like-" he cut her off by not so gently pulling her hair, forcing her to once again look into his eyes.
"I promise." his voice was so dark and intense it frightened her a little. The fear must have shown on her face, because he smiled evilly and pulled her into a deep kiss.
Allison slapped her hand over her mouth in complete shock, as Doyle attempted to contain his laughter, not wanting to mess up the scene by ruining the sound with his cackling.
"Alright, well I think that was perfect." Allison said, a big smile on her face. "Should we take it again from the top, but maybe with your natural accent?" she pointed to her lips, indicating poorly that she wanted to hear the scene with a british accent.
Sara stepped away from the actor, trying to get her bearings. "Y-yes, let's reset." she went to walk back around the desk.
"Where are you going?" Allison asked her. "Stay up there with Tom." she instructed, "You seem to pull a great performance out of him." she turned her gaze to tom and added, "If you don't mind me saying so?"
"Not at all." he shook his head, falling back into his casual demeanor. "I agree, have you acted before?" he asked Sara, who immediately blushed.
"Me? No! Absolutely not." she seemed stuck to the spot now, not quite knowing where to go.
"Still rolling." Doyle muttered, with underlying tons of humor.
"Ready?" he asked Sara.
She stepped over to him and nodded, "I suppose so."
They both went through the short scene again, Tom's performance just as intense and unyielding as before. When Doyle stopped the camera and nodded to Allison, she too stood up and clapped her hands together, "Alright, as one of the more important producers, please don't tell the other's that I said that, you are officially in the running for Dorian, ." she turned to Doyle who shrugged and said,
"Best we've seen in two days."
"I don't want to jump the gun, but we only have a few other auditions tomorrow and I'm going to say that your agent will be receiving a call tomorrow afternoon to announce that you've been invited back for a final audition."she quickly informed.
"That's great!" he said, a big smile lighting up his face.
"Unless Sara disagrees." Doyle chimed in, smirking at the girl who was still dazed by the completely unprofessional way she'd handled the last fifteen minutes. This had never happened before, and she didn't know how to proceed.
"I, uh…" she stuttered, hearing Doyle chuckling. She cleared her throat and stood up taller, "I can't make any promises, of course." she explained, "But you are the best we've seen, without a doubt." she quickly made her way back around her desk and started typing furiously in her notes document.
Allison grabbed Sara's unfinished water and took a sip, "The final audition scene is on page 124, Dorian is holding Kate in his arms as she's dying. Lot's of emotion, so study up."
"Noted." he said, rolling the scrip up in his hands and tucking it into the pocket of his leather jacket. He looked back at Sara, who still seemed busy at her computer. "Thanks again for the help, I couldn't have pulled out a performance like that with just anyone."
Sara smiled, and replied, refusing to look at him, "Flattery won't get you the role, ." she continued to type, writing nothing but gibberish in the document, hoping that she at least looked busy.
"Until later." he waved and calmly walked out of the room.
Sara let out a deep breath, and leaned back in her chair, spinning in a slow circle with her eyes closed.
"Cats are cute. They like to play with string." Allison began to read the nonsense Sara had been typing.
"Shut up, Allison." Sara moaned.
"Why don't I have a cat?" Allison continued to read, "I don't want to be a crazy cat person. If I got one cat I'm sure I would accumulate many cats, and then I would die alone."
"Are those the notes we're sending over to Grayson?" Doyle asked, winding up the extension cord and tying it together.
"Well they are in the document." Allison noted.
"I hate both of you." Sara said.
"I have your audition saved to film." Doyle said, "Maybe you should be in the running for Kate? Switch your career perhaps?"
"Fuck off, Doyle." Sara stood and took off her blazer, she was sweltering. "I'm going to leave. When I get back all this stuff better be packed up."
"Home time!" Allison cried, snapping Tom's profile into the binder of final cuts. "Want a ride home?" she asked her friend, who was just about to leave the room.
"Ugh." Sara grunted, "No, I need to stay later and do some research on tomorrow's potentials. After that I'll head home."
"Cool." Allison nodded, "I was hoping it would just be me and Evan in the car anyway." she smiled. "Anyway, I will see you suckas tomorrow!" she said, packing up her laptop.
Sara waved goodbye and exited the room, heading towards the fire exit, she needed some air. That had been a very strange audition, and she needed to take time to process exactly how she ended up in front of the camera and nearly making out with an actor. She couldn't get fired for that, could she? If he got the job, would it be favouritism? This wasn't an ideal situation.
She stepped outside and breathed in the cool spring air. Leaning against the building, she closed her eyes, feeling the sun warm her skin. Maybe she should take up smoking, it would give her an excuse to take multiple breaks and-
"Sara?" a male's voice said, " ?"
"It's ." Sara quickly corrected, opening her eyes to see Tom standing beside her, holding a motorcycle helmet in his hands.
"Sorry, ." he started again, "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind possibly getting together to rehearse lines with me?"
Sara stood up and shook her head, "I'm sure that's unnecessary, you're the professional here, not me."
"Yes, but you know the script so well…"
"The scenes people audition for anyway."
"You're being modest." he was quick to point out. "I've read the entirety of this script, and I'm completely desperate to play the part of Dorian, he seems like such a complex creature, so many possibilities and avenues to take."
"And you don't think it would be unprofessional of me, as the casting director, to give you tips and tricks?" she asked him.
"You know who you're looking for." he said, "You know how Dorian should act, I could see it the moment I walked into the room that you weren't impressed with me."
"I don't think that I…" her words failed her, knowing that he was absolutely right. "Alright, in all honesty, I didn't think you were right for the part." She shrugged. "Dorian is complex, he walks the line between being completely in control and domineering, while at the same time consumed by passion and heartache when it comes to Kate. Even though she's right in front of him, he seems to always feel as though she'll be taken from him and any given moment." she explained how she saw the character, "He's always intense, regardless of which emotion he's feeling."
"That right there." Tom pointed to her, "That's why I'd like your opinion. Will you be in the final casting room?"
Sara shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her heels making her feet sore. "No, I'll only be seeing the footage afterwards, at a meeting with all the producers."
"Then it won't be unprofessional." he paused for her reaction, when she didn't give one he went on, "Please?"
Sara weighed her options, he was right, it was somewhat out of her hands once his name was put on the 'call back list', which as Allison had stated, it was. She'd already given him a rundown of the character, which was already somewhat toeing the lines of helpful pointers and outright telling him what to do. What harm could it be to listen to him read the script and continue on with assisting him with the performance. He had the intensity down, but he had to be edgier, more unruly, maybe even savage was the right word? As it was, if a younger Stephen Dorff walked through the door, he would have the job over Tom, in her opinion. "Alright." she finally nodded. "I can give you a hand, there are a few things you could add that would make the performance pop."
"I knew it." he smirked, "Allison and Doyle both seemed sold on my performance, but I could tell that there was something you were resistant on, even while doing the scene with me, you seemed somewhat skeptical."
"Well I don't know if your acting had anything to do with that." she said, "I don't usually jump into the scene during auditions."
"Sorry about that." he apologized, looking down at his helmet.
"Dorian wouldn't apologize." Sara said, mockingly, "Either way, when did you want to go over the script? Callbacks are tomorrow, so maybe tomorrow night we can-"
"I don't have any plans tonight?" he offered.
"Tonight?" she was taken aback by his immediate need to rehearse. "I have to stick around here for a few more hours, I have some notes and preparations to get in order for tomorrow."
"That's not a problem." he shrugged, "I need to pop back to my hotel and make some calls to my agent, let him know how the audition went."
"So maybe we can-"
"Call me when you're off and we can grab a drink at my hotel." he began to walk backwards towards the parking lot.
"Oh...well…" she stuttered, searching for a way out of this awkward last minute date/business meeting? How could she lable what was transpiring at the moment? It was all going too fast. "I guess?"
"Excellent." he smiled again, his perfect teeth and crystal blue eyes seeming to blind her. "I'll see you a little later."
"Yes." Was all she was capable of saying, as she watched him spin around, place the helmet on his head and head towards his motorcycle, parked only a few feet away. "Alright. This is...all very unprofessional." she muttered, turning to head inside, hoping that work would be so daunting she'd have to cancel her plans.
Sara rubbed her eyes and focused on the clock on her phone. It was now just past 8:00pm, the sky outside of her office window was dark and hazy, the moon and stars hidden completely behind grey-purple clouds. She turned her phone onto photo mode, checking her make up, sighing deeply and reaching down to her purse to find her make up bag. If it wasn't too late she'd meet Tom for a drink, then go home, but if that was the plan, she definitely needed more mascara and lipstick.
After applying the necessary makeup, she grudgingly put her heels back on and stood up, gathering her notebook and binder in her arms, heading towards the door. She texted Tom 'Leaving work now, are you still interested in meeting up?' She walked past the security guard, waving goodbye with the hand that was still clutching her phone. She pushed the front glass door open with her back, and exited the building.
The cool night air whipped around her, making the bottom of her dress flow around her knees in the breeze. She shivered in her blazer, wishing she'd brought her jacket with her, or at least a scarf. She shrugged and began to walk up the street. Tom's hotel was only a fifteen minute walk, and she didn't want to wait around for a cab. She checked her cellphone, shifting her notebook and binder more securely with her left hand, not wanting any of the few loose pages to slip out. Still no reply from Tom. She groaned, tucking her phone away into her purse. If he hadn't replied by the time she got to the hotel, she'd just hop into one of the many idling cabs and just go home. Call it a night. No harm done. That was the new plan.
The wind picked up and sent her short hair flying around her face. She attempted to tuck it behind her right ear, but the weather wasn't being cooperative in her attempts to keep herself looking presentable. She quickly sidestepped into an alley, the wall acting as a barrier between her and the cold gusts of air. She raked her hands through her hair, and hoped that it didn't look too bad. Continuing her walk, she chose to stick to the alley, as it lead her directly towards main street and sheltered her from the elements.
Knowing that this particular location was a hot spot for homeless people, seeking out refuge for the night, or drunk people looking for a secure and sheltered area to get high, she quickened her pace. Her heels making a sharp clacking noise against the uneven, damp pavement. The alley let out onto a dark street that had recently been closed for construction being done on an old heritage building. Sara rolled her eyes as she jogged across the empty street, annoyed by the lack of parking due to the slow moving construction crew. This was the reason she'd been getting rides to work with Allison for the last week. It was nearly impossible for the girls to find parking.
She stepped into the next alleyway, which lead her directly to Main Street, Tom's hotel was just across that, in the Exchange District, where there was usually an outdoor concert every second night, many pubs to visit and two board game cafes, apparently one just wasn't enough.
She shifted the binder and book again, realizing as she did so, that her footsteps were not the only one's she heard. Just as she was about to turn around and look behind her, she felt a sharp pain in the back of her skull. A rough hand shoved her face into the brick on the side of the alley. She felt her glasses crack from the pressure of her face against the wall, and her vision was immediately skewed.
Something dug into her side, making her hiss in pain. She quickly realized that it was the sharp edge of a knife. Her legs threatened to give out, but knowing that if she moved she might be stabbed was enough to keep her upright.
"Move and you die." a male's voice clearly spoke directly into her ear.
The only noise now was from distant traffic, cars and trucks driving down Main, and the sound of the papers she's dropped, flying around the alleyway. Her breathing seemed to be the loudest and most prominent of the noises, coming out in short gasps of panic. She could see black spots dancing in her vision, the looming threat of fainting. She attempted to shake her head to clear her mind, but the man's hand was holding her head to the wall with such force that she only succeeded in further digging her flesh into the rough surface.
"Take whatever you want." She complied immediately, wanting the situation to be over just as quickly as it had started. One minute she was internally complaining about city construction, the next she was being robbed like one of Bruce Wayne's parents...hopefully this would end differently.
She immediately scolded herself for thinking of something as stupid as Batman at a time like this, and was brought back to the present by the feeling of the man's hand on her wrist, as he pulled her Michael Kors watch off.
The hand holding her head, applied more pressure as she felt his other hand come up to her throat to take her necklace. Her stomach dropped, realizing that the silver pendant she was wearing was not valuable, but was sentimental to her, as her parents had bought it for her on a trip to Greece. She kept her mouth closed as he lifted the chain up from the base of her neck, however, instead of taking it off like any normal person would do, he attempted to yank it from her throat. If he'd done this while facing her, it may have worked, as the clasp would have broken, however, holding it from the clasp and pulling only resulted in him choking her, the silver chain cutting into her throat.
She made an awkward gagging noise as all air was cut off. The thief, surprised by this turn of events released her and watched as she fell to the ground, sputtering and clutching her hand to her throat.
"I told you not to move!" he said, coming at her with the knife. "I gave you a chance."
Sara's eyes went wide in fear, she attempted to run away, but in her panic was clumsy, and tripped on her own purse, which to her credit, was difficult to see through her lopsided glasses. She collided with the cement, once again, but didn't give up, attempting to push herself back up, she felt the knife slice at the side of her right thigh. She let out a cry of pain, but continued her attempt to get away. The end of the alley wasn't far; if she could just make it to Main Street she'd be safe, someone would see her, someone would stop and help her. She gained a better footing once she was completely upright and began running, not bothering to look back, not wanting to see how close he was.
"Get back here!" she heard the angry voice growl, he was close.
She saw the exit, and felt the breeze begin to pick up as she neared it. Suddenly she felt a hand grab the collar of her blazer, and she went flying backwards. A hand collided with her face, slapping her so forcibly she heard a ringing in her ears. As she lay on the cement, prone and dazed, she could feel someone grab her hair and her collar once again, pulling her back, deeper into the alley.
She raised her hands, grabbing her attackers wrist, trying to pry his fingers away from her hair, but her attempts were in vain. He was stronger. She felt around for something to use as a weapon, when her hands reached out, they were only met with dirty puddles and empty space. She reached down and pulled off one of her heels, using it as a bludgeoning tool, she repeatedly bashed the pointed heel onto his hand.
He cried out in pain and released her for a moment. She took the chance to try to get away again, crawling away from him on her hands and knees. "Bitch!" He cried, lunging for her. She squeezed her eyes shut and lifted her hands up in front of her body, as though that would protect her from a knife, and waited for his attack. The blow never came, instead she heard what sounded like a scuffle. She opened her eyes to see the thief getting punched in the gut by Tom. His usually serene face was distorted in anger and rage, as he lashed out at her attacker. How was he here? How did he know where to find her? Maybe she'd passed out and this was all a dream, in reality she was being stabbed over and over by that creep.
She swallowed hard, feeling pain as she did so, definitely not a dream if she was capable of feeling any sort of injury, right? She looked back up and saw the guy who'd tried to rob her scream "Fuck this!" and run back down the alley, the way he'd came.
Tom ran over to Sara, he was breathing heavily, but didn't appear to have gotten hurt whatsoever from the brawl. "Are you alright?" his eyes were scanning her with such precision that it made her feel uncomfortable. He gently ran his thumb against her cheek, she winced when he did so, the wall must have scraped her.
His fingers slowly traveled down her neck, where she knew, without looking, that there was a mark from being nearly choked to death by the idiot thief. At least he hadn't stolen it. "He tried to pull it off the wrong way." she explained, her voice sounding slightly rough.
"I can see that," he muttered, continuing to look for wounds. "He cut you." he said, finally seeing the trickle of blood dripping down her leg, staining her dress. She loved this dress. "Ugh." Sara groaned, "I loved this dress." the blood had already seeped into the fabric, acting as a poor sponge, tainting the pretty peach colour to a rusted one.
"We need to get you to a hospital." he instructed.
"Yeah, I don't think so." Sara muttered, placing her shoe back onto her foot and attempting to straighten her glasses. They sat slightly crooked on her nose, but still worked fine, thankfully. "I will not be sitting in a waiting room for six hours, only to be told that the cut isn't that deep, and I'm free to go home."
"You need to speak to the police, as well." he said in the same tone, apparently ignoring what she'd just said.
"That I will do." she complied, "Not that I got a really good look at him, but still, I'll call them for sure, is my phone…" she didn't finish, almost not wanting to know the answer.
"He left it, actually." Tom said, standing up and jogging over to where her purse had fallen. He also picked up her binder and notebook, snatching the loose papers up off the alley floor. Upon returning to her side, he slung her small purse over his shoulder, and bent down to help her up.
"I'm fine, really." she stood on her own, refusing to allow him to help her any further, when her knees wobbled and her legs almost gave out. His arms were quickly around her waist and she was clinging to the front of his jacket.
"Fine?" he asked, "Really?"
She cleared her throat, "I've been better."
"Reconsidering the trip to the hospital?" he asked hopefully.
"No." she said firmly, "I had a tetanus shot less than four months ago, and I'm not concussed, no one is convincing me to go to a hospital."
He looked irritated by her stubbornness, but reluctantly agreed, "Alright, let's go back to my hotel, it's close and we can both call the authorities from there."
As they slowly made their way towards Tom's hotel, his arm supporting her the entire way, she asked, "How did you find me?"
"When I got your text message I decided to meet you, so you didn't have to walk alone at night."
"Very gallant of you." she complimented.
"Apparently I didn't leave soon enough." he looked down at her, "I'm sorry."
Sara raised a questioning eyebrow at him, "Pretty sure none of this is your fault."
"If you hadn't agreed to help me with the script, then you would've gone home earlier, or at least maybe taken a cab home and-"
"I don't play that game." Sara quickly cut him off. "Playing the 'what if' game will get you know where. What happened is what happened, we don't need to dwell on what could've been, or what should've been." she quickly dismissed him.
His eyes bore into hers, a stunned look on his face, "True enough." he said, although it sounded more like a compliment than a statement.
After the police had left the hotel suit Sara turned to Tom, who was still sitting next to her on the couch, holding his nearly empty glass of whisky. "Before I go, I need to thank you again." she put her hand on his arm. "You saved my life." The police had pointed out that there had recently been a woman stabbed and killed just a few blocks over from where she'd been attacked, making the night seem even more awful than it already was. She resisted the urge to shudder, trying to push away thoughts of how closely she'd come to dying.
His eyes immediately locked onto hers, "I wish I had gotten there sooner." His gaze falling to her scraped cheek and the reddening bruised line that cut along her neck.
She shrugged, "I'm lucky I'm only a little banged up." Turning from him, she pulled the hand towel away from her right thigh, noticing that the bleeding from the knife slashing at her had already stopped. "I'll clean myself up when I get home."
"Home?" he quickly questioned. "I thought you told the police you were staying with Allison?"
She waved at him nonchalantly, "I told them that, but I have every intention of getting a cab and going to my own apartment." she looked around the large room for her purse, spotting it on the table right by the door. "Plus, Allison probably isn't even at her own place, she's been spending most nights at her boyfriends." she flung her purse over her shoulder.
"You can't go home alone." he persisted, standing and walking towards her. "After what happened to you tonight, you shouldn't be on your own."
"I assure you, I'll fine." She stepped away from him, not liking the seriousness in his voice. "I want to shower and go to sleep."
"Then stay here."
"Excuse me?"
"The bathroom is just through the bedroom." he pointed towards the dark room just off to her right. "There's a king size bed you can sleep in, I will be quite comfortable out here on the couch."
She let out a tired sigh, "I'm not taking letting you sleep on the couch. Don't worry about me, I'll be home in less than twenty minutes and will even text you when I get there."
"I wasn't asking." he instructed darkly.
Sara felt a shiver go up her spine. She was shocked by Tom's sudden protectiveness and domineering manner. Exhaustion was clouding her mind, and although she felt bad to put him out, she hadn't the energy to fight him. "Alright." she muttered, stepping towards the bedroom, "But don't feel like you need to sleep on the sofa. I'm certain that we can both be adults and sleep in the gargantuan bed together, without feeling the need to…" she searched for a better way to phrase the sentence she'd started, but with her mind working at a sluggish pace she gave up and ended it with "fuck."
He gave her a sincere and almost apologetic smile, "Of course." he motioned for her to continue on to the bathroom, which she did, desperate to drain the hotel of all the hot water.
She stepped out of the bathroom nearly forty minutes later, tendrils of steam spiraling in the air behind her. Tom had given her one of his t-shirts to wear, her curves filling out the shirt, pulling the cotton fabric tight across her chest and hips. Tom was already sitting on the bed, on top of the blankets and sheets, reading the script as she entered the room.
"I'm dead tired." she muttered.
"You're bleeding." he replied.
"No I'm not, I'm-" she looked down and saw that her thigh was still bleeding a little. "Ugh, ruining my dress wasn't enough, it's determined to ruin your shirt too." she said angrily.
He chuckled as he stood up, calmly walking out of the room and then re-entering a minute later with a first aid kit the hotel had provided him with. He pulled out a large bandage and some disinfectant cream. After tending to her wound, he began to put the kit away as she pulled the blankets and sheet back on the bed.
"Do you mind if I stay up a little later to go through the script again?" he questioned, "If it's going to bother you, I can read it in the other room."
"No that's fine." she insisted, gently getting into the soft bed, pulling the blankets up to her chest. "Write down any questions you have and I can answer them tomorrow." she yawned, and took off her glasses, setting them on the nightstand, next to her phone.
"Don't feel as though you need to help me run through any of the lines tomorrow."
"Are you kidding?" she questioned, closing her eyes, feeling a wave of euphoria come over her as the push pillow cradled her aching head. "After saving me tonight I should promise to read through any future script you come across for the next ten years."
She heard him chuckle again, and felt the bed shift very slightly as he sat down next to her. That was the last thing she remembered before falling into a dreamless sleep.
Sara moaned as consciousness pulled her from her slumber. She breathed in deeply, and as she did she felt the warmth of another body pressed against her back. She suddenly went rigid, her eyes flying open and slowly moving her head down to survey where her body had moved throughout the night. She felt a hand that was not her own, resting comfortably against her lower hip, and could feel slow sleepy breaths against the back of her neck. She moved her head in attempts to look behind her, seeing Tom very nearly sharing a pillow with her.
She took a moment to asses how she felt about the situation. Truthfully, having him so close to her, holding her, made her feel comforted and safe. She let out a deep breath and turned her head back to see the sun peeking in through the sides of the blackout shades. She slowly stretched, tensing and relaxing her still tired body
A groan came from behind her, causing her to immediately freeze, unsure of how Tom would react upon waking. He shifted away from her slightly, chuckling nervously.
"What is it?" Sara asked, rolling over to her other side so that she was facing him.
He continued to snigger, "You probably shouldn't be stretching like that, so close…"
She arched a questioning eyebrow and noticed that his cheeks were reddening. What reason did he have to be embarrassed about her-she suddenly realized her body had been shifting against him in a slow and potentially sensual way. She also blushed, "Sorry." she quickly apologized, starting to push away from him, in order to give him space. He quickly grabbed onto her wrist and pulled her back to him.
"My intention wasn't to frighten you away." he said, his smile finally reaching his eyes, making them seem to sparkle even in the dimly lit room.
Sara gently pulled her hand away from his, and reached over to the side table and carefully placed her glasses, which she managed to bend back into shape, on her face. She turned and gave him a wry look, "I am far from afraid, I just-" she gasped suddenly, "What time is it?!"
Tom reached beside him and lifted his watch from the bedside table, "It's only five after eight."
Sara let out a relieved sigh, "Perfect, I can still get to the office in a half hour or so." she threw the blankets off of her and sat up in the bed, making a mental list of what she had to do before work; make up was in her purse, she could use Tom's brush and hair products to style her messy hair, but as for clothes...maybe she could call Allison, and if she hadn't left for the office yet she could bring an extra dress to the hotel?
"You're going to work today?" he asked, taken aback by this sudden turn of events. He propped himself up on his elbow, and reached out to her again.
She placed her hand in his and gave him a skeptical look, "I would absolutely love to spend the entire day in this incredibly comfortable bed, alas, today is the last day of auditions and I can't miss them, there's no way. If I had been hit by a bus last night and woke up in the hospital, I'd have to get them to wheel the gurney into my office and prop me up behind the desk."
He laughed at her oddly grim hypothetical, "Alright, clearly I won't be able to stop you."
"Damn right." she nodded, taking her hand back and walking to the bathroom to get ready.
Sara looked in the mirror, admiring how she'd been able to use her coverup to hide the bruises and most of the scratches that ran along her neck. Her cheek was scabbed slightly, so there was unfortunately nothing she could do to hide that. Her hair was in place and the hotel had many amenities available, including a toothbrush and toothpaste, which she put to use. Pleased with how she was looking and feeling she left the room. Her next goal was to find her cell phone and call Allison for an outfit. She couldn't walk into work wearing nothing but her underwear and a slightly oversized tshirt, she'd be fired, possibly immediately, or at least brought into Evan's office for a unpleasant and extremely awkward talk. As she turned off the bathroom light behind her, she caught a glimpse of a dress hanging from the doorway of the room. It was her peach colored dress-only it wasn't covered in grime and blood. Sara spun around to see Tom sitting on the messy bed, staring intently at his phone.
"Is that my dress?" Sara asked him, the surprise in her voice was evident and brought a smile to his face. "How is it clean and not completely ruined?"
"Because it's not your dress." he replied, putting his phone down on the tangled sheets beside him. "I got the front desk to replace the one from last night. It should be the same size and brand, is it not?"
At this point Sara was already stepping into the dress, she walked over to Tom and turned her back to him, indicating that she'd like him to zip up the back of it, which he did. She walked over to the full length mirror in the bathroom and admired herself, "It's perfect!" she walked back over to Tom, seeing him standing up now, holding out her blazer, which appeared to have been dry cleaned. Helping her slip it on, she stepped away and turned towards him, "How do I look?"
"Ravishing." he answered.
"So, not like I was robbed and shoved around a dirty alley last night?" he arched an eyebrow at her, clearly not wanting to answer the question. She looked down at her phone and saw that it was nearly 8:45, she had to leave and was feeling oddly embarrassed. How do you leave things with the man who saved her life, bought her a new dress, bandaged her, held her all night...they'd been through a lot within the last twelve hours. "So…" she began, not really knowing where to go from there.
"I have a car waiting downstairs for you." he sad.
"Thanks..." she looked away from him and tucked her hair behind her ear. "for everything." she motioned to the dress and then shrugged.
"How do you plan on getting home after work tonight?" he asked.
Sara immediately looked up, a smile spreading across her face. "Hmm, well, I know Allison will be getting a ride with Evan, so I guess that means I'll have to walk?"
"You know I can't allow you to walk home alone."
"Are you volunteering to be my chaperone?"
"I'd volunteer for much more than that." he stepped towards her and put his hands on her waist, pulling her against his body.
She placed her hands on his arms, "I don't have any fancy whisky at my place, but I have some mid-priced red wine?"
"Sounds lovely." his face remained casual, but the look in his eyes was oddly devious.
She glanced down at the messy bed, then back up at him, "I can repay you for letting me stay here, although my bed is much smaller…"
"Better." he muttered, taking her face in his hands and hungrily pressing his lips to hers. She felt his stubble against her skin, he tasted like coffee, his mouth was ravenous and demanding, pulling her further towards him. Her senses were completely overwhelmed, more intense than the day before. He pulled away, admiring the dazed expression on her face. "I'll be outside of your building at 5pm." he informed and then added, "You won't be working any overtime tonight."
Sara staggered back, wishing more so than ever that she could jump back into the unmade bed, pulling Tom in with her. "Uhm, no." she shook her head, gathering her thoughts,
"No over time." she confirmed. "I'll see you tonight." she pulled him down to her height and kissed his cheek, then left. One more day of auditions to get through, although Sara had a sinking feeling that she'd already found her Dorian.
End