25-year-old Olive St. James was out to lunch with her 26-year-old half-sister Maya and Maya's 28-year-old husband Jeff when she got the email. She could feel her phone vibrating in her purse but politely ignored it, as Jeff continued to talk about the busy day he'd recently had at his mechanic shop.
Maya had heard the vibration too and could tell her sister was distracted. When Jeff had (finally) paused to take a breath, Maya turned to Olive.
"Oli, it's okay - you can check your email," Maya said, chuckling. She knew Olive had recently had a very exciting audition and then callback and was eagerly waiting to hear about it.
The audition was for a production of "Mamma Mia" at the Hudson Theatre where Olive not only worked in the box office, but also frequently appeared in productions. What was so special about this show however, was that it was the first show that Olive and her mother Rachel (who had also been the egg donor and surrogate for Maya's dads, Kurt and Blaine), had both auditioned for. Olive and Rachel were both thrilled at the prospect of finally doing a show together.
Olive's father, Jesse, was also an actor. He and Olive had appeared in two shows together: The Sound of Music as Captain Von Trapp and Brigitta when Olive was 10, and Footloose at the Hudson as Reverend and Ariel Moore when Olive was 17.
Jesse was originally going to audition for Mamma Mia too, but ultimately decided not to. Firstly, he wanted to be home for his and Rachel's other daughter, 12-year-old Clementine, so that she'd have someone to take her to soccer practice or just to be around in case she needed him. But also, he had joked, "if Olive gets cast as Sophie, and I get cast as Sam, Bill, or Harry, the fact that we have the same face is going to give away who Sophie's real dad is."
Olive was also excited because her boyfriend David had auditioned, and Sophie and Sky were a dream couple for them to play together.
Maya had barely given her blessing when Olive pulled her phone out of her purse and opened her email, heart racing.
"Sophie Sheridan…Olive St. James!" Olive said.
"Hell yeah!" Maya said.
"Donna Sheridan…Rachel Berry St. James!" Olive said.
"Yes!" Maya exclaimed.
"And David's gonna be Sky!" Olive cried excitedly, before realizing a middle-aged woman at a nearby table was staring at her.
"Excuse me, my sister just found out she was cast in Mamma Mia!" Maya told the woman defensively.
The woman's shocked facial expression softened.
"The ABBA musical?" She asked.
"That's the one."
"Oh! Congratulations - carry on!" The woman told Olive.
"Thank you," Olive replied, blushing.
After lunch, Olive decided to stop by her parents' house.
Before she could even ring the doorbell, Rachel threw open the door.
"Sophie!" She exclaimed.
"Donna!" Olive replied, wrapping her arms around her mother.
"I'm so excited, Oli! We're going to have so much fun!" Rachel said. "We can go over lines together and go out for coffee after rehearsal, and -" Rachel was talking a mile a minute.
"Mom, slow down," Olive laughed. "I'm excited too. How have we never done a show together before now?" Olive asked, as the pair made their way to the family room.
"Well I was going to audition for "Fiddler on the Roof" with you, remember? But then…" Rachel started.
"You got pregnant with Clementine," Olive finished.
"Right," Rachel said, laughing.
"Well, I'm glad we'll finally be able to work together," Olive said.
"Me too, baby," Rachel squeezed Olive's hand.
That evening, after Clementine had gone to bed, David came over to celebrate the casting news over wine with Rachel, Jesse, and Olive.
As Jesse was refilling everyone's glass, Clementine appeared.
"Clementine Jessica - it's after 11:00!" Rachel scolded. "Oh, honey, could you top that off, please?" She asked Jesse, who had just poured more wine into her glass.
"It's not fair! I wanna stay up and have wine with you guys," Clementine protested.
"Sounds like you've already had some whine," Jesse said, laughing at his own joke.
Olive shook her head. "Wow Dad, that's a good one. Almost as funny as it was when I was Clementine's age," she rolled her eyes.
"You and Clem are lucky to have such a hilarious father," Jesse retorted, taking a sip of wine.
"Come on, Clemmy, I'll tuck you back into bed," Olive said.
"Okay…" Clementine relented.
Olive brought her back upstairs and returned to the family room.
"How long have you and Olive wanted to be Sky and Sophie?" Rachel asked David.
"God, I think as long as we've been dating," David replied.
"They're at the top of our list, next would be Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester," Olive added, sitting back down next to David.
"Well I'm so excited for you two," Rachel said. "You both have grown so much as performers since that musical theatre workshop I taught…oh dear God - nearly ten years ago!"
"Has it really been that long?" Jesse asked. Rachel nodded in confirmation. Jesse downed the rest of his wine and the group laughed.
Olive and David said goodbye to Rachel and Jesse and headed back to their apartment. The table read was Saturday and neither they nor Rachel could wait.