"Surprise!" Bri shouted, pulling Nina's hands away from her eyes.

Nina could not help but gasp. Bri had decorated her living room with red crepe paper and streamers. The tablecloth was red (Nina had to fight the impulse to yank it off the table and start waving it around) and was covered with red, white, and blue confetti. The food on the table was fit for Marius and Cosette's wedding.

"It's your Les Mis party!" Bri smiled. "And it's because you were amazing!"

The other girls (all of whom had been in shows with Nina in the past) cheered loudly.

Janet (formerly Roxie Hart to Nina's Velma Kelly) turned on the CD player, and the opening notes of the Complete Symphonic Recording rattled the windows.

"Good grief! Could it be any louder?" Nina shouted.

"Sorry!" Janet called back, twisting the volume knob down.

Bri sighed. "Now you can hardly hear it!"

"What do you mean? It's at a normal level now. You know... so that it doesn't make your ears bleed?"

"I listen to my music way louder than that."

"I never would have guessed," Nina said, rolling her eyes.

Bri laughed. She and Nina had been best friends when they had been in Gypsy together as little girls, although they had rather grown apart since. Bri went to wild parties, and, now that she had turned 21, Nina had no doubt that she drank regularly...hopefully that was all she did.

Gary Morris's entrance to the music gave rise to many groans among the guests, though they were immediately silenced every time Philip Quast had a line. When the convicts were exiting and Gary Morris had begun his solo, Nina ended the girls' misery by skipping to the next song on the CD.

"If they woulda put anyone but that awful country singer in there as Valjean..." April (Hodel to Nina's Chava) moaned.

"Seriously," Amanda (Cosette) agreed. "They've got Philip Quast, but then they have to go and ruin it with a doof like Gary Morris."

Nina smiled. "Doof?"

"Think about it," Amanda laughed.

"You're right. He is a doof!"

The next few minutes were spent in mockery of Gary Morris. April, Janet, Amanda, and Meredith (Tzeitel) sang along shrilly to Valjean's Soliloquy with what Nina called OVD – obsessive vibrato disorder. The frightening thing, in Nina's opinion, was how much they really sounded like Gary Morris. She looked for Bri to point this out, but her friend was gone.

It wasn't long before Bri burst into the room with a heavy cooler in her arms. "Guess what I brought," she grinned.

Nina shook her head. "I don't hold with drinking, and you know it."

"Fine. Your loss," Bri said, opening the cooler.

About half of the girls took a can. Nina got water and colas for herself and the rest of the guests.

By the time Janet was putting in the second disc, it was obvious that Bri was not going to stop drinking until she was sick. Nina consulted her watch. It was a little early to head back to the theatre, but she decided she'd leave anyway. "I'm heading back for the second show. See you later."

Bri laughed. "Won't be too much later, cos I've got a ticket to tonight's show too!"

"Please tell me you're walking!"

"No," Bri said. "But don't worry. I've driven after drinking way more than this and been alright."

Nina frowned. "Don't you dare drive like this. If you want to come to the show again tonight, you'd better walk. You'll hurt yourself, Bri, and I care too much for you to let that happen. Please walk or stay home." With this, Nina left.

As she was closing the door, Bri shouted, "I'll start out in a minute! Let me finish this last one!"

Nina didn't hear.

A/N- Dun dun dun! I just watched a really bad movie called Critters, but the only reason you care is because Terrence Mann was in it! Whoa! Everyone go rent it now, and watch Terry chase aliens! To all of my wonderful reviewers, I don't hate you, I promise! Those last notes were short because I broke my spacebar while I was typing (one side won't work – the side I usually hit) and it was annoying the crap out of me. I'm adjusting to using the other thumb to hit the spacebar, so... yeah. Everyone go read my relatively lame Phantom phic! Yay lameness!

La Epster- I have dressed like that both times I went to see LM. Once on Broadway, once in NC. Next time (and there WILL be a next time) I'm going to wear my Javert costume, complete with greatcoat, top hat, and boots.

eponine-meliara- I dunno... I guess they liked her so much they just ignored the understudies' presence. Yeah, that's it. Plus, how cool is it to have someone named Eponine playing Eponine?

TaRe-ChiBi- Ah, but you must expect the unexpected... this is totally opposite from my parodies and whatnot.

Andi;;- They are just like me around someone who played Enjolras. His name was Christopher Mark Peterson and I shall love him forever and ever. He is a very nice man. Yes, he is. And he's an AWESOME Enjy. Notice how I named my beloved Mark after him.

Elyse3- I've put myself into about half of my fics now. Anyway, that was my salute to CMP and my uncle, who goes to NYC every day for work yet doesn't know that "No Standing" also means "No Parking."

Mlle. Verity le Virago- That Nancy was the only good one. Except Dodger (Andrew Blau, I think) who was adorable. But I love all Dodgers. And Fagin was very tall.

Forseti- I did that so much when we went to New York to see Les Mis. All the random actors thought I was nuts (which I am). And I got almost everyone's autographs (EXCEPT TERRENCE MANN!) and... yeah, that was last year. I have a rant about it in my xanga.

RoseMisre- You are SO not alone! And, I LOVE YOU! Don't feel annoying! The only annoying one here is my evil broken spacebar. But yeah, we did that. And actors (CMP) coming back for the evening show did ask us if we were staying to see the second show.

Miranda- Wow! I got nine reviews in one chapter! Yeah, that's probably a record. Anyway, thank you. The "kind of" parallel thing will probably be a SO parallel thing in my next (and final) chapter. But don't worry, I've got an upcoming sequel! And threquel!