Okay, quick rundown of the names in this one.
Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy- Jo and her sisters, Jo is an actress and the others are a stay at home mom and students
Anna, Louisa, Lizzie, and Abigail- LMA's real life family, the characters in the Four Sisters in the book & movie in this AU
Meghan, Jenny, and May- the other actresses working with Jo
I'll try to keep it clear and not confusing, but I do have to reference by little chart sometimes.
It won't be Christmas without my sisters, Jo thought, as she wiped down the counter. And it doesn't seem like I'll be getting a call back from that audition.
"Hey, make sure all the lights are shut off before you lock the doors," one of her coworkers reminded her. Jo rolled her eyes. She wasn't the one who kept forgetting to shut the lights off.
"Yeah, I will," she said, sounding perfectly pleasant and friendly, as she had all day long. One of the perks of being an actor, she guessed. Could that be listed on her resume as an applicable skill? Pretending to like asshole coworkers, feigning interest in every customer's story or complaint, and brushing off every inappropriate advance expertly.
All for my tips to look awful at the end of the day, Jo sighed. She still needed to get Beth her Christmas present. This week wasn't the week for it though. All her presents would probably be rather last minute. Maybe she could blame it on the post office when they arrived late in Concord.
Next week would be better. The closer it got to Christmas, the more people got into the Christmas spirit or whatever, and then she might make more tips.
Bartending wasn't all that bad. She tended to make a little more than the waitresses at least. And the flexibility allowed her to attend auditions. Like that one a few weeks back that she kept thinking about.
Jo had been lucky enough to find an open call for some roles in an upcoming production based on a well-known book. She had been waiting for a callback, hoping to be cast as an extra or maybe even a side character like the boarding house landlady. But it didn't look like her luck had held out. Her hope waned a little every day.
Oh well. There were always other auditions, Jo tried to console herself as she flipped the light switches off. What had that man she met there said? We will put our best foot forward and hope that we would look good in the fashion of the 1800s. He was a nice man. Jo wished she could remember his name. It was a nice name.
Jo sighed, testing the door to see if she had locked it. She would probably start searching for another chance tonight. Somebody somewhere had to have a role she could fill. She had years of experience under her belt now, it wasn't as if she was a complete rookie anymore. Or maybe that was what was holding her back- the type of experience she had gained, and the type of roles she had filled. Curse typecasting...
The sun had long since disappeared, and it was drizzling rain outside. By the time Jo reached her little apartment, her hair was plastered to the back of her neck by the cold rain. She grabbed a towel and started drying her hair, then peeled off her jacket, considering just crawling into bed and dealing with damp sheets later.
Her cell phone started to ring. Jo froze, holding her breath. It was way past the time any of her sisters would call, or either of her parents. Unless it was bad news, urgent news. Beth? Or it was spam. Or...
"Hello?" Her voice sounded wavery in her ears.
"Hello, is this Josephine March?"
"Yes?"
Words were coming out of the person's mouth, making their way from phone to phone, and Jo understood them all separately but couldn't believe them all together. The part. Jo March. She got the part. Of Louisa.
Dates and times were being rattled off. Jo frantically searched for a pen and started scribbling down days, times, names, and numbers. Script read-throughs, costume fittings, there were contracts to be signed and pay to be decided upon, and new people to meet. And when I tell Mom and Dad- oh my god. I got the part. Jo's dad had always encouraged her to go for more serious roles, and Jo had never truly believed she would be considered for one but now she had a role in a serious movie, a period piece, a classic. He would be proud of this role. When she had everything written down, babbled endless thank-yous, and the person on the other end of the call hung up, Jo leaped up to grab her planner and pulled up her email to tell her boss that she would have to rearrange her shifts...