Cameron Wallen - On the way to the Hollywood dream

“ It's crazy, there's going to be an audition! ” Jenny says.

“ Stop! What audition? ” Bella asks. “ What are you talking about? ”

“ Well, here it is! ” Jenny shows Bella the picture on her phone. “ For the lead role in the movie. ”

My stomach does a little flip with excitement, and I look up to see Jenny smirking.

“ Tempting, isn't it? ”

I understand that tens of thousands of people will go to this casting. There are also very talented people in New York, but at the same time I realize that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

I told my parents earlier that I want to act in movies, but they didn't take it seriously. They always told me that I had to get an education to make a career, not to go to castings. And when Jenny showed me that they needed an actor for the lead role, I still decided to try, because if you don't try, you'll never know.

“ So, where will the audition take place? ” I ask as if I don't care.

“ I'll tell you in a minute, ” Jenny says. Her hands were shaking with overflowing emotion; she's a fan of the novel, and even belongs to a couple of fan accounts on Instagram.

“ There! Found it. Auditions will be held at ‘Webster Hall’. ”

“ Jake, you have to try, ” Bella says.

“ Totally agree with Bella, you have as good a chance as anyone, ” Jenny says.

I always lacked something. In my family, my dad is a doctor and my mom is a math teacher, and acting is not a job for them. I don't know why they went into it, because they had other dreams. My dad always wanted to sing, he's a great singer, he even put together his own band in high school called “Guys From Brooklyn.” But I can't condemn him, because it's his choice.

And Mom… God, she had such delightful poems, she had such a delicate sense of everything, these poems could have been quite readable and Mom could have written a great collection of her poems. She still keeps them in her notebook.

What about me? I want billboards with my name on them. Here's what I want: I want millions of people to know about me many years from now.

Bella takes my hand and says:

“ I believe in you and I know you can do the role. ”

“ With the role of Chad, ” Jenny says.

“ Yes, exactly, ” Bella says.

A second of silence is interrupted by Jenny.

“ Do you have any plans for tomorrow? ” she asks.

I'm starting to remember that tomorrow is my work day, and I just can't not go.

“ I have work, ” I say immediately.

I've spent every summer, since ninth grade, working at the “Green Hill Bar” about six people come there a day, it's not much, but I don't have to choose another workplace. It's not really hard work, some new faces coming in. It's also not bad pay.

“ Well, then Bella and I are going to pick up a mountain of food and put on some TV shows. Are you in? ” Jenny asks Bella.

“ Of course, ” Bella says with a sly smile.

“ I think you'll have a good time, ” I say.

I say goodbye to Jenny and Bella, then they leave my house. After closing the door, I sat at home for ten minutes, thinking about the audition for “Love at a Distance”. I still realize that there is little chance, because tens of thousands of people will come. But every time I go to an audition I believe that one day I will be noticed and then everything will change.

The last client left like an hour ago. Suddenly I get a message from Jenny. I stop wiping the dust that has accumulated on the fan, put the rag on the bar table, and pick up my phone to read the message.

“Jake, there's an audition for the movie ‘Night Ride’ tonight. I'll send you the address now.”

The message says the audition will be from 12:00 to 4:00 pm. I worked my hours, handed my keys to my boss, Frances, and drove to the audition. I drove up to the designated location and walk into the building where the audition announcement was hanging. Only two man came my way, but they looked like some kind of workers rather than actors. I walk a little further and see a girl standing by the stairs.

She looks ridiculous. She wore glasses, a multi-colored sweater, her hair half-brushed, and a huge pile of papers that barely fell out of her hands.

I went closer to her.

“ Excuse me, where is the casting for the movie ‘Night Ride’? ”

Placing this pile on the chair next to the door, she began to gesticulate and speak at the same time:

“ You go up to the fourth floor, turn right, go to the end of the corridor, and there's a door at the dead end. A lot of auditions for short films take place there. ”

I told her, “Thank you” when I was already in the middle of the stairs, from the place where I met her. I ran up to the second and third floors, there are doors all around, no one was there, and the corridors was empty. I quickly ran up to the fourth floor, turn right, ran to the end of the hallway, and saw the very door. When I was as close to the door as possible, I see the announcement that the casting call is over. I knock on the door and already start pushing the knob down, when suddenly a man opens the door. He was shorter than me; he had gray hairs in his stubble, and his cap was pulled back with a visor.

“ Can't you see what's written? ” he asks in a gruff voice.

“ I do, but it's still casting time, ” I say.

“ We've already found the actor! ” says the man and closes the door.

I wasn't going back as fast as I was going up. I was frustrated, going through the floors and the closed doors. Thoughts like: “Your place is a theater”, “Stop, cinema is not your thing” and things like that. When I get down to the first floor, that girl was still standing by the stairs, reading something in her papers.

I go a little further, but she notices me and asks me in the back:

“ You didn't get the role? ”

“ No, ” I answer, turning to face her. “ They found an actor. ”

“ A lot of people left there today in a bad mood, ” says the girl.

“ And I'm one of them, ” I say.

I get out of the building and wait for the cab I was called. While the cab is on its way, I take my phone out of my pocket and text Jenny:

“They've already found an actor. Going home.” – And put the phone out.

When I got home, I took off my jacket, threw it on the coat rack by the front door, went into the kitchen, took a sip of water, and went into the hall. I sat down on the couch and at that moment I thought again: “Maybe this isn't all for me?” and a knock on the door interrupted my thoughts. I opened it, and in came Jenny, who was outraged.

“ How dare they! They didn't even let you show yourself! ” she exclaims.

I press my lips together, look at Jenny and shrug.

“ They just didn't realize who they lost! ” Jenny says and smile sweetly at me.

“ The audition for the part of Chad is in two days, ” Jenny continues.

“ Is it worth going? ” I ask, raising one eyebrow.

“ It's worth it, ” Jenny says.

We talked until ten o'clock in the evening, when Jenny got ready to go home. She puts on her black jacket, hugs me, and leaves my apartment. I close the door behind her. Putting my phone on charge, I go to the shower where the warm water relaxes my muscles. After twenty minutes, I get out of the shower, then pick up a book “Among a Thousand Faces” and start to read.

I woke up this morning with one thought in mind. The thought of what to get Bella for her birthday today. Typing in a Google search was useless; first I got a bunch of trinkets, and then a gift set with hairpins and other stuff.

I start to remember all the conversations we've had, and I remember a one moment when Bella once told me that she'd gone to visit a cousin with her family in Pennsylvania. She was telling me how she had spent time at their place and how she had played with their dog Jasper. And at the end of our conversation, she told me that she was going to get a dog someday.