Getting up, I walk over to him and squeeze his arm. “Hey. It’s okay. I’ll make it work.”
Noi chews on his bottom lip until I’m afraid it will bleed and I stop him by pressing my finger to his mouth.
“I promise you it will all work out. I’ll find someone to do the audition with me.”
I sit down again and grab my notebook and a pencil.
“What are you doing?” Noi asks, sitting next to me.
“I’m writing down the names of everybody in class. All the guys, anyway.” It takes a while, but eventually I’m pretty sure I’ve listed everyone. After studying each name for the second time, I stop trying to figure out who would be best suited and go with who would be the least terrible. Because I just can’t imagine playing a romantic scene with any of them and making it seem real.
I sigh. “Maybe I’m not cut out to act. In theory, shouldn’t I be able to choose any one of these people and act out a scene with them?”
“Give yourself a break. You’re new to this. I wonder what your dad would say about it.”
“Probably what you just did.” I tap the pencil on the paper.
Taking the notebook from me, Noi tosses it onto the table. “Forget it. I’m doing the scene with you.”
“No, Noi. You’ve done enough.”
“I’m your best chance. I’m going to do it.”
I argue with him for a while, but he’s made up his mind. I can’t help but be relieved, but I still feel bad that he’s having to do something he doesn’t want to do because of me.
Chapter Eleven: Mee Noi
I’m up most of the night worrying about the audition. When Sud was looking at that list of guys, I thought about him auditioning with one of them and felt uncomfortable. He wouldn’t be able to put his best work out there. It has to be me. I can’t let Sud down when this could be his chance to launch his acting career.
I can’t eat anything the morning of the audition because I’m too nervous, and when I slide into the passenger seat of Sud’s car, I can tell he is, too. We don’t say much during the drive to Rainbow TV Productions. I want to tell him it’s going to go great, but I don’t think I’ll sound convincing.
Sud and I are taken to a room on the fifteenth floor where three women and two men are seated at a table. We pass two young men on their way out, probably just having finished their audition. At our entrance, a short woman around fifty wearing a yellow skirt and floral blouse greets us.
“Sawasdee-kah, Nong Sud and Nong Mee Noi. I am Khun Intapong, a producer here at Rainbow TV.”
Sud and I give her a wai and then turn to do the same to the eight people seated at the table as Khun Intapong introduces each of them in turn. I manage to note that one of the men is the director of the series we’re trying out for and one of the women is the author of the novel it’s based on.
“We are so pleased you are here,” Khun Intapong says when she turns back to us. “We’re sorry this is so last minute. We planned to get in touch with you in the near future about the series, but, as it happens, we really feel you two are excellent candidates for a series we’re putting together right now. Hence the need for you to audition today.”
Sud and I share a surprised glance as she turns and picks up two packets of paper from the table.
Kun Intapong hands one packet to Sud and the other to me and tells us a little bit about our characters. They are university students. Sound is a popular jock and Train is a shy, sweet intellectual. Since the parts are uncannily like our real selves, we have an advantage.
“You’ll be reading from scene two and scene ten. They’re marked with blue sticky notes. We’ll give you some time to look the scenes over before we ask you to read for us.” She indicates a short table along the sidewall, and, thanking her, Sud and I seat ourselves there. A cup full of colored felt-tip pens sits in front of us, and I pluck out a red one, uncap it, and look down at my script. The title is written on the front:Hearts Set on Fire. On the character list, someone wrote my name in black marker and next to it the nameTrainand Sud’s next to the nameSound. They are the secondary couple in the drama.
Glancing at Sud, I turn to scene two, which, after a quick scan, appears to be a meet-cute scene. I know the term from Jess’s sister, Fon, who has been coaching me via Jess on boys’ lovesince I agreed to be in Sud’s video. Since then, I’ve watched five or six series upon her recommendation.
This meet-cute scene has Train meeting Sound when he trips over something and falls to the floor, spilling all the books he’s carrying. Sound stops to help him, and Train is overwhelmed by the handsome, popular boy. The exchange isn’t very long, and I know I can remember the little bit of dialogue, so I won’t have to hold the script. That’s good since I have to concentrate on tripping and falling and what comes after. When Sound helps Train up from the floor, Train bumps into him, and they share a long, admiration-filled stare.
“Scene two doesn’t look too difficult,” Sud voices the same thoughts I’m having. The group at the table is talking among themselves, not paying attention to us.
I nod in agreement as I mark my lines with the red pen. Then I turn to scene ten. The characters are much more familiar with each other in this one, and I have a lot more lines to mark. When I’m finished, I look at the words at the top of the page and freeze.First Kiss.
I must have made some kind of a sound because Sud says, “We don’t have to do the kiss today. They won’t expect us to.”
I meet his eyes. “How do you know?”
“Last night, after I walked you home, I called someone in the industry who Pah introduced me to a while back. I asked if he could tell me what we could expect today.”