When they turn our way, I elbow Rama in the side.
“Ow!” He looks up, the scowl disappearing from his face when he sees Pravat and the large group of fans approaching.
“Hi,” Pravat says with a gorgeous smile that immediately wipes my mind clean of thought. “These fans want our picture together. Do you mind?”
Rama looks stunned, but he stands. I notice some of the others there to audition looking on with barely disguised envy.
“Pose as Kusa/Atid,” May encourages. “I want our page to have the first one of the two of you together.”
“No one’s auditioned yet,” Pravat says, but he smiles and complies by moving to stand behind Rama, lightly wrapping his arms around my brother’s waist. Rama’s body stiffens only a second or two before relaxing, and I suddenly feel real hope that he might be able to do this.
As the group snap pictures with their cell phones, I note what a beautiful couple Pravat and Rama make. Pravat’s masculine good looks coupled with Rama’s softer beauty is a perfect combination. I’m not the only one who’s struck by them—they’ve caught the attention of the producer and casting director across the room, who whisper to each other while looking their way.
When Rama gets back to studying the script, I spend the next half hour loading and reloading the fan page on my smart phone, waitingfor each picture to appear. As they do, comments immediately start popping up. I smile. People love the two of them together and many say they hope Rama wins the role of Atid.
When the casting director announces that auditions for Atid will be starting, I put my phone away, my stomach doing flips with nerves. If Rama’s nervous, I can’t tell it. He’s still studying the script, his lips moving slightly as though he’s saying the lines in his head.
“Number 0052,” the director calls, and a young man sitting at the next table rises from his chair and walks to the center of the room where Pravat stands ready to read with him.
“I’m going to scope out the competition,” I murmur and hustle to wiggle my way into the group of fans to stand between May and Rang.
“Your brother is cuter than this guy,” May whispers to me as the scene begins. I watch, biting my lip nervously as the guy gives a good performance.
“He didn’t mess up at all,” Rang whispers. “And there’s some chemistry there, for sure.”
“I didn’t see any,” May says, and I smile at her.
Pravat chats with the actor, and I’m glad when the casting director calls out another number and someone else steps up.
This guy doesn’t do as well as the first. He seems very nervous, and his appearance doesn’t go well with Pravat’s. Glancing at the producer and director, I feel they agree, and I mentally check him off the list of competitors. My spirits sink when a third man reads. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him play a secondary character in another drama, and he does well—believably portraying Atid’s sense of betrayal in the scene. I want to have confidence in my brother, but I’m getting worried. Rama’s new to the business—what chance does he have to win a starring role in the first bl he auditions for?
When the director finally calls Rama’s number, my hands are sweating. My brother appears calm as he takes his place in front of Pravat.
“What’s your problem?” Pravat speaks his line.
Silence. I look at Rama, worried he’s forgotten his lines already and wondering why he didn’t bring the script with him as the others did. For a split second, I’m startled at the anger mixed with stark disbelief on his face until I realize he’s become Atid. Face flushed and eyes moist, he takes a step forward and shoves Pravat hard, something the actors before him hadn’t done.
“What do you think? I’ve barely seen you in two weeks, and I find out you’ve been withhim!“ He gestures behind Pravat to where, presumably, the subject of their argument would be standing. Features easing slightly, Rama whispers miserably, “What are you trying to do to us, Kusa?”
May squeezes my arm. I know what she’s thinking. Although the lines are the same, the scene feels entirely different from when the others read it. The look on Rama’s face breaks my heart, and I’m actually having trouble remembering these are two men acting a scene. Pravat’s fully in character, too, with new depth to his emotions I didn’t detect in the other readings.
“I’m tutoring him, nothing more.” Stepping forward, Pravat rests a hand on Rama’s arm.
For a moment, Rama’s expression is all love and longing, and my heart swells. But then he yanks his arm away, dark brows lowering.
“Don’t. You haven’t touched me in weeks, and you do it now?” He shakes his head, tears spilling from his eyes and full bottom lip trembling. Beside me, May makes a choked sound, and when I glance at her I see tears in her eyes.
“Atid, please,” Pravat/Kusa begs in a tone that would send me to my knees if directed at me. “It’s not what you’re thinking.”
“How do you know what I’m thinking? Since when do you even care?” Rama/Atid’s eyes are wide, tears spilling from them unchecked.
The two men stare at each other a long drawn-out moment before the director calls the end of the scene. I swear you could hear a pin drop. Pravat snaps out of his role first and hands Rama a tissue from the box on the table.
CHAPTER TWO: Pravat
“How did the auditions go?” Kiet asks from where he’s studying on the couch in my new apartment. He’s my best friend and has a key. At moments like this one, when I’m exhausted and would like some time alone, I regret giving it to him.
Today Kiet’s dark hair is streaked with blue and pulled from his face by an elastic band. Tomorrow it will probably be pink or orange. Beneath the navy tank he wears, his muscles bulge and ripple as he closes one textbook and lifts another from the floor.