"I see. Is that the only serious relationship you've had?" Mary searched his eyes.
Brian wanted to say yes. It had been the longest-definitely the most serious-he'd ever been about one of his girlfriends. But he'd be lying if he said that it was the only serious relationship he'd had.
"That was the longest." Brian knew he was avoiding the question and it was basically semantics, but he couldn't bring himself to say that it was his most serious.
"And you haven't dated since you and Skylar broke up?"
"No."
"Do you believe that you could find love on a reality television show?"
"I believe you don't get to choose when you fall in love or who you fall in love with," Brian answered honestly. "Anything is possible."
* * *
Becca couldn't believe how long it was taking. Brian had been back there for at least half an hour. Which was probably a good thing. For him. And that was what mattered-what was good for him.
For her, well … Every time she thought about Brian competing on a dating show, she got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. The thought of girls lining up to be with him made her want to vomit. But she had to remind herself that, whether or not it was being filmed, girls did line up to be with him. Even in junior high, girls had thrown themselves at him. He'd enjoyed the attention, like any preteen boy would, but Becca had always known that she mattered more.
Last year, when Brian had been dating Skylar, Becca had thought for little bit, that he might have found the one. At the time, it hadn't bothered her in the least. She'd actually been happy for Brian. Skylar seemed like a sweet girl, and she was beautiful. But by the time Becca had received the call from Brian around Thanksgiving about how he'd ended things with Skylar, Becca had to admit that she'd been relieved. Very relieved.
Which was ridiculous. Logically, she knew that. She wanted Brian to be happy, and Brian was definitely a ‘relationship' guy. He was what she'd heard people call a serial monogamist.
So she should have been sad when it hadn't worked out with Skylar. Brian had seemed happy in that relationship. The girl was zero drama, and from what Becca had been able to glean from thousands of miles away, she had really appreciated Brian-not just his filled-out body, but also his heart and his sense of humor. Instead of feeling bad-like a good friend-when they'd called it quits, she'd gotten off the phone and jumped up and down on her bed. Literally. Jumped. On. Her. Bed. Not only that, she'd also worn a perma-grin on her face for the next week or two. People in her classes had asked if she was on something. Yep. She'd been high on the fact that her best friend had broken up with his girlfriend. How pathetic was that?
Shaking her head, she was reaching down to grab a magazine and try her hardest to get her mind off all things Brian-related when she heard his deep voice coming from the hall. Mmmm. His voice. That voice was as familiar to her as her own. Although, she didn't get all tingly and break out in a sweat when she heard her own voice.
Becca looked up to see the object of her unwanted desires talking to the girl with the clipboard and another woman who looked to be in her forties with curly, brown hair falling close to her shoulders and red-rimmed glasses, that reminded her of Sally Jesse Raphael, dominating her face.
Becca quickly surmised that she must be the casting director, because she noticed that the energy in the small, square waiting room had shifted, drastically, since the woman had appeared with Brian. All of the guys had sat up a little straighter and their eyes kept slicing over to her. Becca could practically smell the desperation.
She just didn't get it. How people could put themselves out there again and again, basically walking into a room and saying, "Like me. Please like me," just to be rejected nine times out of ten. Or maybe the odds were even worse. Then if you actually succeeded in getting the job, the amount of judgment and media scrutiny that came with even a small degree of success sounded horrible to Becca. It was essentially handing over your private life to a tank of sharks and saying, "Bon appétit." It held no appeal to Becca's sensibilities.
The woman was still talking to Brian as she glanced around the room. Becca wasn't sure what the woman was looking for, but the moment her assessing green eyes skimmed past Becca, she felt suddenly self-conscious. When the woman did a double take, landing once again on Becca, she actually wanted to climb under the chair and hide.
With laser-like focus, the woman held up her forefinger to Brian and began walking over to Becca with purpose. Anxiety rose up in Becca as she stood. Maybe she wasn't supposed to be in the waiting room since she wasn't auditioning.
As the woman's eyes scanned her, Becca felt very much on display. "Did I see you yesterday?"
"Um, not unless you were in California," Becca joked, trying to lighten the mood since every pair of eyes in the place was focused on her.
The woman just nodded. Not even cracking a smile, her eyes narrowed, "I normally don't make exceptions for missing a casting, but in your case, I will. I'll see you next."
"Oh, no." Becca quickly tried to explain as Brian approached them. "I'm not here to audition, I'm just … I'm with him," she finished lamely as she pointed to Brian.
The woman's head spun around towards Brian. She didn't sound too happy as she snapped, "I thought you said you didn't have a girlfriend."
"I'm not his girlfriend," Becca spurted out before Brian even had a chance to answer. "We're just friends."
Something that looked to be in the ballpark of hurt flashed in Brian's eyes, but it was there and gone before she could know for sure. Calmly, Brian stepped beside Becca and reiterated, "Mary, this is Becca Sloan. Becca, this is Mary Willis. She is the casting director." Turning towards Mary, Brian explained, "Becca and I have been friends-best friends-since we were kids."
Brian's hand rested on Becca's lower back, and before she could stomp it down or ignore it, her body responded to his touch and a shiver ran down her back.
"It's nice to meet you," Becca said politely as she reached out to shake the woman's hand.
Mary didn't lift her hand to shake Becca's. "You're not an actress."
Becca wasn't totally clear on whether or not that was a question or a statement-not that it really mattered since her response would have been the same either way. "No, I'm just a college student."
Brian tensed beside Becca, and she could feel his fingertips digging into her lower back. "Becca is pre-med at Stanford."
She could hear the pride infused in his tone. Brian had always been so supportive of her and her scholastic achievements. Even more than her parents, sisters, or cousins. He hated it when she told people that she was just a college student. But that is what she was.
"Wow. Impressive." Mary looked between the two of them. "So you two are just friends?"
"Yep," Becca tried to answer as cheerily as possible.
"Yes," Brian's deep voice sounded beside her.
Mary snapped her fingers and the girl who had gotten all blushy when she'd called Brian into the room was standing next to the casting director before Becca even had a chance to blink.
"I'll see her next," Mary announced and spun around on her heels. "Give me five and then show her in."
Clipboard Girl nodded, not seeming too happy about the turn of events, which meant that she and Becca had more in common than just thinking Brian was blush-worthy. Becca was also not pleased about how this conversation had gone.
"No, I'm not here to audition," Becca called out to the retreating curly-haired form.
"Fill this out," Clipboard Girl snapped as she handed Becca paperwork. "And hurry. You only have a few minutes."
Becca tried to give them back to the girl, not quite understanding why everyone was totally ignoring the fact that Becca was not here to audition. "No, I don't need these. I'm not auditioning."
"Look, I have a job to do." The young, pretty blonde seemed to be getting irritated. "Just fill out the paperwork, then let me take you back there to talk to Mary. You're not going to book it," the girl said as she gave Becca a once-over that Becca clearly did not pass. "Just let me do my job."
Becca looked up at Brian for backup.
"Listen, Cherry … " Brian began, and Becca was sure that he was going to stand up for her, explain the situation, but Becca didn't hear any of that because all she could think was … Cherry?! This girl's name was Cherry?