"How athletic are you?"
"Um." I thought for a moment. "I can carry three dozen cupcakes without breaking a sweat?"
There were titters around the cupcake box.
The casting director smiled, icing in her teeth. I automatically licked my own, hoping she'd pick up the hint. "Do you have a passport, Katy?"
I thought for a moment, then nodded. "I do. Brodie does, too."
"That's perfect," the woman said, marking something down on her clipboard. She glanced up again and yelled. "Did someone find the brother yet?"
A long, uncomfortable moment passed and I fidgeted on the stool. No one was asking more questions, but the audition tape was still rolling. Maybe this was a good sign. The fact that they were hunting down Brodie meant that they liked him, right?
Sure enough, my brother appeared a few minutes later, his blond faux-hawk noticeable next to the bald assistant that pushed him forward to stand next to me. Brodie looked excited, and I quietly crossed my fingers.
The assistant maneuvered Brodie to stand next to me.
He immediately gave me a noogie, ripping at my blonde hair with his knuckles.
I screeched and wriggled out of his arms. “You jerk!”
“Katy,” Brodie said in a warning tone, the smile still on his face. “I’m just playing around.”
“Then you don’t mind if I kick you in the nuts when I play around?” I grumped, touching my hair. Noogies were fine and dandy – well, at least less obnoxious – when we were at home but here? In front of cameras? I was going to kill him.
Luckily, everyone laughed. “You guys are cute,” the clipboard-carrier said.
Brodie automatically threw an arm around my shoulders, grinning a mega-watt smile for the cameras and dragging me back against him. "I see you all met my little sis, Katy?"
"Matching outfits," someone whispered. "They look perfect. Casting still needs a brother and sister duo, remember?"
"I know," the woman with the clipboard said smugly. Then louder, "So Brodie, you're the older brother?"
"Yes, ma'am," he said in a cheerful voice. "Katy came with me this morning to show support. She knows how badly I want to be on Endurance Island. We’re close. Very close."
I snorted.
While Brodie and I were the typical bickering siblings, it was true about Endurance Island. As soon as we'd heard casting was coming to town, Brodie hadn't been able to shut up about it. This was his chance, he'd told me over and over again. Lots of reality TV stars used the show to get their foot in the door in Hollywood, and if this led him to a career in modeling or TV, he was all for it. I had my own doubts, since most of the people in reality TV shows weren't exactly killing it in show-business, but Brodie wouldn't be dissuaded.
"And you guys are local?"
"Yes, ma'am. We're from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma."
"Ever travel much?"
Brodie glanced down at me. "We had a family trip to Cancun once. Katy got so sunburned she looked like a tomato."
"He's lying," I chimed in, poking him in the gut. "I wasn’t that red. And he’s also neglecting to tell you about how he spent a week in London last summer, but I guess that doesn’t count as ‘travel’ since he never made it out of the pubs."
There were a few laughs, and Brodie's arm tightened around my shoulders to an almost painful degree. Automatically, I reached over and pinched his side, like I always did when he tried to be the bossy big brother.
"Katy doesn't really want to be on Endurance Island," he blurted. "She's just here for me."
I pinched him again, wishing he would shut up. Where was my brother's suaveness now that the cameras were rolling? He was coming across like a tool.
"We're sorry," Clipboard Woman said. "But we've already got a couple of blond Southerners for Endurance Island. Casting's full."
Disappointment swept through me. Poor Brodie. He'd be heartbroken. I felt all the tension leave the arm looped over my shoulder.
"But," the woman said. "We're looking for teams for The World Races, and the brother-sister duo we had selected fell through at the last minute. We're currently one team short."
"The World Races?" Brodie asked.
"Teams?" I squeaked.
"Yes," Clipboard Woman said with enthusiasm. "We'd like for you both to come to Hollywood for a second round of casting. If you make it on the show, you'll be gone for a few weeks as you travel from location to location. It's a bit of a different dynamic than with Endurance Island, but it gives you a chance to see the world. What do you think?"
"A few weeks?" I echoed, my mind racing. I had orders I was waiting to fill. There was a wedding - my biggest order yet - scheduled two weeks from today and I planned on spending every moment baking and then driving the cupcakes down to Dallas before icing them to ensure that they'd be perfect. I couldn't leave for several weeks.