Today, write about any topic you feel like — but you must reuse your opening line (at least) two more times in the course of your post.
‘Okay people, let’s take it from the top. 5-6-7-8…!
The music began blaring through the speakers and Andy took his place on the floor. It was the second round of call back dance auditions for a dance gig he really had his heart set on. He took a deep breath and stared at himself in the mirror, glancing at the competition around him. He straightened his fitted black singlet and launched into the routine that they had been performing. Andy knew the routine, and almost began to feel as though he knew it better than the other boys on the floor with him. He’d observed the different groups dancing and knew who the real competition was, and kept an eye on them, silently hoping that they would mess up one of the pirouette combinations in the routine.
Andy’s group finish the routine on the floor, and he lay there arms spread wide, staring at the ceiling, trying to catch his breath. ‘Great job guys, that was a really strong group. Well done. Right, next up, let’s have 23, 34, 36, 48, 61, 68, 73, 79, 82, 96.’ The dancers all shuffled onto the floor into their specific positions, fixing their hair and whispering ‘good luck’ to the dancers next to them. ‘Cue music… From the top, and 5-6-7-8..’ The next group of dancers launched into the routine
Leaning up against the wall, Andy watched the next group of guys dance, whilst he mopped up his sweat and sipped from his water bottle. There were a couple of guys in that group who seemed quite good, and as he watched those two, he also noticed the people on the judges table talking amongst themselves – he knew they were talking about those two guys in particular. Were they watching me? Were they talking about me? I wonder if I’ll get the gig? I hope they noticed me!
The music stopped and the guys all finished on the floor with their arms out wide, just as Andy had done before. They rolled onto their sides and slowly picked themselves up off the floor. They moved to the sides of the floor, breathing heavily, sweat pouring off their foreheads, hands pressed into their legs just above their knees.
“Okay guys, take 5. Make your way back out to the waiting area whilst we have a chat.” The room erupted into a round of applause as everybody grabbed their sweaty towels and drink bottles and headed to the door.
Out in the waiting area, everybody split off into their own little cliques. Knowing nobody else there, Andy felt a bit alone and rather uncomfortable. He found a space on the floor next to a window, dumped his bag and grabbed a small handful of almonds to munch on whilst he stretched. He put his earphones in, and stared out the window listening to one of his favourite ‘chillout’ albums. He leant forward, running over every aspect of his audition so far, over analysing every single step, every turn, every kick, and beating himself up for not hitting everything harder and sharper; for not being as flexible as some of the others. Andy slowly lifted his head up and noticed in the reflection of the glass, one of the guys standing behind him. He turned around and looked up at this guy who was talking to him. Andy laughed and quickly yanked the earphones out of his ear and interrupted, ‘sorry, sorry, I missed all that, I had my earphones in!’.
Shaun laughed nervously, ‘oh, sorry, I didn’t realise. I thought you were just ignoring me like the rest of these bitches. I was just asking if you would mind if I joined you… I just saw you over here by yourself and thought you might be a bit lonely.’
‘Oh, so this is out of pity?’, Andy playfully quipped, and then laughed. Shaun was taken aback by Andys abruptness, ‘oh, no, sorry, no, it’s not pity at all, I mean, um, I just thought you might like some company – okay, so well, I could use some company – I’m here by myself as well.’
Andy looked up at Shaun and noticed his big blue eyes and his heart skipped a beat, ‘Yeah, sure, I’ll just move my bag’. Shaun sat down next Andy, shaking his hand and properly introducing himself. For the next twenty minutes they started getting to know each other, discussing their dance history, and career aspirations. A short angry-looking woman walked out into the waiting room and began shouting, ‘can I have everybody’s… GUYS!! SHUT THE FUCK UP!! Thankyou. Firstly, thank you for waiting so patiently, our deliberation took much longer than anticipated, and we still haven’t reached a unanimous decision, so we’re going to ask the following people to come back for one more dance audition. You’ll have a few minutes to change if you want, fix yourself up etc. if your number isn’t called, you haven’t been successful, but thank you so much for giving up your time today and auditioning for us!’
Andy and Shaun looked at each other, both rolling their eyes and then laughing at each other for doing the same thing. As they sat there patiently waiting for the numbers to be called out, Shaun whispered to Andy, ‘hey, regardless of what happens now, do you maybe wanna get a drink or something?’. Stunned, Andy slowly turned his head to look at Shaun who was still watching the lady read out the numbers. Ummm… Did I just get asked out on a date?? Andy was a little bit excited and surprised at the same time. In fact, he was too shocked, he didn’t even respond or acknowledge his number had just been called out.
‘DUDE!! You’re into the callbacks!’, said Shaun, snapping his fingers in front of Andy’s face. ‘That’s cool if you’re not interested or whatever. Come on, we gotta go dance. It was nice to meet you anyway, good luck Andy!’ Shaun picked up his bag and headed toward the door to the studio. Andy finally processed what had just happened and bundled up his belongings in his arm, dropping something out of his bag every couple of steps, rushing to catch up to Shaun. Andy was the last into the studio and all the boys were standing in a semi circle on the floor all facing the guy running the audition. Andy was too preoccupied to listen to what was being said, but knew it was something like ‘blah blah blah, this is the final round, blah blah blah, last audition, blah blah we’re only taking 4, blah blah, thanks for your time, blah blah blah good luck!’ Everybody clapped and the boys split into their two groups. Andy was up first. ‘Cue music… And a 5-6-7-8…’ And his group launched into the routine. All Andy could think about was how rude he must have seemed to Shaun and he felt so guilty and needed to apologise and explain himself. He realised when he was laying on the floor, that his audition was now over. He wasn’t sure what happened, whether it was good or bad. He just needed to have a word to Shaun and apologise. He walked towards Shaun as Shaun walked towards the floor, and completely ignored Andy. The music started booming through the studio and Andy stood there on the side, watching Shaun dance in complete awe. He really deserves to get this. He’s an amazing dancer. He must think I’m SUCH a wanker. Aaarrrgghh. What the fuck, Andy?! What is wrong with you?!
The music finished and he boys layed on the floor.
‘Thankyou everybody, we’ll be about 5 or 10’.
The guys grabbed their stuff and walked back out to the waiting room. A couple of guys sat down and started crying, others went off to quickly get changed. Andy watched as Shaun sat down on one of the couches and began sorting through his clothes. He shyly walked over to Shaun, ‘so, um, you were amazing back in there…’
‘Thanks’, replied Shaun, not even looking up at Andy. He stood there in a really uncomfortable silence for a few seconds, but felt like 5 minutes, ‘Look, I’m really sorry for before. I don’t want you to think that I’m rude or anything, I really didn’t mean to ignore you… I kinda heard what you had said and then started freaking out, and my inner monologue started at a million miles an hour and I got way too caught up in my head to realise what I was doing, well… NOT doing, and I’m really sorry bout that and of course if the offer still stands I would absolutely love to go and get a drink or something sometime with you, I mean, providing you still want to and don’t think that I’m such a rude fuckwit or something, you just caught me by surprise because you were just so forward and casual about it and I’m the complete opposite and I’m rambling, well I feel like I’m rambling, and you’re not saying anything and I feel like a dick now, so I’m gonna shut up and go over there somewhere… But good luck. Bye.’
‘Wait!’ Shaun called out. He stood up just as Andy turned around, and he walked over to Andy and got right up close to him, leaning towards his left ear and whispered, ‘you’re not a dick. You’re adorable. Of course I still wanna grab a drink with you. And you’re an awesome dancer too. Stop freaking out, just be cool and give me your phone…’ Without hesitating, Andy handed over his phone briefly before Shaun handed it back. ‘Well, now you have my number, but you’ve gotta find it, if you find it, and you call me, we’ll go for a drink. If you don’t call me, then that’s cool too, I wish you well with your dancing.’ And gave Andy a small peck on the cheek, before sitting back down on the couch.
Andy stood there, speechless. Motionless. Oblivious.
The short angry woman came out into the waiting room, ‘GUYS! We’ve made our decisions and our offers will be going out to those tonight to those who were successful. We will be calling to confirm email addresses. Thank you all so much for all your efforts today. Congratulations to those who get an offer, and for those that don’t, we’ll be looking forward to seeing you again soon, and we have your details in case we choose to offer you anything else in the future… Now go have a shower because you all fucking stink, and go eat something!’
As Andy turned towards the couch to see what Shaun had planned, he noticed that Shaun had already left. Now the pressure was on to find Shaun’s number in his phone…
adorablyobnoxious 