Just Haven't Met You Yet Part 1/14
Lea Michele was snatched from her sleep by an annoying beeping noise originating from her alarm clock.
7:00am it read. She sighed as she rolled over in her queen sized bed. Why is it that her bed felt most comfortable when she had to wake up? Reluctantly, she swung her bronze legs over the side of the bed and slid her feet into her slippers. As she made her way to the kitchen, her stomach was doing summersaults. It was her first official day of work. Being cast on the show, although surprising, made Lea sick to her stomach. Sure she’s a performer. Sure she’s had sex in front of a live audience for the past year on stage with her gay best friend. But a television show? This was completely unexplored territory for the young starlet.
Ryan Murphy had arranged for the entire cast to meet for lunch at 12pm that day in order to get acquainted with each other before they officially started rehearsals and shooting the following Monday. Lea put a pot of coffee on and toasted a bagel. She gazed outside her window. The apartment was not the most ideal, considering it was about twenty-five minutes from set, and she knew sooner or later she’d have to move out and find one closer to her soon-to-be home; but for now, she focused on not making a fool out of herself at this little get together and on hopefully making some friends. After all, they were going to be spending a lot of time together, as the pilot seemed quite daunting.
Once showered and dressed the clock read 9:00am. She still had time to kill. In the corner of her eye, Lea saw her script lazily drooped over the coffee table. Walking over to it, she picked up the script, the script that made her laugh and cry over the course of thirty minutes reading it. Something in her gut told her that this show was special. Why else would she have auditioned for it? She prayed all would go well and placed the script back on the table. Grabbing the remote, she flipped through the channels, not really watching anything, for the next two hours, until the screen alarmingly told her it was 11am.
“Crap!” she mumbled and rushed into the bathroom. Carefully she put her make up on, as she had to look her best, desperately trying to avoid messing up. Finally, by 11:30, Lea Michele was ready; well, almost ready. Her slender fingers grabbed her bag and cell phone, quickly checking the time even though it would be the fourth time in the past two minutes she had done so. She walked over the mirror by the front door.
“You can do this, Lea,” she encouraged herself. “Just be yourself, and everyone will love you. You can do this.”
And with that she was out the door, strutting towards the parking garage where her little mini Cooper awaited her. She grabbed the smooth handle and plopped her bag on the passenger seat. As her hands grabbed the leather steering wheel, she took a deep breath. This was it. She backed out of the garage and was on her way to what would be the most important lunch of her life.
Being a singer and a lover of music, Lea could not drive without music; it just would not do. She carefully turned on the radio, trying to keep her eyes on the road being as nervous as she was. Shaking, she turned the dial to her favorite station. For the next three minutes, she drove to the sound of Michael Buble’s “Haven’t Met You Yet” and as always she began humming. But you can never just hum a tune when you are Lea Michele. Within seconds she was belting out the familiar lyrics as if she was center stage at Radio City Music Hall.
Before she knew it she had arrived at her destination with ten minutes to spare. She flipped off the radio and pulled the keys out of the ignition. For some reason she would not get out of the car. Maybe it was the nerves, or the four cups of coffee she had, but she still could not will herself to get out of the car. What was she so nervous about? She was Lea Michele, Broadway star, future television star. She should not be nervous about a silly lunch. Finally, after five minutes of waiting like an idiot, she grabbed her bag and slowly exited the vehicle. Her heals clicked against the stone pathway into the sushi restaurant Ryan had picked out. A beautiful oriental fountain greeted Lea at the doorway, as well as a very enthusiastic Ryan Murphy.
“Lea, darling, hello!” he quickly wrapped her in a welcoming hug. “How are you, my dear?”
“I’m well, Ryan. And yourself?” she asked, still trying to hide her obvious nerves.
“Great, great. Let’s go inside, shall we? Jenna is already inside. We’re still waiting on the others.”
Thank God for Jenna. It was nice to have a friend in a place where she literally knew no one.
“LEA!” Jenna squealed as she rushed over to give Lea a hug. “I’ve missed you so much! Isn’t this exciting?”
“Very exciting! Can you believe that we both got cast? Oh my God, this is amazing!” she said enthusiastically as Ryan smiled as he watched the two interact. He knew this was going to be good.
Suddenly a tall man walked in, accompanied by a shorter one with a Mohawk. The girls paused their reunion to look at the two guys who had just entered.
“Sup, Ryan,” said the shorter one and comfortably shook their boss’s hand.
“Hey,” said the taller. He seemed shy. Lea wondered who he was and who he was playing.
The two men made their way towards the girls to introduce themselves.
“Hey, ladies,” the Mohawk guy said casually, “I’m Mark Salling. If you couldn’t tell by the Mohawk, I’m playing Puck.”
Lea and Jenna smiled and returned the awkward hug. He was friendly, quite opposite to Puck, Lea thought.
“I’m Lea Michele,” she introduced, “and I’m playing Rachel.”
“Sweet,” Mark said. “And you?” he directed to Jenna.
“Oh,” she breathed nervously, “I’m Jenna Ushkowitz. I’ll be playing Tina.”
Mark nodded and glanced over at the taller guy. He gently nudged him with his shoulder. The taller guy blinked and realized he still hadn’t said anything.
“Sorry, I’m Cory Monteith,” he gazed at Lea softly. He seemed really nice. Lea hoped he would loosen up though.
Mark cleared his throat.
“Oh and I’m playing Finn. Don’t worry, I’m smarter than him,” he added.
The group laughed and continued with the small talk. As they began to bond, two more guys entered along with a black girl, who Lea assumed was playing Mercedes.
“Hey guys,” the guy with glasses said as they three joined in the conversation. Lea soon learned the guy with the glasses was Kevin, the more feminine boy was Chris and as she had expected Amber was playing Mercedes. For the next fifteen minutes, the cast slowly began to get to know one another.
“Alright, children,” Ryan said rather condescendingly, “Let’s sit down, shall we? We can wait on the others but that doesn’t mean we have to stand here to do it.”
With that, everyone awkwardly took a seat, Mark next to Cory, Cory next to Kevin, Kevin next to Amber, Amber next to Chris, Chris next to Jenna, and Lea at the second to last chair next to Jenna and an empty seat. She knew Matt wasn’t going to come, and Jane Lynch was not scheduled to come. She wondered who they were waiting for. The thought slowly dissipated as the waiter came around to take their drink orders.
“So, Lea,” Amber casually asked, “how did you get started acting and singing?”
“Oh, well I’ve been on Broadway since I was eight with Jenna here. What about you?” she played with her napkin.
“Well, my mother put me into all kinds of singing classes since I was two years old and…”
Lea sort of spaced while Amber went on and on about something like American Idol and such.
“Awesome,” she mumbled.
Suddenly, just when things were getting boring, someone ran into the room and spit out something about traffic and getting lost and quickly hugged Ryan before taking the vacant seat next to Lea, and her heart skipped a beat.