Whatever It Takes
Samantha was feeling kind of funny. Since the incident with her blackberry, she hadn't been quite sure what to say or how to act towards Casey. She was embarassed, but not sure that she should be. Luckily, Casey didn't seem to notice her awkwardness. He was just as happy to talk about his Mom and his brother and about being married to a girl who made him choose music or her.
"I just couldn't understand why I couldn't have both...and that's when I realized that she wasn't right for me...if I had to choose one or the other, then one had to be wrong, and I KNEW music wasn't wrong." It suddenly ocurred to Casey that he'd been doing an awful lot of the talking lately. "Hey, is everything ok?"
Samantha decided that if Casey wasn't going to be weird about it, then neither was she. "Of course! I like listening to your stories, I didn't want to interrupt."
"Well I'm afraid I'm going to have too..." Casey and Samantha looked up to see a man with a headset and clipboard standing in front of them. "You're next!" He pointed at Samantha. She looked up, startled. She hadn't really been aware of how much the room was emptying out. She knew she'd been moving closer to the door, she'd seen a few people come out and celebrate with their families, but she had almost forgotten that she was there to audition as well.
"Come on, we don't have all day!" Mr. Headset was getting anxious. Samantha quickly gave herself a mental pep-talk. "Go get 'em tiger!" Casey said to her as she stood to walk into the judging room. Samantha smiled, "I'll do grrrrrrrreat!" She said, giving her best Tony The Tiger impression. Mr. Headset led her through the doors, and into the room. She remembered the drill from the last time she auditioned, but luckily the judges didn't seem to remember her.
"And what's your name?" Simon asked.
"Sam....antha." Oh great, couldn't even get her name out right, this was going to go well.
"I'm confused...is your last name Antha, or is your name Samantha?"
"Sam...my name is Sam Cowling."
They went through the usual routine questions, what do you do for a living, why are you the next American Idol, Victoria Beckham was guest-judging that day, but Samantha barely noticed.
"Alright, now it's time for you to sing, what are you going to sing for us today?" Kara asked.
"One of my favourite songs, Could It Be Any Harder by The Calling."
"Alright, well lets hear it!"
Samantha took a deep breath, opened her mouth, and began to sing. She was focused on the song, and the emotion that came with it, and she sang as if she were singing for her life. "You left me with goodbye and open arms, a cut so deep I don't deserve..." after the first verse and one round of the chorus, Simon held his hand up and she stopped.
"Well, you've got quite the voice on you, don't you?" He said. Samantha was trying to read his face, but it was impossible.
"That depends...is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"Randy what do you think?"
"Y'know dawg, I thought it was hot!" As soon as Randy got his hand-motions into it, Samantha knew she had him. "Victoria, what about you?"
Victoria looked Samantha up and down, and she was suddenly very self-concious of her jeans and her good red shirt she'd decided to wear, which suddenly didn't feel so "good" anymore. "Yeah y'know the voice is VERY good, but your image could use a bit of work..maybe tie your hair back, or get it cut a bit, because it's quite thick, and it almost hides you. You're really very pretty, you don't need to hide it." Samantha breathed a sigh of relief. A change of wardrobe she could handle, a haircut was fine, as long as the voice was good.
"Alright then, lets take a vote. Randy, yes or no?" Simon took charge of the votes as he always seemed to do.
"I'm a 100% yes, I think she's got something special here."
"Victoria, yes or no?"
"Oh I'm a yes."
"Kara, what do you think?"
"I say yes, she's got a GREAT voice!" Kara flashed Samantha a bright smile. Samantha's heart started beating faster. That was 3 yes's and Simon had already said he liked her voice, so she MUST be getting a ticket!
"Well, I thought it was great, one of the best of the day. You're through to Hollywood, congratulations."
Samantha jumped in the air with excitement. "Thank you guys sooooooooo much, you just made my MONTH!" She got her golden ticket from the assistant in the room, and went to the door. Mr. Headset was waiting there for her, talking on his headset. He held up a hand to stop her. "You guys in place? Yeah, another one through, get ready, I'll prep her." He turned to Samantha and told her "Ok when you go out there, we've got the camera guys waiting, so make a really big deal about it, act really excited, ok?" Samantha raised an eyebrow at him. "Act? ACT?! I AM excited, I don't have to put on an ACT!" "Alright well then, go!"
Samantha pushed open the door, held her golden ticket high in the air, and exclaimed "Hollywood, you ain't seen NOTHING yet, baby!!!" Mr. Headset was right, there was cameras everywhere, and it disoriented her at first, but then she saw Casey standing there waiting for her too, and excitement took over. She threw her arms around him and embraced him in a big hug, the kind one normally reserves for best friends, family members, or significant others. He wrapped his arms around her too though, and she could tell by his grip that they were now close enough friends for the biggest of hugs. She didn't want to let go, she wanted to stay in that moment forever and savour the feeling of having just got her golden ticket, AND the way Casey's arms felt enfolding her, but she knew there was cameras watching and it'd look weird if they held on too long. Samantha was actually the first to break the hug, and that surprised her.
"I made it! I got FOUR yes's!" She exclaimed.
"That's awesome! I knew you would, you're amazing!" Casey still had an arm slung casually around her shoulder. It was then that Samantha realized that Ryan Seacrest was standing right beside her. "Congratulations!" He stuck out a hand for her to shake. She shook his hand and chuckled to herself. She'd forgotten how short Ryan was, shorter than herself even, and with the three of them lined up, it almost felt like a children's book teaching kids about "Big, bigger, biggest!"
"So, you made it through, and is this your boyfriend?" Ryan said, gesturing at Casey.
"What? Oh no, this is just...this is Casey, we just met today in line actually, he's auditioning too!"
"Oh well then, we'd better get him in there and see if we can make it 2 in a row! Come on, Casey!" Ryan started walking back towards the door, motioning for Casey to follow him. "I'll be right back, wish me luck!" He whispered in Samantha's ear. "You don't need luck, you've got talent!" She whispered back, and Casey was off, the camera crews following him.
Samantha was left standing there, holding her golden ticket. Suddenly the room seemed very empty. Casey had vanished into the audition room, and the camera crews had moved onto a group of people singing while someone played the guitar over in the corner. Suddenly she was very nervous. What if Casey didn't make it? But that was crazy, he already sang for a living, how could he NOT make it? But still, having a band and doing bar gigs is a lot different than American Idol. Samantha was busy going back and forth in her head with different scenearios, when Ryan Seacrest came walking over. "He should be out soon, are you going to rub it in his face if he doesn't make it?"
Samantha looked shocked. "What? NO! That's awful! I would NEVER do that!"
"That's good, I just wanted to make sure...I wouldn't want you going to Hollywood having everyone thinking you're a bitch."
"Yeah thanks, really side-stepped THAT land-mine." Samantha rolled her eyes. More cameras and boom mics were making their way over, so she knew he really WOULD be out soon.
The door opened, and Casey came casually walking out, a grin on his face, and a golden ticket in his hand. "I did it!" This time it was HIM that wrapped Samantha up in a hug, and this time, she took full advantage of it. She took in his scent, of a cologne she couldn't place, she noted with pleasure, the strength of his arms around her, and she could feel his hair fall against her cheek....
Wait a minute.
His hair had been tied back all day long. Now it was down, and his blond wavy locks fell across his face as he smiled and waved his golden ticket. Samantha stepped back and noticed that his shirt was buttoned up wrong...and his number was ripped in half. What the hall had happened in there? She decided to wait until the cameras were gone to ask.
Which didn't take long. Soon enough there was someone else doing something more interesting, and they were off. Casey and Samantha found a private corner to sit in to let it all sink in, before they went to get all the details about Hollywood week.
"So what was your audition like?" Casey asked. "I mean, you said you got 4 yes's, but how'd it all go?"
"Oh no no no, you do not do that to me, Mister!" Samantha shook a finger at Casey.
"What?"
"You don't come out of the audition room with your hair down when it's been tied back all day, your shirt done up wrong and your number all ripped to pieces, and ask me how MY audition went! What the hell happened in there?"
"Oh, that." This time it was Casey's turn to blush. "Well, don't tell anyone, but I had to go down on Simon to get a ticket...I always just thought that was rumours about him being gay, but..." Casey shrugged.
"You damn liar, you'd never do that! Tell me the truth!" Samantha playfully swatted at Casey's arm.
"Alright alright fine...so I went in and I sang, and Simon said it was bad, Randy was kinda on the fence about it, but Kara seemed to like it, and she said I had a good image, but she wanted to see what I looked like with my hair down. So I showed her."
"And what, you had to unbutton your shirt to get your hair elastic off?"
"No...I took my hair down, and Simon made some comment about me not having any personality, and I said I'd work on it, that I'd do whatever it takes to make it, so Kara told me to unbutton my shirt a bit more...and then Randy said I should just take it off altogether."
"So you just did?"
"Well, yeah...I mean, they were all telling me to do it."
"Wow, you must've been BRUTAL with peer-pressure!" Samantha laughed. "Well hey, whatever it takes, right?"
"Whatever it takes."
Samantha and Casey got up to go get their Hollywood package, and she told him about her audition. "Nothing special, I just sang, they liked it, I got the ticket. I probably won't even make it on TV hardly, I didn't do anything remarkable...like take my top off!"
"Maybe you should've." Casey grinned. They were walking outside now, and it occurred to Samantha that they were about to go home. She knew the day would end sometime, and they lived 13 hours apart, so it wasn't like they could just get together for coffee.
Walking through the parking lot, Samantha asked Casey "So what'll you do now?"
Casey shrugged. "Go back home and play my gigs, and wait for Hollywood week. You?"
Samantha nodded. "Pretty much the same...except for the playing gigs part."
They walked in silence until they got to the entrance of the parking lot. "I parked over this way." Samantha stated.
"Well I'm over that way..." Casey pointed in the opposite direction. He hesitated for just a split second before gathering Samantha in his arms, holding her close. She hugged back, thinking anyone to get three hugs like that in one day had to feel extra-special. After a moment had passed, Casey whispered, "I WILL see you in Hollywood."
"What are you going to do to find me?" Samantha asked.
Casey pulled back, held onto Samantha's arms, planted a light kiss on her forehead, winked at her, and walked away.
Samantha stood there feeling confused. Was that how he was going to leave it? With a question hanging in there air, and no sign of an answer? It wasn't long until Casey was around the corner and she couldn't see him anymore. As she turned and started walking towards her car, she felt her blackberry vibrate. She took it out of her purse to see a new text message. It was from Casey, and it simply read "Whatever it takes."