FicWad

A/N: Sorry it took so long! It's getting to be that hectic time of year, so please stay with me and I promise I'll try to update a bit more often! =)

Chapter Four:
Trés Intéressant

Alice glanced down at the piece of paper for the ad that was drawn out.


Confessions Of A Rock Star's Girlfriend
Open-Call Auditions:
April 5-11th for all side/ non-main roles
April 12-20th for lead female role
April 13-21st for lead male role
Details at the bottom.

Liz walked over to Alice rather serenely. Alice, who was startled, jumped back from the table she saw the paper from. "But-who called?-I mean, how...?" Alice was, no doubt, tongue tied. Liz chuckled, and sat down on the sofa.

"Come here, dear." Liz beckoned Alice over. She hesitated a bit before heading over to where Liz was. Liz held her hand. Now what? Am I going to get my fortune told or something? This woman can just skip the dramatics and get to the point already! Alice thought tiredly.

"I received a few phone calls earlier this week about making a film out of your novel."

"But my novel hasn't even been out for that long-"

"And a few companies, like MTV, Pixar, and so on...they've called to see if you'd be willing to work with a director to help make this movie possible. Of course, there's a contract and everything-there are some things you won't be able to have power over, but..."

"Wait." Alice said, and frowned. Liz stopped, and dropped Alice's hand. She leaned back into the couch comfortably, and let Alice say: "I don't even know if I want to make a movie out of this..."

"Why is that?"

"It's hard to say," Alice replied softly. For Liz, it clicked immediately. Writing the book was a healing process, but how healing could it be if you're broadcasting the whole thing in the media?

"I think I catch your drift, dear." Liz murmured, and sat back up so she could look at Alice-properly. Alice sighed, and Liz gave her a half-hug. "I've never gotten over my first boyfriend. And that was in High School. Some things...take more than time to heal."

"Right." Alice said, a bit unbelieving.

"Well, at any rate..." Liz continued, as she saw that the conversation was going nowhere, "Just give me a call or something if you decide you want to do this or not. I'd like to start making ads ASAP if you want to do this. But it's your choice."

Alice trudged her way out of Liz's house. Do I want this? Is this what I really want?

*

"Wow, a movie, Ali? That's big." Sarah mumbled, almost to herself instead of Alice. Alice, who was still in the bathroom, shouted, "What?!"

"Oh, whatever, I'll just talk to you when you get out of the shower." Sarah yelled back. When she didn't hear a response, she just took it that Alice heard her. As soon as Alice got back from work, she told Sarah what the plans were for her novel.

The shiny doorknob of the wooden door that led to the bathroom squeaked open, and Alice, in her terry-bathrobe glory, walked out with a towel wrapped around her head. "Well, I'm not sure whether I want it that bad, Sarah."

"Why's that?"

"It's the whole..."

"Don't give me that bullcrap again." Sarah sighed, and plopped down on Alice's bed. Alice turned around from her walk-in closet to look at Sarah.

"What do you mean, the bullcrap?" She asked curiously. Alice walked over to her bed to sit next to Sarah. She was a little unsettled about the whole movie idea-something totally glamorous about it intrigued her, but then, it was the glamour that scared her as well. What if she became too famous?...Well, she needn't count her chickens before they hatch. If she was lucky, she could really screen the whole novel and no-one would notice. It happened sometimes with movies based on books.

"Hello? Alice from Mars...come back...Hellooo?" Sarah asked, yoo-hooing and waving her hand in front of her friend's face. Alice drifted back to Earth, and snapped with a nasty, "What?!"

"Gosh, you were dreaming /again/." Sarah emphasized.

"Yeah, and what's wrong with that?" Alice raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

"I don't know what's wrong with you these days, jeez." Sarah mumbled again, and flopped back down on the bed. Alice grumbled something along the lines of 'good reasons'.... Sarah, who heard something 'good' propped herself up with one elbow.

"What'd you say about something good?"

"I said that give me a few good reasons why I should do this. You're my best friend. You know me well...and if you're so persistent about this...movie thing...then there should be a reason why you're so persistent. You must think it's-somewhat-a good idea. So go ahead. Pitch your reasons at me. And if I think they're good enough, I'll go ahead and do it. If not...then I don't." Alice said reasonably. She got off the bed and went to change in the walk-in closet. Sarah was sort of quiet for awhile, and she had to think of her reasons. Finally, she walked over to Alice's desk and booted up the computer.

"What're you doing? You need my password to get in." Alice yelled from the closet. Sarah half-shrugged, then yelled back, "Well, I need to type up the list! I forget everything if it's not written down."

Alice sighed, and changed into her silk PJs before walking out to see Sarah trying to figure out her password to the computer. "Hah, you spaz." Alice whispered, and walked up to Sarah, took the keyboard away from her (it was wireless) and typed in the password quickly so not even Sarah could see what was typed.

"Hey, thanks." Sarah said.

"No prob. You want tea?"

"Coffee."

"Jeez, everyone in this world likes coffee..."

"It's America honey. In case you didn't know." Sarah told her before she opened Winword. Alice rolled her eyes, and walked into the kitchen to brew some coffee and make some tea. Mel and Lily had went out to meet Lily's grandparents, who had come to town for the rest of the month. Alice wouldn't be seeing them for a while...

When Alice walked back into the room steadily, one hand holding a mug full of coffee, and the other mug in the other hand holding tea, she glimpsed at the screen.

"Hold on, I'm nearly done. It's printing." Sarah announced with pride. She took the coffee from Alice, and handed the page crammed of reasons to her.

"Now, if you don't mind, there's an old re-run of Baywatch on, and I really intend on watching it. If you have any questions...ask away. I'll be in the living room." Sarah walked out, but Alice had already started reading. But then, Alice looked up. "Baywatch?!" She asked, rather confused. However, Sarah was already out of hindsight, so Alice couldn't really talk to her. Unless she walked out of the room.

She sighed, and got comfy on her bed before reading:

A (Few) Reasons Why Miss Alice Bolton Should Make This A Movie...
(Or not...but we're trying to make this optimistic here!)
1) This movie might make you stronger. (In terms of Brendon-related, blah blah blah...)
2) I'll enjoy the movie. I loved the book.
3) Mel and Lily will love it.
4) Everyone who read the book will love the movie, for sure.
5) You can kick Brendon in the ass with this awesome movie. Like, you can totally create a powerful ending with how you moved on with your life (which you will) and how your best friend (moi) ends up with a very expensive Ferrari that you WILL buy for me...no, just kidding, haha. But you can still beat Brendon up for everything he's done to you.
6) He'll probably feel guilty too after watching the movie if he hasn't read the book, and will want to take you back-think of it as revenge.
7) It's a once-in-a-lifetime chance. How many times do unknown authors get the chance for their compositions to be selected to be made into film? Not very many.
8) It's something to do. Filming. Being on set. Helping the director...making most of it your way.
9) The glamour! The glitter! The fame! HOLLYWOOD! Aren't you intrigued by any of that?
10) You'll finally get to meet Clint Eastwood if this movie goes to the Academies. (ooh.)
11) You'll get LOTS of job openings with you getting so famous.
12) Along with the jobs, there's dough. Money, money, money. You know. For luxury? Yeah, baby.
13) But most of all, I think you'd have lots of fun. You only live once, Al.
Kisses and hugs, even though I'm in the next room:
Sarah.

Okay, so maybe there were a few reasons. Alice didn't feel like pondering the subject anymore, so she went out to join Sarah in watching Baywatch episodes.

"Did it persuade you?" Sarah asked as she saw Alice out of the corner of her eyes. Alice laughed, and said, "Maybe."

"What does maybe mean?"

"It means either a yes, or a no. And I'm too tired to really make the decision right now...so I'll just wait 'till I wake up tomorrow morning to figure out what I want."

"Suit yourself." Sarah murmured, and shrugged, before watching Pamela Anderon's boobs bob up and down on screen. Alice grimaced in disgust.

*

"...And you're completely, immensely sure about this?" Mrs. Bolton asked worriedly. Alice knew that the whole movie issue wasn't going to go very well with her parents. Ever since she let the book get out without telling her parents, her parents didn't talk to her for a month. (Well, at least her sister talked to her...but that didn't really count since her sister was in Florida, too poor to get a flight ticket over to where Alice lived.)

"Well, yeah Mom. I mean, I mulled it over a little last night, and then I talked to Sarah about it...just to get my brain juices flowing and stuff...But...Mom. It'll make me happy. I promise."

"Well...Here, your Father wants to talk to you." Mrs. Bolton said with a sigh. Alice steeled herself for the worst: when it came to her father, everything came out pretty straightforward in a very blunt manner. And in this case, it didn't look like the response was going to be good.

"Honey." A deep voice resonated over the long-distance phone call. Her parents were in Massachusetts. She was in...California. Yes, there could be a long-distance phone bill now...

"Yes, Dad?"

"Are you sure this is going to make you happy?"

"Yes, Dad."

"Okay." He said, and passed the phone back to Mrs. Bolton. That's it?! Alice thought, sincerely shocked by her father's one question and one-worded response.

"Well, dear, if this really does make you happy...then we're with you. If you need help with anything-I have no clue what you need to do for a movie, really, but-we will be here to help. We're a phone call away, darling."

"Yes Mom."

"I think the pie's a bit burnt. I'll call you tomorrow or some other time, alright? Say hi to Sarah for me, dear. Love you. Bye."

And before Alice could say anymore, her mother hung up on her. Typical.

*

"Are you doing anything later on this afternoon?" Liz asked Alice tentatively. Alice raised an eyebrow suspiciously. It was a few days after Alice had finally told Liz the verdict: that she truly wanted to make her novel into film. She didn't exactly get the front page of the newspaper for finally turning her written works into film, but there was a section in the New York Times with a picture of Alice holding her book. Two paragraphs summed up the fact that she was going to start getting together with the director and producer soon.

"Nope, not really." Alice murmured into her tea cup. Then she hesitated, and said, "Well, I was planning on walking to the park and back with Mel and her new border collie. I haven't seen her yet. The border collie, I mean, not Mel..."

"Yes, well...I've got plans."

"Why don't you ever tell me when you've got plans for us?" Alice asked Liz wearily. Liz eyed her author. "It's because you either back out of it and don't want to do it, or you-"

"But I do have other plans for today," Alice interrupted.

"I do too. But you need to be here. I mean, you need to be /there/." Liz emphasized a bit dramatically.

After she pushed her cup away from her, Alice leaned her head on her hand. "Okay, shoot. What's our plans later on today?"

"Thatta girl." Liz mumbled under her breath. "Well, I've already met with the director and producer a few months back-"

"A few months back? How come I wasn't notified of this?"

"Because sometimes, it's better to leave you out of the picture."

"Oh, thanks." Alice said sarcastically. Liz chuckled, and said, "That's not a bad thing, it just sometimes is easier for people like us to work like that."

"Whatever. Continue."

Liz sighed, and went on: "Okay. So later on today, I've arranged open calls for one of your lead charac-"

"What?! You can't do that!" Alice nearly yelped as she jumped out of her chair. They were both at Starbucks, and the people who surrounded them looked vaguely disoriented by Alice's behavior.

"Yes I can, hon. You signed the contract."

"What contract?"

"The one you signed about a couple days ago. Here...here's the paper. Read on down to the fourth bullet point on the second page. Right there. It says that you don't have much power over the casting, but you do have a bit of say in what should be edited in and out of the film..."

"I fucking hate contracts," Alice whispered fiercely to herself, and sat back down.

"Yes, well...That's the way life is." Liz said, looking at Alice cautiously. When Alice said nothing, Liz went on to tell Alice that she should meet her in the lobby of the London Building right near the outskirts of Hollywood, and that if they could meet 2 pm sharp, that would be fabulous. However, Alice had a few other things in mind as far as turning up on time...

"Well, I did tell Mel I'd meet her up, and I'm not canceling for this. Is it okay if I'm a half hour late?" Alice asked weakly.

"Fine. 2:30 pm, no later. Agreed?" Liz asked.

"Agreed."

It wasn't too long after that Liz and Alice took their separate ways. It was, however, three hours later at 2:10 pm that Alice and Mel were in the park, playing with Mel's new border collie.

"Dang, I have to go soon...This bombs." Alice told Mel softly, as she stroked the dog. Cassie was the dog's name.

"Why? I thought maybe we could go to the ice cream shop two blocks down...?" Mel asked curiously.

"Yeah, well. Liz said that she wanted me at the London Building...in twenty minutes. Something to do with the film..."

"Oh." Mel said, a bit disappointedly. Then she lighted up, as if she had a new idea. "It's ok! I'll call Lily. I'll drop you off at your thing since we took my car, then I'll go on over to Lily's house. I think she's not doing anything today."

"Great." Alice said, less enthusiastic than her friend was. So the two put Cassie at the back of Mel's Escalade, and cruised on over to the London Building. A huge line curved around the perimeter of the building.

"Whoa, what the hell's going on?" Mel asked, in a bit of a shock before she let Alice off. Alice shook her head, and merely said: "I don't know. But I'm gonna ask Liz as soon as I find her!"

"Alright, well call me if anything exciting happens. Like I said, I'll be at Lily's. See you." So as Alice's friend drove off into the distance, she walked up to the door of the building. Many people were cued up, and Alice didn't know what was going on. She saw a sign nearby that said, "Audition: Open Call."

A security man seemed to pop out of the middle of nowhere. Alice was so shocked, she jumped about half a foot into the air. "Miss, who are you?"

"I'm...ah...uhm..." She was so frightened, she basically became tongue-tied. Until she felt a slim arm wrap around her shoulders. Liz. Thank God...It's about time!

"This is the author herself." Liz grinned up at the tall man. The security man grumbled something incoherent, and just let the two inside. Alice let out an exhale.

"That was scary. What is this, Liz?"

"An audition. For your main roles. The director is in the room down the hall, I'm going to have you meet him in a second. A few of the other crew people are around the building, but in different places. The director and casting director are both...right here. Through this door. Let's just wait for the auditioner to come out first, then we'll go in." Liz told Alice quietly. Alice just assumed that since people were having auditions in the building, the whole building had to be pretty much close to silent.

But suddenly, the door banged open, and a dark-haired girl around the age of twenty one walked out of the audition room. She looked infuriated and stupid, to tell the truth, as she ran out of the building, nearly in tears. Alice was shocked. Were the auditions really that terrible?

"I guess she didn't make anything..." Liz said, and shrugged. And before Alice knew it, Liz pushed her into the audition room.

There was a man and a woman inside. The man was writing something on a piece of paper, and the woman looked up a bit to see who was entering. When she saw Alice, her face lit up instantaneously. "Hello! You're Alice?"

Alice nodded shyly, and made her way over to the table to introduce herself. When she finished introducing herself to who she learned was the casting director (Bonnie) she then introduced herself to Derek Lichtenschten, the director.

"Hi, Mr..."

"Derek." The director said curtly. Alice nodded, and shook his hand unwillingly. The man had a strong grasp-and it also seemed like a strong personality. In a way, Alice was glad to have him as a director-he'd make sure no-one would slack-but at the same time, he looked too set in stone. Too stiff. Too...intimidating.

"We're actually a quarter ways into auditioning, so if you want to pull up a chair-" Bonnie motioned, waving to the chairs on the other side of the room.

Liz ushered Alice to grab a couple chairs, but before Alice could return with them, the door opened and a man in a suit walked in. Another security guard? It's like the fucking White House or something... Alice thought to herself silently.

"Excuse me. This man wanted to cut the line. But his bodyguard insisted this was something important. Does this man have any personal relation to any of you here?" And, as the security man finished speaking, he shoved a man past the door and into the audition room, too.

The man looked familiar to Alice. Too familiar. No... She thought as she heard her heart beat faster, faster.

"I...I want to audition." The man said, gasping out of breath, and looking at all of them in the room-Liz, Derek, Bonnie, and lastly, Alice-desperately.

Ba-bump.

No fucking way.

Ba-bump

Bonnie said gently, "What's your name, Mr...?"

Ba-Bump.

"Brendon Urie."

I need to sit back and relapse again...