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“How did I let you talk me into this?” Sada asked, staring at the script. She flipped through it again. “Do we even have time for this? I mean, with all the homework?”
“This play’s a historical relic!” Raifort protested. “An ancient tragedy, a real look into the culture of the Paldean Empire!” She paused. “It’s just about a first-hand account, better than anything our modern textbooks could say about the time!”
Sada tilted her head and gave a small smile. She was more into even more ancient archaeology than Raifort was; her girlfriend always seemed to care about cultures of ancient civilizations, like the Paldean Empire, while Sada was preferred to study fossil evidence of the world before civilization. But she always loved seeing how Raifort got excited about things like this, the joy in her eyes as she talked about it. “Alright,” Sada said. “When were auditions again?”
“Next week,” Raifort answered.
Sada slammed her script closed. “ Next week? ” she repeated. “I’m supposed to memorize all of this–” she waved the script around emphatically- “by next week ?”
Raifort adjusted her glasses. “Not everything,” she responded. “Just a couple monologues. They’ll let you use the book when we’re auditioning with interactions.” Sada closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, running her hands through her hair. When she pulled them away, it poofed up and some of it fell into her face. Raifort leaned across the table and tucked it back behind her ear, leaving her hand resting against Sada’s cheek. “I’ll help you. You’ll do great.” Sada gave a small nod.
“Alright.”
—
Later that night, when Sada was preparing some instant noodles for dinner, Raifort spoke up. “Sada?” she said.
“Hm?” Sada looked up, accidentally spilling a bit water from her food on her hand. At least it wasn’t hot yet.
“Thanks,” Raifort said. “For agreeing to audition. I know it’s not exactly your sort of thing, but… I’m glad to be doing it with you.” Sada smiled and let out an ‘mhm’, as she moved her cup of noodles into the microwave and set the timer.
In the few minutes she was waiting, Sada grabbed her script off the counter and flipped to one of the pages Raifort had had her tab. The monologue the page had been marked for was circled, and she read it quietly to herself a few times while she waited the timer out.
—
Sada had spent the past week getting behind on homework. She’d also spent the past week spending time with her girlfriend though, so maybe it was worth it. Though, why couldn’t they have auditions for Imperial Tragedies in the summer like a normal college? …that probably wasn’t wasn’t what normal colleges did, actually.
Raifort grabbed her hand as they took their seats in the auditorium. Sada turned her head and smiled. Raifort didn’t react to how sweaty Sada’s palm was; she was grateful for this. She was nervous enough about this stupid audition without anyone saying anything about this.
The seconds felt like hours as a few more people filtered into the room, also settling into seats. There’d already been about ten people when they’d arrived, and Sada figured the number had doubled before one of them stood up and climbed up on stage.
“Hi, um,” the person said. “I’m the gonna be the director, Rika, nice to meet you guys.” Rika adjusted their shirt. “Sorry, I’m more of a behind-the-scenes type, not really used to this.” They paused, stuffing their hands in their pockets. “Alright, um. I guess we should get started, then, right?”
Sada took in a deep breath and glanced at Raifort. Too late to turn back now, huh.