#leigh-da-dee

“So, looks like you’ve got dropped down in popularity with the casting director, Sebastian.” Nick cornered his fellow cast member with a smug look on his face. He seemed much too pleased with these fateful events than Sebastian would’ve liked and he wasn’t in the mood for a spiteful interrogation at this particular moment.

“Nick, just leave it, alright. Why don’t you go congratulate your best friend over there and stop fraternizing with the enemy, yeah? We all know whose side you’re on.” Sebastian smiled back professionally despite the fact the glare in his eyes told a different story. Thankfully Nick took the suggestion and left Sebastian to wallow in his own shame of not achieving his previous role that would’ve saved a lot of heartache. However, his burden was nothing compared to the heavy weight cast upon Brody and Lynette.

The drama room had erupted in a gaggle of gossipers, obliviously led by Flint and Trent and Sebastian couldn’t help but feel a bit jaded that his…his…Flint was seemingly enjoying this casting mishap and not sympathizing with him. Shrugging off the thought, Sebastian sighed guilt-stricken and decided he’d best be the one to get Lyn out of there considering how pale she looked.

Approaching her cautiously, he simply took her by the waist and led her out the door, under the watchful eye of Jeff, who looked much too proud of himself considering the consequences this entailed for his on-and-off-again girlfriend. As the double doors closed behind the pair of them, as if to make matters worse, late to the party was none other than Brody Callum.

The dark haired boy paused immediately with a look of genuine concern and slight terror at Lynette’s expression. “W-What is it? What happened?” He asked worriedly, clasping his hands around Lynette’s non-expressive ones that nearly fell from his grasp. She remained cold with a blank expression and Sebastian resorted to explaining the situation, point blank.

“Jeff’s Raoul. You’re The Phantom, Lyn’s Christine, and Jeff is Raoul. He must’ve really impressed Miss Levitt in auditions…So, I don’t know if you really want to go in there, right now.” Sebastian warned in a calm tone, attempting to make the events seem less devastating than they actually were.

“Oh.” Brody’s tone was empty, little to no emotion in his words. Instead, his attention remained on the girl in front of him, searching for her reaction but found none. “Do you want me to take her?”

“We’ve got a twenty minute break so…Actually, I’ll just tag along with you two. Rather stay out of the judgemental eyes of everyone in the room.” Sebastian confessed, letting his true colours un-camouflage themselves. Usually he was so cocky and full of himself that this more secretive side of him was rarely displayed to the public eye. Glancing at Lynette’s flushed expression, he whispered some words of reassurance that seemed to revert her back to consciousness and she nodded in reply, following both boys outside as they sat on the grass.

Everyone was silent for a few minutes before they realized that their alone time was preciously ticking away. “Why wouldn’t she re-cast you?” Brody muttered the question on all of their minds and Sebastian merely shrugged in response.

“I don’t know; we’re not allowed to be at anyone else’s auditions, so I guess he must’ve really worked his ass off…Determination and revenge are pretty good motivators…” Sebastian smirked solemnly which earned a nervous swallow from the girl in between the boys.

“Lyn? …Are you gonna be alright? Sorry to say it, but you’ve gotta pull yourself together before break is over. You have to face him with some form of confidence, whether it’s genuine or pretend. You can’t let him have the satisfaction.” Sebastian urged her with more force in his voice, the jealousy seeping through as he squeezed her hand tightly, as if to pass on his rage to her.

The brunette remained speechless and Brody moved to kneel in front of her, tilting her chin up to face him as he cupped her cheek in his opposite hand. “Lynette, he’s right. There’s no way of changing this; Jeff got cast as Raoul. Sure, it fucking sucks but we can’t think about that right now. You and I have to play our parts for another year. We have to use what happened to our advantage, just like we did before. We’ve got to mask our lives in our roles, okay? Use this. Use what happened to pull off a good performance for the audience. You can’t let Jeff see you this way because it will only fuel his fire more. You know this play; you know Christine’s emotions because you feel them yourself; beat him at his own game, because what happens to Raoul? He makes the wrong decisions. He lets his greed control him and he loses her because of it. He loses Gustave. He loses everything that was ever important to him. You’re better than him, Lyn. Show him that.”

“You have the best monologues, I hope you know that.” Sebastian grinned, shaking his head in admiration at Brody’s speech and patted him on the shoulder with a sense of pride in his courageous efforts to cheer Lynette up.

Brody smirked back at him with a look of gratitude before returning his attention to Lynette, awaiting her reply. He gently tucked her bangs behind her ear and watched as a small smile appeared on her lips.

“Thanks, Brody.”

Sure, it was a short and sweet response, but he knew that the meaning behind his words had sunk in. Besides, they didn’t have much time for mutually heartfelt responses now, especially since the two of them weren’t necessarily together anymore. Their feelings remained but they stopped acting on them because it only complicated things further. He wanted her to be happy and sort out what she wanted on her own, without any bias or subconscious pressure from him. Whatever conclusion Lynette came to, it would have to be on her own terms and he was okay with that, for now. They had bigger troubles to worry about, and the majority of those problems were awaiting their return to the drama room.

~*~

To say it was awkward entering the drama room after break was an understatement. Sebastian led the pair of them in, hoping to disguise Brody’s late appearance, but that failed miserably.

“Look who decided to show up! You checked the cast list yet, Callum? Guess who’s playing your leading lady’s husband?” Jeff grinned widely, winking at Lynette. His smugness infuriated Sebastian and only made him want desperately to get a recording of Jeff’s audition to compare it to his own.

“I heard you got cast as Raoul. Well that’ll be nice to be able to realistically play the part you deserve this year. It’s an honour to have you as an opponent, Monsieur de Chagny. I can’t wait to rehearse ‘Devil Take The Hindmost’ with you.” Brody smiled back through pursed lips, not allowing Jeff to get the better of him. After all, the Phantom did have the upper hand in this whole play. He was the real father of Gustave, the one whom Christine still loved ten years later, the one who convinced her to sing again, and the one with a better reputation that Raoul’s drunken infertile father role.

Jeff’s confidence wavered at Brody’s comment and he merely held his hand out to shake Brody’s with. “My pleasure. Better to make it more believable for the audience, y’know. They really liked that last year. It’s only fair to give them an even better show the second time around.” He smirked, clenching Brody’s hand tightly in his own before pulling away as Miss Levitt entered the room.