Page 1 of My Best Friend Prince Charming

1

Ryker

I bowed to the cheering audience and followed my fellow cast members off the stage.

“Boom!” my friend Liam whooped when we got backstage and out of earshot of the crowd. “No more musical for the year. I think I’m going to sleep for a week.”

“Come on,” I said. “We still have to greet the audience outside the auditorium.”

When we got to the hall outside the auditorium, I took my place next to Camille, who had been cast as Cinderella.

“Can you believe this is over?” she asked.

I shook my head. I wouldn’t even know what to do with myself after all the hours spent memorizing lines and rehearsing.

“Ah! The prince,” a man with graying hair and aviator sunglasses perched on his head approached me with a wide grin.

Camille’s face lit up. “Uncle Stephen!” She jumped between us before he could finish speaking to me and wrapped her arms around him in a gigantic hug.

“How’s my favorite niece?” he asked her.

“I’m so glad you came,” she said to him.

“You know I wouldn’t miss your performance. Especially since I’m in town anyway.”

He reached out and shook my hand. “It’s, ah, Ryker, right?” he asked, glancing at my name on the playbill. “That was an impressive performance.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said.

“I’ve been looking for someone like you for a while, actually.”

“Someone like me?” I echoed. Well, that was cryptic.

“Would you be interested in auditioning for me next week?”

“Auditioning?” I asked.

“I may have a job for you. It’s, ah, paid work. Do you have any film experience?”

“No, sir,” I said, my heart drumming in my chest. Film? Who was this guy?

“Have my niece give me your information. I have to get going. I’ll reach out to you later this week with a time and place to meet up. It was nice meeting you.”

And just like that, the guy disappeared into the crowd.

I turned to Camille. “What was that all about?”

“Do you have any idea who my uncle is?”

“No. He seemed pretty cool, though.”

“You’ve never heard of a Stephen Christopher film?”

“Nope.”

“He’s a big-time Hollywood director. He’s worked on lots of blockbuster movies. I can’t say for sure, but I think he may have just picked you out for his upcoming Cinderella movie. He’s been looking for a Prince Charming for months. The audition is basically a formality.”

I stared at Camille in shock. There was no way the audition was a formality. He couldn’t tell how talented I was in front of a camera based on my stage performance. “What’s he doing in Sweet Mountain?”

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