The second audition tape arrived at seven eighteen in the morning.
Aurora opened it in the kitchen, with the bread still in the toaster and Mia shut in the bathroom.
Daniel Ward.
Until then, in her notes, he had remained the one from the phone.
In the video, he was wearing the same sweatshirt as the first time. The framing was tighter, and the voice of the girl reading the lines to him finally came through clearly.
Aurora propped her phone against the sugar bowl.
The scene began.
Daniel listened to the question without immediately looking up. When he answered, he didn't smile. He carried on with what he was doing, but stopped at the girl's second line.
Aurora leaned closer to the screen.
The toaster popped behind her.
She didn't turn around.
When the video ended, she rewound it a few seconds.
The first time, the boy had accompanied every hesitation in the girl's voice with a change in expression, as though he wanted to show that he understood her. This time, he let her speak.
And yet he listened more closely.
Mia came in, drying her hands.
She looked at the bread, then at the phone.
"Is that him?"
"Maybe."
She stepped closer and remained standing beside Aurora as they watched it a second time.
When the video ended, she picked up a slice of bread.
"Send it to Leon."
"I am."
"Without writing him a whole list of things he needs to notice first."
Aurora looked up.
Mia took a bite.
"If it works, he'll see it."
---
The reply came while they were already at the office.
Let's bring him in for the live audition.
Aurora read it twice, then added Daniel's name to the list of confirmed candidates.
Mia walked past her desk carrying a folder.
"So?"
"We're bringing him in."
"You don't seem surprised."
Aurora closed the email.
"I asked him to watch a better audition. He did."
Mia placed the folder on her own desk.
"That sentence contains a worrying amount of reasonableness."
Aurora smiled and went back to work.
---
Over the next four days, the list changed seven times.
One actress wasn't available for the entire scheduled period. A candidate had accepted another project. Thomas insisted on adding a name Aurora had ruled out after the first video.
"I want you to watch him again."
They were gathered in front of the monitor in the small meeting room. On the screen was a photograph of an actor Aurora recognized immediately.
He had worked in a series released the previous year.
"We've seen him," she said.
Thomas remained by the door.
"In a two-minute video."
"That's what we had for the others, too."
"The others don't already have an audience."
Aurora set down her pen.
Leon, seated across from her, continued reading the profile.
"What's his availability?" he asked.
"The agency is freeing up the dates."
"Are they freeing them up, or have they freed them up?"
"They're working on it."
Leon closed the profile.
Thomas looked at him.
"Before ruling him out, can we at least see him in the room?"
Aurora looked back at the photograph.
She didn't like the way he'd approached the scene, but Thomas was right about one thing: he might be different in person.
"We'll put him last," she said. "We'll give him the same directions as everyone else."
Thomas nodded.
"That's enough for me."
When he left, Aurora looked at Leon.
"You're not going to say anything?"
"You've decided to see him."
"And you?"
He placed the profile on top of the others.
"I'll see him."
Aurora picked up her pen.
Sometimes working with him was less difficult than she'd prepared herself to endure.
She realized this with a certain irritation.
---
The audition room was on the ground floor.
Thomas had had almost everything removed. All that remained was a table, a few chairs, two strips of tape on the floor, and a camera. A lighter patch on the wall revealed where a picture had been hanging until the day before.
Aurora arrived twenty minutes early.
Marcus was already inside.
He stood up from the chair in the middle of the room.
"This one squeaks."
She tested it by pressing a hand against the backrest.
It really did squeak.
She carried it into the hallway and found another one.
When she returned, Marcus was looking at the list.
"You don't have to make a choice today."
Aurora positioned the chair over the mark.
"We have deadlines."
"We also have time to make the wrong choice and pay for it for months."
She looked at him.
Marcus handed the list back.
"Don't mistake other people's urgency for your own certainty."
A few minutes later, Rachel, Leon, and Mia arrived.
Ethan came in last, carrying a box of water bottles.
"Thomas asked for six bottles," Mia observed.
"I took the length of the day into account."
Mia picked one up.
"Did you take the glasses into account, too?"
Ethan looked at the empty table.
She pointed to a package near the door.
"I brought them."
He gave her a solemn nod.
"A perfectly functioning team."
"Let's wait until at least noon before deciding that."
Aurora smiled and opened her notebook.
The first page was still blank.
She thought that was a good thing.
---
The first two candidates didn't convince her.
The first knew all his lines and seemed determined to prove it. The second had an expression that never changed, not even when Aurora gave him a different direction.
She let them finish.
She asked for variations.
She thanked them.
When the second one left, Leon shook his head.
Aurora marked a cross beside the name.
"I know."
Rachel turned a page.
"Daniel's next."
Aurora looked up at the door.
In person, he seemed younger than he had in the video.
He came in with a backpack slung over one shoulder, greeted them without immediately looking for Leon, and asked where he could leave his things.
Aurora pointed to a chair near the entrance.
"Let's start with the scene you know."
Daniel nodded.
He sat down, read the opening lines even though he already knew them, and rested the page on his knees.
The reader began.
There was no cake or phone to move around. Just two people, a table, and their lines.
Aurora waited for the moment they had worked on.
Daniel didn't repeat the video exactly.
The reader's voice was faster, less hesitant. He followed her. He changed the timing of his response and, when she added a small breath before the next question, he looked up.
Aurora lowered her pen.
At the end, she looked at Leon.
He was still watching the actor.
"Let's do it again," Aurora said. "This time, you want to finish what you're doing. You're not irritated with her. You've simply planned your evening differently."
Daniel thought about it.
"Do I have to make it clear that she's bothering me?"
"Not necessarily. I want to see if you can carry on with your evening while she tries to change it."
The boy nodded.
The second take was less polished.
He stumbled over an opening line and recovered without asking to start again. When the reader offered him the cake, he first looked at the empty place at the table.
Then at her.
Aurora leaned forward slightly.
That choice wasn't in the script.
At the end, Daniel looked back at them, waiting.
Leon spoke.
"Why do you get up?"
The boy lowered his eyes to the page.
"To eat."
"You can do that on the sofa."
Daniel thought about it for a moment.
"Yes."
Aurora saw Rachel's fingers stop on the keyboard.
The boy looked at Leon again.
"But she's already put the plate on the other side."
No one answered immediately.
Daniel added:
"I don't think he decides to be nice. He sees that she expects them to eat together, and he has no reason to say no."
Aurora lowered her eyes to her notebook.
She remembered the plate.
She had put it in front of the chair without asking him whether he wanted to sit down.
Leon nodded.
"All right."
Daniel didn't smile with relief. He waited for the next question.
Aurora wrote his name at the top of the page.
---
Clara Bennett arrived in the afternoon.
Aurora remembered her video: a low voice, lines delivered without softening them, and a moment of hesitation that came just when Aurora had stopped expecting it.
In person, she was livelier.
She took off her jacket, folded it over her backpack, and asked for some water.
Then she sat down and changed.
Not completely. She remained the same person, with a body that occupied the space and an attention focused on what was in front of her.
They tried the library scene.
At the end, Aurora looked at the page.
"I'd like to do it again."
Clara nodded.
"This time, don't come in already thinking about him. You've come here to study, and you don't have much time."
The actress went back to the opening lines.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Does she think he likes her?"
Aurora felt Leon move beside her.
She didn't turn around.
"She doesn't know."
"But she hopes he does."
Aurora looked at the chair in the middle of the room.
"She hopes she's not just someone he puts up with."
Clara stayed with the text for a few more seconds.
Then she asked to begin.
This time, she really studied.
She followed a line with her pen, searched for a reference on the previous page. When the reader's voice reached her, she looked up a moment later.
The pleasure of being addressed crossed her face before she answered.
Then she returned to her notebook too soon.
Aurora felt something loosen in her shoulders.
She let her finish.
"Thank you."
Clara relaxed.
Aurora was about to suggest another scene when Leon spoke.
"Can you do the last part again without smiling?"
The actress looked at him.
"From the moment I pick up the book again?"
"Yes."
Clara nodded.
Aurora slowly turned her face toward him.
"Why?"
Leon pointed to the page.
"It isn't necessary."
"She's not smiling at him."
He looked at her.
Aurora turned back to Clara.
The actress was still seated, the script in her hands.
They shouldn't be discussing it as though she weren't there.
"In the first version," Aurora asked her, "what happens when you go back to reading?"
Clara lowered her eyes to the page.
"I can't remember where I left off."
"Why?"
The actress smiled, this time out of character.
"Because he spoke to me."
Aurora nodded.
"Let's try both versions. First without the smile. Then let yourself get distracted as much as you naturally would, but still try to study."
Clara did both versions.
In the first, the movement of picking up the pen became precise, almost rigid.
In the second, she lost her place and read one word twice. She noticed and smiled at the notebook, annoyed with herself.
Aurora looked at Leon.
He kept his eyes on the actress for another moment.
"The second one," he said.
Aurora didn't answer immediately.
Then she wrote down the take number.
---
By the end of the day, they had two male candidates and three actresses to call back for chemistry tests.
The name Thomas had suggested had been left out.
After the second direction, he had stopped the scene to explain why, in his opinion, the character should be played differently.
Thomas had listened until he finished.
Then he had thanked him, too.
Now he was gathering the profiles without protesting.
Mia and Ethan left with the assistant to sort out the waiting room. Rachel followed Marcus, discussing the length of the scenes.
Aurora stayed at the table, checking the take numbers.
Leon put on his jacket.
"Clara," she said.
He stopped.
"Yes."
"I want to try her with Daniel."
"So do I."
Aurora drew a line between the two names.
All day, she had tried not to imagine a pairing too soon.
Now it seemed right to allow herself a few seconds to do so.
"Earlier, you asked me to take out the smile," she said.
Leon came back toward the table.
"Yes."
"Why?"
He looked at the part of the scene she had left open.
"It seemed as though she wanted to show it to us."
"The first version?"
"Yes."
Aurora thought back to the two takes.
Then to the girl he remembered.
"Sometimes she smiled even when no one was looking."
Leon raised his eyes.
She realized she had used the past tense.
She could have corrected herself.
She didn't.
He remained with one hand resting on the back of the chair.
"I know."
Aurora stopped aligning the papers.
His tone was that of a simple answer. He hadn't tried to make it sound lighter, or steer the conversation back to work.
She looked at him.
For years, she had kept certain moments as though they had happened only inside her own head: the smiles hidden in the pages, the excuses to stay in the same room, the time wasted waiting for him to turn around.
Leon let go of the back of the chair.
"Are we doing the pairings tomorrow?"
Aurora lowered her eyes to the line between the names.
"Thomas is checking everyone's availability. Probably Tuesday."
He nodded.
When he left, she remained seated.
She thought about Clara losing her place in the book.
About the smile directed at the notebook.
Leon hadn't told her when he had seen her do the same.
But he had seen her.