Chapter 100 - On-Stage Chemistry

Jimmy crossed his fingers and stood in anticipation.

"He was brilliant." Megan finally answered Amanda's question.

Amanda felt relieved knowing she and Megan are on the same page. 

She stood up from her seat and looked straight at Jimmy, "Your acting was very intense just like the way I envisioned it and you mastered this scene, Bravo Mr. Morrison." she clapped and everyone there followed the suite and clapped for him.

Jimmy bowed in front of everyone as a way of thanking for the appreciation.

"Jim you can assume you have cleared the first round but there is another scene I would want you to enact but this one will be with her" Amanda pointed at Megan.

"May I ask which scene?"

"The one where Rick's wife confronts him"

Jimmy looked a bit confused as to why he should act with that lady, so Amanda explained, "She is Megan and she has been finalized to play the second female lead, if you are selected for Rick's role then you will be paired opposite her and that's why we want to check the on-stage chemistry between you two, so you need to enact the confrontation scene with her"

"Oh" Jimmy was surprised that Megan would be paired opposite him if he is selected and therefore he cursed his luck, 'I should have just given up that parking spot'

"Do you need more time to prepare yourself?" Amanda politely asked Jimmy, her assistant was surprised seeing Amanda act so courteously with someone, it was evident that she respects Jim as an actor and most probably he will be the one who is going to be selected and this chemistry test is for assurance to see their pairing is not looking awkward.

"No, I am fine, can I please have some water?" Jim made a request

The assistant handed him the bottle of water and he gulped some water to calm himself and he felt his throat dry after enacting the intense scene earlier.

"Megan you ready?" Amanda asked her too.

"Yes Amy, I am"

Then Jimmy and Megan got into the skin of their characters.

.....

Scene 3: The confrontation between Rick and his wife

Megan shouted at Jimmy holding his collar, "How could you do this to me?"

Jimmy held her wrist which was holding onto his collar and he rudely unclenched her hand and roughly pushed her away, she almost stumbled but was able to balance herself and didn't fall down.

"Wow now you will even physically abuse me?" she shouted back at him.

"Don't put false accusations on me, you came onto me first, I just pushed you away" Rick was unapologetic to her and was justifying his rude actions, he mockingly smiled at her.

She had the urge to slap him right across his face but she was controlling her anger, tightly clenching her fist.

One can see the anger flowing through her.

"What? You want to slap me?" he smirked at her helplessness as he knew she could never act aggressively as she was still lying under the heavy load of obligations he showered her with and she had to bear with him for the sake of those favors.

After some silence, she finally spoke.

"Why me?" she helplessly asked, with tears flowing through her eyes.

For a moment Jimmy was taken aback as she really looked like someone who has been wronged, 'She is an amazing actress' he thought.

"You are beautiful, educated, most importantly you are poor and helpless, the perfect combination I was looking out for" Jimmy's words were like a sharp knife that pierced through her heart.

"There are so many such women out there but why was I chosen? I never wronged you in any way, why did you choose me? Why did you decide to ruin my life."

Jimmy stepped towards her and wiped the tears from her eyes, "Because no other girl was crazily in love with me" he looked straight into her eyes when he said these words, for a moment she was lost in the intensity of his eyes.

She was in love with Rick for a long time, even before he helped her family, they studied in the same college, she got in through scholarship, she never approached him before because she knew she had no chance to date him or have any kind of relationship with him including friendship as there was a huge disparity between their status, she never shared her feelings with anyone so she was really surprised hearing Rick's words.

"How did you know? Who told you?" She gathered courage to question him.

"I felt it"

"Is that why you helped my family as I'll fall more deeply in love with you seeing you as my savior?" she was shocked with this revelation, Rick was more detestable than she thought.

"Yes" he shamelessly agreed and didn't deny it as it was indeed the truth.

Megan was speechless, she was not sure what to say. Rick too stood in silence letting her digest the information she came across.

"I hate you" she tearfully muttered.

"That's fine, I don't care" Rick was indifferent.

"I want a divorce" Megan informed him in a low voice.

Rick thought he heard something wrong, "What?" he asked in surprise.

"I WANT A DIVORCE" this time Megan shouted at him.

"Why?" Rick was still surprised.

"What the hell do you mean by why, because I have a right to live my life my way, I don't want to be a part of this scam marriage"

"Hey, you are indeed living your life your way, don't you have all the riches in the world, did you ever think you have so much money and fame in this lifetime? No, right? You are Mrs. Rick Brown, do you even know what status this name holds in the society, you have everything one could dream for so why do you need a divorce?" Rick really got panicked as he will lose face in the society if he is tagged as a divorcee, so he was ready to go to any extent to convince his wife to stay in this loveless marriage also he knows it will be very difficult to find another woman like her, he invested a lot of his time, money and planning to marry her, so how can he let her go so easily.

"Is money and status everything for you?"

"Yes" Rick firmly answered her.

"Then why do you sleep around with other men, can't you live your life like a celibate?" She looked furious when she questioned him.

Rick was surprised by her boldness, he never thought she would talk so boldly with him.

"Oh, so you want sex?" Rick shamelessly asked her.

Megan found him so disgusting, she didn't even answer his question and turned around to walk away.

Jimmy held her wrist and pulled her closer to him and hugged her waist, "Is this what you want? A physical relationship? Will you stay if I sleep with you?" he leaned towards the nape of her neck and started sucking on it.

Jimmy didn't really suck on her neck he just leaned on her with his lips lightly touching the skin of her neck, he tried to touch her as less as possible, intimate scenes are not something he is yet comfortable with.

Megan was supposed to push him away but since the moment Jimmy pulled her and rested his head in her nape, she was frozen, she forgot her dialogues and the fact that she was acting in a play and she stood there like a statue.

Jimmy wondered why is she not pushing him yet, so instead of being in the same position, he decided to improvise on this scene so he started slowly licking her earlobe, "Do you like when I do this?" he asked in between, hoping for her to push him but she didn't respond and rather closed her eyes and hummed.

...

Jimmy was confused, he was not sure what exactly to do.

"Enough" Amanda shouted from below the stage and Jimmy sighed in relief as he was not sure how to proceed further.

"Megan you alright?" Amanda was worried as it was rare for Megan to act like this, she was not reacting and stood there frozen.

Megan came back to her senses after she heard Amanda's words, she realized what she did just now and was very embarrassed.

"Yeah Amy, I am alright"

"Why didn't you push him?" Amanda frankly asked as this was not what Megan would usually do.

"I improvised on it, I felt if my character was in love with Rick for such a long time and always craved for him, so when he would approach her himself, why would she push him away and would rather lose herself in the feeling, so it was an impromptu reaction on my behalf" 

"Oh, I understand" It was natural for actors to improvise during plays so Amanda didn't read more into it.

"Mr. Morris, are you a full time actor or you are working somewhere else too?"