Chapter 165 - Excited But Nervous

"I am sorry Sam"

"Hey I said it is not your fault, anyway if you are that sorry then increase my salary"

Rachel chuckled at his words, "Fine"

Sam was surprised as she quickly agreed to it, he was actually joking with her.

"If we get the Carlson Project, I will increase your salary" She added and Sam still got very happy as he was sure they would win this bid.

Then she formally talked to him for a few more minutes before bidding adieu.

Daniel was waiting for her downstairs so she tried to keep this visit short.

She asked Sam to come to office on Tuesday and asked him to take an extra day of leave and he was very happy.

She went and joined Daniel in the car.

"I am really sorry, was I very late?"

"No, you were gone only for fifteen minutes"

"That's it?" She checked her watch and it was indeed only for fifteen minutes she was gone, "I thought it was longer than that?" She exclaimed.

Daniel smiled at her, "Maybe time seems longer when I am not around you"

"Haha true"

Then they drove to his house. He took a shower and changed his clothes, there was some time before they had to go to Jimmy's theater so they spent some alone time with each other and after some time they headed to Jimmy's theater.

…..

Theater

Jimmy reached the location earlier with Leo as they always traveled to the theater together.

Jim picks Leo on the way and drops him off while heading back as Leo's house falls on the way from Jim's home to the theater where they rehearse.

After the men reached they saw Megan and Zoey were already there.

"Any idea who Amanda is inviting for the feedback?" Jimmy asked the two women.

"No idea but since it is Amanda, I am sure the people she invited are some big shots" Zoey answered him.

"Did you guys invite anyone to attend today's rehearsal on your behalf?" Jimmy asked them.

Leo told them he invited one close friend of his who wants to be a writer, Zoey invited two of her friends who are not related to the field of acting and Megan informed them no one is coming on her behalf.

She requested Ronald to come but he was busy so he refused to come. 

They were all supposed to come after two hours but after reading Amanda's message to invite one or two people they understood today's rehearsals is very important.

This week they completed one trial run of their play so they were confident but now they all got nervous.

The crew too was not yet here so the four actors decided to practice for some time on their own.

After thirty minutes the crew started coming in, as they needed to make arrangements, prepare the props, adjust and check the lighting and sound system, so they came in advance.

Megan then approached one of the crew members to know who are the special guests Amanda invited.

The crew person then told Megan that today Jack Nolan, a famous director and legendary actress Diana are coming to see their play. Hearing this Megan got very excited as Diana was her favourite actress and she loves movies directed by Jack Nolan, she quickly rushed to the other three people and informed them who all were coming.

Zoey and Leo got very excited but Jimmy was nervous when he heard Jack Nolan was coming.

Jack Nolan is the guy who is Daniel's friend and Daniel promised Jimmy to introduce him to Jack if he proves himself in the business world.

Jimmy's efforts to do well in business was to meet Jack Nolan and now due to this play he was already about to meet him, he got excited but nervous too as he was worried how he would act in front of him.

Jimmy suddenly became conscious of himself and he turned hysterical.

The four continued their practice. Zoey and Leo were all pumped up and were performing extremely well during the rehearsals. Megan was normal just like she always is but Jimmy was messing up his dialogues and was forgetting his lines.

"Jim bro, luckily it is only us four rehearsing right now so it is fine. But buckle up man, you are our star player." Leo tried to motivate Jim as he was performing the worst today.

But Leo's words instead of motivating Jim, made him even more nervous. Amanda calls Jim her star player and that's why everyone in the cast and crew too address him like that sometimes.

"Fuck, I am going to screw up big time" Jimmy shared his thoughts with his co-stars.

"Why do you think so?" Leo got worried seeing Jim's state, the confident and happy guy looked scared and nervous.

"Dude it is The Jack Nolan who is coming here today, I am definitely going to screw up big time" Jim wanted to cry.

"Don't worry Jim, you will be fine" Leo wanted to motivate his friend but he didn't know what to say to make Jim feel better.

After a few minutes of rehearsals, Jimmy turned worse and was not doing well.

Megan then suggested they take a break of five minutes and she went to drink some water and on way she had a word with the same crew girl who informed her of Jack and Diana's arrival.

Megan got very upset after talking to the crew girl and joined her co-stars in a foul mood.

"What happened Megan?" Zoey asked in worry as she could see how dejected Megan was looking.

"The crew people just got the news that Jack Nolan and Diana are not coming today, they postponed their arrival to tomorrow as Diana has some urgent work and so Jack too said he will join the next day with Diana."

Hearing this news Zoey too got upset but Leo and Jim were happy.

Leo was happy for Jim, "Dude now you got an entire day to prepare well." He patted on Jim's shoulder.

"True man, I am glad he is coming tomorrow instead." Jim was relieved and they all continued their practice.

Some time passed and now, Amanda, Zoey's friends, Leo's friend, Daniel and Rachel were already in the auditorium and they all took their seats.

So the crew asked the cast to start the show as Amanda instructed them to do so. 

The crew person passed Amanda's message to them.

The four people were trained so they started enacting their play and put the show forth for everyone.

Everyone in the audience was impressed by the play and there was not one mistake from the cast's end so Amanda too was very happy.

After an hour they were done and there was a huge applause from the people who were in the audience.

Jim happily searched for Daniel and Rachel to see their reaction but was shocked to see his idol Jack Nolan in the audience and got confused.

After bowing to the audience they all went back to the backstage.

There Jimmy confronted Megan, "Meg, you said Jack Nolan is coming tomorrow."

"Oh that? I am sorry Jim, I lied." Megan guiltily confessed to him.

…..

Some time ago

When Megan saw how nervous Jim was she thought of a plan and suggested they take a break and on way she intentionally met the same girl who informed her that Jack and Diana were coming.

Megan then had some random conversation with her and then she pretended to be all sad.

She decided to lie to Jimmy that Jack is not coming today as she understood how conscious he was becoming because of Jack as this is the only way to make him bring back to being normal.

She later informed Leo and Zoey of her plan and they were impressed with her idea and they all ensured that no crew member mentioned Jack or Diana in front of Jimmy.

Also, they were practicing backstage so they had no idea what was happening in the main audience area.

Also, Jimmy has a habit of not looking at the audience while he is acting onstage as during their rehearsals he told Megan that it would make him conscious and it also reminds him that this is all a play and disrupts his mind as in that moment he is into the skin of the character.

So, Megan was sure he won't look at the audience and therefore he won't know Jack's presence.

But managing all of this was really difficult for Megan as when Jack arrived all the crew members went crazy but she managed to handle Jimmy with Leo and Zoey's help.

…

"Megan" Jimmy angrily glared at her.

"But Jim, look at the bright side, you performed so well and didn't fuck up"

"That's true but…" Jimmy didn't know why he was angry.

"Chill, let's go and meet everyone" Megan dragged Jimmy with her to meet everyone in the audience.