Two singing groups later, Alex has picked up the camera and he is waiting for David to close the audition room.

“Can you send us the videos later?” David asks as he finally closes the door and motions for all of them to walk out.

“Yeah, I won’t take long,” Alex responds. “I’ll just upload them to the online storage.”

“Thank you, Alex,” Luna says, patting him on the back. “This year is going to be tough, a lot of talent. Are you ready for tomorrow?”

“Been doing this for eight years, Luna, I’m prepared.” he says. “See you tomorrow!”

As he walks out he sees the scholarship holders picking up the sheets they have to leave at Luna’s desk and on the corner, talking by the railing of the balcony, Carlos, Eva and Moritz are awaiting him.

Moritz walks to him and hands him an iced tea. Bless him.

“So you did come,” Alex says with a grin.

“I asked, didn’t I?”

“So you did,” Alex nods. “Was it what you expected?”

“I mean, it’s just like any casting call I’ve been to except…” he scratches his chin a bit. “Is it normal for so many people to sing Popular?”

“I’d love to say no, but…” he trails off and they both start to laugh.

“You ok?” he says. “You look tired.”

“Lots of noise in my head today,” he says. Rude. “I just need a little peace and quiet.”

“Say no more.”

“Eh, speak for yourself,” Eva says popping from behind the German. “Did you like it?”

“Did we screw up?” Carlos says, getting closer to them.

“No, you guys were perfect,” Alex answers with a grin. “However, there was a lot of talent this year so… we’ll see what happens.”

They all start walking toward the stairs to their right. The nearest exit is going down and right next to them, as well as a vending machine that has saved more than one tardy student in need of sustenance. Alex eyes it from the stair wondering if he has enough money to buy some cookies.

“So, are we going to celebrate?” Moritz says.

“I don’t think so big guy,” Carlos replies. “Nothing to celebrate yet. We still have to do the dance portion tomorrow morning, so no results until… Alex?”

“Tuesday, as usual,” Alex throws, going to the machine and getting his food.

“See? We’ll have to celebrate later.”

“Don’t worry, Maurice, we will party next week!” Eva says giving him a hug.

“So… all of you have to come back tomorrow morning?”

“Yup, güero, eight a.m. sharp,” Alex says, opening his cookies. “I suppose you are not as keen on joining us this time around?”

“Yeeeeeeeah. I don’t get out of bed before noon on a saturday,” Moritz says. “I am pretty sure it is a capital offense.”

“The auditions will end a little after one p.m.” Eva says. “If you want, you can join us for lunch here!”

“That’d be nice!” he says.

“Then it’s settled, we all eat at the cafeteria tomorrow,” Carlos says with a satisfied clap. “Anyhow, I’m going to take Eva home. You guys want me to give you a ride?”

Before he can think of it, Alex is already turning to see Moritz. Do they want a ride?

“I don’t mind walking,” Moritz says. The answer is right there. Also, Moritz has a particular question for Alex.

“I’m sure you don’t,” Eva retorts with a laugh, making Moritz blush. Alex glares at her and she just sticks out her tongue his way.

“I think we’ll be ok, Carlos,” Alex says. “It is pretty late and you still have to go all the way to Cumbres. I wouldn’t want to delay you even more, with traffic and all.”

“As you wish, Giant.” Carlos answers with a wave and walking toward the exit. “I will be picking you up tomorrow, though. Seven is fine?”

“You know it!”

“See you idiots later,” Eva says, planting a kiss on each of them and turning to Carlos.

And so, Alex and Moritz are left alone once more. “Shall we?” Alex says, and the German just nods with a smile.

They go on as other times: lots of silence, but this time enjoying the unusual, but welcome, chill breeze as they climb for the exit; Alex even decides to let his hair down for a bit, tired of his usual bun. Moritz tells him how his day went, and they indulge in small talk, but Alex keeps wondering when is he going to ask whatever is that he had to ask.

“It was nice going to the audition,” Moritz says. “I like that energy.”

“Guess it reminded you of your casting calls as a model, huh?”

Moritz pauses to look at him quizzically.

“Did I tell you I modeled?” he is thankful the darkness won’t show the depth of his blush.

“Er… no. But people have spoken on it, I guess the i-Buddies must have told,” Alex says, forgetting again that knowing about something doesn’t mean he has to talk about it.

“I see,” Moritz says, picking up the pace. “I wish they spoke about something else. I am here on a scholarship, you know?”

“Trying to tell me you are smart?”

“Is it working?”

“Are you flirting?”

“Hahaha, guess not.”

“But yeah, Eva mentioned something about a scholarship,” Alex says finally.

They remain silent for a bit until Moritz says, “No follow up questions?”

“I like a mystery,” is all Alex says, a smile in his voice. “If you ever want to tell me, you can.”

“I prefer to wait. I don’t mind being asked things for a change,” the German says.

“You’ll have to wait a lot then,” Alex retorts. They both laugh and carry on in a comfortable silence. They go on like this and as they pass the cemeteries, he feels Moritz linger a bit more. “You got a question?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to bother you,” Moritz says. “I assume you are tired about theatre questions.”

“If it’s just one, I am willing to take the bullet.”

Moritz stops and Alex does so in turn, facing him.

“I just wonder, were they good? Eva and Carlos, I mean. You didn’t elaborate because they were with us but, will they get in?” the German asks, a frown adorning his face.

Alex starts laughing. He can’t help himself. He had expected a declaration, something personal, a invitation to hang out at his place, but not this!

“I’m sorry, you caught me by surprise” he says. “I just didn’t expect that question!”

“It’s just they seemed worried. Particularly, Eva,” Moritz says.

And something clicks in Alex. This might be Eva’s last year on the musical. She should have graduated this year, but she had moved her final project to next year so it was the only thing she should do. She’d be graduating next year on the fall, so if she didn’t get in...

“They were great.” Alex says without skipping a beat. “Eva specially, as a matter of fact. I think she was the best audition of the day, and I don’t say it as a friend.”

“Heh, I don’t doubt that,” Moritz says. “Carlos and Eva say you can be quite brutal with your critique when people aren’t pulling their weight. They mentioned something about you saying Carlos had the grace of an elephant with an amputated leg while he danced “Nicest Kids in Town” and a spreadsheet of notes for the whole cast during the last musical?”

“I’m just… organized and I don’t tolerate half measures,” Alex says with a blush. “Anyhow, I mean it, Eva was the best, Carlos was ok but I think some did better this year, his charm pulled him through.”

“Well, at least it is nice to see they did good. They said it was really important for them. Eva said this musical is not very welcoming to her either so... ”

And there it was, something that had been on the back of Alex’s head as well.

“Let me guess… she is worried about her being fat affecting her casting?” he waits for an answer, and Moritz just nods.

Eva was the best dancer they had in the company, she had a lovely soprano voice, great control, she had an amazing online following, looked gorgeous, had impeccable comedic timing and she took direction extremely well. Her only “flaw” was being fat.

David had told her this repeatedly, much to Alex’s annoyance and protest. Had she not been fat, he’d have cast her more often than not on main roles. On the 5 years they’d been doing musicals, Eva had only gotten one main role: Tracy Turnblad. The rest of the time, she had made it into the show, but they relegated her to the background.

This was the reason Eva had decided to aim for a side character, but now Alex understood. She loved this musical, she often said it was the musical that had made her want to learn to sing. Eva wanted to play Elle and she was sure her body would not allow her to get it.

Now Alex was pissed. In Alex’s opinion, they lacked proper and healthy beltresses at the university, at least the kind that could do this show six times during winter and not wreck their vocal chords. He could only think of one: Eva. He had been doing theatre at the university for eight years now, and he had been studying music since he was four years old, he knew enough about what made a good casting to not be deluded by friendship; but he had not wished to think of it because he might punch David’s smug face if he said Eva was not a good choice JUST because of her body.

He hated not having a say or real vote on the audition process. He understood there was a role for every actor, and an actor for every role, but sometimes that phrase didn’t sit quite right with him, bias played too big a role in casting.

“I think she’ll make it,” was all Alex could say, feeling his blood boil. “She is one of the best we’ve got.”

“I wonder…” Moritz says. “You don’t have a say in this do you?”

“What makes you say that?” Alex says defensively.

“You are mad, and you were beaming when you said she was the best, I doubt you’d lie,” Moritz starts walking again. “If you had any say on this, I think you’d be way more calm, but you seem so pissed that I am sure it is out of your hands.”

Alex hated he was so easy to read, but he said nothing. They both pick up the pace, Moritz feeling a guilty from asking and Alex a little more tired. When they arrive to Alex’s corner, he just turns to smile at Moritz and then starts walking down the slope towards his apartment.

“Hey!” Moritz calls out.

“What?”

“We will celebrate next week,” Moritz says. “They will get in and we will celebrate. I promise.”

Alex starts laughing. “Vato, how do you suppose you are going to keep that promise?”

“Just trust me, I’m lucky.”

“Thought you were German and Spanish, not Irish,” Alex retorts.

“Just trust me, don’t jinx it!”

“Fine,” he says. And just like that, as if by some weird miracle, he actually feels better. He waves Moritz goodbye and keeps walking home but, after a few steps, he does something that had never occurred to him: he looks back.

Moritz is distracted talking on the phone, but Alex sees him walk, not towards the pharmacy, but back where they came from. At first Alex is confused, but then something clicks, a piece of information he had forgotten: Moritz lives on the university’s dorms, which are inside the uni.

He tries to think of a time Moritz said he lived around here, but there was none. However, some clarification does come: the first day they walked together, the German had gone to the pharmacy to get some prescriptions, Alex had just assumed he lived around here, forgetting to acknowledge Moritz had told him he lived at the dorms. This had been Alex’s own misunderstanding.

After a second, it dawns on him that they had never been walking home together, Moritz was just accompanying Alex home because he wanted to.

“No chingues,” he thinks, feeling warmth creep on him. Alex huffs a bit and decides to ignore this new information, he already has had enough for today.