"Next!"

Breathe. You've got this. You can do this. Just don't look too closely at their faces when you're performing. You can get this part.

I keep repeating the same sweet nothings to myself, while I make my way to the audition room, but I know myself. I know that I'm going to fuck this up, just like I always do.

I get to the small stage that has been placed in the front of the room, take a deep breath, and then turn around to see only one person sitting at the "judging table"--I do realize that it's not called that, but my anxiety ridden brain came up with the term and it has stuck ever since.

My eyes feel like they bulge out of my skull, my jaw dropping to the floor. The sole person sitting at the table, the person who will be judging my scene, possibly casting me is none other than my ex-boyfriend Bradley.

"What are you..." I try to ask, but couldn't find it in me to come up with a possible full sentence to ask the man who broke my heart into what seems like a million tiny pieces.

"I'm the director for this film. I didn't know you were into acting." His face is as emotionless as a rock. Can't he give me anything to go off of? Is he in pain? Is he over me? Does he hate me in the same way that I hate him?

"How could you not know I'm into acting? I went on auditions all the time when we were dating! You just never paid attention, did you?"

His face stayed the same. "Is this going to be a problem? Because if you don't think you can handle this, you should probably walk right out that door."

"Like you did?"

"Stella." He let out a long frustrated breath, resting his head in his hands.

"Fine. I'll go, but it's not because I can't handle this. It's because you don't deserve my wonderful acting expertise on your dumb pathetic film!"

"You're the one who came here to audition in the first place. Do not turn this on me because you are in shock that I'm the director and writer of said 'dumb pathetic film'."

I scoffed at his audacity. "You are just as infuriating as I remember. Goodbye."

I walked out of the room, not looking back once. I held my head high as I heard his bored tone of voice call for the next actor to go in to complete their audition.