Suite Scarlett Read Online Free Page B

on the door. After a short decency pause, Spencer let himself in without preamble. He went airborne and landed hard on Scarlett’s bed, causing her frail computer to bounce. She grabbed and stabilized it before it exploded into its component parts.
    “I have news,” he said. “Remember how I told you that I was going to call everyone I knew? It turns out that one of my friends from school knows these people who are doing Hamlet. One of their cast members just got cast in a touring company of Mamma Mia , like, yesterday. So he’s leaving, and they called me to come in and read for the part.”
    “Spence,” Scarlett said. “That’s amazing! You’re going to be Hamlet!”
    “Well, not Hamlet. I’m up for Guildenstern, one of Hamlet’sguys—and also one of what the script calls two clowns , who are actually unfunny gravediggers. Here’s the thing, though. This isn’t just a straight-up Hamlet , it’s kind of like a carnival. It’s the happy Hamlet. Until everyone dies, including the guy I would play. But until we bite it, we basically run around like idiots through the whole show.”
    “So it’s perfect for you,” Lola said earnestly.
    “Pre cisely ,” Spencer replied. “The list of stuff they wanted is pretty much the entire bottom of my resume…lots of fistfights and falling.”
    “Which you do,” Scarlett said happily. “Better than anyone. It’s the perfect part!”
    Spencer scratched under his chin thoughtfully for a moment.
    “Which is good, right?” Scarlett said.
    He scratched some more.
    “There’s kind of a catch,” he said.
    “Catch?”
    “It’s with this group called First National Bang Theater Company, and this show is their Shakespeare in the Parking Garage production. Technically…”
    He held up one finger at this.
    “…technically, it’s on Broadway. Just, really far down Broadway.”
    Lola sighed.
    “You mean it’s on the street called Broadway, right?” Scarlett said.
    “Right. But no one ever said what that meant, specifically. So I can say the theater is on Broadway , which it is, and no one can call me a liar.”
    “Spence,” Lola said. “That’s not Broadway. That’s not what they meant in your deal.”
    “Does it pay at least?” Lola asked.
    “Subway fare counts, right?”
    Lola played with the belt on her robe and said nothing.
    “I need this play,” he said. “Agents will come to this. Casting directors will come.”
    “You want to do Hamlet in a parking garage instead of going to school?” Lola said. “Spence, you know that scholarship offer is about to expire. Can’t you figure out a way to do both? It’s full tuition. And we need a cook.”
    “I know what it is,” Spencer replied, squaring off to Lola. “But in exchange for the money, they farm me out to restaurants for forty hours a week. That’s on top of full-time classes. How am I supposed to act when I’m working eighty hours a week? For two years. Also, even if I did it, I really don’t want to work in this place my whole life.”
    He held up his hands as if to say, “You see my problem.”
    “I guess,” Lola said, without much conviction. “But it still couldn’t hurt, Spence. I mean, you’d be a trained chef with lots of experience, and you could always fall back on that.”
    “Well,” he said, “I realize not all of us date millionaires. They’re pretty good to fall back on, too. All that nice, soft cash.”
    He propelled himself off Scarlett’s bed before Lola could reply.
    “Anyway. Gots to go. Have to prepare.”
    He patted Lola’s head as he bolted out the door. Lola carefully pulled the loose strands of her long blonde hair from her brush and thoughtfully wound them around her finger.
    “I know you think I’m being hard on him,” she said quietly. “But I think at some point, you have to get practical.”
    “Define practical,” Scarlett said. “Because it sounds like you’re saying he should give up. Spencer is a good actor.”
    “I know that,” she