Star Struck Read Online Free PDF Page B

crews at eight to discuss tech, blocking, and this year, set construction.”
    Heather’s heart skipped a beat at the mention of set—at the thought of Seth. She barely heard Vera continue with her speech.
    “At nine, rehearsals start. You’ll rehearse all day until the show goes up tomorrow night at seven. The whole shebang will be over by nine p.m. Then we party.”
    “What will they do with the set pieces after the show?” Matt Shone asked.
    Good point. Just more proof the whole idea was a waste of resources.
    But Vera’s answer surprised Heather. “They’re auctioning them off next month to raise more money for Urban Arts. You can’t imagine how much some people will pay to sit in a chair that was sat in by Heather Wainwright.”
    Heather smiled weakly. It was true—her discarded trash made tons of money on eBay. Selling the set pieces was a great idea. An excellent idea. Maybe she’d judged the concept too harshly.
    Of course, she already knew it had been the guy not the idea that had her in a dither the night before. He’d even rightly called her on it.
    “And what do we do with the props we brought?” This was Matt’s first year at the event and he’d been asking a lot of questions. He was younger than Heather and didn’t run in her circles, but she’d met him a couple of times before.
    She shook off thoughts of Seth. “Share your prop at the intros,” she told Matt. “Then the writers will add them into their plays somehow. It’s wicked funny.”
    “What did you bring?”
    “Uh, uh. You’ll find out when everyone else does.”
    The props were Heather’s favorite part of the intros. Some of the items she’d brought in the past included a clown suit, a Chiquita Banana hat, and a large wooden moose. She’d had to make-out with the moose in that play. It had been the hit of the night. This year, she’d brought fur-lined handcuffs. It was sort of on the tame side as far as props went, but a good writer could make something awesome with it.
    Except, now that she thought about it, she hadn’t seen the handcuffs when she’d been stuffing her contents back into her bag after spilling it all over the car.
    She slipped away from the group into the vestibule at the back of the theater. Dread began to rise as she rooted around through her purse, searching for the prop. Then dread turned into panic when she confirmed its absence.
    Dammit!
    She pulled her phone from its pocket on the side of her purse and pushed the speed dial button for Lexie. Before her upbeat voice could get out a proper greeting, Heather jumped on her. “Did I leave my cuffs in the car?”
    “What?”
    “My handcuffs. My prop for tonight. Did they fall out of my purse when I dumped it?”
    “I don’t see…” Heather could hear Lexie moving around in her seat and silently prayed her searching didn’t cause an accident. “Oh…wait. I do see them.” It only took half a second before she understood the problem. “Shit! I can race back, but I’m thirty minutes away.”
    “That isn’t soon enough. They’re starting in ten minutes. I’m going to have to find something else.”
    She hung up on Lexie mid-sentence and began rummaging around in her bag again, this time searching for a substitute. But everything in her purse was mundane and ordinary. Nothing that would even show up on stage from the audience.
    For a brief moment she considered going without a prop. What would they do? Kick her out of the plays? She was the spokeswoman.
    And that was exactly why she couldn’t go without a prop. She was supposed to be the pro, the actress all the newbies would look to. The prop was one of the most important elements. She had to find something.
    She stuck her head in the restroom next to the vestibule. Nothing. Not even a plunger. Then she scanned the empty security desk by the back entrance. Again, nothing. Maybe the small trash container under the desk would work. She kept it as an option but wasn’t ready to end her