Chapter Text
"You can't go around demanding things from strangers and expect them to be obedient. You can't control me."
"If you kill every single person who tells you no, then there won't be anyone left to sink your teeth into."
"You disgust me."
Those three lines are the only words spoken throughout the room. All different tones of male voices searching for the right way to say the lines that could lead to bigger and better roles for them.
Liam Payne hopes that he'll be the one who gives the casting crew exactly what they want to hear.
He folds his paper with his lines on it and glances around the room. There's at least 50 other people audition for the part of Trey Alton, a character that plays a small role in the second episode of the third season of "Fast Lane".
Just the other day Liam was sat in a different office audition for Random Man #7 and he had one line to memorize: "Watch where you're going". He didn't end up getting that part and it didn't bother him because it didn't bring a sense of purpose into his life.
That's one of the reasons Liam wants to act. He always knew he wanted to be a storyteller. He wasn't the best writer and often makes plenty of grammatical errors. He feels there's more of a magical element when he can play different parts of a story.
"01934 and 01935, you're up next." A woman announces and Liam looks up because one of those numbers is his.
He stands up at the same time as a sandy hair blond bloke does. He's a little taller and leaner than Liam is. Liam can't help but feel like this is now a competition where the stakes are high, even though playing an extra isn't that big of a job.
They follow the woman holding the clipboard down a short hallway. She stops at the open door and nods for Liam to go in. He's 01934. 01935 is asked to go to the room across the hall, which is the Holding Room.
When he walks in he's greeted by a panel of five people. Three men and two women. He stops on the 'X' that's taped on the floor. Behind the panel are two camera's that will most likely be recording all of the auditions.
"01934, could you please tell us your name, age, where you're from, and who you will be reading for us today?" An older woman with thick framed glasses says while she flips through papers that are in front of her. She doesn't look up to Liam once.
"Yes, ma'am." He says before clearing his throat. "I'm Liam Payne. I'm 24 from Manchester. I will be reading the part of Trey Alton."
"And is Payne your real surname or is it a stage name?" The man next to the woman with the glasses asks him.
"My real name, sir." Liam answers.
"Interesting." He comments, glancing over to his colleagues and he nods his head.
"Um, thank you." He guesses that it's some sort of compliment.
"All right. Let's flip to Act Four: Scene two of Episode 2. Liam, I will be reading Nolan's lines to you and you will recite Trey's. It will be your line first and Marianne will read the narrations from the scene." The man holds up his hand and then puts in back down as a signal that the audition has now begun.
A woman with a short haircut smiles at Liam before she starts setting up the scene. "Trey is able to get free from the neck tie that was wrapped around his mouth. Then he sits up and starts shouting from the backseat of Nolan's car."
"You can't go around demanding things from strangers and expect them to be obedient. You can't control me." Liam says.
"Nolan chuckles and takes his eyes off the road, turning to look at Trey." Marianne reads.
Liam waits for the next line but realizes it's his that is next. He hopes his mistake isn't too much of a setback for him.
"If you kill every single person who tells you no, then there won't be anyone left to sink your teeth into."
"Nolan's laugh is louder this time. Sinister. He doesn't even answer Trey. Instead he pulls over and gets out from his car. He slams the door before opening the back door. When he does, he has a gun pointed to Trey's mouth."
"I'm not killing you because you didn't give me what I wanted out of you. I'm killing you because death has been surrounding me so much lately that I think it's only a matter of time until it catches up to us. I'm just helping you finish the race to that finish line sooner."
"Nolan's finger ghosts over the trigger. Trey looks up at him, showing no fear for what Nolan is going to do."
"You disgust me." Liam spits out, keeping his tone as cold and serious as he can.
"Another laugh comes from Nolan. His arm relaxes at his side, the gun resting against his leg."
"I've heard that plenty of times before and that's such an overused thing to say before dying if you ask me. "
"All right, thank you, Liam. That's all we needed. I'm Aaron by the way. I'm the head of casting."
Liam offers him a smile before he walks over to the panel, shaking each person's hand before he walks out of the room. As he steps in, 01935 passes him with a bright grin. It's his turn to read and he looks extremely confident that he's going to get it.
Liam waits in the room with the woman. He starts going over what he could have done better. Did he show enough charisma? Did he emote the character properly? Did he overdo anything?
When the other man returns, the woman with the clipboard takes out her phone and then glances over to Liam.
"Um, Liam Payne, do you mind staying back for a moment?" She asks while Liam starts following the other hopeful out of the Holding Room.
He can't form a response so he nods his head instead. Then he turns back around to follow her back to the casting team. Liam wonders if he's already getting a callback for the role, or maybe they already decided to give him the part. Maybe he's not as bad as he's thinking he is.
"That was a great read you did." Aaron says as he looks over to Marianne and Rita, the two women nodding in agreement.
He wants to shrug his shoulders but he's a bit nervous it'll seem like doubt or disrespectful instead of nonchalant. Does this mean he got the part?
"Thank you." Liam tells them. He's ready to hear that the part of Trey Alton is his.
"You're definitely onto something but we're not sure if Trey Alton is the right fit for you. Don't take that as a failure. We just have a different vision for how we want Trey to look like."
"Oh, um, thank you for your time and the opportunity of letting me read." He doesn't understand why he's been called back to the room. He usually will hear from his agent after a couple of days whether or not he booked a job.
Aaron puts his hand up and politely chuckles. "No need to thank us yet, Liam." He opens one of his colored folders and pulls out a large stack of papers and offers it to Liam.
When the stapled papers are in Liam's hands he reads the cover page:
FAST LANE
Episode 3.01
"Bring You Back"
Written by Aaron Wright and Richard H. Guild
Directed by Richard H. Guild
"We would like to see you back but not for Trey Alton. We'd like it if you'd come back for the part of Campbell Hayes. Cam for short. It's a reoccurring role. We think you could give this character the life we're looking for." He explains. "If we like you, then we'll bring Louis in so we can try out some chemistry reads. Then we'll make our final decision."
A chemistry read? Liam doesn't have enough time to ponder on why he would need to do a chemistry read with anyone. He doesn't even have a chance to ask who this "Louis" is because he's being passed another stack of papers.
"This isn't the entire script. It's just enough for you to capture a feel for the character. You'll get the full script at the table read. We also will need you to sign an agreement that states you will not share the contents of these papers with anyone to avoid spoilers. If we do decide to give you this role there's an official contract that'll be more in depth about policies and other legal matters."
"How'd the audition go?" Harry Styles, Liam's friend and roommate asks him when Liam sits next
Liam passes Harry the papers, forgetting that the new script he was just given is included. He attempts to make a quick reach to retrieve the one nobody is supposed to see back, but Harry's already scavenging through it.
Harry's eyes widen and he slowly lifts his head to stare at Liam. "You didn't tell me your audition was for Fast Lane!" He hits Liam in the arm with the script.
"Because I knew you'd flip out and call Niall in hysterics." Liam says as he watches Harry.
Fast Lane happens to be Harry's all-time favorite TV program. He watches it religiously and has never missed an episode. He also owns all the previous seasons on DVD. It's one of the shows Liam is not allowed to speak one word to Harry during, not even during the ads.
Niall Horan is their other best friend. He lives across town and also loves the show. Him and Harry talked about it for hours when Liam first introduced them. After that, they'd text each other right after a new episode was over. They called each other on the phone when they were too impatient for the other to respond.
Liam's only seen his older sisters act like this when The Vampire Diaries was popular. It's a bit weird to him to see his two male best friends act like his sisters did.
Just as Harry's about to flip to the first page, Liam is quick to snatch it from his grasp.
"You're not allowed to see this. I could get fired before even getting the role if anyone reads the script."
"You don't trust me? That really hurts, Liam."
Liam will definitely have to hide the full script from Harry if he gets the part.
He actually does need Harry because he's a massive fan of Fast Lane. Liam's never actually seen a single episode of the show. It wasn't because he didn't think it was interesting. He just hasn't found something on TV he enjoys that much.
Liam lets out a deep sigh. "Now, I couldn't tell them I've never seen the show so I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about it."
Harry's eyes widen and his mouth slowly opens in excitement. "Mate, I can do better than just telling you about it. We're gonna watch it start to finish. I'll go ring up Niall and tell him the good news. This is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me!" Harry grins as he gets off of the sofa, walking over to Liam and taking the script away for him again. "He's going to lose his shit when he hears about this!"
Liam turns his head in Harry's direction. "Wait, what exactly are you gonna tell him? Harry, you can't tell him about the audition! Why do you keep taking my script away? You better not read it to Niall over the phone.""
When he hears Harry's bedroom door close he lets out a groan, hoping Harry heard him and won't tell Niall things the public isn't supposed to know yet.
"That's what I told him!" Liam can hear Harry's side of the conversation from where he's still standing. "Anyway, he is in desperate need of our help. His little audition happens to be for our favorite show. Yeah! Great minds think alike! See you in a few."
"Great news, Liam." Harry announces as he comes out from his room, waving Liam's secret script over his head as he does so. "Niall's coming around so we can start tonight. This is so cool. I haven't watched it from start to finish since the start of the year. You're gonna love it."
"Course he is. Now," Liam tries again to snatch his script from Harry's grip but he misses, "what exactly did you tell Niall? This is a serious thing, Harry, and I can't go screwing this chance up. I signed a Disclosure Contract and I already went against it because of you and now that Niall knows I'm fucked."
Harry's shoulders slump. "We're your best friends, Liam. We know that acting is a dream of yours and we support you 100 percent. We would never do anything to ruin that for you. It's just that nothing this exciting has happened to us and now the three of us can share this bonding experience over a program that you should have watched since it first premiered! And we can finally say we're friends with someone for the show."
He surrenders the script, which Liam is actually apprehensive to take because he's had enough of Harry being quicker than him. Harry chuckles before placing the papers into Liam's hands.
Liam nods and develops a death grip on the script. Then he lowers his head. "I know I'm sorry, Harry. When is Niall coming?"
"Told me to give him an hour. He wants us to order pizzas and he'll pick them up on his way here. He's bringing beer too so he'll definitely be staying with us for the long haul." Harry tells him. "I'm gonna take a quick shower. You can call the pizzas in and let Niall know." Harry pats Liam on his shoulder before he goes back towards his room and the bathroom.
Liam does as he's instructed. He orders two large pizzas and sends Niall a text so he can pick them up on his way over.
While he waits for both Harry and Niall, Liam flips through some of the pages.
CAMPBELL 'CAM' HAYES
CHARACTER OVERVIEW
(early twenties. handsome. muscular build. abs. rough around the edges but strong and grounded. light facial hair. preferred brunet or darker hair color.)
He makes an accepting sound in his throat, thinking he's easily most of these things already. He's planning lots of gym sessions in his head to keep in shape. For the first time he thinks he's finally perfect for something.
_
It's later now and Harry and Liam are just waiting for Niall to show up. Harry can't stop asking Liam questions about how his audition really went and if anyone from the show was there. He's known Harry for years and he's never seen him act like such a fan before. It's so strange to him and he hopes he'll return to his normal self, especially if he does get the job on this show.
"Open up, Payno! I've had to carry all of this shit up your stairs myself and I really don't wanna drop my beer." It's Niall's boasting and thickly accented voice.
Harry's the one who gets up from the couch to answer the door.
"You lads need to consider moving to a place on the first floor." Niall says as he hands the pizzas off to Harry. He doesn't greet them as he goes over to stock their fridge with his beers.
"The view is better here than the first." Harry says as he follows him.
Liam looks over his shoulder and eyes his friend before he gets up. His script is in his back pocket and he knows he'll have to protect it from Niall.
"Can't believe ya got an audition with Fast Lane, mate! That's incredible!" Niall shouts when Liam joins them in the small kitchen. He offers Liam one of his beers before pulling him into a hug.
"Thanks, Niall." Liam says, stepping back from him, keeping the script hidden. "You didn't have to drop what you were doing to come by. I didn't think we'd be watching it tonight." He scratches his neck.
"Nonsense!" Niall waves him off. "I'll gladly watch it anytime I can. This is perfect." Niall glances over to Harry, who is busy trying to select the slices of pizza he thinks look the best. He rolls his eyes.
"Still can't believe ya never seen it. Especially with living with Harry and all." Niall comments next.
Liam shrugs his shoulders. "Never was in the mood and you know that watching anything with Harry is practically impossible."
Harry walks past them with his plate of pizza and barks out a laugh. He sets his food down at the coffee table and waves the first DVD at them. "And we'll never get started if you two keep talking. Hurry up! I will start without you and I will not go back. So, if you miss something, it's not my problem."
"Calm down, Harry." Niall says back to him. Ge gets a plate and goes over to the pizzas.
"Aren't you a fan of it too?" Liam asks him, wondering why Niall isn't bouncing off the walls like Harry is.
"Yeah, but I'm not an emotional raging one like he is." He laughs and piles random slices of pizza on his plate, which is another opposite thing he does of Harry.
They join Harry and take their usual spots on the couch.
"Before we begin," Harry says while he sets up the DVD player, "I'll give you the overall summary of what it's about. So, Nolan Sherwood is a notorious street racer and he somehow gets involved with this gang of other drivers, who end up being-"
"So, it's basically The Fast and the Furious?" Liam asks, interrupting Harry.
"No, you numpty! It's a completely different series. You'll understand once you start watching it." Harry says with a dramatic sigh and the scoffs to him, muttering something about The Fast and the Furious. He plops himself next to Liam on the couch and presses 'play' on the remote.
"I like those movies." Liam says with a sly smile, knowing it's getting on Harry's nerves.
Harry's mood is immediately restored as the first scene from the pilot episode starts. he's already grinning and glances over at Liam.
Liam takes a drink from his bottle before paying attention to their TV.
There's a line of cars speeding down a winding road at night. Engines roar as their drivers accelerate. One black car and one red car take the lead, the black one smoothly gets around the red one, almost cutting it off and causing it to swerve.
The camera shifts to inside of the red car. The man curses and shifts gears.
The driver of the black car picks up even more speed, leaving all of the other cars behind. Once it gets closer to a crowd of people, the car drifts until it stops.
Out from the black sports car a young man with brunet hair steps out. He's wearing a long white t-shirt and skinny jeans. A confident smile graced his lips as the breeze from being out in the open catches his hair. There's no doubting how attractive he is, but Liam's not going to admit that out loud. This man could be his future cast mate.
"Nolan Sherwood, you son of a bitch!" The driver of the red car shouts.
Nolan smiles, leaning against his door.
Harry lets out a swooned sigh and Liam gives him a look.
Life in the Fast Lane by Eagles starts playing when Nolan enters an auto repair shop. Liam focuses on the lyrics, trying to figure out just how much they relate to Nolan.
At the end of the first episode, the Nolan character and a female start having sex in an auto shop. It's more graphic than Liam's ready for. It's not that Liam's against mature sexual content in TV programs, he's just surprised by it. He sort of feels like he's watching porn with his friends. He can't help but stop and think that if his friends and family want to watch this to support Liam, then he hopes that his new role will not include filming sex scenes. He doesn't want his parents, sisters, and other relatives seeing him so exposed.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Harry asks while elbowing Liam.
Liam just nods. He's not exactly sold on the show. He doesn't know how the plot will differ from all the other street racing shows and movies. So far, it's pretty predictable. He's not going to tell Harry that.
The next episode is still setting up the plot. It starts with Nolan waking up on an old couch. He gets up and walks over to a door, stepping out into the auto repair shop he was at the end of the previous episode.
Nolan's hair is a mess but Liam still thinks he looks so fit. Maybe even more with his disheveled hair. His tired blue eyes still shine as he stretches out his arms and grins at the girl he slept with, she's wearing short jean shorts and is working underneath the hood of a car.
He walks up behind her, his eyes focusing on her ass and he reaches out to rub her back. Her long hair goes down the length of her spine and is wavy. It matches the bronze tone of her skin.
They banter for a bit before Nolan kisses her. Liam's not watching their mouths. He's watching the way his hands move over her body and how they grip her legs as he lifts her up.
His eyes go off the screen and over to the table. The beers are all empty and Liam definitely knows Niall could use another. It's a perfect excuse for himself to get up and take a breather.
Liam steps away for a moment to gather the next round of beers from the fridge. He stops and pulls the script from his back pocket and flips the page:
ACT FOUR.
SCENE TWO (CONTINUED)
NOLAN: [peers over his shoulder when CAMPBELL sits down next to him] You knew Rhys?
CAMPBELL: [nods and clears throat before answering] Yeah, from school. We were very close.
NOLAN: [scoffs and shakes his head. takes his cigarette away from his mouth] He's never mentioned you. Not once. I'm his best friend. I know everything about him, except for you. So if you were so important, then why didn't he ever talk about you?
CAMPBELL: [reaches out towards NOLAN, hoping to bum a cigarette from him. NOLAN eventually gives into the request because he's ready to give up everything] Because he didn't want anyone to know about me. [he states it like he's angry] I haven't spoken to him since we graduated, so I guess I'm not that important to him after all.
NOLAN: [confused. offers his lighter over to CAMPBELL ] Then why the fuck are you at his funeral?
CAMPBELL : [takes the lighter and lights the cigarette that's between his lips] Because he was important to me.
NOLAN: [sighs and debates puts out his cigarette. he doesn't] Listen, I'm sorry I went off on you. Losing him isn't something I've been dealing with properly.
CAMPBELL: [takes a drag of the cigarette and lets out the smoke slowly] You don't need to be sorry. There isn't any proper way to deal with death. It's an individual journey for everyone.
NOLAN: [he does his best not to roll his eyes; now isn't the time for him to listen to angst-filled life lessons] I thought about punching you but if I'm gonna continue down my improper grieving cycle, I'm gonna get drunk and then fuck some random girl until I feel something other than this pain. You care to join me? I'm sure two blokes like us can definitely bag some birds.
CAMPBELL: [chuckles and shakes his head. looks up to NOLAN, who gets up from the grass and brushes himself off] Nah, you can go on without me. Not really my scene.
NOLAN: [speaks while his cigarette hangs from his lips] All right. S'been a while since my last threesome. Think today is worth one. [he sends CAMPBELL a sly smile before he starts walking back to RHYS'S burial site]
"Liam, come on! You're gonna miss the best part of the episode! Nolan is about to-"
"Shut up, Harry, and pause it!" Niall shouts over him. "Don't ruin the experience of a first time viewer."
Liam lets out a sigh, feeling that what he had just read was getting good. He doesn't want to put it down but he knows if he doesn't Niall or Harry will drag him out of the kitchen and back over to the couch.
He folds the script back and returns it to his pocket, going back to his friends and rejoining the marathon.
"You can't quit on us now, Payno. We're only two episodes in out of 18. That's just the first season. The second one has 23." Niall says, picking up the remote and pressing play.
"Sorry." Liam mumbles, sinking back into the couch and opening his new beer.
He pays attention as Nolan gets into his car and speeds off. He doesn't know what made him stop kissing the girl but he's a bit relieved that part is over. He wants to see more plot about the cars and the racing.
They watch another two episodes after. The third one has Nolan finally meeting with the men Liam thinks are from the gang. In the fourth episode, Nolan races one of the guys after getting in a fiat fight with him and there's a crash heard. It's a cliffhanger and Liam doesn't know which car is in the accident.
"We'll start back up again tomorrow." Harry says, yawning and stretching his arms over his head. Then he looks over to Niall. "You gonna stay on our couch all night?"
"'m tired and had five beers, mate. I'm not going anywhere else. Maybe the bathroom to have a piss but that's it."
"A simple "yes" would have been enough." Harry says before he leaning over to spread his body out on the couch. He's probably too tired to go to his own bed and Liam doesn't blame him because their couch is quite comfortable.
"Well, try to keep quiet if you're up before I am, will ya? I'm gonna read over some of my lines before I turn in." Liam tells them.
"You like it so far Liam?" Harry asks in a quieter voice.
"So far it's good." Liam answers as he picks up the last untouched slice of pizza and puts in on his plate. He needs to know if Nolan is the one who crashes or not.
"You'll become obsessed soon. I can't believe you will get to meet Louis Tomlinson."
"Who?"
"The fit bloke who plays Nolan Sherwood! Have you not been paying attention?!" Harry's voice grows louder.
"Can ya two shut up so I can actually sleep? Nolan is the main character, Liam, and Harry wants to do unspeakable things with him"
"Now, it's your turn to shut your mouth." Harry says quickly and kicks his foot at Niall.
"I'm just gonna go. See you lads in the morning." Liam says, biting his pizza and tucking a bottle lemonade underneath his arm, carrying everything to his room.
He's walking faster than he realizes when he closes the door behind him. He places his pizza and lemonade on his side table and practically falls onto his bed as he's flipping back to where he left off on the script.
CAMPBELL: [watches each step NOLAN takes away from him. when he turns back around he takes his phone from his pocket, makes a call, and holds the phone to his ear] Rhys was right. [checks over his shoulder to see if anyone is nearby and listening. turns back around with his phone still pressed to his ear] Yeah, I think I'll be staying around for a while. Text me that address and let them know I'll be meeting with them on Monday. I'll be in touch.
"Fuck," Liam says to himself as he lays back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He starts thinking back on how his day started out with a random audition and it's somehow turned to this.
He doesn't want to admit to Harry and Niall that he thinks Louis Tomlinson, or Nolan Sherwood, is a pretty fit bloke. He thinks Nolan is probably going to be his favorite character. He actually wishes he could sneak the DVD player into his room and watch a few more episodes. It's too late for that now and he's sure his friends would either be upset that he didn't wait for them, or that they'll joke with him all day about how he's in love with the show too.
His upcoming audition scares him now that he's going to be possibly acting beside someone he's already developed a little bit of a crush on, and who is also an amazing actor. Liam knows nothing about Louis but he seems perfect for the role of Nolan. He seems perfect in general.
He is excited to hopefully have the chance to book the role and get the full script for the episode. He's so intrigued and wants to know every single detail.
Who is Campbell Hayes and what makes him important to the story?