The theatre was always so dark and gloomy, yet Brittany liked it anyway. She liked the sound of applause, she liked the laughter illicited by a good comedy, she liked knowing that she held their attention with her acting.
The director of this play, "Anna's Folly" was known to be a tough taskmaster. He was known to work his actors hard, making some of the actresses cry. He was intense. He was the man who could get a superb performance from anyone he directed.
He was also her father.
She'd lived with her mother most of the last 15 years, her volatile parents separating when she was 4. Her mother had a sexual liaison with another actress, yet, her mom wasn't gay, she adored men. Her sexual appetites went to both sexes. Her father had been unaware of this at the time of their marriage and Helen, her mom, had never taken the time to enlighten her father. When he caught Helen cheating, her father freaked out.
Oddly enough, it was Tony, her father, who had ended up with Brianne, Helen's lover. After all these years, her mother was still trying to make sense out of that.
Standing before her brilliant father, script in hand, the attractive 19-year old read the lines of the lead character, Anna. Anna was a young woman who had left her abusive boyfriend, trying to discover her own sexuality. This was the part of a lifetime and Brittany knew it.
"NoNoNo!" her father yelled out from offstage.
"What's wrong?" she asked him. She rarely called him "Father" or "Daddy", it just never seemed to suit him.
Brittany's heart raced as her father walked towards her. At 45, hair slightly graying at the temples, eyes still brilliant and blue, hair neatly cut and meticulously styled, he was still a striking man. He wore the tailored suits she always remembered him favoring. He never, ever, dressed in a sloppy manner, which always impressed her.
"Brittany, you have a true talent. As the child of two geniuses, one would expect no less." She smiled at him. He wasn't modest either.
"Yet my child, you are just reading the lines. You are not living them, you don't seem to be feeling them!"
She flicked a stray auburn curl out of her eyes, looking at her father. "What do you mean?"
"Do you understand the young woman's sexual passions Brittany?"
"No, not really father," she said, addressing him that way for the first time today. "But I want to understand, I want this part!"
"I can help you with that Brittany. If you come to my home tonight, I will help you rehearse. I do believe you are right for this role, but it will take some work. Are you prepared to work hard, little one?"
Brittany nodded rapidly, feeling her head was about to fall off. The pretty 22-year old practically ran home to change. She wanted her father to see her in this part, so the modest clothes she had worn to the audition had to go.
Brittany found her tightest, shortest mini, the one that had scandalized her roommate and made her roomie's boyfriend make a none-to-subtle pass at her. The roommate had dumped her boyfriend the next day, which made Brittany smile a lot. She'd always thought Todd was a jerk.
Kenzie, her roomie, was a black beauty, tall and slim, with long dark hair, tiny breasts and legs that went on forever. Brittany thought her roomie was one of the most beautiful creatures ever put on this earth and envied all the attention she got. When Kenzie put on a skirt and heels and walked, she was elegance personified.
Kenzie had made a few passes in Brittany's way as well, but she didn't go for girls, unlike her Mom. Brittany pulled a thong from her underwear drawer and thought, If I did, Kenzie would be on the list. I bet she's great in bed!
Being a tall girl, Brittany rarely wore heels, but she did so tonight. Her legs were toned from running and exercise and she thought of wearing stockings. Oh, what the hell, she decided and borrowed a pair of Kenzie's. The cool silk against her thighs made her tingle a bit.
She looked in the closet and found a black, lacy top and put her black satin bra on underneath. She'd gone from pretty collegian to vamp in a few minutes. "Mmm, I bet I fit the part now!" she said, to no one in particular.
Brittany got out her cell phone and called the number for a cab. She'd only been to her father's home a few times before, so she was grateful the cabbie knew where it was. She paid the cabbie and offered a tip, but he just grinned at her and smiled.
"Gorgeous, driving someone as hot as you was my tip!"
Brittany smiled, giggled and waved him away.
She walked, with no small degree of trepidation, up the stairs leading to her father's home. She found the place intimidating every time. It was like "Stately Wayne Manor" in the old Batman TV series and yet, it fit him. "Stately" was a great word for her father.