Not a single day has gone by that I haven’t spent most of it talking, texting, or being with Hazel. It’s perfect. Never in my life have I been able to have such a relationship where I can not only be myself, despite being a fake fiancé, but I can also enjoy my partner’s true self. Even after last week’s random parent visit, Hazel and I have been basically inseparable.

 

And thank goodness I have someone like Hazel on a day like today. I finally have my big audition, for a starring role in a movie. It’s for the role of the Starbucks barista I was studying for on the day Hazel and I met, just like every day since I found out about the opening.  

 

The audition is at four, pretty late in the day for whatever reason, and this really messes with my plan. I was hoping it would be over lunch time as I wanted to have Hazel come with me to the audition and wait for me so she could help me either celebrate getting the part or commiserate over the loss. Of course, there’s always the very likely possibility that they don’t even tell me if I get the part for days.

 

But the audition being at four means that Hazel might not be able to join me. She is supposed to be at work until five, and it doesn’t seem right to ask her to leave early. Even if it wouldn’t be a problem for her job, I’m sure that after a long day of legal work, the last thing she’d want to do is trudge along with me to an audition, only to wait outside to see how it goes.

 

When I call Hazel and give her all the details, though, she agrees to join me without giving it a second thought. She says she has some personal leave time available she’ll put in for so she can leave work a couple hours early. I assure her over and over that she doesn’t have to come with me if she feels too tired and doesn’t have the energy, but she cuts me off with a quick “hush.”

 

“What kind of fake fiancée or real girlfriend would I be if I’m wasn’t there for your big break,” she jokes. God, how I love her.

 

I meet Hazel in downtown Brooklyn, a few blocks from where the audition is being held. I’m very visibly nervous but Hazel keeps her hand flat on my back while I wait to be called in.

 

“You’ll do great,” she says, sounding very confident. “I just know it.”

 

“Yeah, I’ll do great because I have you here with me and you’re my lucky charm,” I tell her.

 

“Nope. You’re my lucky charm,” she insists. “You’re the one who’s Irish. My Irish good luck charm.”

 

“How about we just agree that we’re both each others’ lucky charms?” I ask her.

 

“Deal,” she says.

The smile she flashes at me puts me at ease. I run the lines through my head over and over, hoping to have them burned into my brain.

 

Finally, the moment arrives. The casting director opens the door and calls me in. Hazel flashes me a thumbs up sign—along with her charming grin one last time—and I tell myself I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. For this audition. For this relationship. For life in general. This is what I’d come to the States for, and my dream was about to be fulfilled, thanks in large part to Hazel, my fake fiancée, real girlfriend, and lucky charm.

 

I wish I could explain what happens when the door closes behind me, but in all honesty, I become a different person. When I walk back out to the room Hazel is waiting in, I’m being congratulated by the casting director and told that I’ll get a call in a couple of days.

 

As we walk out of the building, I ask Hazel how long I’d been in there.

 

“Seven minutes.”

 

Seven minutes. In that short amount of time, I was able to show off what an amazing actor I can be. That, or they didn’t need to see much of my acting chops because all the other candidates were so bad, but, due to how enthusiastic the casting director was, I’m going to go ahead and think positively and stroke my ego here.

 

“I’ve never been hired that quickly for anything in my life! Does that normally even happen?” I shout, as I prance down the sidewalk.

 

“I don’t know,” Hazel says. “You tell me. You’re the one with the auditioning experience.”

 

“It’s certainly never happened for me before,” I tell her, doing a little jig.

 

Hazel laughs at how childishly giddy I look, and then she holds me tight. As I feel her arms tighten around me, I have the sense that Hazel somehow really did have something to do with me getting the part. I’m not normally one for superstition, but the one thing that makes this audition different than all of the ones I’ve done before is that Hazel was around for this one.

 

“Hazel. You really are my lucky charm.”

 

She blushes and tries convincing me that there’s no such thing as good luck, but I know good luck when it happens and there’s no denying that Hazel is my good luck charm. I’d been wanting this role for so long, but it wasn’t the first role I’d wanted so badly. Only after I’d met her was I able to do get it.

 

“Not only that,” I add, “You're far more beautiful than any rabbit’s foot or horseshoe.”

 

Once again, she blushes and leans close to me.

 

“Guess you'll need me to be at your side at all times, huh,” she suggests.

 

“I guess I do.”

 

I lean in to kiss her and her lips meet mine so eagerly that I know we’re sealing the deal.