Fate. Love. Broadway.

Chapter 4

After a few insignificant songs and duets between other characters, Rod called Elliott and Riley up to sing their big love number together. It turns out their voice blended beautifully. Rod got very excited and began jumping up and down.

“I’m so good at this whole casting thing.” He sing-songed. Riley stared down at her music the whole time, focusing on the difficult harmonies she had. They nailed most of them. “Alright it’s dinner break time. You have an hour, so be back here at 6:45 PM sharp. Got that? We’ll go through the group numbers.” 

Elliott swung his bag over his shoulder and made a bee-line for Riley. “Hey, Riley!” he called, grabbing her attention. She was about to walk into an elevator. She turned around and waved.

“I’ll see you guys in an hour!” she dismissed her friends and walked up to Elliott. “Hey, Elliott. What’s up?”

Elliott wasn’t quite sure what he wanted. “Oh, um. Well, our voices seem to really go good together.”

Riley smiled. “Yeah, they do! That’s awesome. It’ll make the whole process a lot easier. Of course, we still have a few kinks to work out, but yeah. It sounded great.”

“And it really helps that your voice is just amazing.” His face flushed a bit. She smiled softly. 

“Oh, thanks. And your voice is awesome, too. Thank God or else this show would be a disaster.” She laughed, trying to lighten the situation a bit more.

They sat there in silence for a moment. Finally Elliott said something. “So do you want to grab dinner together? Get to know each other more and all that jazz?” 

She shrugged “Sure, I didn’t really have a dinner plan, yet.” Elliott hit the elevator button and they waited for it to arrive in silence. When it finally reached the 16th floor, they hopped in. “What was your dinner plan?”

“Oh, I know this great place one block away. Do you like genuine Spanish food?”

“Love Spanish food!”

The place literally was literally one block away. It was on 36th and 6th. “I discovered this place when I first moved to NYC after college and began rehearsing Romeo and Juliet: the Musical. It’s become a tradition to come here for dinner on the night of the first rehearsal of every show I’m in. Plus, I come here plenty of times besides then. I’ve actually come to know the owner and her family quite well.” 

To prove his point, just as they sit down a short, plump, hispanic woman comes waddling over. “Elliot? Hola, mi hijo! ¿Cómo estás?” The woman was loud and clearly excited.

What really surprised Riley was when he replied in perfect spanish. “Mama Rosa! Soy maravillosa, gracias. Y cómo estás?”

“Lo estoy haciendo bien. La familia está muy bien. ¿Ha empezado un nuevo musical?”

“Sí tengo. De hecho, esta bella dama es mi coestrella.” He gestured to me, smiling.  I wasn’t quite sure how to react, so I just smile and waved. I had no clue what he was saying. “Riley Masson, meet Mama Rosa. She owns the joint and is my New York mother.”

Riley took Mama Rosa’s hand and shook it gently. “Lovely to meet you, Mama Rosa.” She hoped Mama Rosa spoke English.

She did. “And you, Riley. Welcome to Toledo.” Mama Rosa turned back to Elliott and quitely mutter “Ésta parece ser una buena chica. Aférrate a éste. No metas la pata otra vez, Elliott.”

“No te preocupes, Mama Rosa, no lo haré. Te lo prometo.” he responded kindly, smiling. The woman waddled off, satisfied with his answer.

Riley was completely lost. “I have no idea what you were talking about.” she chuckled, tucking a piece of flame-colored hair behind her ear.  A younger server brought us waters and let us look over the menu. 

“Ah, don’t worry about it. I was just telling her about our show.” he brushed it off. 

Riley was suspicious, but didn’t really care too much. “So what’s good here?”

Elliott chuckled and shook his head. “Everything, but the chicken and rice with chorizos is spectacular. It’s like a chicken and sausage gumbo over rice, except Spanish instead of New Orleans style.”

“Ooh, that does sound good.” Once they ordered, both of them getting the chicken and rice, Elliott leaned on the table.

“So,” he began, smiling softly at her. “What do you think of the show?”

Riley had a lot of opinions on the show. So she started rambling them off, telling him her thoughts about the characters, relationships, and plot. He tried to listen, but he was distracted by her eyes.

Her eyes were filled with excitement and genuine child-like joy. He could tell this was what she really loved. But the thing that really captured him was the particular shade of green they were in that moment. It was as if you took a shaded spot of grass from the forrest, then let sun shine on it. It sparkled gold and green, magnificently glowing together in harmony. 

Elliott had a new favorite color. 

“-and that’s why I think we really need to have good chemistry.” she finished,  waiting for him to say something.

It took him a moment to realize it was his turn to talk. “Well, I agree whole-heartedly. I think we should spend a lot of time together. A lot. Have some chemistry sessions where we just bond and talk and get to know each other. We need to at least become best friends to pull this kind of relationship off.” 

Elliott knew they were good enough performers to pull this off no matter what. He just wanted to spend as much time as possible with her. “I agree.” She nodded, to his relief. “We should definitely hang out together a lot.” 

Just then, Mama Rosa presented two bowls piled high with rice, sausage, and chicken. “Gracias mucho Mama Rosa, eres el mejor!” Elliott said brightly.

“En cualquier momento, mi hijo.” She smiled and left them. 

As they ate, they talked about their Broadway experience. It turned out Elliott had quite the sense of humor and made Riley laugh until she cried several times that night. 

The only thing that Elliott kept thinking was how beautiful she was when she laughed.