Destination Everywhere

Part 6

"Who'd you get, who did you get?" Leah's friend begs for an answer, watching Leah open her envelope from the theater production.

"I'm so nervous," Leah admits as she slides the paper out of the envelope. "What if I just got some silly backup role? It will be a waste of my entire summer..." she unfolds the trifold paper and begins to read it, mumbling to herself. "The role of... Jane Carter! Oh my gosh, I got the part!" Leah exclaims.

Leah's friend squeals and the girls high-five in celebration. "You got the part!" she exclaimed.

Leah continues to look over the letter after their mini celebration and then gasps. "Oh, no! The first rehearsal starts in twenty minutes. I gotta go, see ya!" she calls out, running to get to her car and drive to the town theater.

"Are you Leah?" asks a man when Leah enters the theater.

"I am," she replied.

The man's face lights up. "Welcome to the theater! I'm so glad that you'll be joining us this summer for the production. Have you gotten your script yet?"

Leah shook her head. The man brings her into the theater, showing her around some before giving her her script. It is crisp and freshly printed, but it wouldn't stay that way forever. "Thank you," she tells the director, before hurrying off to go and join the other actors.

After some introductions of the fellow cast members and the directors, Leah is directed to the stage for their very first run-through of the script. The play opens with the main character, Carter, and his family, before the script shifts the spotlight over to Leah. For her first time seeing the full script, the playthrough goes well besides the transition malfunctions.

Afterward, she is drinking some water when a guy walks up to her. "Hey, that was great," he commented.

"Thanks!" Leah chirps. "You play Carter's brother, don't you? I love his part. A little dorky, but a lot of fun."

The male chuckled. "Yeah! I'm... Looking forward to it. But, I didn't catch your name?"

"Leah," she responded easily. "You're Matthew, right?"

He hesitates before nodding. "Yeah, I am." he agreed.

"It's great to meet you! But, I've gotta get going. See you next practice!" Leah hurried off, heading back home to get started on learning her lines.

~~~

The next multiple weeks go on quite the same way. All the actors slowly become more involved in their roles, especially the romantic relationship between Carter and Jane. They have hinted at lovers throughout the story and then the ending is their first kiss. It's so romantic but feels stupid. The characters don't have any romantic chemistry!

Backstage, the cast begins to make up wacky backstories and futures for the fates of their characters. Over time, the story begins to develop that Jane, is secretly in love with Carter's brother, but is using Carter to try and get close to him. Both Leah and Matthew find this detail to be very adorable and pretend that is the truth whenever they get the chance to spend some time on stage together without the directors around.

And with every time their faces are close, hand up to pretend that they'd kissed, Matthew begins to question who Leah is to him. He hardly knows her off the stage, but is he in love? Would she ever like someone like him?

After two months of practice, the costume department finally has all the costumes ready for all the cast members. Everyone is to dress up for a dress rehearsal today. Many of the cast members take Leah and Matthew aside, asking them to pose for a few pictures.

Leah is a little unsure about the pictures but Matthew agreed to it with a shrug and everyone gets pictures of them in character, pretending to be madly in love.

The dress rehearsal lasts until the end of the practice day. Leah is exhausted and when she comes out, back in her regular clothes, Matthew is there to greet her. "Are you busy this evening?" he asks before he loses his nerve.

"Um, no, why?" Leah asks, pulling on her backpack.

"I was wondering... If you'd want to go and hang out for some time?" he asks.

Although caught off guard, Leah smiled. She doesn't know why she feels pulled to but repelled by Matthew. She figured one get-together wouldn't hurt anything. So, she agrees. And their first date goes well.

A word that they'd begun dating circulates through the crew quickly and everyone loves the way their ship had become a reality. Although their romance is never on the stage, the looks they give each other are slowly hinting at being more than just friendly.

But, at the same time, everything is slowly starting to feel more wrong to Leah. She feels as if her world is nothing more than a car circling around a race track. Does she like Matthew? She had crushes on guys before but had never acted on them. But, she also has deep feelings for a special girl in her life. Something just stops her from placing her finger on who.

After the closing night, Matthew and Leah go out for a date. Both have something important to say, but Matthew is the one who gets the courage to say it first.

"I felt like I'm doing more than acting when I was playing the main character's brother. It was like I was playing something else entirely. These thoughts keep following me... And I know I have to tell you first. Leah...? I think I'm a girl..." Matthew doesn't look her in the eye.

Leah is caught completely off guard. She had liked the calmer, more feminine deminer of Matthew. But she wouldn't have guessed he was transgender. "How long have you been feeling this way?" she asks gently.

"I... Probably longer than I care to admit. But ever since I got this role, being a... Well, being a guy on and off stage just feels like too much work. It just feels like a lie..."

"That's alright. I'm really glad you told me because I wanted to talk to you about something. This little affair of ours... I'm just not feeling it anymore. It was fun for a while, but I don't think I'm in love with you." Leah explained.

The two of them fall quiet, eating their food without much appetite left. Right as they're about to leave, Leah asks Matthew one more question. "Is there another name you want me to call you to buy if we cross paths again?"

"Marley," he responded. "I hope you find love out there. It was great getting to know you."

"You too," Leah agreed.

As she's on her way home, Lori's vision gets wobbly. It had happened before, but this time it makes her stomach twist. She loses control of the car and smashes into another.

~~~

"Are... You awake?" a familiar voice asks Leah. She's laying in a hospital bed, and awareness has finally seeped into her mind. She can't even open her eyes. She grunts softly, trying to figure out what had happened.

"Leah!" the voice exclaimed and then comes down and kissed her. "I thought I'd lost you after the fire... You've been in a coma for months," the girl chokes. "I missed you so much, my love..."