Luan felt unexpectedly excited for his first day at the theater. He had gotten the part the same day he'd auditioned and now a couple weeks later they were handing out the official scripts and he'd get to meet the rest of the cast and crew.
Luan was still early but having already gotten a coffee from his workplace and having brought his homework, he decided to kill some time in the few minutes of quiet before everyone else started filtering in.
Only a few people working on the set were here at this time and they worked quietly on the stage while Luan found a quiet area in a corner of the theater to do some homework.
45 minutes had passed by the time he'd looked up and he caught eyes with one of the men who'd been at the casting table. Apparently using this opportunity as an excuse to talk to Luan the man made his way over.
"Hello, you're Lwayne right?" The man asked and Luan respectfully corrected him.
"It's Luan, like Loo-on. But if it's easier you can just call me Lu," he offered and the man broke out into a smile.
"My apologies Luan. My name is Charlie, I own this theater and I just wanted to say your audition was very impressive. I didn't get a chance to tell you before you left." He said and this man's outgoing personality surprised Luan but it was very refreshing.
"I also heard what you did for us and I can't thank you enough. Tommy was really having a rough go of it and.."
"What was I having?" A voice behind Charlie says and Luan looked behind him to see Mr. Wilder.
"His name is Tommy? Weird. He looks more like a Peter. Or maybe a Harold?" Luan thought to himself.
"Oh hey Tommy! I was just thanking Luan here for inviting all those college students for the audition. It really helped ease both of our anxieties am I right?" Charlie said and Thoma looked past Charlie to Luan. His eyes were wide and his face unreadable.
"You brought all those kids here?" Thoma asked and Luan nodded shyly.
"Uhh, yeah. Thats what I was trying to tell you, you see... I asked a few of my old drama classmates if they wanted to audition and then they asked some people and so on. So that's why I was late. We all came together and I wanted to tell you but..." Luan trails off and fidgets uncomfortably as Thoma stares at him.
"You went through all that trouble to help me out?" Thoma says and Luan shifts again.
"Well yeah. I mean it wasn't out of pity or anything I just figured, if you were asking your barista to audition for this play that you might not have many people coming. So I did what I could to help out. I'm sorry if I overstepped my bounds but I..." Luan says but he doesn't finish his sentence as the rest of the crew starts to filter in.
An uncomfortable silence falls over these three until Charlie breaks it.
"Whelp, we're eternally grateful to you kid. And though Tommy didn't say it, I know he shares my sentiment. Anyways should we get started on introductions?" Charlie says and starts making his way to the stage.
Luan begins to pack up his stuff and make his way towards the stage when Thoma approaches him.
"Umm, yes sir?" Luan asks and Thoma simply says very quietly, "I wanted to thank you for what you did."
Luan laughs uncomfortably and pats Thoma on the shoulder, though realizing this could make him uncomfortable he quickly retracts his hand.
"Don't worry about it, sir. It was nothing," he says with a grin and walks past Thoma towards the stage.
Thoma stood in the same spot for a while, listening to Charlie make announcements and begin to hand out scripts. Without realizing it Thoma's gaze kept finding the boy.
"I knew he'd surprise me," he thought. But he couldn't decide if that was a comforting thought or not.
—————
Luan collapsed into his bed, so tired he wondered how long he could keep this up. He knew what he'd agreed to and that it was far too late to back out now. But he had overestimated how skilled he was at multitasking.
"I can keep up with it all fine, but I forget to factor in time to sleep." Luan grumbled. True to his word Tommy or Mr. Wilder had said they'd only meet three days a week, 3-11. But those days became especially hard for Luan. Between classes and finding time to work, he still only has the weekends to do homework.
"I used to be able to party at least one weekend day," Luan internally sobbed and his roommate walked in as he was throwing his fit.
"Whoa dude, I feel like I never see you anymore," his roommate said and grabbed his shower stuff. "Me and the rest of the boys have been wondering where you've been these past couple weekends."
"Well I agreed to do a play a few weeks back so I've been busy with that. And now on the weekends I go to the library to do homework," Luan grumbled.
"Sounds like a drag but I guess it's what you agreed to. You'll have the dorm to yourself this whole week by the way, I'll be staying with Cassidy." He said and walked out.
"I guess that means I'll have some peace and quiet so I can at least sleep through the night."
It's not like Luan didn't know that starting college at 22 wasn't going to be different than when he was 18 but sometimes he found himself longing for a quiet night or just some alone time.
After getting ready for bed and lastly plugging his phone in for the night Luan is surprised to see a text from Mr. Wilder.
- There is a cast dinner this Friday at 6 at X restaurant, mandatory for all cast members. - Mr T. Wilder
"Bruh are you kidding me?" Luan wanted to send back but he instead said.
- Can only stay for about an hour, have homework to do.
He set his phone down and was just settling down to sleep when his phone buzzed. He tried to ignore it but knowing it was probably from Mr. Wilder he became restless and turned around to check it.
- You are an important part of this cast and will need to participate until the END of the event. - Mr T. Wilder
"This motherfucker..." Luan seethed.
- Mr. T, Tommy Wilder. There was no mention of mandatory events outside of the play practice times so I will only be able to stay for an hour in order to maintain my school life. Sincerely yours, Luan
Luan realized he was being ridiculous but he was far too tired tonight to think rationally and he wasn't about to let this pompous man boss him around. He had some pride, somewhere and he would hold onto that for dear life.
"Ugh, I can't believe I ever thought Mr. Wilder was someone worth getting to know. What a douche."
Not knowing if Mr. Wilder would keep up this little back and forth Luan decided to put his phone on silent.
The night before he had to wake up for work. At 6:30. But you can imagine how that went.
YOU ARE READING
Sincerely, Yours
RomanceLuan was doing well in his life. He had a stable job, a good circle of friends, good grades at the college he attended. His goals were bright and simple in front of him, all it was gonna take was time. Thoma had had a rough hand in life. He'd lost...
