SHORT SHORTS by Tonig73

AND I DEFINITELY WASN'T READY FOR THIS ...

I got off the train at Waterloo, and went straight to Sadler's Wells theatre. This was early-ish on Saturday morning, and I knew I'd be there with time to spare.

There had been so much ridiculousness going on in the last few days, with at least 3 schedule changes on the guys part, changing days of the performance and the workshop, peeps making alternate arrangements, only to be changed back again hours later. To say a lot of people were not happy would be an understatement. But they were our guys, and once we were in the same room with them, looked into their eyes, and got our hugs, all was not only forgiven, but apparently forgotten as well.

I sat in the lovely sunlit cafe' at the stage door, waiting for my girls, the Bridget Crew, plus a few others. The workshop was at 11.30, and it was already 11.15. Didn't matter, it nearly always started late, any guesses why ? The girls arrived, and in the typical female gaggle we exchanged hugs and kisses, and in my case, artwork. The amazing @lisaalberta4 had painted me another original piece of my Larry. Karen Stout has the original original, the full size, full colour version, mine was smaller and in black and white, but equally as gorgeous.

As schedules were changing and me and my friends got unhappier and more frustrated by the minute, a lovely woman I was chatting with aired her sadness and disappointment at having bought tickets for their Sunday performance that was now cancelled. I asked if she'd ever met them, and she said she hadn't. I offered her my spare ticket for the Saturday workshop as my son was supposed to be coming with me, and she was ecstatic. So, along with the other ladies and one guy, I met her. She sat quietly in a corner, virtually trembling.

"Are you ok ?" I asked, it was apparent that she wasn't, but she had the biggest grin on her face.

"You'll be fine," I told her, "they're really sweet and kind. You're gonna love it."

A girl from reception came and told everyone the workshop was about to start, and could we please follow her. An elevator took us up one floor, then we nervously walked into the studio. Funny, but I was still nervous, my hands were trembling slightly, the butterflies voracious this time. You'd think I'd have gotten used to it, but you never quite get used to it. To them. We walked into a huge room, with large grey breeze blocks for walls, steel pipework across the ceiling, all very contemporary modern.

And there they were, Larry and Laurent happily chatting next to the sound system, where else would they be ? It was all very civilised and proper, no charging hordes to get the best seats, no arguments over who had lined up and who hadn't.  As individuals approached them, we were greeted with hugs from Larry. Laurent bumped elbows, saying he has other people to protect and think about.

I got my Larry hug, well a half hug, shared with someone else, but hey. I got a lovely welcome from Eleni, as usual.

"Welcome, welcome, welcome. As always." We found places to put our things along one wall, and waited excitedly.

The nervous girl literally plastered herself into the corner and the back wall.

"Well ?" One of my favourite things is to see a newbie's face when they see the Twins for the first time, and hers was a picture. She just kept shaking her head, but wouldn't come out from her corner. All assembled milled around for a bit, then one of the guys started.

"OK," I think it was Lau. "We gonna teach you how to freestyle." 

Are you fucking kidding me right now ? What in the ever lovin' .... heck ?! Oh no sir, I is not freestylin' tu-day, not even for you. .... Or any other day for that matter. They must have caught the look of abject fear and utter disbelief on our faces, because they then qualified that statement.