Roses on Stage

Three

It was a very beautifully written musical. It was unusual, but well written. A month after Kings received the email and package with everything she needed, she walked to the place of rehearsal. Since it was February, it got a bit warmer, there was no more snow, but the air was still a bit chilly. It was busy on the roads, the city buzzed with everybody heading to work just like Kings. Her heartbeat followed the pattern of her steps in anticipation, it became a rhythm. As she approached the rehearsal venue, she saw –what she assumed to be– other cast members gathering, each carrying their own copy of the script. Inside, it was a bit warmer than outside, Kings suspected they did not want the heat up so much that it would be all sweaty once they started working. It had lofty ceilings, almost like a warehouse, but it looked more pleasant than just a storage space. There was a circle of chairs set up in the center of the room, a blonde woman was standing in the middle of the chairs, gesturing for all the cast members to take a seat. Kings –along with some others– took their seat, engaging with each other in simple conversation while they waited for anybody else to arrive. Then someone walked in. Not just any 'someone.' But a someone who Kings had known since her first gig on Broadway, a someone who she would sometimes see walking his dog in Central Park, a someone who she... admired. Caspian Damiano flawlessly walked in; his arrival caused a subtle shift in the atmosphere. He had been on Broadway since he left high school, not even college or university. Kings exchanged a few glances with her other cast members, some were in shock, others seemed unbothered. Kings was dying inside, her stomach exploded with a bunch of busy butterflies. He took the last seat a few people over and the woman in the middle began to speak with a bright smile on her face, brightening the room.

"Good morning, everyone," she chirped, "I am so glad you could all make it here today and I am looking forward to working with you all. My name is Alexa Clae and will be your director for this musical. By now, you should have received the script and memorized most –if not all– of your lines. Just to make sure that everyone got one, can everyone please take out their script? If you left yours at home or for some reason didn't receive one, I have some just on top of the piano which you are free to take." Everybody who had their script took it out and the few that didn't have it, got up to get another copy. "Now, I know a lot of people think that theatre is just all dancing, singing, and acting for a production to be good, but it is so much deeper than that. For this to be the best it can be, we have to know each other, really know each other." She spun to look at everyone in the circle before stopping in front of the ginger boy. "What did you have for lunch yesterday?" she asked out of the blue.

"I had my leftover lasagne with garlic bread," he answered hesitantly, unsure why his lunch had anything to do with the musical. Alexa turned again this time facing someone else, the person sitting next to Kings.

"Have you ever run a red light?"

"Yes," they answered, a hue of red spreading across their face due to embarrassment. The director smiled, not even caring about the traffic rule that had been broken by one of the cast members.

"What we are going to do is go around in a circle and say our names because that is the basic step of getting to know someone, it is the most crucial step. Also tell us your favourite musical, and if you don't like musicals; what are you doing here?" Laughs scattered around the room, if someone did not like musicals, Broadway would be a terrible place to be. "How about we start with you?" A very tall women nodded and introduced herself.

"I'm Becca and my favourite musical is The Sound of Music." It was like that for everyone. Their name, their favourite musical, and then a "Thank you" from Alexa.

"Hello, my name is Monica, and I love Chicago." Kings loved hearing everyone's opinions on musicals, it was her passion after all. Beetlejuice. The Little Shop of Horrors. A controversial one: Cats. And even The Wizard of Oz for some odd reason. Then it was Caspian's turn.

"I'm Caspian, I'll have to go with Moulin Rouge." If Caspian was casted as Christian instead of Aaron Tveit, Kings would not complain one bit, as long as she got to play Satine. More people, more musicals. Mean Girls. Legally Blonde. Next to Normal. West Side Story but specifically the 1961 version.

"I'm Kings, and my number one musical has to be Newsies. Don't ask me if I like the one with Christian Bale or Jeremy Jordan more, they are both so good," she grinned, remembering how she felt when she watched it for the first time, it was like a home, it felt so familiar. A few people later, everyone had introduced themselves and they all stood, ready to get started, but Alexa had different plans, she wanted the first day to just be fun with games and getting to know everybody.

"Let's start with a basic game everybody should already know. Two truths and a lie. It is what it's called. Say two truths about yourself or something that happened to you and then a lie. How about you go first, Jaydon?"

"Okay, so I actually hate the musical Hamilton-" Gasps echoed through the room, bouncing off the walls and ceiling, making him laugh. "I believe that it should be called 'football' and not 'soccer,' and I still live with my parents." Everybody got instructed to write down what they think the lie is on a whiteboard and not show anyone still it was time. Once everyone finished writing down their answers, Alexa counted down from three and they all flipped around their answers. A lot of people filled in 'hating Hamilton' as the lie, including Kings. The second most written answer was that he still lived with his parents and the 'football/soccer debate.' Turned out, he actually did hate Hamilton and does call it football. He told the group that he moved out of his parents' house on his eighteenth birthday due to the toxic atmosphere. Nobody knew exactly what to say, but Jaydon reassured them all that it was all fine now and his life was significantly better than it was before. The crazy thing was that he was only twenty, it happened only two years ago. It was insane how quickly people grew up. 

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if you haven't figured it out yet, i'm publishing the whole short story in one go
there's literally no point in scheduling them at different times if i have already finished writing the whole ass thing

also
this is going to be a very weird question
but i legit can't think of anything else

what is your favourite swear word or insult?
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MWAH

kisses and croissants 💋🥐