Ring by Spring

9 - Max

"Congratulations!" I appreciated Dane not asking me why I'd waited to make it happen. (Everyone else phrased it as "What took you so long?") Then, he understood, while everyone else didn't.

"Yeah. It's...exciting."

"She's really great. Hey, I have something to tell you, too."

"Are you seeing someone, too?" He hadn't mentioned any girls prior to this conversation...but both of us had busy schedules, and, since starting college, Dane had kept any romantic inclinations to himself. I guess he feared any mention might snowball into something from high school coming up.

"Nope. But I did get a part on Focus on the Family TV's new drama." He delivered this news in such a nonchalant manner I felt stupid for dropping the phone in surprise. When Focus on the Family's TV channel announced their intention to produce "Ichthys", a post-apocalyptic re-imagining of the Roman empire's persecution of the early church, it excited Christian young people looking for an alternative to all the super-popular but highly inappropriate TV series out there.

"Can I tell people?"

"A few," said Dane. "They're going to announce it any day now. I'm coming up to visit as soon as you'll have me. Did Ellie say yes right away? Tell me everything." So I laid it out for him, smiling at the memory of how well it all had gone, in comparison to my worries...or all my hormonal high-school fumblings with Willow. We had some good times (I tried not to think too much about them, because that got dangerous) but lacked the God-honoring relationship I hoped Ellie and I would share.

"So romantic," said Dane, almost wistful.

"Yeah - and I'll do things right this time."

"Of course you will."

"I'm really proud of you. When did you audition? Why did you not tell me? Were you scared you wouldn't get it?"

"You didn't tell me you planned on asking Ellie out...and it was a very nontraditional audition process. They're looking for a cast with a really strong collective faith and see the project as an opportunity to witness and bring God glory using the talents He gave them instead of something for personal gain. Therefore, they've been searching people out instead of broadcasting the fact that they're looking and have a cattle call which might not bring in the types of actors they're looking for. One of the producers came to Into the Woods last spring because he's a Liberty alum. I impressed him so much that he brought his colleagues to some of the New Jersey Shakespeare Company productions. Then I had a couple rounds of interviews. Like I said, the whole ordeal was unlike any audition I've ever been to. It felt kind of like A Chorus Line, but in real life." His reference to the Broadway classic about a group of hopefuls auditioning for a new musical - and telling the director their life stories in the process - made me speak without thinking.

"Did you tell them about your gay adolescence?"

"Did you tell Ellie how you got to third base with Willow?" Dane snapped. Then he sighed.

"It didn't feel like something to bring up in polite company."

"Exactly," I said.

"They'd talked with my director from New Jersey Shakespeare Company. When they asked me about it, I told them - not the real truth, of course...well, not entirely. I said what I'd told him: that I wanted to focus on school, but also that thinking about taking the role made me uncomfortable." I wondered if he considered that a half-truth, too. The Dane I knew in high school grouped bare with his other top favorite shows, and considered it an outrage that the show's shining moment had taken so long to come. Some part of him yearned to sing those songs in front of an audience, and not just in the shower, or when pressed by Willow, who loved bare, too. Maybe I shouldn't have talked him out of it after all....