Strike 3 (Aaron Tveit)

Strike 1

"Come on, Candace, move your butt or we'll miss the performance!"  

"The music's starting!"  

"It's Jean Valjean!"  

Candace walked briskly across her friend's flat, carrying a bowl of chips. "Maya, come on!" She hollered at her other friend, who was still in the Kitchen preparing the drinks.  

"Oh god, Candace, you're turning into one of them!" Maya jokingly replied.  

They made it in time to catch Marius and Cosette, as well as Eponine sing as they watched a telecast of the Oscars. As Enjolras appeared, it was noticeable how Candace couldn't take her eyes off the screen. As if she were reminiscing on a memory filled with bittersweet nostalgia.  

As the performance finished, they all gave a round of applause to the flat screen television that stood before them.  

"So, Candy" teased her friend, Liv, who was also the owner of the flat, "I noticed you couldn't take your eyes of Enjy."  

Candace rolled her eyes, "Enjolras."  

"Ooh, defensive?"  

Her queer, Les Misérables loving friend, Joey, joined in the fun of teasing her.  

"I am agog, I am aghast" he sang, "is Candace Barnes in love at last? I've never heard her ooh and aah"  

Liv chimed in, "she talks of music to be played, her love for Enjy never fades"  

Then came Maya, "it is better than the o-per-a!"  

"You guys are terrible." Candace timidly laughs, trying to avoid her vast history with Enjolras' actor, Aaron Tveit.  

"You just broke it!" Laughed Maya, referring to their singing dialogue.  

"Candy" said Joey in a serious tone, "it's been two years since..." 

Candace lifted a finger, "guys, we better get ready. We have another show tonight." She says, pretending to have not heard anything about Aaron and focusing on The Lion King where they worked. Maya as a lioness, Joey as a hyena, Liv as a costume director and her as a musical director.  

Her friends gave each other looks which meant another effort of theirs to reach out to the old Candace had failed. It had been two years since Candace was last the eccentric, blonde haired girl who moved to New York from Connecticut just to attend NYFA who was open to the possibility of finding love in the process. Two years is a long time for someone to change and in that period of time, Candace had changed enough.

  For starters, she was no longer blonde. Shortly after her split with Aaron, Liv, Joey and Maya took Candace on a vacation in Mexico. The four had taken the vacation as soon as the previous season of The Lion King on Broadway came to a close and before Candace's first season as the show's musical director. Upon arriving from Mexico, Candace made an à la Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and The City: The Movie sort of move by dyeing her hair to a shade of medium ash blonde from her natural light blonde hair. 

Second, she was no longer a student in NYFA. She'd graduated shortly after meeting Aaron at Liv and Malcolm's wedding. Lastly, she wasn't as open to the possibility of love. In fact, she wasn't as open to anything anymore. From someone eccentric and could unmistakably be recognized as a film student, she turned into someone you could think was a business major.

Yes, some things change. But at the same time, some things never do. 

     "Candace Barnes" Aaron unconsciously let the words slip his mouth as soon as he and a few friends set foot on the renowned Minskoff Theatre. Having been handed a playbill, he scanned it for at least one photo of her. In black and white, Aaron saw the transformation she'd gone through. Her smile being more reserved and professional and her hair, noticeably darker because of the filter used prepared him for the Candace he'd see if he got the chance to see her again at all.