Misfit Theater Company (Wattys Winner 2018)

18. One Step at a Time

"Thatcher?" I whisper just outside his shed. Mom let me walk alone tonight, as long as I texted her when I got to Thatcher's house and shared my location with her. I felt strange cutting through his yard from the front of his house, though, so instead I trekked through the snowy yards behind my house to get to him.

I hear a soft creak as Thatcher opens the shed door. "Come on in," he says, poking his head out of the shed. I chuckle to myself at his strangeness, but I'm starting to see that's sort of par for the course with my theater group.

After texting my mom to let her know I'm safe, I step into the shed and shut the door behind me. Thatcher is sitting on the seat with a blanket draped over his legs, and he still wears his coat, hat, and gloves. It's one of the colder nights this week at 11 degrees Fahrenheit, and this shed isn't exactly insulated for human use.

"Thanks for having me over," I say.

"No, thank you for having us all over last night. Sorry I cut out a little early. I was feeling a little overwhelmed. Moth is great, but sometimes his positivity is a little much for me."

I chuckle. "Yeah, I get that. He was actually the last one at my house last night, so we had a pretty good talk, but you're right... he's a lot."

"I mean, it's not that I don't like people who are positive, you know, 'cause I try to be positive too. It's just that... I don't know, it bothered me last night."

I wonder if it was because he was so positive about going to Snow Ball with me. I'd like to believe that's the reason, at least.

I decide to change the subject instead of prying further and possibly getting an answer I don't like. "So, what's on the agenda for tonight?"

"Well," he starts, reaching down to two packets of paper that he's propped up against the other side of his legs.

"I made copies of our new script, so I thought we could read through it now. That way you're prepared for Monday when we practice, you know? It won't be your first read through."

I'm immediately speechless. I'm not sure anyone has ever been this kind to me. "Thanks," I say.

"No problem," he says, handing me one of the scripts. "So, I thought either we could both read through this first time or I could read all the parts."

"Oh, please read all the parts. I want to hear you read the girl parts." I laugh at the thought.

He smiles and clears his throat to read. The play is about a rich wife and her husband. They have been having troubles with their marriage, and the night before the husband has a party to celebrate his recent promotion. The wife slept in a different room than her husband since they are separated within their mansion, and she wakes up early. She and their butler have a conversation about the marriage, and it's pretty clear that the butler likes this woman. He gets her flowers and he gives her all these compliments, and she just doesn't get it. She leaves to get ready for the day and the husband comes down. He is looking around for something, and we soon find out he's looking for a woman's thong, because the butler found it first. (That's probably the part that Patti has to edit.) It turns out the husband had a one-night stand after the party (again, Patti probably has to edit that, though I'm not sure how since it's pretty crucial to the plot), and the woman comes downstairs. One thing leads to another and the wife finds out, even meeting this woman. The husband and wife officially decide to separate, so the butler tries his luck with the wife and they hook up.

As Thatcher reads all of this, he changes his voice for each of the characters, and all I can do is just crack up at how he reads it. I'm mesmerized by his voice again, and like always, he makes me not only understand what is going on but see it playing out in front of me.

I think Patti will make me be the other woman, since that is the smaller girl part, and that's okay with me, fewer lines to memorize. I think Thatcher will be the better butler, because I cannot picture Moth acting proper at all, which the butler definitely has to be. But at the same time, I don't think Patti will want to kiss Thatcher in the end of the play. She'll probably use the opportunity to sneak a kiss with Moth.

"I bet Moth plays the butler," Thatcher says once he's through reading it.

"Why?"

"Because Patti is in love with the guy."

I sit up. "How did you know?" I ask. "I've been keeping that secret for so long, wanting to tell you, and you knew already?"

"It's pretty obvious, Janie. She's not very discreet."

"Do you think Moth knows?"

He shrugs. "I feel like if he did, he would have responded differently last night to the whole Snow Ball situation."

My curiosity gets the best of my nerves, and I ask, "Yeah, what do you think about that? It seemed like you kind of turned off after that."

He sighs. "I'm not a big fan of dances, so I'm not super thrilled. But I couldn't say no to her with those cupcakes right there."

I'm tempted to tell him that he could have, and that maybe then she could have asked Moth, but then Thatcher ask, "But those cupcakes were really for Moth, weren't they?"

"Huh?" I decide to play dumb to remain loyal to Patti.

"Well, Patti likes Moth, so she probably wanted to ask him, but chickened out. That's what it seemed like, at least. She had that look on her face when she doesn't know exactly what to say right away, like...." He mocks her face, and while I don't want to laugh, I do. It's just so perfectly uncanny.

"Who knows," I lie. "But at least we will all be there together. I haven't gone to any of the dances yet either, so at least it will be our first time together. Plus, as exhausting as Moth can be, I bet he is a lot of fun at dances."

He laughs. "Yeah, he should be. I mean, if he was dancing like that in your dining room, I can only imagine what he's like on the dance floor. Yeah, you're right... it'll be ok. Anyway, next on the agenda."

"Do you really have an agenda?"

He smiles. "Not really, just a couple of things I wanted to do with you."

My heart flutters a bit. "So, what's next?"

"Starship Troopers," he says, a huge grin on his face as he pulls his phone out from under his side of the blanket.

He props his phone up on the ledge of the wall, and then he stops his effort to put on Starship Troopers and asks, "Is that okay?"

I smile and pull the blanket over my legs. "Go ahead." He opens his app to play the movie, and I say, "But I sort of forget what happened when we left off last time, so I may need a reminder. Sorry, my stupid brain."

"No way," he says, his tone serious. "Your mind is awesome."

Butterflies fill my chest.

"Here's what we watched last time," he starts. He gives me the full run down, but I'm not really paying any attention. All I feel is his warmth beside me, and I wonder if he'll link his arm with mine again. Moth said he would help create opportunities at Snow Ball for me and Thatcher, but maybe I should start making my own opportunities.

I link my arm with his under the blanket after he's done talking and finally puts on the movie. "Sorry," I whisper, "like you said, arms are weird."

He smiles, and maybe I'm imagining it, but it feels like he snuggles up closer to me. Or maybe it's just a small space.

One step at a time, Janie.