Behind the Curtains

+Six+

Annabelle and Jeff were still happily together through the end of her senior year. He had graduated the year before she enrolled, but he still stuck around for the theatre program, and her, of course. She was still super close to A.J., but not quite as close as they used to be. Annabelle was spending more time with Jeff, and A.J. had his own busy schedule with all of the shows he was writing or auditioning for.

The theatre group had named themselves Starkid. It was partially a reference to one of the lines from A Very Potter Musical. They had made quite a name for themselves by then, doing a second Harry Potter musical, and another that no sane person could ever dream up. They had been uploading all of their shows to YouTube, their main publishing platform, where they gained most of their fanbase.

A.J. had done a lot of work for the Starkid shows, but he had only done a cameo for the one they did in late 2010, called Starship. Instead, he had been running through auditions for shows that he wanted to perform in. After the excitement and craziness of Starship had died down, he finally got a part.

"Young Frankenstein: The Musical! Can you believe it? I landed Frankenstein, one of my dream roles! I've literally never been more excited," he practically screamed, wrapping Annabelle into an extremely tight hug.

"That's great, A.J. I'm really happy for you. I can't wait to see it. Any idea when the performances are gonna be?"

"September to May, in Massachusetts."

"Massachusetts? That's... a few states away."

"I know, I know, but it's only ten or eleven months."

"Only? That's practically a year. I mean, of course I'll fly out to see it, but eleven months? I know we don't hang out as much as we used to, but still."

"You'll be alright. You'll have Jeff."

"Well what would you have?"

"I'll have the cast! Honestly, Annabelle, it'll be fine. I'm leaving mid-June, so it's not like I'm taking off tomorrow. I'm still gonna be here for another two months almost."

"Yea... two months."

~~~~~~~~

Once again, two months felt like two weeks. Before they knew it, A.J. was flying over to Massachusetts, and not coming back for almost a year. They drifted. A.J. was so busy with the show that they barely had time to talk. It had been four months since they had spoken when she finally flew over to watch the performance.

The production was one where the cast did a meet and greet in the lobby after the show. It was packed and loud, the audience of almost 2,000 crowding in to meet them all. Annabelle hated crowds, but she could wait and bear through it if it meant getting even a few seconds to talk to him.

It was about 45 minutes until the crowd had thinned enough for anyone to walk through at a normal pace, but she hadn't noticed. She was sitting on a bench in the corner of the lobby, barely visible unless you were looking for it, but completely visible if you know the person sitting there.

"Annabelle!" A.J. yelled, pushing through the crowd of people that was still lingering in the theatre. He crashed down on the bench next to her and immediately engulfed her in an almost bone crushing hug.

¨Can't breathe," she wheezed.

"Oh, sorry! My excitement got the better of me. I'm just so happy you came! I've missed you so much." The pure glee on his face was undeniable. He couldn't stop smiling.

"I am too. You were amazing. Absolutely nailed it," she praised, a half smile appearing on her lips.

"Thank you. Oh hey, what did Jeff think of the 'Put it on the Ritz' bit? I was hoping he would get a kick out of it."

"Actually, um, he didn't come. We, uh, sort of broke up a month ago..." Her gaze shifted to the floor, and her hand drifted up subconsciously to scratch the other.

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be. It was gonna end like this anyways. After we moved to Chicago for Starship- well, actually, once it was over- I got a job offer, and taking it would mean moving to Peoria, but he wanted to stay in Chicago. We never could agree, so we broke up, and I moved. It's mostly fine now."

They sat silently for a brief few seconds, both of them contemplating what to say next.

"What was the job?" A.J. finally asked, unable to think of anything else to say.

"A tech job, at the Peoria Players Theatre. The english major kind of went to waste, but I like what I do," Annabelle said, nodding a bit.

"Oh, that's cool! You've got the experience from the Starkid shows, so you've already got a foot in the door."

"I never actually did lighting for the shows. I just helped out when a tech was missing, which was only during rehearsals. It was pretty easy to pick up, though."

"Good! I'm really happy for you. It's nice to have a job that makes you happy."

"Yea. So what're your plans after this is all done with?"

"Come back to Starkid for awhile. This is great and all, but I'm nowhere used to how big it is."

"Good luck with that. I hope the breath of fresh air serves you well."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the end of 2012, Starkid had gone on two national tours and produced 6 wildly successful shows, the latest of which being Holy Musical B@tman and A Very Potter Senior Year. After that came the summer season of 2013. By May, everyone was gathered together in Chicago to work on their new musical, Twisted: The Untold Story of a Royal Vizier.

It was meant to be a parody of Wicked, but with Aladdin rather than the Wizard of Oz. It was about to be a very hectic summer.