Monday, June 20, 2016

Other People's Boyfriends

It was intermission of KSL's new disaster of a show.  She stepped outside to call the next door neighbors to see if they could let the dog out, but they were more obsessed with the fact that Muhammed Ali died.

"Yes, that is sad, but not actually why I'm calling.  I didn't realize I was at a 3 hour play and the dog hasn't been let out in awhile and I'm worried.  Are you home to let her out?" She asked with urgency.

He was not home.  She was texting a mutual friend when a parade of loud motorcycles passed through, giving her a slight headache.

"Isn't the motorcycle convention next month?" She turned to face who spoke.  It was a taller guy with stylish thick framed glasses, sandy colored hair, and a hipster style button down shirt.  "I think it's in a couple of months actually," she replied.  "Unfortunately we have a few more every year that just stay around for longer, which is terrible.  Get a muffler, am I right?"

"Yes!  I can't stand that.  I live downtown and I hear them every night."

"Me too!  Where do you live?"  He gave cross-streets that indicated they were just down the street from each other.

"So, what do you think of the play so far?" He asked her.  "I'm kind of the worst person to ask actually.  There are many different ways to look at it.  I have a BFA in theatre.  Plus I read the script because I was running lines with one of the cast members."

"Me too!  My girlfriend is in the cast, the one with the short red hair."

"Awww, she's so cute, I can totally see you two together.  I'd love to meet her at the reception."

"I'll introduce you.  Which one is yours?"

"KSL...the loud and obnoxious one."

"Man, he's really good though.  His singing voice is amazing!"

They got to talking and found that they both spent too much time in another city, and had just moved about a year ago.  It was so refreshing to find someone else that understood the dynamics of both cities.  He had lived in the bad area, and regaled her with stories of how a man walked into his store with the bullet sticking out of his head and asked him to call 911.  He quit a week later, for obvious reasons.

They called for everyone to come back in for the third act, which was going to be mostly singing.  She looked forward to hearing KSL really perform and sing for the first time, but he didn't really get that many solos.

At the afterparty, she and the castmate's boyfriend spoke some more.  He seemed like a real nice guy, he admitted he was socially awkward and didn't have a lot of friends yet.  She felt bad for him and wanted to reach out, but didn't want to seem like she was trying to hit on him.

I mean, it's not like she broke up relationships on purpose.

She decided to leave it in his hands, and he left it with a "nice to meet you" and that was it.  Earlier he had asked to read some of her plays, but she had corrected him and said she didn't actually write plays herself.

He seemed like a cool guy.  It was a shame to not connect with him, but she was sure she would see him around.