Happily Unhappy: Season 3

Season 3, Episode 3: Walking on a Tightrope

Octavia stands behind the counter at the Broadview Heights Cinema wearing her black khaki pants and red polo that makes her look larger than what she really is. She got the job over the summer, determined to save up enough money to make it out of town and start fresh somewhere else, somewhere more her speed. Small, aching towns like this aren't for her. Even the big city isn't for her. She needs somewhere like Boston or Salem or maybe even New Orleans. Hell, maybe she will move to Poland or Alaska and live her life there without telling anyone. Anywhere is better--
"You're free to go," Carrie Ulman tells her from the popcorn machine, shutting the door. "We usually don't get a lot of people on Wednesday nights."
"Okay, thanks." Octavia grabs her monkey fur bag from under the counter and heads for the parking lot, taking off her visor and scratching her scalp with her long nails. She throws her stuff into the backseat and climbs into the front, stabbing her keys into the ignition.
Pulling onto her street, the houses light up with dim glows from inside the windows, people crossing rooms or sitting at dining tables. Octavia parks in her own driveway, immediately realizing that Eli is seated on her porch stairs. Octavia climbs out of her car, the crickets and grass bugs croaking in the evening.
"Eli?" she asks, getting her things from the back and starting across the lawn. "What are you doing here?"
"I thought about asking your mom if I could wait for you inside but I didn't know if that would've been a good idea or not." Eli rises from the steps. "She hates me."
Octavia's face falls. He's been paranoid about that ever since he met her mother. "She doesn't hate you, she barely even knows you."
Eli's eyes are half shut and he has a weird smile strung up across his lips. He's swaying from side to side, as though he's going to fall asleep while standing up.
"Hey." Octavia reaches out to keep him upright. "You okay?"
"I'm good."
"Have you gotten any sleep at all?" Octavia guides him back down to sit on the porch stairs. "You look exhausted."
"Life is exhausting, my dear." He looks at her seriously when speaking but then laughs when Octavia studies his face.
In the late evening light, Octavia is able to see how tiny his pupils have gotten. Way too tiny to be normal. She bites the inside of her cheek, suddenly afraid to sit here with him. Last week, she found incriminating evidence that he's using heroin but he assured her that he doesn't do that stuff anymore. Judging by everything she found in his car and his track marks, he admitted to doing it once before but he isn't an active user. She believed him because she loves him. She very well knows that people are capable of lying, men in particular. But Eli is her boyfriend. He wouldn't do that to her.
"Let's get you inside," Octavia suggests. "I can get you some food and you can sleep for a bit."
"You would do that for me?" Eli reaches out to twist a few strands of Octavia's hair together.
Octavia helps him up again. "Come on, let's go."

On Saturday, Josie stands on a bustling sidewalk in New York City, taxis honking at pedestrians and other bright yellow taxis. Men with briefcases shuffle down the sidewalk with stiff shoulders and wool coats. Women wearing pencil skirts and tight buns are chattering into their cellphones, their heels clacking against the pavement. Josie isn't concerned with any of the people around her, though. She's more focused on the building in front of her: American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She's been dreaming of this college since she was a young girl.
Ever since she discovered that one day, she's going to be an actress, she researched all of the colleges in the big city to find out which one is the best fit for her. She was smart back then and knew that her mother wasn't going to pay out the ass for one of the larger schools so she settled on this one... which is still close to 50,000 dollars after it's all said and done with but her mother has been completely supportive of it.
"All right, come on." Juliet guides her across the street when the sign says to cross. "We're not going to learn more about it just standing here."
Senior year is all about college visits and getting into one. Lucky for other students who aren't going into the arts, all they have to do is send in an application and hope their SAT scores were good enough for a golden ticket. Josie, on the other hand, has to audition with an application. She's not too concerned for it, though. She has confidence in her acting as well as her singing. Her voice is no Celine Taylor's but that doesn't mean she lacks talent.
"We're here for the college visit," Juliet tells the pretty Asian woman behind the sleek front desk in the rather small lobby with other students and parents waiting on benches, sifting through schedules and pamphlets about the school. "We made an appointment online."
"Name?" the woman asks, hands hovering over her computer keyboard.
While Juliet fills out appropriate paperwork, Josie wanders over to the wall where large framed class photos are plastered of past graduates dating all the way back to the seventies. With their big hair and overly striped shirts, they were all just like her: a girl with a dream.
"Think their bell bottoms was as extravagant as their hair?" Someone whispers from next to her.
Josie jumps at the voice and looks next to her to find a tall guy with short blond hair and a tanned face standing next to her. "No, but maybe their acid was."
"Good point." He nods his head, gazing back at the portraits. He glances over his shoulder at the front desk. "That your mom over there?"
Josie nods. "We're here for a campus tour."
"Sweet, me too," he chirps. "What are you hoping to major in?"
"Acting," she answers. "You?"
"Same, actually," he responds. "It's a more recent dream. The school I'm at now doesn't offer anything arts related so I'm transferring to Broadview High for my senior year. Not sure if you heard of that suburb not too far from--"
"Broadivew High?" Josie raises her eyebrows. "I go there."
His eyebrows spring up just as high as Josie's did. "You do? What a small world."
"That school is a lot of things but the musical theater program doesn't disappoint," she promises. "The director there really knows what he's talking about."
He smiles at her. "Well then maybe I have a few things to look forward to."
Josie, has dumb as she feels, finds herself blushing.