Don't Tell My Brother

Chapter 28 - Broken Hand and a Change of Plan

Lucas was struggling to see where the good news came in. "Right. And this is good because...?"

"I'm getting to that. So both their hands are kind of screwed, right? I don't know exactly what, and they'll heal, but right now they don't work."

"Wow. This really is good news." Lucas said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Right now, this just sounded like an unfortunate accident.

"Are you going to keep sassing me, or can I finish my story?" Alex said, and Lucas almost heard her eyes roll.

"Sorry, sorry. Finish it."

"Thank you. So with the director's hand out of business, he needs an assistant director. And guess who he chose? Just guess."

"You?"

"Yes! Me, me, me!" Alex was yelling now, and Lucas had to pull the phone away from his ear before she destroyed his eardrums.

"Alex, that's amazing." He said, smiling, her excitement infectious.

And it was. After the years Alex had been in the theatre club, participating in every performance the school had put on, Lucas was happy to see her finally get the recognition she deserved. It was good, to hear her so happy.

"It is! He needs me to write down all these notes and make maps of the stage and the blocking and help him carry things and I think sometimes get him coffee? It'll be great because maybe I can even suggest some of my own ideas and hopefully get some good experience..."

Another call was coming through. Lucas glanced down at the screen, and felt a mixture of surprise and nervousness to see Damien's name on the screen. He'd answer it later. This was Alex's time. Declining the call, he kept listening. He didn't know what Damien wanted, and tried to ignore the worry that was starting to gnaw at his insides, because he didn't have a reason to worry. Yet.

"...anyway, I start next rehearsal, which is going to be so important because we're going to be blocking some of the most important scenes. Do you think I should start making plans now? Maybe write down some ideas I've been having? Because there's a storm scene, and I think there's some really cool stuff we can do with the lighting."

"Definitely make plans." Lucas was a firm believer in being prepared for everything. "I find mindmaps are good for brainstorming ideas, but definitely had a solid list of points you want to bring up, or ideas you have, before tonight. In case you get flustered or forget."

"Yeah, I think I will." And then, after a moment, Alex asked. "It'll be okay, right? Like he's not going to hate my ideas or anything?" Her voice was a little quieter, and Lucas wasn't sure if she was asking him or herself.

He answered anyway. "He's going to love it, because your ideas will be great. Better than great. This is going to be the best show the school's ever seen. It's going to have really good...blocking." That was the word. He didn't exactly know what it meant, but it was obviously important.

Alex laughed. "You're right. It'll be good, it'll be so, so good. Now I've got to go plan. Draw my own maps of the stage, research the lighting they used for some of those more recent Broadway productions...so much to do! Oh, but before I go," and here her voice got serious, dropping the excitement, "if anything happens tonight, anything at all, call me and I can come and pick you both up. Okay?"

Lucas nodded. "Are you sure? Your rehearsal—"

"I can get out of it if I have to. I mean it, Lucas. Call me. I'll be there." She sounded deadly serious, and Lucas didn't bother to try and argue when she sounded that way.

It was comforting, more because he was overwhelmed that Alex would abandoned her first rehearsal as assistant director if he'd needed it. He wouldn't call, of course, not unless he was desperate, because he couldn't drag her away from that. But it was nice to at least have that as a last resort. It made it easier to call Damien back.