"You've seriously never done this before?" Aiden stared at me incredulously.
I returned her confusion as I shuffled the deck of cards. "Should I have?"
"If you were trying to be a respected member of society, then yes."
"Fine," I rolled my eyes. "You do it, then."
"Gladly." She agreed, pulling her legs up underneath her. "Sky, could you please hand me a card?"
He fished through the deck, before handing her an ace of spades. "An ace for my ace."
She rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless.
Holding the card expertly in her hand, she extended her arm. With one decisive flick of her wrist, the card cut through the air, hitting the wall with a 'snap'.
My eyes widened. "Okay, I'm not gonna lie, that was pretty cool."
"Give it a try." She handed me a three of clubs.
I tried to mirror her movements, but the card floated lifelessly to the ground.
Sky got a kick out of that, but Aiden shut him up. "You'll get it eventually."
I picked the card up off the ground. "Where'd you learn to do it?"
"Some guy on a bus, when I was six or seven."
Sky raised an eyebrow at her. "'Some guy on a bus'?"
"That's as shifty as a swinging trapeze." I mumbled.
Aiden looked up at me. "What?"
"Nothing."
(I finally started listening to Tuck Everlasting and lemme tell ya my emotions are everywhere)
The front door to Austyn and her mom's apartment then opened, followed by a loud, familiar voice.
"Ben! They let me get a bagel!" Josh screeched, running into the living room to show us his chocolate chip bagel.
"We got enough bagels for the rest of you, too." Austyn assured, setting the brown paper bag on the counter. "But Josh is the only one that got chocolate chip."
"Injustice!" Sky declared indignantly.
She put her hands on her hips. "You can choose between plain and blueberry, or you can skip breakfast altogether. Your pick."
I watched her bicker with her cousin, her dark hair falling over her shoulders as she shook her head at Sky's nonsense.
"You're staring again." Aunt Stacey remarked, startling me.
"Oh, sorry." I dropped my gaze to my feet.
"I'm joking." She laughed, taking the seat next to me with a coffee mug in her hand.
"Is it actually that obvious, though?" I asked, glancing up at her.
"I've never seen anything more obvious in my life." She shrugged. "But that might be because I'm her mother."
"Great." I muttered.
"Don't let that embarrass you, though. It's honestly kind of fun to watch. So," she took a sip from her coffee mug, "her first show is tonight."
I nodded, gratefully allowing her to change the subject. "Yeah."
"She's nervous." She said, watching the activity in the kitchen. "Look, you can tell."
I followed her gaze. Austyn was engaged in a conversation with Josh, the both of them ignoring Sky and Aiden's arguing over who gets the last blueberry bagel.
Austyn was carrying on a steady dialogue, but she fidgeted with her hands, and though her green eyes were alight, they were almost too alight.
"She is nervous." I agreed.
Aunt Stacey nodded thoughtfully. "Take care of her, will you?"
"Yeah, I will, but she's gonna do fine—"
"I'm not just talking about tonight." She said, a knowing look in her eyes.
I nodded, slightly puzzled. "Of course."
"Good," she took another sip of her coffee. "I'm excited to see the show. I've never seen a musical before, you know."
"You'll like it, I'm sure."
She nodded, glancing up at Aiden as she walked back into the living room to retrieve her coffee cup. "I have no doubt that I will. Aiden offered to take the night off to sit with me, but I wanted to hear all of you."
The violinist smiled, shaking her head. "You probably won't even hear me."
"Untrue," I pointed at her. "There are several parts where I can hear you really well."
She rolled her eyes, picking up the mug and returned to the kitchen. "For a few seconds at the most, maybe."
"You'll be able to hear her really well, if you listen hard." I said, lowering my voice so Aiden didn't snap back at me.
"Will I be able to hear the rest of you?"
I nodded. "Austyn has her own song, so you'll hear that, Sky and I have lines, Josh has lines, and all four of us have choreography."
She laughed. "I never imagined Austyn doing any kind of choreography on-stage."
"I don't think she did either."
"I'm glad she's doing it, though." Aunt Stacey smiled. "I know she loves the stage, whether she says she does or not."
"Well, she's giving it a try tonight, so we'll see how she feels afterwards."
She folded her hands in her lap. "I guess I have you to thank for getting her up there in the first place."
"Don't thank me." I shook my head. "I was the one that suggested the idea, she was the one who made the decision."
"Either way, thank you for standing by her through the process. All I could ask is that she would have a friend to lean on." She placed her hand on my shoulder in a motherly way, "She's leaned on you, Benjamin. Even if you two are more than friends."
I nodded, smiling briefly. "You're welcome."
She narrowed her eyes, reading my expression in a way that only moms can. "You love her a lot, don't you?"
"More every day." I admitted, knowing that no one else was listening to our conversation.
A small smile quirked at the corners of Aunt Stacey's mouth, satisfied with my honesty. "She loves you too."
I took in a breath, making ready to protest. "But she—"
"Even," she cut me off, "if she hasn't said so yet. You give up that easily, and you won't get anywhere."
"Okay." I nodded, exhaling.
"Don't let anything discourage you without a fight."
I nodded again. "Thank you, Aunt Stacey."
"You've grown on me, I'm afraid, regardless of my thoughts on dating." She laughed, patting my shoulder before standing up. "I'd suggest heading into the kitchen before Sky and Aiden start killing each other with the remainder of the bagels."
"Yes, Aunt Stacey." I laughed, standing up and doing as she instructed.
Luckily, there was one plain bagel left untouched in the box.
"Perfect timing." Austyn teased, pecking my cheek. "What'd you and my mom talk about?"
I shrugged. "Why do you ask?"
"Because that is the longest talk she's ever had with you. You can't expect me to believe that it wasn't important."
"It wasn't, though." I said, innocently taking a bite of my bagel.
She rolled her eyes. "Right."
•••••
The show that night started at 7:30, which required us to be at the theater at around 6:15.
Since Stephanie had left for South Dakota the previous night, Morgan Keene, a strong candidate for Katherine on the second half of the tour, helped get Austyn settled.
"And I'll help you with your costume, mic, hair, and such." Morgan concluded her long list of instructions and tidbits.
Austyn smiled, nodding in understanding. "Okay. Thanks, Morgan."
"Anytime!" Morgan smiled back, before exiting the dressing room.
The next hour consisted of the boys spending as much time with Austyn as we could, which included a few duets from Matilda and Wicked and Josh coming up with as many innovative vocal warm-ups as he could.
"That was fun." Austyn laughed when she'd successfully completed all the warm-ups he threw at her. "I'm not sure I've ever sang the phrase 'fluffy flying goldfish' before."
He shrugged. "I like to use my gift to help people."
A brief crackling of electricity was heard over the speaker, followed by the director voicing three dreaded words: "Five minute call."
"Alright, boys," Josh clapped his hands excitedly, dragging Sky and me out of the room, before turning and chivalrously offering Austyn his hand. "And lady,"
We made our way from the dressing rooms to the backstage, where the boys went to take their places, and I stayed with Austyn while she found a chair by the door.
"You've got a little time before you have to go on, so don't stress about getting up there, but don't wait around either...I guess Josh'll come get you anyway, so it really doesn't matter—"
"I think I'll be fine." She cut in politely, reminding me that she knew what she was doing.
"Right," I took a step back. "Sorry."
"You're okay." She smiled, pulling my newsie cap over my eyes. "I gotta say, you're a lot cuter from up close than from the audience."
"I was still your favorite, wasn't I?" I readjusted my cap, giving her a smirk. "Whether I was cute or not?"
She nodded, relenting. "That's true, but now that I know you're cute, I can make that statement."
I raised my hands in surrender. "Alright, fine. So," My tone dropped some of its cheerfulness, "how are you feeling?"
She laughed, her voice trembling. "Scared out of my mind."
The fear shone clearly in her eyes, but her smile didn't fade. It was a side of her that I hadn't seen before: terrified, but just a little bit reckless.
"Hey," I took her hand in mine, "knock 'em dead."
She squeezed my hand. "I will. And," a smirk danced across her lips, "I promise I'll make my scene with Dan as short as possible—"
"Alright, alright," I held up a hand, signaling for her to stop attacking me. "No need to rub it in."
"Places call." The intercom announced.
"Okay," she let go of me. "You'd better go."
"Guess I should." I agreed, pressing a kiss to the tip of her nose before dashing off to find Josh and Sky.
"How is she?" Sky whispered as I stepped into place.
"Fine." I replied.
"Good," he looked down, fidgeting with his hands. It seemed that the 'first performance' hype had gone to his head, causing him to carry the anxiety that should've been Austyn's.
I nudged him. "She's gonna ace this."
He took a deep breath. "You're right."
"Relax," Josh laughed quietly, punching Sky in the shoulder. "Don't make me call Aiden up here."
He shook his head rapidly. "She'd just make fun of me."
"She would not." I disagreed sternly. "She'd calm you down first, then make fun of you."
"Both of you shut up before I call Aiden up here." He crossed his arms, glaring ahead of him. "This could go from Newsies to Sweeney Todd real fast, trust me."
"Easy, man." Josh whispered. "No need to set your girlfriend on us."
"Shh," he shot back as the intro music for 'Prologue' began. "Showtime."
From the very beginning of the show, we all knew that Austyn was going to be one of the best Katherines that the Nederlander theater had ever seen. Ever since she came out on Josh's arm for her first little scene, the audience had an eye on her, and that didn't change as the night went on.
When Katherine walks into Jacobi's Deli, after 'World Will Know', the newsies are supposed to act like they are all taken aback by being in the presence of a pretty girl, but it wasn't acting for me.
She'd been trying not to acknowledge me too much, but she caught my eye during that scene as I stared at her with a completely starstruck expression on my face. Unfortunately, I didn't get a reaction out of her, but she did roll her eyes before continuing on with her lines.
Next came 'Watch What Happens', which I thought I was ready for, but it turned out that I was mistaken.
Josh and Sky were too: the three of us unable to do nothing but stare at each other the entire song.
'King of New York' was, by far, my favorite scene in general, and I could tell that she thoroughly enjoyed it as well.
Her demeanor said that it was less work, and more messing around with the boys.
But our fun was cut short.
During 'Something to Believe In', I didn't talk to anyone, I didn't look at anyone, I didn't listen to anyone. I sat backstage, in a chair, arms crossed, with my eyes closed and my head leaning back against the wall.
Sky patted me on the shoulder. "You're taking this really well, man."
"I'm very proud you." Josh added.
Luckily for me, that song was only 3 minutes and 32 seconds, and it couldn't exceed that time-span, so it was over soon enough.
Our predictions had been correct about Austyn being one of the best actresses to perform at the Nederlander, and one of the best Broadway debuts we'd seen.
I looked for her on-stage after final bows, and found her getting a congratulations from Nick.
I waited until he'd finished before hooking my arms around her waist, and spinning her around from behind.
She turned around to face me when I'd set her down.
"That went by so fast!" She said breathlessly.
I'm not sure what I would've said if I'd responded to her remark verbally, but I didn't, so it doesn't matter.
I pressed my hand to her back, pulling her forward and pressing my lips to hers.
I could tell that she was a little embarrassed that I'd kissed her in a very public setting, but she didn't resist, slipping her arms around my neck.
It only lasted a few seconds, per the usual.
We nearly forgot that we were on a stage, however, and it would've gone longer if a woman in the audience, with a comically thick southern accent, had not shouted, "That ain't Jack Kelly!"
This sent Austyn into a fit of laughter, which she was unable to stifle even after we were backstage again.
She continued giggled softly from time to time after we'd all changed and were heading out the back door to meet Aiden and Aunt Stacey.
Aunt Stacey, it turned out, loved the show as much as I said she would, and spent the next ten minutes fawning over the five of us, before announcing that she had ice cream and peach cobbler waiting at their apartment.
"I swear DeMarius is out to get me." Sky declared in indignation, stabbing his dessert with his spoon. "Every single night, he tries to get me to break character, every single night."
"It's not that big a deal," Austyn shrugged, "we'll just get someone to dress up as a clown and threaten him for you."
He gazed at her warily. "That's almost as sadistic as what Aiden would've proposed."
"Watch it." Aiden warned, pointing her spoon at him.
I laughed at their interaction, standing up to put my plate in the sink.
"You did very well." Aunt Stacey's voice said from behind me.
I turned around. "I told you you'd like it."
"And you were one-hundred percent correct." She smiled. "I'm proud of all of you."
"Austyn was incredible." I said to her. "You should be especially proud of her, and of yourself."
She shook her head, waving my comment off. "I didn't raise her in the theater. Like I said before, the whole stage thing was your doing."
I shrugged. "Maybe, but it still took a mom like you to raise her to be brave enough to take that chance. If it weren't for amazing women like you, theatre would lose a lot of its participants, Broadway or not."
She stared at me a moment before sighing and opening her arms. "Alright, let me hug you."
I laughed, accepting her embrace.
"Oh my gosh," Austyn's voice came from the entrance to the kitchen.
We looked up to see her holding her head in her hands, like she didn't believe what she was seeing.
"She's hugging you." She mumbled. "She's hugging you."
"Of course I'm hugging him," Aunt Stacey said, releasing me. "He deserves a hug once in a while, especially when he voices the fact that moms are very important."
Austyn bit her lip, gazing at her mother in uncertainty. "You do like him, Mama?"
Aunt Stacey nodded. "I do like him. I know for sure by now that you wouldn't let just any guy have your heart," she looked up at me, "and I think it's safe to say that this isn't just 'any guy'."
Austyn laughed, beaming with gratitude. "Thank you, Mama."
"At any rate," Aunt Stacey shot a glance into the dining room, where Josh was practically falling asleep on the table. "I think it's time we got them home. It's nearly 11 o'clock."
I nodded. "We'll see you all tomorrow."
"Can I walk him down to the car?" Austyn asked her mother, who nodded in reply.
Josh was awake enough to walk to the garage, rather than have Sky and I carry him, so Austyn and I were able to talk some before I left.
"How do you feel now?" I asked as we made our way down the stairs.
She smiled, sighing helplessly. "I think I'm in love with this."
I grinned. "Really?"
"Absolutely." She nodded. "As soon as I walked out with Josh for my first line, I knew that this was something that I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing."
"Well, then," I stopped walking to lift her up by her waist, spinning her around again, "allow me to be the first to say: happy Broadway debut, and happy first show of many more to come."
She laughed, when her feet were firmly on the ground again. "Thank you very much."
"I'm so glad you like being on the stage with us," I could hardly contain my excitement. "I knew you would."
"Who are you kidding?" She laughed again. "I love that, and," she slipped a hand through my hair, her excitement cooling, and pressed a kiss to my lips. "I love you."
The smile faded from my face. "Yeah?"
She nodded, dropping her voice to a whisper. "I'm not afraid to say it anymore."
I tucked a loose curl behind her ear. "You're just full of confidence today, aren't you?"
"I tend to get confident when I'm happy."
"I wonder if that's true for me, too." I thought aloud, tilting my head.
She gave me a knowing smile. "Why don't you find out?"
Ignoring the butterflies that swirled around in my stomach, I leaned down swiftly and connected my lips with hers again.
"I love you." She repeated the phrase when we'd pulled back, resting her forehead against mine.
The happiness that I felt nearly brought tears to my eyes, the emotion surging deep inside my chest, and I kissed her once more. "I love you too."
She breathed a soft laugh, before falling into silence with me.
The world was still, the night breathing with us, like the calm before the storm.
____________
A concept: Ben Cook and Josh Burrage alternating as Jesse Tuck? Is that wrong of me to wish for?