“What’s this game like?” I asked Chris as I removed the case to a game called ‘Fuzion Frenzy 2’ from the hoard of games that Chris had on the wall-length shelves in the lounge.
Chris looked up at me from where he’d been putting the game disk for ‘The Simpsons: Hit and Run’ back into its case. He climbed to his feet and walked over to me with the case, tidying it away now that we’d completed the game together. “It’s a multiplayer game where you go to different planets and complete different mini games. It’s kind of like a mini game tournament game show thing. I got it free with my Xbox.”
I flipped the case over to skim through the game summary. Underneath the summary, there were six perky looking characters standing on a grey star background, and all of these characters were wearing all-in-one, futuristic looking attire. The game certainly looked…interesting. “Is it a shitty game then? If it was free, that’s what you’d expect, right?”
One corner of Chris’ mouth twitched up as he took the game from me and walked back to the TV. “Sometimes, but then you can get Mario games free with certain consoles, so it’s not always true. This game is average and all, but the presenter guy is annoying as fuck. He goes on and on and on about pointless shit which you don’t need to know about.”
I grinned to myself as sat myself down in Chris’ red reserved-for-gaming-beanbag before the TV. “He sounds like someone else I know,” I said innocently, looking at Chris exaggeratedly to try and get my point across to him.
Chris rolled his eyes as he put the disk into the console. “Go and get the hot chocolate and toast, would ya?”
“But I’m making dinner tonight! How is making breakfast as well fair?”
“It’s your day to cook generally, not just dinner,” Chris pointed out. He picked up the two Xbox controllers before looking down at me in the beanbag. “Besides, you’re in my seat.”
I groaned as I tugged myself out from my comfy seat to go and make our standard gaming breakfast. “I want a bean bag!” I called out to him as I moved through the dark flat to the kitchen.
“You’ll have to buy it yourself, then!”
I smiled to myself in amusement as I turned on the kitchen light before making my way to the fridge to collect the milk and bread. Nutella on toast and hot chocolates at four am had become a routine for me and Chris. Today was Saturday, so I technically had to be at the theatre in five hours to clean, but that still gave us some time to play ‘Fuzion Frenzy 2’ and eat.
I slotted two pieces of bread into the toaster and set the kettle to boil with a flick of two switches. Sorting out the components for breakfast in this kitchen had become almost second nature for me. I could prepare it all in about ten minutes, and that length of time was largely due to how long it took for the bread to toast.
The smell of the toast cooking filled me with a homely feeling as I retrieved the two slices from the toaster and popped in two more bits of bread in their place. It reminded me of how I used to make toast for one of my brothers before school when I was home. Toast with butter and strawberry jam on a floral plate alongside a plastic cup of orange juice, slowly being devoured by an innocent six year old. Making toast here, on the other hand, was giving me a new memory. It was stupid to think that something as simple as warmed or slightly burnt bread could remind me of so much, but it just did. I didn’t tell Chris about the sentimental qualities the toast gave me, because I knew it was weird. Chris didn’t need reassuring of my odd qualities.
With the toast dressed in Nutella and the hot chocolate powder semi-dissolved in the drink, I returned to Chris to play the video game. Chris was relaxing on his beanbag with a faint look of boredom on his face as he gazed out the window to the dark of the city. Although, it wasn’t all that dark outside due to the orange and yellow glow of light pollution which shielded the stars as well as making it look like the city was aflame. It almost made me want to take a spontaneous holiday out into the country just so that I could actually see the details of the sky rather than being blinded by the florescent lightings of this place.
“Thanks,” Chris murmured as he accepted one of the mugs from my hand and snatched up a piece of toast to immediately slot into his mouth.
I set the plate and my mug down on the floor next to Chris before gathering a cushion from the sofa to sit on the floor next to him with. I sunk down onto the cushion and took an experimental sip of my drink, burning my tongue a little in the process. After wincing at the burn, I picked up my controller just as loud techno music blasted from the TV from the start-up of the game.
Not twenty minutes later, I was really getting into the game. Chris and I would celebrate over our own victories at the end of each short mini game (each of which were a lot harder than I’d thought they’d be), whilst also showing off to the loser about how successful they were. It was very competitive but a complete and utter laugh.
We were just finishing a certain mini game where we’d had to jump and duck underneath lasers on a rotating track whilst collecting coins, when my phone’s alarm went off, informing me that I had an hour until I had to leave for work. This series of buzzing and chirping sounds startled me enough to make my character run into a laser and get knocked off the track, effectively eliminating me from the one-on-one race that Chris and I’s characters had been having on screen.
“I lost concentration,” I sulked whilst I turned off my alarm and Chris celebrated by doing a series of air punches.
“Yeah, but I still won,” Chris chortled with a grin. “Is it time for you to leave already?”
I shrugged as I climbed up from the floor, my cushion in hand as I threw it back onto the sofa. “I’ll see you at around one,” I informed him reluctantly before I made for the bathroom to shower.
“Right,” Chris said. “I’ll probably be filming when you get back. I kind of need to do a vlog, seeing as I haven’t done one in about a month…”
“Do I have permission to yell at you if you haven’t at least started filming by the time I get back?” I asked, pausing at the end of the sofa to look back at my flatmate with a grin. “I think you could upload a video of you eating cereal and you’d still get views.”
“Ah, Charlie’s already done that.”
I turned to leave, trying to avoid the distraction that Chris was giving me by our conversation. “It’s a good thing that I don’t decide the content on your channel then, isn’t it? Just try and film something. Call one of your friends over to help you, even.”
“Right. See y’ later, Princess.”
I really need to think of a nickname for him, especially if he’s still persistent about calling me ‘princess’ or ‘your highness’....
*
Three hours later and I was just finishing up on cleaning and listening in on the singing classes which were going on as I worked.
It was the final Elphaba and Glinda call backs this coming Friday so I wanted to ask Max if I could have time out from work to go and watch. For all I knew, the Glinda and Elphaba chosen could be perfect for their roles. But then again, I liked to think that I hadn’t had a fair chance. I could have been perfect for the role. Could have. I shouldn’t wallow in self-pity, but it’s difficult not to. Then again, the Elphaba role wasn’t the only thing which I grudgingly pitied myself about. I pitied myself for actually having feelings for Chris; feelings, that I didn’t really want to face.
It was nearing the end of my cleaning time, so I knew that the Elphaba girls would be singing soon. I was excited to hear them sing, seeing as it had been a whole week since I’d heard them, after all. I’d done some singing by myself at home, much to Chris’ dismay, and I’d asked Max about tuition, which she and Janice were slowly researching for me at this moment in time. Still, I wanted to have these Elphaba lessons.
During this week’s Saturday rehearsal, after going through the vocal rehearsals with the Elphaba girls, I heard that one of the girls wasn’t faring well vocal wise. She was coughing and hacking as if she was trying to cough up the whole Wicked cast like a fur ball. She’d initially gently been advised to take it easy and not to strain herself, but the stupid girl had persisted and made her voice worse; all scratchy and faint at certain notes. I had to admit to myself, as I shoved the bristles of a sweeping brush over the stage, that I thought this girl would surely be asked to leave. Being stubborn enough to willingly damage her voice just so that she could keep up with the other singers was an idiotic thing to do. It was amateur.
My opinions didn’t matter so of course this girl didn’t flee from the practice room in tears or anything of the sort. The coughing did cease for a few minutes at a time whilst the other girls (and I) sang, however, but I could still faintly hear those pitiful, breathy, little coughs like a drone of a fly in the background. Despite this, I still attempted to continue singing along. Unlike last week, I’d found a sweeping brush to dance around the stage with.
Don’t you dare judge me! I hate being this ‘lovesick’ over a guy who’s in love with someone else. I got swept up in the clichés of films where the girl dances around the room with inanimate objects. If it makes it any better, I was pretending that the brush was Fiyero, whom Elphaba falls in love with, whilst singing ‘As Long As You’re Mine’. I was simply using a prop in acting…
“Kiss me too fiercely,
Hold me too tight,
I need help believing,
You're with me tonight.
My wildest dreamings,
Could not foresee,
Lying beside you,
With you wanting me,
Just for this moment,
As long as you're mine.
I've lost all resistance,
And crossed some borderline,
And if it turns out,
It's over too fast,
I'll make every last moment last,
As long as you're mine.”
Just as I was finishing the song and leaning over the brush as I pretended to stroke the side of Fiyero’s face, I heard the anxiety evoking sound of heeled shoes clacking emerge from behind me.
I clumsily scrabbled to drag the brush after me as I scuttled to the box of cleaning essentials to the side of the stage, which I hastily picked up and tried to flee in the opposite direction away from this sound. With my mop abandoned mid-stage, I made for the opposite side of the stage, where I tried to hide in the shadows that the stage lights couldn’t reach next to the curtains.
Oh fuck, someone’s found me, I thought as I tried to tuck myself into the curtains themselves. I’d definitely heard someone walking around, hadn’t I? Heels are pretty easy to identify and I don’t think heels walk around on their own behind the scenes at a theatre… What if it was Dexter? Or Tony? Please don’t let it be them, please. Wait, why would they be wearing heels? They could be, I wouldn’t judge. Oh, why am I such a coward? Why did I do this singing lark? Fuckfuckfuck.
A slim and willowy woman clicked her way out to stand in the light of the stage. She was normal looking, if quite tall in her nude coloured heels, but she radiated this calm demeanour which I could sense even from my hiding place between the curtains and set.
My heart raced as I watched her stop at centre stage and look around the room. She looked so elegant as she stood there. She almost looked like she’d travelled here straight from the sixties, at least, it appeared that way judging by her attire. Her dress was pastel pink in colour which was coated in little white dots and had buttons at the neck, leading to a curved white collar. She sure dressed prettily.
Whilst I admired her poise and appreciated her wardrobe, the woman’s vibrant blue eyes wandered around the stage, lingering on the small pile of dust that I’d left centre stage from when I’d used the brush. Apparently sighting the clue I’d left of my presence, her eyes shot up to me immediately from where she’d been studying the floor. It was like I was in plain sight, rather than hidden between folds of curtain fabric.
“I’m not going to rat you out,” the woman said. Her voice was velvety and rich, the sound of which made me think of how ideal her voice was for singing. Listening to her voice must be like having the sweetest melody playing whilst you tried to sleep. Wow.
She blinked slowly at me. “And just because your leggings match the curtains doesn’t mean I can’t see you…or that broom.”
I felt my body run hot then cold with fear and nerves as I slowly slid out from my little corner of the stage, the broom dragging behind me. How can I trust her? She looks like she could snap every bone in my body with just a flick of her manicured nails. I edged out into the open and loitered a meter or so away from the woman, unsure on what I should say, or if she had something to say to me. Surely, she wouldn’t just call me out from the curtain just to watch me squirm, would she?
The woman brought her lips into her mouth before looking down to the skirt of her dress, which she ran her fingers across as if she was trying to calm herself. “I’d hate to be blunt,” she continued as she pressed at invisible wrinkles on her dress, “but why aren’t you back with the other Elphaba girls?”
I raised an eyebrow at her as I made a big thing of tapping my fingers against the broom handle.
She laughed, showing the glint of metal that was in her tongue. “Apart from the cleaning. I didn’t think there was a cleaner around on Saturdays?”
“I- I… I couldn’t make the last call back that was arranged,” I stammered. “I help out with the cleaning on Saturdays.” I couldn’t help looking at her mouth. Her dress sense and tongue piercing gave me mixed messages about her, and that intrigued me. It was like she was all sugary sweet in appearance, but underneath she was rebellious and sharp. I suppose how you dressed could say, and hide, a lot about a person.
“Ah, are you the travel sickness suffering set designer? Josie, or something?”
“Is that what my title is? ‘The-travel-sickness-suffering-set-designer’?” I couldn’t help but scoff.
There was a twinkle in the woman’s eyes as she smiled to me. “This place is all about the gossip behind the scenes.”
“Figures…” I shrugged. My toes curled in my shoes as I tried to recompose myself. “My name’s Jamie, by the way,” I gently corrected her. With some rearranging of my cleaning supplies, I managed to give her a feeble wave of my fingers.
“Sorry, I’m no good with names,” she sighed. “I’m Felicity, but you can call me Liss.”
“Um, hi. Do you mind me asking who you are, Liss?” I blurted. I cringed at my words. “I don’t mean to intrude, or anything, but you seem to have a vague idea who I am and all…”
“Oh, I’m the Elphaba stand in,” Liss smiled.
My eyes widened. “Lucky.”
Liss scrunched her nose up at me. “Believe me; a lot of luck was involved… Anyway, enough about me. I didn’t come out here just to talk about myself, believe it or not.”
I half-smiled at her mockingly. “You didn’t?”
“Nope, I wanted to talk to you about something, you set designer,” Liss cheered. The way she said ‘set designer’ would have sounded stunted and cruel from anyone else, but from her, it sounded like a pet name. I couldn’t fathom how, or why that was, but it sounded almost kindly. “Listen, don’t lose heart in Elphaba. There will be other Wicked productions for you to partake in. Plus, the cast changes every year, so maybe you can be Elphaba next year? You’re good.”
“That’s what you had to tell me?” I squeaked. If this girl was the Elphaba stand in, then surely she should have a theatrical past like Carrie? That had to mean something.
Liss nodded and ducked her head. She scratched the back of her neck cautiously before looking up at me from under her level, blonde fringe. “Can you dance and act, though?”
“I like to think I’m capable… I don’t have a teacher here, though.”
“Can I help with that?” Liss spluttered, sucking in her lips once again. “I’ve learnt the routines and stage directions that Elphaba has to do, and I was Elphaba myself a few years back.”
Hope welled in me, even if it was tainted by suspicion. “Why would you want to help me? As you can see, I’m a cleaner, and your offer sounds like the most cliché of turning points in a rom-com film.”
Liss giggled. “Four or so people have come to me and asked that I talk to you, I’ll tell you that. Should I even bother mentioning that travel sickness is probably the most ridiculously pitiful way to miss out on a role in the theatre? No offence.”
‘Four or so’? Who’d go up to the Elphaba stand in and ask that she help me? The only people that I could think of would be Carrie and Max, and even that was doubtful. Yet, how could I just hang around London for a year to wait until next year’s Elphaba auditions? What use would the help be now that I couldn’t do anything with it? Why was I even singing along to the Saturday rehearsals? What was I doing? Why was I still here? I would say that Chris was my reason to stay, but he loved Mia. I could just return to living with Maddie. I could buy myself a pug and we could walk our dogs together. I could leave behind this crazy London life that Chris had tripped me into and just live a quiet life with Maddie. Being here at the theatre and being around Chris hurt too much. It also made me angrier than I’d been in years.
“What would be the point,” I sighed to myself whilst I looked at my toes. “Thanks, but-”
“But what? Are you scared that you’ll actually do well? Scared that you only really got one shot at being Elphaba? You can’t hide behind a broom whilst you attempt to ease the pain that being here gives you. You’re incredibly easy to read.”
I scowled. “Look, Liss.” My body was working on autopilot, daring me to look Liss dead in those sapphire eyes of hers. “You’ve only heard the gossip that my name evokes. You don’t know just how much damn effort I put into getting here the first time around. I can never top that effort. I want this so badly, but I failed. I failed to do such a simple thing of getting to a theatre one time and it truly fucked me over. I am not worthy to be Elphaba anymore. If after how much effort I put in I didn’t get the role, what would be the point in trying again?”
My eyes stung as I held onto my tears. With my brain feeling tense and my emotions haywire as I realised this great sense of failure, it took every bit of me to not look away from Liss and her innocent gaze.
That innocent gaze slid into determination in an instant. “You don’t always get what you want first time around. You should know by now that this industry is difficult and does require a lot of effort. This was your first time auditioning for a production like this and yet, you were only stopped because of sickness. Just let me teach you some extra stuff for next time.” Liss glared at me now and that, paired with the hopeful smirk that was tugging her mouth upwards in one corner, intrigued me.
“You’re a stranger,” I said quietly. “Why would you help me?”
“A stranger who has green body paint on her skin,” Liss said softly, her voice lulling me to comply as she lifted her hands to show me the smudges of green which resided at her nail beds and between her fingers. “I was asked to help you, Jamie, and I want to agree to those requests. If anything, please just accept for the practice. I can tell you love the theatre. Would you really still be here if you didn’t?”
I paused. Liss had a point. I was likely still here because I loved the theatre this much. Technically, I suppose I was willing to bear the gossip that hung around me like smoke, or the extra work, purely because I got to be here more often. I loved the setup of the stage, the knitted community and the opportunity of just being here. Liss was an effective persuasive speaker.
“When are you free?”
'·.¸¸.·´´¯'··._.·'·.¸¸.·´´¯'··._.·'·.¸¸.·´´¯'··._.·'·.¸¸.·´´¯'··._.·'·.¸¸.·´´¯'··._.·'·.¸¸.·´´¯'··._.·'·.¸¸.·´´¯'··._.·'·.¸¸.·´´¯'··._.·
A/N: Hello peoples *waves*
So...1000 followers? That is beyond insane. I just. I can't even. It's been a few days since that number was reached, but I still don't really believe that it's there. It like the number will disappear if I look at it the wrong way or something stupid like that. Thank you to anyone who'd followed me, as I truly appreciate your support and kind words <3
Seriously though: I think 'Fuzion Frenzy 2' is a pretty good game. I feel really nostalgic just thinking about it :3 That's one of the things I like about this story; that I can relive nostalgic moments like this when deciding on video games that Jamie and Chris can play together.
I apologise that my writing seems to be almost jumpy recently (at least, that's what it feels like for me) but I don't really know why that is :/ I'll just try and slow it down a tad, or something, idk...
Please comment and vote if you want to (literally every vote and comment makes me smile giddily, which is quite pathetic of me...) :)
*salutes*
Em >^-^<