Chapter 2

The following Thursday found us in the theatre waiting for auditions to start. My dad had a copy of Side By Side and we listened to it one afternoon. One thing was obvious: Stephen Sondheim doesn't write typical "boy meets girl" musicals.

Mr. Franks came in and looked around. "Well, I hope you're all ready for a wild ride. I'll warn you up front that Sondheim's music is probably the most challenging you'll run into—at least in a Broadway show. Those of you who are cast will work like you've never worked before. Just fair warning for anyone who wants to bolt for the door now." There was a nervous chuckle, but no one left.

"Are you ready for a challenge like this?" I asked Beth.

She looked at me with that little grin. "Tommy, I've been challenged ever since I met you. Remember that first Saturday?" she said as she snuggled next to me.

"Okay, break it up you two!" Greg leaned over the seat and grinned.

Two hours later we were on our way home. Results of the auditions wouldn't be posted until the following Tuesday, so everybody had the weekend to sweat. Of course, one person's sweat is another person's sweet...

"Tommy, I think it's time for a trip to the farm," Beth said as she ran her hand up my leg.

I love auditions.

School was over Friday afternoon and I was at my locker dumping my books when Cindy walked up, "Tommy, can I talk to you?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Can we take a walk? I don't want to talk around a lot of people."

"Okay, can we wait for Beth? She wanted to talk to Mr. Franks. I think she's trying to con the audition results out of him."

"Think she'll have any luck?" Cindy asked. Since she'd auditioned, too, I was sure she'd want to know who got in.

"I doubt it, at least if their last encounter is any indication."

"Indication of what?" Guess who had snuck up behind me?

"Oh, nothing. Cindy and I were just waiting for you, that's all." Tap-dance a little faster, why don't you, Tommy?

"Uh huh. You just stick with that, Tommy."

We walked out into the yard area between the buildings.

"Okay, Cindy. What's the big secret?" I jokingly asked.

"Tommy, I don't think you're going to be laughing after you hear this.

"I talked to my sister and it sounds like Kevin is getting a little wild at school." Cindy sounded like that was the last thing she wanted to tell me.

"Kevin? My quiet little brother? What do you mean wild?"

"Well, it seems he's been after every girl he can and, if the rumors are right, scoring with a bunch of them."

"Kevin? That doesn't sound like him," Beth said.

"Hey, I'm just passing along what I heard, but I thought you'd want to know, Tommy."

"Thanks, Cindy. Sounds like it's time for a brother-to-brother discussion."

Greg walked up to us. "So here's where you're hiding. You trying to start a harem, Tommy?"

Cindy draped herself over me, "Yeah, Tommy, you want to take me home?"

Beth slipped her arms around Greg, "Looks like I've been abandoned. You want to take home a stray?"

"Looks like our bluff's being called," Cindy said as she unwound herself and moved over to Greg. Beth just sighed and walked over to me, "Well, I guess, if I have to take second best..."

As we drove home, Beth and I talked about my brother.

"Tommy, what do you think is going on with Kevin? It just doesn't sound like the shy kid I met last fall."

"I don't know. But after I drop you off I'm going to have a talk with him. Maybe it's nothing—just an exaggerated rumor."

"I hope so. Kev seems like a nice guy, I'd hate to think he's turning into one of those bastards that try to score just to keep score."

So did I.

Kevin was on the couch in front of the idiot box when I walked in. "Hi, Kev. How goes it?"

"Oh, okay, I guess."

"How's school going? Meeting anybody interesting?"

"Nah."

"Nobody special? Not even any girls?" I hated to lead him like this, but I wasn't ready to just come out and accuse him of anything.

"Nah, nobody."

"Funny, I heard you've been pretty busy."

He turned to look at me. "What do you mean by that?"

"Kev, I heard you've been going through a lot of girls over there."

"Yeah, so?"

"But nobody special?"

"No!" He started to get up until I nudged him back down. "Kevin, what's going on?"

"What do you mean? Besides it's none of your business!"

"It IS my business when my friends start asking me what you're doing."

"Okay, so I've been fucking some girls, big deal!"

"Fucking some girls? Kevin, it IS a big deal, or at least it should be. Haven't you tried to find one girl? Because if you are trying, you're going about it wrong."

"I don't want to find just one girl! Look what happened last time! I didn't even get to see Gail before she moved! Her folks just packed up and moved two thousand miles away and didn't even tell her until they were ready to leave!

"I don't EVER want to feel like that again!" He jumped up from the couch and bolted for his room, leaving me sitting there wondering what to say next and wishing I'd brought Beth home with me. Maybe she'd have some idea how to handle this.

I sat there for a few minutes then walked upstairs and tapped on his door.

"Go away! Leave me alone!"

I opened his door and saw him lying on his bed, face buried in the pillow.

"Listen Squirt..."

"DON'T CALL ME THAT! YOU PROMISED TO STOP THAT!"

"Kevin, I promised to stop calling you that when you stopped acting like a kid. Sounds to me like you've slipped." I nudged him over and sat down on the bed.

"Look, going through girls like you're keeping score isn't going to help the hurt. What you're doing is nothing better than selfish masturbation—it feels good when you're doing it, but it doesn't fix anything. Have you ever thought about how the girls feel when you're done with them? Have you?"

"I don't care! Just leave me alone!" He tried to get up.

"Kev, you're not going anywhere until we've talked about this. Okay, I can understand you're hurting since Gail left, but taking it out on other girls isn't going to fix anything."

"Okay, mister expert, what am I supposed to do? I don't EVER want to feel that bad again."

"I can understand that, but if you don't try to find somebody else you're never going to feel good either.

"Look, Kev, I can't imagine what I'd feel like if Beth disappeared, but I know bouncing from girl to girl wouldn't help. On top of that, if you get a rep as a guy who's just carving notches, you're going to find it hard to find anybody to even talk to you. Wise up and start treating the girls the way you want to be treated, not like some points in a game nobody can win." With that I got up and walked out, closing the door behind me, wondering if I did any good.

My phone rang as I pulled into the driveway Saturday afternoon.

"Tommy, my name is Jim Moore, I understand you're a photographer."

"Yes, how can I help you?"

"Do you do aerial photography? I've got a couple of buildings and I'd like some pictures of them from the air. Can you help me?"

"Well, I've never done any aerial photography before. Do you mind if I take some time to check to make sure my equipment will work?" And spend some time boning up on the subject of shooting from the air, I thought.

"Oh, that's no problem, and I've got my own plane and I assume that you'd want me to fly for you."

"That sounds good. Oh, one question—can a window be taken out or opened so I don't have to shoot through the glass?"

Jim just chuckled, "Oh, that won't be a problem, believe me!"

We talked for a few more minutes and made tentative arrangements to meet at the local airport on Wednesday afternoon. Aerial photography! This sounds like it's going to be fun!

Saturday night Beth and I met Steve and Sherry for a movie and pizza. We were sitting in "our" booth at the Palace when Sherry giggled.

"Do you guys know what they call this booth? I was talking to my mom and she said they called it the snuggle booth! Can you believe it? Mom said she and Dad used to come here all the time!"

Beth and I exchanged glances.

"I wonder why they called it that?" Beth said with a straight face.

"Well, duh! I mean it's off in this corner all by itself!"

"Oh, yeah, that'd probably explain it," Beth replied. Steve looked at me and just shrugged.

"So Steve, who do you think you'll get cast for Side By Side? You auditioned, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but I don't think I've got the voice to carry some of those songs. I picked up the CD and that stuff's tough! I don't think Beth will have any problem, but Mr. Franks wasn't kidding about working our tails off. It would be fun, though..."

We finished up our pizza and headed home. We'd been in the car for maybe five minutes when Beth couldn't hold it any more. "The snuggle booth! I can't believe it! Sherry thought it was a big secret. Cheerleaders!"

"Hey, come on, she's not that bad. She just thought she had a juicy piece of news, that's all."

"Well, I suppose. I wonder what she would have said if we told her about the parking lot!" Beth spent the rest of the trip home chuckling to herself.

"Tommy, my folks are gone tonight and I'm afraid to go in the house by myself. Will you come in with me?"

Now how could a gentleman refuse a request like that? Especially when I remembered the last time she didn't want to be in an empty house alone.

When we got in the family room, I snuggled up behind Beth. "I wonder if there's a Sherlock Holmes movie on tonight?" I whispered in her ear.

"If not, I've got the DVD," she responded as she wiggled her butt into my growing erection.

"Do you have a sore back, too?" I said as I started rubbing her neck and shoulders.

"You wouldn't take advantage of a poor defenseless girl, would you?" She purred.

"That all depends on who the girl is," I replied as I reached under her sweater.

We both started laughing, remembering our first Friday night. The laughter didn't last too long, though. It was replaced by some more interesting sounds.

Sunday I spent the day reading up on aerial photography. It looked like my camera would work as long as I used a fast shutter speed and, to cut down vibration, made sure to not brace myself against the plane. Fortified with my new knowledge, I called Jim on Monday and told him I could get his pictures.

Tuesday afternoon all the theatre-types gathered outside Mr. Franks' office waiting for him to post the audition results. He came out with a look of mock surprise. "Well, what are all of you waiting for?"

"C'mon, Mr. Franks! We want to know who's in the show!"

"Oh, yeah, I was going to post the results today, wasn't I? Now what did I do with those," he said as he started rummaging through his briefcase ... accompanied by crowd sounds usually associated with pitchforks and torches.

"Ah, here they are!" He waved a sheet of paper over his head, turned, tacked it to the board and quickly backed away. Smart man.

Beth's and Cindy's names were both on the list, as was...

"What! Me! How'd that happen? I just auditioned for the fun of it! I didn't think I'd make it!"

"Hey, Steve, better talk to Beth about what happens when you audition just for grins," I gave him a nudge.

"Yeahbut..."

"Mr. Watkins, do you think I made a mistake?" Mr. Franks has a nasty grin when he wants to.

"Um, do you really think I can do it?" Steve sounded like he wanted to be convinced.

"As I told Miss Jones last year, I wouldn't have cast you if I didn't."

Steve looked at Beth and got nothing back but a nod and a grin.

As we walked to my car, Beth started giggling, "Did you see the look on Steve's face!"

"Yeah, he kind of looked like somebody else I know."