The next day, Chfris got Jake a script and welcomed him to the cast. It was Jake’s first production ever, and Lauren was surprised he agreed to do it. They had afterschool rehearsal for a read-through of the show and then the cast got straight to work. Chris blocked Lauren and Jake’s scenes together in one day.
In the show Almost, Maine Jake and Lauren play the parts of Pete and Ginette. These two people are sharing a romantic moment stargazing outside when Ginette confesses she loves Pete. Her outburst is initially well received. But Pete explains that although she may feel close to him, they’re not very close at all. “If you’re assuming the world is round, like a ball, like a snowball, the farthest away you can be from somebody is if you’re sitting right next to them.” Because going around the opposite end of the world makes them “See if I’m here, and you’re here, then that’s far.” Ginette is crushed and stands up to leave. Pete tries to save the situation, but she is already gone.
Several other vignettes occur after this scene until the end of the show. Pete is still sitting alone on the bench when Ginette enters wearily from the opposite end that she exited. She has traveled around the entire world to be as close to Pete as she can possibly be. Pete and Ginette embrace and return to watch the stars together.
These scenes required Jake and Lauren to be physically intimate with each other. Lauren, as an actor was not thrown by this. She had done this countless other times with other guys, this time did not feel any different. But she became hyper aware of the fact that Jake had never done a show before, and unsure what he was thinking.
* * *
Later that evening, Lauren is driving home from rehearsal to find a snap from Jake. It shows him sitting at home, most likely watching TV and is captioned “Text me 612-***-****”. Since a snap chat is a photo that only lasts for 10 seconds, and then is gone forever, Lauren had to chant the number to herself to memorize it. She had to text him right away, before she forgot the number of course.
But having someone’s number and them not knowing yours is an opportunity too good to miss.
“I hid the body. Now what?”
His response was fast, “We’re only supposed to speak of this in person. Now you’ve compromised my identity. Contact Tadeo, I’ll be in touch.”
“Still doesn’t tell me what to do with the body…burn it or throw it in the river?” She laughed at the ridiculousness of what she was saying.
“We went over this… Metal box, make sure it has no leaks. Put the body in there and fill it with coca cola, 1 pack of AA batteries, and a block of lead. Then drop it in the river.”
“Perfect.” She said, “They’ll never find it.”
This went on for a short while until it was pretty clear Jake had guessed whom the number belonged to. The jig was up, but the conversation continued. They chatted for hours while Lauren sat in her bed doing homework. Eventually the topic came around to what everyone in the school was talking about: Prom. Lauren had already been asked by her close friend Kasun, but Jake had yet to ask anyone to the dance. They tossed ideas back and forth about who Jake could ask. “You should’ve said no Kasun.” He said.
His response shocked her a bit. Her first thought was “What does that mean? He must be joking.” Fortunately, Jake had a bit of a reputation around school of being a huge flirt. He was talkative and friendly with anyone, it never meant anything. And he would flirt with multiple different girls at once, if he was a single man. Although Lauren was thrown for a second, she didn’t let her overactive girl brain second guess it.
Jake’s faithful bright red stick-shift named Carmen was in the shop at the time. This left him with no way to get to school in the morning. Sure he could’ve gotten a guy friend or his parents to give him a ride to school. But the first person he texted for a ride was Lauren. “So I have a favor to ask you. Would you be willing to give me a ride to school in the morning?” Even though they often got to school at vastly different times, and that he lived on the opposite of the school that Lauren did. There’s no good reason why she agreed to do it. They were hardly friends at this point. Maybe she just wanted to do something nice for someone. And Jake was very surprised that she agreed to give him a ride.
At midnight she said goodnight and wearily pushed her books off her bed.
“Goodnight :)” Jake replied.
* * *
She showed up at his house at 6:50am the next morning. As payment for the ride, they stopped at Caribou. He bought a medium Campfire Mocha for himself and a medium hot chocolate for her. She tried to get a small, but he insisted on buying her a medium. It was very comfortable in the car as they drove to school with the 3000+ other students and waited in the morning traffic. They arrived at school, gathered their backpacks and coffees and went off in opposite directions for their classes for the rest of the day.
* * *
That Sunday, Jake texted Lauren, being his usual joking self. He was sarcastic and made inappropriate jokes, but Lauren was not having it. It was clear to Jake that something was wrong, so he asked. Lauren, not even sure why she was confiding in him, told him.
“There was this guy who led me on for a long time and it really hurt. I guess I’m just still getting over that.”
“I promise you that it gets better :) If you don’t have rehearsal tomorrow we can hit up caribou and talk?” he said
“Nah, you don’t want to hear my sob story haha!” she said.
“True, but I want to help you through it. If hearing it is what it takes, then lets go full speed ahead :)”
Lauren sat on her bed with her forgotten homework around her and thought about what she would possibly say to Jake at coffee. The story was a simple one, but that didn’t make it any less painful.
Blue Water Theatre Company, a local youth theatre company was putting on a production of The Secret Garden based on the beloved children’s book. Lauren was cast as Martha, the wool headed maid who becomes a mother-like figure to Mary. Just before the climax of the show, Mary is packing to be sent away. She has failed in helping Collin, restoring the Garden, and lost the only home she has ever known. Martha, desperate to console her, sings a song in which she urges her to “Hold on, there’re angels on their way. It’s this storm, not you, that’s bound to blow away.” As the story goes, Jake was in the audience of the show. Her song was very moving, and it was to be a moment he would remember for a long time.
At the same time, Lauren had a thing with the guy who played Archibald in the play. Much like his character, this guy was moody and emotional unavailable. He flirted with and led Lauren on for a while until ultimately dropping her because he wasn’t over his Ex-girlfriend.
This left Lauren emotionally torn up. Her trust and values were shaken from a year of disappointments, and it took her a while to get over it. Jake came into her life just as she was beginning to forget this guy. But it’s never easy to let things go
No comments:
Post a Comment