by Max Hudson
He stumbled back and fell square on his butt. “Hey!”
“Sorry.” The other person mumbled and turned toward him.
“It’s all right.” Bowie laughed. “Just surprised me, that’s all.”
The man reached out to help him up. And that was when the realization washed over him. He knew this man. “Do I know you?”
The man blinked as Bowie helped himself up. “I’m sorry?”
“Hero, right?” Bowie dusted himself off. It was a habit, even if there wasn’t any dust on the floor that had managed to cling onto his leather pants as he got up.
“Yeah? Do I know you?” The man sounded like he wasn’t in a great mood.
“I’m Bowie. We went to school together.”
Hero looked at him carefully and frowned.
It wasn’t like Bowie could blame the man. High school had been almost a decade ago. It was easy to forget about it. High school wasn’t exactly as important as teenagers thought that it was. “Sorry.”
Hero nodded. “That was a long time ago.”
A long time ago was a joke. It had to be. They had thought that the world was going to open up for them back then. They had been so close. Bowie felt a shiver run down his spine thinking about it. They had nearly been a couple. At the time it felt like destiny, now they barely recognized each other when they bumped into each other. It was enough to make him ponder where all the years had gone.
Had it been that long since high school? Most days it didn’t feel like it was that long. Then every once in a while, there would come a day like this, a stark reminder of times gone by that let him feel every single second that had passed since those romantic moments were shared.
Hero was staring at him. Probably because Bowie was staring first. He coughed and looked away. “How have you been lately?” Bowie forced himself to ask a question.
“Been all right.”
“Still dancing?” The conversation had the flat tonality of two people who didn’t know what to say to end the awkward atmosphere but were unwilling to separate quite yet to go their own ways.
“Yeah, I got hired here.”
“Thought you were big on traditional dancing?”
Hero laughed. “I haven’t changed much.”
“We’re not exactly music for the ballet.” Bowie smiled back at him. He was teasing a little bit, but that was ok. It felt all right at least, Hero seemed a little more comfortable with him as they spoke a little more. That was something that Bowie was grateful for.
“A paycheck is a paycheck.” Hero shrugged and looked away from the rocker.
“Yeah, I know that feeling, just trying to make a living myself.”
“Haven’t made it big yet, huh?”
“Not yet, maybe soon. Hoping this could help. It’s kind of a big thing.” Bowie said. “Big opportunity if it all plays out just right.”
“What are you going to do?” Hero asked.
“I don’t know yet. I’m still coming up with ideas for our part in the show.” Bowie smiled. Now that they weren’t talking about something that Hero might find shameful the conversation was coming along a lot easier. It made Bowie a little happier to feel the flush of a happy memory, one of the very few from his younger years. Hero had always sort of stood as the one that got away, even if he didn’t want to admit that about a casual high school boyfriend. “We just figured out all the paperwork, but I’m going to go home and get with the guys and plan.”
Hero nodded. “Well, if you need a dancer, let me know.”
“I will.” Bowie nodded. “See you later?”
“Yeah. We’re probably be working in the same areas at least.”
“Awesome.” Bowie nodded to his old friend. It was nice to talk to him again, but they couldn’t keep dragging this out forever. Still, it felt like neither of them wanted to walk away. He paused, waited for a few tense heartbeats then asked the question. “You wanna get some coffee sometime? Catch up maybe?”
Hero took a moment to respond. “Sure, sounds great.”
“Great. Let me give you my number.” Bowie pulled out his phone so he could give the right number. “Sorry, I probably should have memorized my number by now.”
Hero laughed. “Does anyone memorize their number anymore?” He pulled out his phone for the quick exchange of contact information.
And then they walked away, leaving each other behind again. It felt almost symbolic and he knew that Hero was never going to call. Why would he? There was no way that the dancer felt the same way. He had been so cold when things had ended in high school. They had made the promise to stay friends, but that never actually works out in the real world and they both knew it. It was best to just let things fade away. And that was exactly what they had done.
At the time it had been something to be content with, but now, he couldn’t help but wonder how it all could have turned out. Could it have been something different? Something better? Could they have turned out differently? Maybe it was his fault it didn’t turn out; he had been so critical of the classics and ballet. That must have been tough on Hero to hear over and over again. No wonder the man had walked away from him.
He sighed and climbed into his car. He had more important things to worry about than running into an ex from another lifetime. It had just been a silly high school fling. There was no way that it had even meant anything. Life just didn’t work that way, no matter what those fluke stories said. They were flukes. Outliers. That’s why they were so famous. He had to dispel the thoughts, there was a show to put on.
Chapter Four
Hero sighed as he sat back in his chair. He was already tired just thinking about the ridiculous things this job was going to ask of him. On top of that, he had made an ass out of himself when he spoke to a guy that knew him in the life he had lived before he had gone to an arts college and then signed up to travel across the entire region with the dance troupe, finding places to perform classical ballet. And now he was back. And all he could do was think about all the reasons he didn’t want to be in this town.
He pushed his hair back away from his face, feeling the frustration well up inside of him. He had to do something different, get himself away from the thoughts that were cluttering up his mind. He had to call a friend, talk to them. Hear another human voice. Talk to someone.
He considered calling Bowie, but he quickly threw that thought to the side. They had only seen each other once in passing in the past decade. There was no way that he was going to be someone to call when he had this kind of restlessness running through him. He paced a bit.
He picked up his phone and hit the rarely used call button. He wasn’t one that normally called people, but hearing another human voice was something important right then. He hated being alone with his thoughts. They always turned toward thoughts of how alone he was.
He called Agnes, the woman who had stayed behind to check on him when he was nursing that injured knee.
She answered on the second ring with a yawn. “Yes?”
“Did I wake you?”
“Nah, I wasn’t asleep yet, just trying to decide if I wanted to go to bed early or not.” She laughed lightly.
“Well if you want to go to bed, you should.”
“Did you call me to tell me to go to bed?” She was grinning, he could hear it in her voice, echoing down the line and straight into his brain, making him feel better.
He shook his head. “No, was just calling to check in with you and see how you’re doing.”
“Did you get picked for a band yet?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t gotten word, but I think there’s one that I might get picked for.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I know one of the bands.”
He could hear the shuffling of her bouncing on the seat she was sitting on. She was excited. “Oh! Who?”
“I don’t know his band name. I don’t remember it. It may not even be the same one he was in during High School, but his name is Bowie.”
“You
know what?”
“What?” He stopped what he was going to say when she said that. “What do you mean?”
“Is this an ex?”
“What? How could you know that?” He shook his head again, this time in disbelief.
“Just the tone of your voice when you said his name. Tell me about him.”
Hero rolled his eyes. “It’s just a high school boyfriend. It’s not that important.”
She laughed. “A high school boyfriend. So a friend, but with a different label?”
The male dancer laughed loudly. “Maybe, we may have gotten a bit hot and heavy back in the day, but it wasn’t something huge.”
She snickered from her end of the phone. “I want to hear all of the gossip. You ran into him?”
“Yeah, he recognized me.”
“But you didn’t recognize him?”
“He dyed his hair and was wearing guyliner.”
This made her burst out in laughter. “He didn’t dress like that before, did he?”
“No, well, he did when his band had a gig. It was the whole rock thing.”
“What kind of rock?”
Hero thought about it for a second. He had to remember. It had been a long time since he had even seen Bowie, much less thought about him. They had dated for about a year back then, however, and they had found each other separating at the end of their senior year, fresh out of school. Bowie had stayed in town to get a job and keep up with his music and Hero had left to go to a performing arts college that he was still paying off the loans he had taken to get there. He sighed. “Alt Rock, I think.”
She nods. “The makeup checks out then. Where did you run into him?”
“His band is one of the ones performing at the festival thing.”
“Good. Do you have a way to get in touch with him?”
The dancer shrugged, even if the woman on the other end of the line couldn’t see it. It took him a second to realize that she couldn’t see him. “Yeah, he gave me his number.”
“Wait, so he recognized you, and then he gave you his number?”
“Yeah, he did.”
She practically squealed in delight. “You realize what that means, right?”
“That I haven’t changed as much as he has?” Hero spoke dryly. He knew what she was getting at, but he was damn well going to make her say it and not feed into that.
She laughed. “No, that he remembers you because he likes you.”
Hero ran his hand through his blond hair and rolled his hazel eyes. “That’s ridiculous. There’s no way that he can still like me. That was over a decade ago and there’s no way either of us knows each other well enough to still have feelings.”
“That’s not how feelings work. They don’t make sense.”
“Yeah, well if he still likes me, he’s got his issues and I probably shouldn’t get in contact with him.” Hero sighed.
“Damn, I got picked for a project already, but I guess you’re just lower on the list.”
“Most of them are probably looking for girl dancers.” Hero sighed. It was the standard plight of the male ballet dancer. It wasn’t ever the first thing that came to anyone’s mind. And that worked as a disadvantage for him in times like this.
“You’ll still get paid, at least.”
“Yeah, paid to sit around and do nothing. I’m not a fan of that.” He shook his head and walked into the kitchen area of his one-bedroom apartment. He opened up the fridge door.
“You don’t like sitting around do you?”
“No.”
“Is it because you’re there alone? Do you want to come over to the house?”
Hero sighed and shook his head. “Not really, no. Just wanted to hear another human voice.”
She laughed. “I’m touched that you consider me human.”
“I know, right?” Hero smirked at the joke. It felt nice to be joking around a little bit. It was something that he didn’t do as often as he could. People had said that he takes himself too seriously on occasion. And he couldn’t argue with that. He liked the way that his life was, he enjoyed what he did and he didn’t want any of that to change even in the slightest. It made him a little grumpier to know that his life was changing, but Agnes was making him feel a lot better about the change. He honestly didn’t know what he would do if she wasn’t there to remind him that it wasn’t as bad as he thought it was. “Hard to believe that you’re human, but the tests came back and you are.”
She laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You should.” He hit her with another tease. “Being human is a pretty solid gig most of the time.”
Her laughter rang over the phone lines. Once again, he felt his spirits rise. “You should call the guy.”
“I’m not going to call him.”
“Why not?”
“Why do you have to change the subject to that?”
“Because I’ve been thinking about it. And you should call the guy. Who knows, maybe he can find you some special project.”
“What if he’s turned into a creep?” Hero asked. “You never know. It’s been ten years.”
“Was he a creep back then?”
Hero shook his head, shifting the phone over to his Bluetooth headset so he could have his hands free. He took a sip of water. “Not really, no. He was a good guy.”
“He’s probably still a good guy.” He could hear her shrug over the phone.
“I mean, probably, yeah. I guess I haven’t changed as much as I thought since high school.” He sighed.
“Give him a call. Worst that happens is you have to block his number.”
“I’ve seen far too many true crimes to believe that is the worst that can happen.” He laughed slightly and shook his head.
“There’s very little chance that is going to happen.” She countered. “Do you have any idea how rare something like that is?”
“Probably less than I think about it being a possibility.”
“Or you’re just using it as an excuse not to get close to anyone.”
“What makes you think that?”
“I don’t know, maybe the fact that you find any excuse to break up with someone you like.” She chastised him.
He winced because he knew that it was true. She knew him to well, even if he had never known her back when he had known Bowie. Back during that time, he had been convinced that no one would know him as well as Bowie had, but that was just foolish teenage thoughts and ideas.
He thought about the times that he had shared with the punk. They had been from two different cliques and at the time it had felt like they were from two different worlds. The romance had simply felt like it was something forbidden because of how they lived, the fact that no one would ever guess them capable of getting together.
But it wasn’t like that anymore. They weren’t a classic star-crossed lover pair. They had been stupid teenagers who thought other’s opinions mattered more than the relationship that they had. He sighed. Had they met when they were older and knew how the world worked, they could have maybe been something else, but no way that could happen now. Bowie was a good guy back then, but there was no way that he knew anything about the man anymore. Too much time had passed. It was impossible to tell. Well, maybe it wasn’t impossible, but he had to ask himself if he wanted to put forth that kind of energy and get to know the man again.
He hadn’t ever had the energy to chase after relationships. It was simply easier to be alone.
He sighed.
“What’s on your mind now?” The voice came over the line.
“I’m not going to call him.”
“Give me his number, I’ll call him.”
“You realize I’m not ever going to do that.” Hero shook his head. There was no way he was going to let her set him up. “I’m not into blind dates.”
“Ah, I keep trying.”
“And I keep turning you down. Maybe for a reason.” He laughed. “I don’t do blind dates.”
“Yeah, they’re
all kind of terrible, no matter how you wrap them up.”
He nodded along. “Thanks for thinking of me though.”
“I always try to think of you.”
“Save some of that thinking for your husband.” Hero chastised her. “I think he would probably be jealous if I’m the one on your mind.”
She laughed. “I think he’d understand.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Pretty sure. I can ask him right now if you want me too?” She made the offer.
Hero smirked. He thought that she would probably do it to prove a point, then told himself that it actually wouldn’t happen. She was just playing around. “Sure.”
He heard her call to another part of the room. He had been wrong. “Hey, do you mind if I spend time thinking about Hero?” She gave no context.
Hero nearly burst out laughing in response, but he didn’t interrupt the conversation between Agnes and her husband.
“Uh, sure.” The call came out. “He’s cool.”
Her voice was cocky when she got back on the phone. “He says it’s cool if I think about you.”
Hero laughed. “I should have known that you would ask him.”
“Yeah, you really should have known that. And now everything is fine. What do you want me to worry about for you?”
“Nothing, not really.” Hero laughed and shook his head. “I’m fine, just wanted to talk to someone.”
“Used to sharing a room with someone else while we’re on the road, huh?”
“I mean, you still get to share a room with someone else.”
“That’s because I married my roommate.” Agnes teased him again. “You could have married a roommate.”
“You dated at work.”
“You could too. There are a couple of really nice guys in the troupe.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
Hero chuckled again. “I guess I never thought about dating where I worked.”
“You should try it sometime, it worked out wonderfully for me.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Hero was smiling. “I should let you get some sleep.”
“You try to get some sleep too.”