by Wiley, John
Rhys @RhysHesPNutbutr 1m
Came 2 LA 2 b actor – time 2 stop dilly dallying & get a movie role! cross your fingers for me! X
Once the tweet is posted he dials the number and holds the phone to his ear.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Alistair? It’s Rhys.”
“Oh hey, what’s up?”
“Umm…I feel weird asking this since we’re barely friends, but I got fired today and I was wondering if you knew of any acting jobs that you could maybe tell me about.”
“Oh. Actually I don’t know of any, at least not off the top of my head. I’m sorry to hear that you lost your job, though.”
“Thanks. So what about any non-acting jobs then? Basically I’m desperate.”
“I did notice the used book store in Franklin is hiring. But that’s a half hour drive in no traffic, so I don’t know if that’s too far.”
Rhys sighs. “Yeah. Erick and I only have the one car and he needs it for his job.”
“Why do you only have one vehicle for the two of you?”
“He planned to buy a car once we got out here but hasn’t yet, and then I lost my car at a casino.”
“What happened to it?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Why?”
Rhys sighs. “I volunteered for a magic act. The magician made it disappear and then it reappeared. But it reappeared in a construction zone and was totaled. The insurance hasn’t come through yet.”
Alistair sits in stunned silence. “Seriously? How’d they move it? Don’t they usually use mirrors and shit?”
“Oh I hope they didn’t get shit in my car. Well, I guess it doesn’t matter now that it’s ruined, but who uses poo in magic acts?”
“No, I mean…wait, why was the magic act in the parking lot?”
“So I may have exaggerated a little. The magic act was a guy got in my car and started it without any keys, and he crashed it into a bulldozer next to the casino where they’re building an addition.”
“So why is that upsetting?”
“I just feel like a bad car owner that I let something happen to it. It’s embarrassing.”
“Oh. That’s kind of a letdown. I thought it was going to be some big, exciting story.”
“Womp wah,” Rhys says, making the sad trombone noise, with a laugh. “Sorry.”
Alistair chuckles at Rhys. “So I’ll save your number and give you a call if I see anything. But I gotta go now.”
“OK. Thanks for your help.”
“Later.”
***
“Yeah, yeah. Good luck with the job hunt.” Joey ends the call and tosses the phone on the passenger seat as he pulls into the apartment complex. When he pulls into the parking lot for his section of buildings, he notices that none of his roommates are home.
He gets out of the car, checks the mail, and then goes inside and opens all of the windows. He tosses today’s assortment of bills on the counter and then goes upstairs to his and Cheryl’s room. He glances on his desk for a note from her. When he doesn’t see one he calls her.
“Hello?”
“Hey babe, what’s going on?”
“Oh hey. I’m just getting ready to go into the library to study for exams.”
He sits on the edge of the bed and kicks his shoes off. “But it’s Friday. We got invited to a party tonight.”
“Sorry, but I have two exams on Monday. Hold on.” After a few seconds she continues. “Sorry, the librarian was coming and I didn’t want her to see me on the phone. But I’m sorry that I can’t make it tonight. I hate that I signed up for so many summer classes.”
“Yeah, I told you that you shouldn’t have done summer school.”
“That’s not helping!”
Joey hears someone shushing in the background. “Sorry,” he says to Cheryl. “Do you know if Tiffany will be home, or did you happen to talk to Jeremy today? Do you know if he’s doing anything?”
“She went to visit some friends for the weekend. I think she said they were going to Windsor.”
“Oh yeah, I think I remember her saying something about that.”
“Yeah, and I haven’t heard from Jeremy all day.”
“How late do you think you’ll be?”
“I don’t plan on coming home until late. I figured if I stay up late tonight and tomorrow studying then I’ll be able to get a good night sleep Sunday and be ready to kill these exams.”
Joey sighs. “Well, OK. I can’t wait until Tuesday so I can get my girlfriend back.”
“Aw, babe. Well, I’ll talk to you later. Love you.”
“Love you too.” Joey ends the call and immediately calls his brother.
“Hello?” Jeremy answers on the first ring.
“Hey, what’s going on?”
“Shh,” he says with his hand over the receiver. “Not much, I’m just at the mall.”
“Who are you with?”
“No one. I’m just trying to find some new shorts.”
“Right. So I got invited to a party tonight. You want to come?”
“Sure. Text me the address and I’ll meet you there.”
“You sure you’re OK?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Are you being kidnapped? Say rutabaga if you’re in trouble.”
“I’m not in trouble,” Jeremy says with a laugh. “Even if I was though, I would think I’d need to work a more common word than rutabaga into the conversation or else my captor would know something was up.”
“Good point. Say ‘I think I’m going to have a picnic outside today on account of the lovely weather: not a cloud in the sky and very low humidity’.”
“Again, with such a long complicated sentence the captor would definitely know something is going on.”
“Oh. So if you need help say ‘No thanks, I already have tickets to the Creed concert that night’.”
Silence.
“OK, good. See you tonight.”
“Bye, nerd.”
***
“What’s wrong?” Adele taps Erick on the shoulder, waking him from his daydream.
He’s sitting on a park bench under several large trees out front of the large office building. “Sorry, what?”
“Just asking if everything is OK,” she says, sitting down next to him.
He moves his bag to make room for her. “Yeah, things are fine. I got a text from Rhys earlier saying he needed to talk but I blew it off. I feel like I should stop by the apartment and check on him.”
“He’s not a baby; you don’t need to check on him.”
“I know, but I’m trying to make more of an effort to be there for him. He hasn’t met many people yet.”
Adele nods. “Yeah, well check on him if you want, and then meet us at The Hanger.”
“That’s the restaurant across from the movie theater, right?”
“Yeah.” Adele stands up and smoothes out her long hippie styled dress. “Text me if you need directions.”
***
Across town, Rhys walks back toward his apartment, defeated by the lack of jobs available at the shops within walking distance to him. He hasn’t applied at fast food yet, but if he doesn’t find something within the week he’ll have to start applying at them. With his mind occupied by thoughts of losing hands in deep fryers, he turns the corner and knocks a girl over. “Oh shit,” he says. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s OK,” says a brunette girl with an Irish accent.
“Oh my God! Are you Sinead Griffin, the actress, author, and sometimes singer?”
She laughs uncomfortably at him. “Uh, yeah, I am. How do you know me? Hardly anyone in America knows me.”
He holds out his hand and helps her up. “I loved Luck of the Irish when it was on BBC America. And now I watch that soap you’re in online. You’re really hot.”
“Thanks,” she says as she starts to walk away. “Well have a nice day.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean that to sound creepy or anything. I’m ga
y.”
“Oh I love the gays!” she takes a step back towards him.
Awkward silence.
“So I do need to get going,” she finally says. “I’m holding interviews for an assistant.”
“Wow,” says Rhys. “This is like sitcom coincidence; I’m looking for a job!”
“Sitcom coincidence?” she asks.
“When things happen exactly at the right time so there’s no boring parts for the audience.”
“Oh. Right. Uh, anyway, if you are interested in applying come to this address,” she reaches in her purse and hands him a piece of paper with an address on it.
“You aren’t going to just hire me on the spot?”
“No,” she says, starting to back down the sidewalk. “But it’s not you! It’s just that I have a rule about not hiring strangers on the street, unless I’m looking for a hooker.”
“Makes sense,” he says. “I’ll see you tonight,” he motions to the address.
“See you!” she yells as she runs down the sidewalk.
***
“Hey, have you seen Rhys?” Erick asks Cindy when he sees her coming up the stairs from work. “He said he wanted to talk, but I was busy at work when he texted.”
“I probably shouldn’t be the one to tell you,” Cindy says once she gets to the top of the stairs.
“What? Is it something bad?”
Cindy sighs and looks around to make sure there’s no one around to witness the rare site of her gossiping. “Yeah. It is actually.”
“Well?” prompts Erick.
“He got fired.”
“What? Why? Shit…how’s he going to pay the rent?”
“He accused Jared of raping him last night on their date. And I don’t know how he’s going to pay the rent. I would be more concerned about his well-being than the rent.”
“Well obviously I am concerned, but still, it’s not cheap to live here …”
“Well, he sounded pretty upset, and even though he is incredibly annoying, I believe your roommate over Jared. You really need to talk to him.”
Erick nods and looks off in the distance.
“I really should have warned him before he went out last night.” She sighs. “Why do I feel partially responsible?”
“It’s not your fault,” Erick says, still looking off at nothing.
“I know, but still…anyway, I’m going to go shower now.”
Erick keeps staring off the edge of the roof.
“Bye,” she says as she walks to her door.
“Oh, bye. And thanks for telling me.”
She gives him a dismissive wave as she goes in her apartment.
***
Rhys notices the moving truck in the parking lot when he gets back from his job search and immediately pulls out his phone. “Joey?”
“Yeah?”
“Should I tell Erick I got fired?”
“Yes. Definitely.”
“But I have an interview in a couple hours and why cause him stress if I’m already about to get another job?”
“How certain is this job?”
“It’s as an assistant to Sinead Griffin, and she told me that she likes gays, so I’m sure I’ll get it.”
“I don’t know, dude. I’d be pretty pissed if you kept such a big secret from me.”
“Like the time I made out with your brother? You weren’t that mad when you found out about that,” he says, laughing.
“What?”
“I thought he told you! Oops. Seriously, I thought you knew! You were there. It was when he came to visit and we celebrated his twenty first and we all got shit-faced. Come to think of it, I guess you wouldn’t remember that. Sorry.”
“My brother is gay?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he was just drunk.”
“I gotta go,” Joey says in a far off voice. “Tell Erick!”
“Bye.” Rhys hangs up and walks up the stairs to their apartment where he sees Erick locking the apartment door. “Hey.”
“Oh, hi. I stopped home after work to see you, but you weren’t here. Obviously.”
“Yeah I was uh…out.”
“So. Anything you want to say? You seemed like you needed to talk earlier.”
“Oh, no…it’s fine. Have fun tonight.”
Erick gives him a knowing look. “Yeah. You too.” He walks past Rhys and goes down the stairs, climbs in the truck, and drives away.
***
Joey dials Jeremy but he doesn’t answer the phone. “Hey, it’s me,” he says when prompted. “I was just calling, wanted to ask you about something. I guess I’ll talk to you tonight.” He ends the call and tries Cheryl.
“Yeah?” she says, her words laced with stress.
“Do you have a minute?”
“Not really, Joey,” she says shortly.
“Sorry. I’ll just talk to you later.”
“Bye.” Click.
“Bye…” He puts the phone in his pocket and flops onto the couch.
***
Rhys makes some macaroni and cheese and sits on the sofa with a beer to watch some TV and escape the past day. After flipping through the channels, he settles on Before Sunrise. He takes a sip from the can right as his phone vibrates. He looks at it and sees his mom’s face on the screen. He pauses the TV and puts the bowl on the coffee table next to the sweaty can. He picks up the phone, and with heaviness in his chest, he answers it.
“Hello,” he says, trying to sound light.
“Hi, sweetie,” his mom says, her words full of concern. “What’s going on?”
“Well I assume you got my message?”
“Yeah, how did you get fired? You’ve worked for them for years – hold on, your dad just got home. I’m going to call you back from the landline so we can both talk to you. Bye.”
Rhys lowers the phone and waits for his parents to call back. He takes a long drink of the beer for courage and puts it down as the phone shakes in his hand. He raises it back to his ear without speaking.
“So what happened?” his dad asks.
“I don’t know,” his mom says. “He hasn’t said anything yet. I told him we’d call back when I saw you come in so he doesn’t have to tell the story twice; he sounded really upset on the message.”
“Shouldn’t it be ringing?”
“You’re right,” his mom says. “Did you dial it?”
“No, you did.”
“Did I? Rhys? Are you there?”
“Yeah. Hi, dad.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I didn’t want to interrupt your conversation with each other,” Rhys says with a smirk. He always teases his parents about how they end up having conversations with each other when they call him.
“So…” his mom begins. “What happened?”
Rhys’ stomach falls to the floor; it’s never easy talking to your parents about sex. “So, I got fired…”
“Why?” his dad asks.
“He said that I wasn’t a good fit for that location.”
“But what happened to make him say that?” his mom asks.
Rhys sighs. “He raped me. Maybe. I really don’t like using that word. But I think that’s what it was. Maybe.”
His parents don’t speak.
“Are you there? I don’t have another person to have a conversation with on my end if you guys decide to stop talking.”
“What happened?” his dad asks, protectively.
“Are you OK?” his mom asks at the same time.
“I’m fine physically. I’m a little hurt emotionally, but I’ll be fine. My neighbor is a doctor and offered to give me a free STD test once I can get tested for them.”
“Oh my God,” his mom says quietly.
“I’m confused. How did you get fired from that?”
“It was my boss.”
“So he should have been fired!” his dad says, on the verge of yelling.
“Please calm down,” Rhys pleads, tears in his eyes. “It’s been a rough day for me
and I can’t take any yelling.”
“I’ll talk to you soon.” Rhys’ dad hangs up his line.
“Mom?”
“He’ll be fine. He’s just trying to calm down. So how did you get fired for this?”
“He said he didn’t rape me and since I questioned him about it at work and a co-worker overheard, he said I was spreading rumors, being insubordinate…all that stuff.”
“Did you talk to the police?”
“No. Because I don’t think it was really rape?”
“Then why did you call it rape? That’s a serious allegation.”
“I know it is, Mom. I feel bad calling it that.”
“Then why did you call it rape?”
“Because I said no, but he forced himself on me. I was really drunk and couldn’t really stop him, even though I am bigger.”
“Did he…use protection?”
“Yeah.”
His mom sniffs her nose from the other end of the line.
“It’s OK, really. I mean I was a mess this morning, but my neighbor was there for me. She hugged me and let me cry on her shoulder and made me breakfast.”
“The homophobic one?”
“Yeah. But she was really nice. I mean, it wasn’t as good as you being here, but it helped some.”
“So what are you going to do?” his dad asks, getting back on the other phone.
Rhys shrugs. “Look for a job. I have an interview tonight.”
“That was quick,” his mom says, her voice still full of tears.
“What about this police?” his dad asks.
“I don’t think I have a case.”
“Why not?” he asks, his temper rising again.
“I’ll tell you about it when we hang up,” his mom says. “Maybe you should at least report him to the company?”
“Yeah,” Rhys nods.
“We’ll put some money in your account to help with rent and groceries if you need it,” his dad says.
“Thanks.”
“What did Erick say?” his mom asks.
“I haven’t told him.”