The Final Act

by Dee, Bonnie

  Renée complained every time she made the mistake, the interruption of her speech being one in a long list of the diva’s complaints. She had opinions about every aspect of the show, which she wasn’t afraid to share. As an original cast star, she considered herself the expert on Transitions.

  “Did you hear me? You stepped on my line,” Renée repeated.

  “Yeah. Sorry.” Gretchen walked faster, peeling off her camisole before she reached the changing room.

  “You were a little sharp on the high E in the last measure.”

  “Thanks for noticing.” Gretchen grabbed her dress from the rack and slipped it over her head.

  “If you leave the camisole on underneath your dress, you’ll save time,” Renée pointed out as she donned a blouse and slacks for the next scene.

  Gretchen didn’t bother to explain the camisole underneath the tight bodice made it look lumpy. Her performance high was rapidly evaporating, replaced by the nervous tension her roommate inspired. She wished she’d taken a second Xanax before the show and wondered if another would kick in soon enough to do any good. Renée’s relentless jabs were beginning to make her feel like one big, walking wound.

  “I’m just trying to help. If you listen to me, you can benefit from my experience.”

  Gretchen frantically searched for her other high heel. She’d checked all her costume pieces before Act Two began and both shoes had been in place then.

  “Lost a shoe? You should always check your costumes and props before curtain,” Renée said helpfully.

  Crouching down to look beneath the clothing rack, Gretchen spotted her shoe, grabbed it and slipped it on.

  “Hurry!” Renée led the way back toward the stage.

  Gretchen glared at the other woman’s back, ready to drive a stake through it and find out if she would blow away in a cloud of dust. It was ironic that the next scene was their engagement party, during which she had to beam love at her nemesis. She’s Jen and you’re Audrey. You want to share a lifelong commitment with her. You’re in love. Pasting on a smile, she took her place.

  By the time they reached the final reprise of “We Are All” and the curtain fell, she was anxious, jittery and ready to kick back and be alone with Jake, just the two of them, and a little something to take the edge off.

  Gretchen removed her make-up at the dressing room mirror. The scent of hairspray, stage make-up, sweat and too many kinds of deodorant perfumed the air in the women’s changing room.

  Elena sat beside her and smiled at her reflection in the mirror. “Good show tonight. You did great.”

  “Thanks. I was a little sharp on that high E in my solo.”

  “I don’t think so.” Elena dabbed cold cream underneath her eye. “Coming out with us?”

  “I think Jake and I have plans.” Gretchen brushed out her crunchy, hair-sprayed curls.

  Elena carefully wiped off her eyeliner. “You should both come. Everybody’s going tonight. Even your best friend, Renée, said she’d grace us with her illustrious presence.”

  “Maybe. I’ll see what Jake wants to do.” Gretchen knew he’d want to stay in. He wasn’t a social guy.

  Elena regarded Gretchen’s reflection. “I feel like I don’t ever see you anymore.”

  “Of course you do. Every night.”

  “I mean socially.” She paused. “I know what it’s like when you first hook up with a guy. There’s no one but the two of you and no one you’d rather be with. I understand.”

  “But…?” Gretchen set the brush down on the counter with a click.

  “Okay. Here goes.” Elena sucked a breath through her teeth and grimaced. “Don’t get pissed. Just hear me out, okay? I’m sure Jake’s a great guy, but I’m a little worried about the way we never see you anymore and, um…the pills and whatever else.”

  Gretchen kept her face composed, but her jaw clenched, and her pulse beat faster. She didn’t want to hear this shit from Elena. “Don’t be.”

  “It seems like the drugs might be more than recreational. I know you really like Jake, but maybe—”

  “Don’t even go there. He’s all that’s keeping me sane,” Gretchen snapped. “I love…being with him. He’s the one thing on the road that feels like home.” She tossed her make-up into the plastic case and closed the lid hard. “Living with Renée is driving me crazy, and staying in one hotel room after another… The last thing I need is a lecture from you, too.”

  “I get it.” Elena wiped her hands on a cloth. “Tell you what, how would you like to switch roommates with me? I’ll take Renée off your hands for a while. Cara’s easy to live with…if you don’t mind a mess. Maybe that will help with your tension.”

  “I’m not tense!” Gretchen rose from the chair. Elena’s offer was actually extremely generous, but she felt irritable and perverse. “Thanks, but I’ll deal with Renée on my own. I don’t need your help.”

  She strode from the room, on the verge of tears yet again, which seemed to happen a lot lately. Her moods varied every hour of the day. She alternated between being homesick and loving her new life. Sometimes she wasn’t sure who she was anymore, like she’d left her old self behind in Chesterton and hadn’t grown comfortable in her new skin yet. The only constant was her strong feeling for Jake. Seeing him, being with him, was the best part of her day. He always made her feel better.

  Later that evening as she lay in his arms, in his bed, with the world safely on the other side of the door, Gretchen regretted yelling at Elena, who’d only been trying to help.

  Jake passed the joint to her. “What’s wrong?”

  Gretchen turned her head so she wouldn’t drop ash on his bare chest, and took a hit. She let it out slowly and shook her head. “Nothing.”

  “Renée?”

  “Well, yeah, always, but this time it was Elena being nosy. I snapped at her, and I shouldn’t have.” She handed the joint back to Jake.

  He pinched it out and set it in the ashtray resting on his belly, then set the tray on the nightstand. “She doesn’t like me.”

  “She doesn’t know you. No one does. You don’t really talk to them.”

  “Don’t need to. You’re the only one I want to spend time with.” He kissed the top of her head.

  Gretchen turned her face so he could kiss her mouth. His lips were warm and soft and tasted like Jake, smoky and real. Comforting. She snuggled against his chest and traced the line of hair from his navel to the waistband of his shorts with her finger. “Sometimes I don’t think I know you, either.”

  His hand drifted down her back to rest on the swell of her ass and kneaded it lightly. “What do you want to know?”

  She thought of all the personal questions he’d sidestepped until now. “You know everything about my family, probably more than you ever wanted to hear. Tell me about yours. I want to hear all about your life.”

  His hand stilled. “There’s not much to tell.”

  “Sure there is. What was it like where you grew up? Who were your friends and what kinds of things did you like to do as a boy? What’s your family like? You can’t remain a mystery forever, Jake. You have to tell me about yourself.”

  He paused. “Okay.” Another long silence followed.

  Gretchen poked his chest with a finger. “So, talk.”

  Jake sighed. “I don’t know anything about my dad. My mom was a drunk. When I was little, she left me with my grandma. I lived there until I was six, and when Grandma died, my aunt and uncle took me in.”

  “You lived in New York?” She shifted so she could see his face as he talked, read the subtext beneath his story, but Jake’s expression was neutral as he continued.

  “No. New Jersey.” He paused. “My uncle didn’t want me there. He was hard enough on his own kids, and pretty much hated me so…it was rough. I left when I was seventeen. Stayed with a friend while I finished high school. The band I was in was doing pretty well locally, so we decided we could make it big in New York. Of course, we couldn’t get one gig in the city club scene.
”

  He smiled and shook his head. “We were better off as big fish in a little pond. Couple of the guys got tired of it and went back to Jersey. One got hooked on crack and was living on the street, last time I heard. I was lucky. I went to a club one afternoon and met Jarmin Jones.”

  Jake paused, waiting for her recognition of the name.

  Gretchen shrugged, feeling ignorant. “Sorry, I don’t know who that is.”

  “He’s a master blues guitarist. I was sitting at the bar watching the band set up when Jones came over to get a drink. He sat next to me and started talking. Told me a couple of great stories, and I told him how much I admired him. He invited me to sit in with the band while they warmed up.”

  Jake’s eyes glowed at the memory, and he smiled. “That was the greatest fucking moment of my life.”

  Gretchen nodded, remembering how she’d felt when she got the Transitions call.

  “After we played a few songs, Jones talked to me. Said I had natural talent, but needed more musical training. I was so broke I could hardly eat, let alone think about college. But he gave me the number of a friend of his who was forming a new band. I got the job. One band led to another, and one day I realized I’d somehow stumbled into a career. Eventually I ended up here. That’s about it.”

  Gretchen smiled, combing her fingers through the light smattering of hair on his chest. “There. Was that so hard?”

  Jake rolled her onto her back and pinned her to the bed. “Yes. Way too much talking.” He kissed her.

  He was such a good kisser. She melted beneath him, boneless with pleasure while he seduced her with his hot, wet mouth and clever, stroking tongue. She was pleasantly unfocused and floating and hungry as hell from the pot.

  Suddenly, she pushed up with her body, flipping Jake onto his back and reversing their positions. Gretchen straddled his hips and leaned over him, slowly coming in for a kiss. Her lips mashed against his and her tongue plundered his mouth. After suppressing her irritation with Renée day after day, it felt good to let out her suppressed aggression, her fingernails biting into his shoulders and her kiss an assault more than a caress. She’d learned she liked to dominate sometimes, and Jake seemed happy to have her do what she willed with him.

  Gretchen rubbed her pussy slowly up and down the length of his erection, making him groan. She grabbed Jake’s wrists, pulling his hands from her waist and pinning them above his head on the bed. The position delineated his arm muscles and lifted his chest. His nipples were two small brown discs with erect nipples ripe for biting. He looked so sexy with his shaggy, brown hair falling across his forehead and his heavy-lidded gray-green eyes glittering with arousal. Excitement and arousal raced through her and settled low in her belly in a slow burn.

  She sucked his lower lip into her mouth and let it go with a wet pop. She kissed his hard-edged jaw and his vulnerable throat, releasing his arms and moving lower. Jake kept his arms where she’d positioned them as if his wrists were chained to the bed. The idea of having him helpless at her command was a huge turn-on. She’d like to try handcuffs for real.

  Her breasts felt tender and her nipples pebbled as they brushed against his chest. She licked and bit his nipples until he hissed and twisted, then her mouth followed the soft line of hair down his torso until she reached his erection. Ruffling her fingers through the brown thatch of hair at its base, she kissed and nibbled around the area without touching his straining cock.

  As she continued to tease, Jake thrust his hips into the air and made a pleading, whimpering noise that thrilled her. Finally taking pity, she grasped his straining cock. Looking up into his eyes, she locked gazes with him as she licked the weeping slit with an extravagant flick of her tongue, and sucked the soft head into her mouth.

  Jake’s eyes drifted nearly closed, and he groaned. Gretchen swallowed him deeply, her cheeks hollowed from sucking. She grasped his shaft and stroked firmly while fondling his balls in her other hand. His cock was thick, heavy and pulsing with life. It tasted like salt and male musk, an earthy, heady flavor she’d grown to appreciate. As she stroked him, Jake made a strangled sound and the bucking of his hips increased. He was close to coming. She loved doing this for him, loved his helpless need for the pleasure she gave him.

  She released the glistening shaft from her mouth, and he thrust into the air, reaching for her touch. His taut arms displayed sexy tendons. His fingers clutched the sheet, and his head tilted back on the pillow, exposing his throat. She longed to bite that vulnerable spot.

  Gretchen got a condom and unrolled it down his shaft before straddling him again. She sat erect with her pussy grazing the tip of his cock, reached between them and positioned the head at her entrance, slowly settling her weight onto him.

  Jake’s gaze riveted on his cock being swallowed by her body. Gretchen liked the sight of their joining, too. She rose up on her knees, and his wet length emerged from her. Then she engulfed him again, gripping his shoulders as she rose and fell.

  Jake abandoned his pretense of handcuffs, grabbing her hips to guide her pace. He pumped into her with sharp jerks of his hips.

  Gretchen bounced up and down. Feeling powerful and wanton, sitting astride him, she let her head drop back and her eyes close. Her nipples tingled as her breasts jiggled. Jake’s cock filled her and deep inside a bud of ecstasy began to unfurl. She drove herself harder, grunting with the force of her thrusts. She twisted her hips, making him cry out.

  Jake groaned and thrust hard as he released. Almost simultaneously, waves of pleasure coursed through Gretchen. She floated up and away as her body pulsed around him. The weightless, buoyant flight lasted only seconds before she came back to her body and collapsed on top of Jake with a soft grunt.

  He held her tight, and she was glad he wasn’t handcuffed and his arms were free. She kissed his sweat-slicked chest, tasting salt and skin. His hand slid up her back and into her tangled hair, rubbing the back of her neck.

  After several moments, Gretchen rolled to lie beside him, face to face on the pillow. This was the best time of her day; quiet, peaceful, glowing with well-being and maybe love, although she wouldn’t call it that yet, not even in the privacy of her mind. The only thing that came close to this fulfillment was moments onstage when applause flowed over her like a benediction.

  She idly climbed her fingertips up the ladder of his rib cage. Jake flinched away from the tickling, grabbed her hand and kissed it.

  “When we stop in Cleveland, I thought we could make a quick visit to my parents’ house.” She nearly held her breath as she finally broached the subject she’d been nervous to bring up. “They only live about an hour away, so we could stay overnight. I’d love for them to meet you.”

  He didn’t answer and kept his eyes focused somewhere in the region of her shoulder.

  “You don’t want to meet my family?”

  He licked his lips and finally looked at her. “Do you want them to meet me?”

  Frowning, she leaned up on one elbow. “Well, of course. Why wouldn’t I?”

  “I’m not the kind of guy parents generally want their daughters dating.”

  Gretchen smiled. “Well, we don’t have to tell them about everything we do.”

  Jake’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.

  “Jake, my family will like you just fine. Trust me. And you’ll like them, too.” She touched the side of his face.

  He nodded without answering, then shifted to rest his head on her breast and lay his arm over her. His warm breath blew against her chest. “All right. If you want me to, I’ll go with you.”

  “I do. So, good.” Gretchen combed her fingers through his hair and held him. She could hear people walking past the flimsy hotel door and the murmur of the TV in the next room, but the sounds barely disturbed her bubble of peace.

  “One more performance and we’re back on the road. Elena offered to room with Renée. I think I’ll take her up on it, if she hasn’t already changed her mind.”

  “Diva still giving you t
rouble? ’Cause I can kick her ass if you want me to.”

  Gretchen smiled again. “Just give me something to take to make her whiny voice fade away.”

  “I can do that,” Jake said. “Whatever you need.”

  Scene Three: Philadelphia

  The load-in at Philadelphia was rough. The primary truck broke down on the road and both the local and traveling stage crews had to work ’round the clock to get the show set up in time. Meanwhile, the bus ride for the cast was an exhausting cross-country haul from Kansas City. Denny thought it was like being on a horrible family vacation that never ended, or maybe a school field trip with bickering kids.

  In the second scenario, Logan would be cast as the annoying class clown, whose obnoxious voice never shut up. Chris was his flunky, always willing to participate in juvenile practical jokes. Renée, the bossy captain of the cheer team, never stopped criticizing people, while Jake, Steve, Rashid and Gretchen were the class potheads, except they weren’t on the tour bus, but riding in Rashid’s car. He was one of the few who’d elected to drive the entire route. There was no one to cast as “the jock”, but Michael could fill that role, simply because of the coolness factor. Besides, he’d once mentioned playing baseball. Elena was the type A, nose-to-the-grindstone valedictorian.

  Denny pressed his forehead to the window and watched the flat green fields drift by and the interchangeable signs for fast food and lodging as they approached each exit. There was nothing to break the unrelieved tedium of the view or the monotonous drone of the bus motor.

  He was looking forward to Philadelphia. Not only was the theater paying for two-bedroom apartments instead of the standard motel rooms, but it was close enough to New York that Tom could come for a visit. Denny sorely needed to see his boyfriend, who had once more become quiet on the phone. Tom was unhappy about being unemployed, and Denny wished he could be there for him during this transitional time.

  “I never meant to quit without having another job lined up first,” Tom had told him shortly after his Chicago visit. “But one day I just snapped, laid into my boss and walked out.”