Falling For Mr. Sundae | ✔

19. The Show

"It's a full house out there."

The grin on Tim's face was so wide you'd think the shop was bursting at the seams with people. In reality there were only about fifteen people out there. That included my family, Julian's brothers, and Bobby and Ariel. I guess that is a full house by Sprinklez standards.

Julian and I were in costume, both of us going over the script one last time before the show began. Somehow the script was worse than it was a few hours ago. The lines were so corny and out of date. I wasn't going to be able to recite them without cringing.

"You're not getting nervous, are you?" Tim asked, frowning a bit. My face must've been a billboard for my apprehensive thoughts.

Nervous was not the word I'd use. Still, I went along with it because what else was I supposed to do? Crush him by telling him the script was terrible only minutes before the show started?

"Don't be," he told me, his grin returning. "Just stick to the script and remember to smile." He looked at me expectantly and I flashed him a big, fake grin. That satisfied him. "Good! Get ready. You're on in ten."

Tim left the kitchen, leaving Julian and I alone. He looked just as nervous about the show as I did. He was looking down at his phone, a deep crease between his brows. Maybe it wasn't about the show.

"You okay?" I asked, gently touching his shoulder.

His eyes shot up to me, going wide like he forgot I was there. "No. Yeah," he said a little too quickly, slipping his phone into his back pocket. "I'm just preparing to get booed by a bunch of six year olds."

I didn't even think of that. These kids wouldn't be that cruel would they? Jaiden would be, for sure. He'd probably even film the whole thing and post it online. My stomach churned at the thought.

"That was a joke," Julian was quick to add.

"Was it?" I said, doubtfully. I walked over to door, looking out of the porthole at the crowd. The kids were seated on the floor, their chubby fingers gripped around small bowls of ice cream. The parents were engaged in hush conversations or on their phones.

I couldn't see my own parents from here, but I could see Jaiden and his friend Otis. The two of them were chatting up a group of three girls that were their age. Good, maybe they'd be too distracted by the girls to pay attention to this undeniable train wreck of a show.

"Is to late the change the script," I asked, turning back to face him. "Or to make a run for it?"

"When have you ever ran away from anything?" At first I thought he being sarcastic. The look on his face said otherwise. "If you can stand your ground talking to my cousin then you can handle a room full of kids."

"I was shitting bricks that night," I mumbled, remembering how terrified I was.

A hint of guilt flickered across his face so quickly I might've imagined it. "Yeah, but you didn't let him scare you off or ruin the night."

My insides stopped threatening to come up long enough for me to manage a smile. He really believed what he said, and that made me believe it.

My nerves, while still rattled, weren't urging me to run out the door. The show was going to bomb, I knew that much. But I felt better knowing I wasn't going out there alone.

Tim's cheerful voice sounded through the doors as he introduced the show to audience. Julian gave me a reassuring smile, which I returned. The show was starting and there was nothing left to do besides grin and bear it.

+ + +

Grinning was difficult to do when staring into a crowd of restless kids who were hopped up on ice cream and bored out of their minds.

One family had left about ten minutes into the production after there kid begged them. Another kid flung their sticky spoon and hit me square in the forehead. And the only laughs we were able to get were because of Julian tripping over his own feet.

By the end parents were too busy trying to get their hyperactive children in check to even pay attention to anything we were doing on stage.

My parents didn't even feign interest. Mom was practically asleep on my dad's shoulder. I guess I could give her a pass since she was pregnant and that apparently made a person tired. Dad looked like he watching a car crash he couldn't pull his attention from.

I was so happy to get off the stage that I practically wept when we got to the last scene. We bowed to scattered applause and rushed off to the kitchen.

Tim was pacing the floor, clearly at a loss for words after seeing another one of his ideas go up in flames. "That was..." his words trailed off as he tried to find the right ones.

"Embarrassing," I offered. Julian grunted an agreement as he took a swig from his water bottle.

"Rough," Tim said, coming to a halt. "It was rough. But it was only the first show. Next week will be better."

Next week? He expected us to get up there and do it all over again? Julian and I exchanged looks, silently agreeing that it was time to break the news.

"What?" Tim asked, taking in our pensive looks. "You don't want to do it?"

"The overall idea is good," Julian started, choosing his words carefully.

"But you're script sucks." I offered an apologetic smile for my outburst, but I meant what I said. Julian gave me a questioning look. I shrugged. "Band-Aid method."

Tim frowned, running a hand through his hair. "Was it really that bad?" His gaze shifted between the two of us. We nodded. Tim let out a sigh, his shoulders sagging he rubbed his brow. "If I don't come up with a way to drum up business I'll have to close the shop."

The thought of Sprinklez no longer being here broke my heart. A majority of my childhood was spent in here. I couldn't just let it disappear.

"What if I worked on a new skit?" I proposed. I've had a few, more kid friendly, ideas bouncing around in my head since the first time I saw the script.

Tim scratched the back of his head as he thought about it. "Can you have something done before next Friday?"

"Yeah." With all the new free time I had I could probably write the script for a feature length film.

Tim nodded, a faraway look in his eyes as he reached for his cigarettes. "Try and make it good, alright? This might be our last shot." With that he left through the back exit.

No pressure, I thought to myself. I turned to Julian, a hopeful smile on my face, and asked, "So, you want to help me with this script tomorrow? "

He flashed a sympathetic smile. "I have to watch my brothers."

"That's not a problem," I said, waving my hand in the air. "You can all come over to my house. My brother will be there and they can hang out while we try to save Sprinklez."

He rubbed his jaw as he thought about this. "You sure that wouldn't be a problem?"

"It'll be fine," I assured him. "My parents will be gone all day. And Jaiden's cool, so he and your brothers will get along." He still looked uncertain about the idea. "Come one it'll be fun," I coaxed, tugging at his sleeve like an annoying child.

"You really don't take no for an answer, do you?"

Taking that as a yes, a smile brightened my face. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

+ + +

This chapter was kind of dull BUT i'll try to make it up in the next chapter!!

*wink, wink*

Anywho, as always, thank you for reading!! <3