Simon vs Senior Year

Chapter 12

We ended rehearsal a bit early, which was good, mostly because I felt bad that Leah had to sit in the audience with nothing to do but listen to Ms Albright's notes. But she never took too long. We would be out in ten minutes tops.

But then Taylor decided to go into a ten minute monologue of her own about how we need to lose ourselves and become our characters. I made some intense eye contact with Leah while that happened.

When Ms Albright finally shut Taylor down, Abby, Nick and I waited by the orchestra pit for Nora and Leah, who was walking towards us.

She high-fived me and complimented my performance. I blushed a little bit. I sucked at taking praise.

"I didn't even know you were here," Abby said.

Leah looked kind of annoyed by that, but nodded after a minute.

Martin walked by while Leah and Abby made small talk about going to Waffle House.

"Hey, Simeon," Martin said, still smirking a little bit like that was a clever joke or something. But I had moved past everything with Martin, so I responded with a weak smile:

"Hey, Reuben."

I ignored Abby and Leah's clear anger about Martin, glancing back at my phone to text Bram.

"Still planning on WaHo?"

Bram answered a few seconds later.

"Yup. Practice just got out. I'll see you in a bit❤️"

Nora finally showed up with paint-covered jeans, waving goodbye to Cal. I said a quick "see you soon" to Nick and Abby and walked out to my car with Leah and Nora close behind me.

Nora crashed in the backseat of the car like she did whenever I had a friend riding with us, and immediately started digging through her backpack with a sense of purpose. I didn't understand what she could possible be looking for until she pulled out a massive bag of M&Ms, announced how hungry she was.

"We're literally driving to Waffle House right now," I said, but still held out my hand for some M&Ms. I mean, I wasn't stupid enough to turn them down.

"So, it wasn't too much of a shit-show right?" I asked Leah nervously.

Leah was one of the first people not in the cast or crew to see us recently. I knew that we were still a little rough for how close we were to opening night.

"The play?" she asked, and I nodded. "Not at all. It was awesome."

"Yeah, but people are still messing up their lines and we open on Friday. And freaking Potiphar screwed up a whole song today. God, I need a waffle."

I merge onto Mount Vernon highway and try to forget about the play, focusing instead on the stack of waffles I was about to go at with my boyfriend sitting next to me. It was kind of pathetic how much I missed him when we saw each other a few hours ago at lunch. I almost ached whenever he wasn't around. It sounded cheesy, but it was like a part of me was missing.

As soon as I parked, I checked my phone to see if Bram had texted while I was driving. Nothing, of course. He was probably driving too.

Taylor's high pitched voice cut through the parking lot, talking to Leah about her brother and truck nuts or something. Leah had a talent for making it through entire conversations with Taylor without hitting her.

"I'm not sitting there," Leah announced and I looked up.

Martin Addison was sitting at a table with some other theatre people. I would've sat there even with Martin, but if Leah and Nora were going to push to get a different table anyway, I wouldn't complain having some extra space between me and him. Just because I had forgiven him didn't mean I particularly enjoyed his company.

I left a space next to me for Bram, which Taylor immediately slid into. God. She really was oblivious to anyone outside herself.

Taylor started talking to Leah about how worried she was that she would get sick before the play, and how she was saving her voice, to which Leah replied "maybe you should rest your voice."

Before Taylor can reply, Bram walks in along with Abby, Nick, and Garrett. Nick slid in next to Taylor, who immediately threw herself all over him. Abby followed, leaving three whole people between me and Bram.

Nick went into a detailed explanation of his and my spring break trip to visit colleges, and I threw him a high five.

Bram and I started texting under the table.

"Hi❤️" he sent me.

"Hey. How was practice?"

"Good. Pretty tired now. Caleb's home though, so I'm going out for ice cream with him after this."

Before I could type out a reply, I heard Taylor suggest that she should meet up with me and Nick when she visited Harvard, and I choked on my water. I tuned out the conversation again, replying to Bram.

"I can't believe how old he is now. Sad we don't get much time together today 😩"

"I know. I miss you."

We made eye contact across the people sitting in between us. God, I loved that boy.

Then Bram got dragged into a conversation about soccer and I had to accept that he wasn't just mine to talk to.

When they finished soccer, I launched into a rant about the only thing I thought about as much as Bram: the play.

"I just have this sinking feeling that it's all going to fall apart, now that we finally have the orchestra and the sets. Like, sorry, but the sets should have been done a week ago."

Nora glared at me, and said, "Maybe they would be if anyone worked on them other than Cal and me."

The "Cal and me" of that sentence again gave me a weird feeling. Was there something going on between the two of them? More likely, they really were just the only people that had time to work on the sets, and were forced to hang out by circumstance. That was it.

Taylor made some bitchy comment about how the sets didn't even matter, and I could see Nora holding back a groan.

Then the waiter came with all of our checks and I paid for Nora and I before leading her to the door. I had a shit-ton of homework to do.

Before I drove away, though, I stopped next to Bram for a minute. We lightly linked our fingers and I just enjoyed standing next to him for a moment. I watched Nick and Abby cuddle up to each other a little wistfully, imagining how much easier it must be to be a straight couple in Georgia. I mean, barely anyone was around, but Bram and I still felt the need to be careful in public.

"Have fun with Caleb," I said. "I have too much homework tonight."

"If you need help with Stats, call me," he said. "I love you."

"I love you too."

I hit Nora on the shoulder and she glared at me again before following me to the car and slumping into the seat next to me.

"I'm gonna murder Taylor one of these days," Nora announced.

"I can't believe you survive being in a band with her," I said.

"She's not as bad during band practice. If she talks to much, Leah just starts hitting the drums really loud."

I smiled. Leah was an icon.