Waiting in the Wings by Melissa Brayden Read Free Book Online Page B

I got onstage and forgot the two weeks of rehearsal completely? I made a mental list of the things I wanted to go over with Madison that day.
    The schedule consisted of some last-minute individualized rehearsal with the dance captains and stage managers followed by the big put-in rehearsal for Lanie and me.
    We’d been rehearsing in the theater for the past couple days. Now that I knew the lines, songs, choreography, and the off-stage track to follow, I needed to practice with actual props and scenery. Some of the sets were motorized and others pieces flew in from the open space above the stage. If an actor wasn’t on her toes, she could be seriously hurt by the set itself. There seemed to be so much to remember. I was feeling overwhelmed.
    I waited for Lanie in the hotel lobby so we could walk to the theater together. I was getting used to the fact she was always late. Sure, it was part of her charm, but it wasn’t cool to be late to work, and that was what I was about to be. Just as I was giving up on her, I spotted her sprinting from the elevator.
    “I’m late, I know. Don’t say anything. Just nod and I’ll know you forgive me and will eventually lose that angry crease on your forehead.”
    I nodded. “Let’s get out of here before we’re out of the show we haven’t even debuted in.”
    “Yes, ma’am,” she replied with a mock salute.
    We increased our usual speed as we walked, hoping to make up the time. I was doing my best to focus on the task at hand and put last night out of my head, but Lanie had other ideas.
    “So what exactly happened last night with Adrienne? You guys left kind of abruptly. Let’s just say lots of eyebrows were-a-raising.” I didn’t want to get into it in case Adrienne didn’t want our conversation broadcasted, but at the same time it might be nice to
    talk it out with someone “Well, to start with it turns out she’s gay.”
    “I’ve heard. The rest of the guys filled me in a little after you
    two split last night.”
    Wonderful. I could only imagine what type of speculation was going around about us.
    “I would think that would make you happy,” she said “but you seem kind of nonchalant about the whole thing. So?”
    “So I guess you could say she made it very clear she’s not looking for a relationship, but she didn’t exactly say she was ruling it completely out either. It sounds like she doesn’t like to mix work with her personal life. Maybe it’s burned her in the past.”
    “Sienna,” she said simply. “What?”
    “Sienna’s her ex. They apparently had a pretty volatile relationship while working on another show together that radiated out to the company. It was a bad situation, and when Adrienne ended it, all hell broke loose. Sienna went crazy with anger and almost lost her job over it. Craig was the SM on the show and says it was hard to be around them during that time period. They’re friends now, but it wasn’t easy for them to get there from what I hear. It’s probably scarred Adrienne. She doesn’t want to go through that again.”
    “Whoa. Okay.” Adrienne hadn’t been specific, but this at least clued me in a little bit to an experience she was drawing from. I wanted to talk to her about it and explain that our situation didn’t have to mirror what she’d gone through with Sienna. To begin with, I wasn’t the hateful psychotic Sienna seemed to be.
    The rehearsal with Madison and Todd seemed to fly by. I was feeling more confident by the time we finished and was excited to move on to the put-in rehearsal. The three costumes I would wear throughout the course of the show had arrived after being tailored to fit me. It was surreal to put them on along with my customized Alexis wig, which was auburn and a bit shorter than my own hair. As I stood in the girls’ dressing room surveying myself as Alexis, I felt tears well up in my eyes. I didn’t recognize myself, and for the first time, I felt one hundred percent connected to this