Fix It for Us (10 page)

Chapter 4-APRIL

“Nice Shirt,” I think and then say aloud.  “You might want to consider changing it before my parents arrive.”

Davis questions me. “Why?”

The
shirt says:  LIGHTING DESIGNERS CAN ALWAYS FIND YOUR HOT SPOT

Giving him my reasoning, I explain.
“No, no, no don’t get me wrong.  I personally love it and find it to be ‘truer than true,’ but my parents don’t understand theatre and theatre lingo.  They’ll just think it’s dirty.”

Really, it is sort of dirty and well, hilarious.  Actors are famous for being unable to find their “hot spot” – that perfect place in the light.  Men
, I am told… I have no personal experience, but am inclined to believe, are frequently unable to find the G-spot – that’s why I love the shirt.  Who doesn’t love a good double entendre? 

Davis can ALWAYS find the hot spot.  And not just with his lighting.
 

He relents with a sigh and takes the t-shirt off.  He pulls another one out of his overnight bag.  I really should give him a drawer in my dorm room, but I haven’t had time to clear one out.  When he turns around he has on a black t-shirt with the GOOGLE logo on it.

“Is this better?”  He asks with one eyebrow and the side of one lip raised.  Smart Ass.  The word Google equals Sex in Biz and Davis-land.

“Where did you get that?”

“Um.  Duh.  Google.”  He tells me in a goofy voice, with an added goofy eye roll.  “It’s the only other clean shirt I have here.  So it’s this or HOT SPOT.”

I cho
ose Google, because other than me, Davis and a few of our friends, most people aren’t in on our euphemism.  I am going to have to work hard not to laugh when I look at it tonight.  We’re getting ready to go to the theatre for opening night.  I’m dressed in yoga pants and a big t-shirt.  No need to dress up now, when I have to go to the theatre and get into costume and make-up anyway.  I have my nice clothes for the after party in my bag.  Davis is wearing jeans, his Google shirt and a black suit jacket.  As lighting designer, he gets to sit in the audience and basically just fret as the show goes up.

Both Dav
is’ parents and mine are in town for opening night of Once Upon A Mattress.  We are meeting them in the lobby before the show and then Davis is taking them all to The Lum for a drink and some appetizers.  I have to get ready, so he’s on his own.

***

We get to the lobby of the theatre before either set of parents.  Davis is holding my hand, but also pacing back and forth in a short line next to me. 

“You’re not nervous
, are you?”  I ask.  I know
I’m
nervous.  My hands are sweaty and I have been silently chanting my mantra to myself.   I am anxious about Davis meeting my parents, me meeting his parents and our parents meeting each other.  Oh, and did I mention it’s opening night of the show I have the lead in?  Yeah, that little thing, too.

My parents arrive first.  When I spot them through the glass door of the theatre, I im
mediately drop Davis’ hand and my bag and move briskly toward them.  I am keeping myself from running.  I run straight into my father’s open arms.  There are other people around.  A few other student’s families, but I don’t even notice them.

“Hey, Bizzy Girl… I’m glad to see you, too!”  my dad chuckles.  He releases me into my mother’s arms.  I could see her beside him flapping her arms and wrists for him to give me up to her.

“Hi, Sweetheart.  You look so good. So happy.”

Davis has appeared at my side holding my bag up to me.  He looks at me with a smile and then at the bag.  I take it from him.  He leans in slightly and says with a half smirk, “Gonna introduce me?”

“Yesssss…”  I tell him.  Turning to my parents, I motion to Davis.  “Mom, Dad, this is Davis Brandon, my boyfriend.  Davis, this is Diane and Cal Connelly, my parental units.”

Mom laughs a bit and hugs me with one arm, “Parental units … Biz, I don’t know where you get this stuff.  Hello, Davis,”  she shakes his hand, “very nice to finally meet you.”  Dad and Davis shake hands too.  Dad gives a him a slap on the back.

Dad points to Davis’ shirt, “Google, huh…You’ve got a shirt.  You a fan of Google?”

“Big fan of Google, sir.  Huge fan.”  Davis looks sidewise at me and winks.  I press my lips together and a little snort releases from my nose.

“Diane, Davis likes Google… I give Diane a lot of grief because she is sort of Google obsessed.  On it all the time.”  This is too much.  Now Davis has my parents drawn into a Google conversation, but they don’t even know what it is coming across as to us.  We are both trying to suppress laughs.  Every time one of them says ‘Google,’ all I hear is ‘sex.’

Mom looks a little hurt or confused, “What’s so funny?  There is nothing wrong with Google.”

Davis jumps in, “Oh, no Mrs. Connelly…”

“Diane, please…”

“Diane, NOTHING wrong with liking Google.”  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  Davis is having WAY too much fun with this. “We were just laughing because Biz is sort of obsessed with Google, too.”  I am going to kill him.  My eyes go wide and I elbow him in the ribs lightly.  Davis is chuckling.  And then suddenly stops, his eyes change and become serious as he stares at the entrance of the lobby. He turns to me, “My folks are here.”

Davis walks over to the entrance.  Kisses his mother stiffly on both cheeks, then smiles down at his father in his wheel chair, shakes the hand that his dad puts out slightly and leans
down to hug and kiss him.  Mrs. Brandon is very chic.  Her clothes are obviously designer,  her hair and make-up perfect.  Lt. Governor Brandon looks like an older, more sophisticated Davis, in a dark charcoal suit with a deep purple tie.  Davis ushers them over to us.

More introductions.  Davis introduces me to his parents last.  I shake his dad’s hand.  It’s not very firm, but I think he is trying.  His eyes are warm and pleasant.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you Biz… or is it Lizard?” and then he winks.  Just like Davis.

Davis continues, “and this is my mother, Meredith Brandon.”

Standing a bit away, Mrs. Brandon’s gaze travels from the top of my head, all the way down to my ballet flats and back, eventually making eye contact with me.  Her smile is forced, just a line, no teeth.  She looks almost pained.  She gives me only the tips of her fingers to shake.  They are icy cold.  She retracts them after one quick shake.

I smile my biggest smile to try and get a response, “I’m glad you came Mrs. Brandon.”  She doesn’t ask me to call her by her first name like my mother did to Davis.

In elegant, measured words she replies, “Wouldn’t miss it.  Love to see Davis’ work.” Her eyes are cold and she gives no indication that she is really happy to be here or to meet me.

I give my regrets
to everyone for leaving them, but I need to go backstage and get into costume and make-up.  Davis tells them all the plan to go over to The Lum until the show starts.  My mom and dad and Mr. Brandon sound enthused about the idea.  Mrs. Brandon is stoic, eyes still on me.  Davis gives me a kiss good-bye, then pulls back slightly to look at me, with eyebrows raised, non-verbally telling me, “Here we go! Yikes!”

Before I turn to leave, I can’t resist and tell him, “Have Fun!”  Ha!

Mrs. Brandon’s gaze burns a hole in my back as I go.  I can feel it on me until I am out of the lobby and on the way backstage.

***

Opening night of the show is a BLAST.  Everyone is killing it!  The orchestra sounds

perfect – not to
o soft, not too loud.  Everyone is hitting every cue dead on, like we are riding some kind of comedy timing wave.  I feel so strong and confident, belting out my solos.  I get enormous laughter during the song Shy, the tune Winifred sings declaring her shyness, while she is the ultimate extrovert.  Davis has told me repeatedly it’s my song.  In real life, I act shy and quiet, but really I’m anything but, especially when I feel good about myself.  I really am starting to believe in myself.  I’m not sure if it’s this role, being back in Little Jan’s good graces, or Davis, but I have never felt better about myself.

***

I sprint into Davis’ arms.  He and our parents have been waiting for me outside the dressing room.   I’ve changed from my costume, removed my stage make-up, taken a quick shower, re-dressed and done my regular hair and make-up in record time.  I am dying to see his reaction.  

His face is one big beautiful smile as he hugs me so tight I can barely breathe and
he rains kisses all over my face.  He’s doing it right in front of our parents, too.  Declaring himself.  My father clears his throat and I pull away from Davis to look at him.  He is standing, slightly away from the others, holding a big bouquet of roses and looks so proud.  He holds his arms out for a hug.  I go to him and let him wrap me up.   He kisses the top of my head and tells me, “Oh, Bizzy girl, you were amazing!  It reminded me of when you were little and would sing and dance on top of the coffee table.  You used to do a mean, They Call The Wind Maria.  You remember?”  Then my dad whispers, just to me,  “I see all that spunk I thought was gone forever last summer.  It’s back.”  Davis joins us.  My dad says a little louder, so Davis and I can hear, but nobody else,  “You’re back, huh?”

I squeak out, trying not to cry, “Yeah, I guess I am.” He is killing me.  I didn’t realize how much grief and concern I’d caused them.

“Do I have Davis to thank for that?” he asks earnestly.

“Mostly, yes …”

Davis cuts me off.  “No sir, it’s all her.  She is a sassy little smart ass, if you will excuse

my language, sir.  All that confidence is in there.”   Davis puts an arm around me and looks down at me with so much love and pride swirling in his amazing shining eyes.  “It was just hiding for a while.”

There are more hugs and kisses from my mom.  Accolades from the Lt. Governor, who

said he hadn’t had so much fun in a long time.  Mrs. Brandon stands back from the rest of us.   After everyone has greeted me, they all look at her, waiting for a reaction.  Her husband finally asks, “How did you like the production, Meredith?”

Meredith Brandon visibly swallows a few times, sniffs and then pinning me in her sites

says, “I thought Davis’ lighting was very good … inspired.  The show was cute.  I am more of a classical theatre enthusiast, but it was cute.”

Tension.  Palpable tension.  The horrible awkward conversational pause.

Davis, thankfully, breaks it by going over to his mother, hugging her fully and telling her,

“Thank you, mom.”  It’s a sweet moment.  I think I see Mrs. Brandon finally melt a little.

“Oh my gosh, Mavis …yes, congratulations.  The lighting was perfect.  Thank you.” 

I give him an appreciative kiss.

He whispers in my ear, “You found the hot spot every time.”  He is incorrigible and I

love him that way.

***

Davis and I escort our parents to The Lum for the opening night cast party.  The entire cast is there.
  Jules and Charlie show up and flatter me until I blush.  I introduce them to the Brandons.  They already know my parents.  PJ and his pink hair make an appearance.  I introduce him to my parents.  My mother is completely intrigued by PJ.  She has him cornered for most of the evening, chatting his ear off about fashion and hair.   He plys her with many girly cocktails and even gets her to dance!  I need PJ around more often to chill my mom out.  My dad and Mr. Brandon convene in one of the salons, after being introduced around, and surprisingly, given their very different political leanings, seem to be quite companionable.  Davis walks his mother around the party to meet people, introducing her to Owen, our director and the rest of the production staff.  She’s not as taken with PJ as my mother.   I am beginning to wonder if she ever smiles or laughs or lets go.  Then I remember this is a woman that has lost a child.  Seeing all these other young adults, about the age Cole would have been, must be hard.  Celebrating Davis’ success must be bittersweet. 

Davis’ parents decide to leave after only a couple of hours.  Davis explains to me

that his father becomes extremely fatigued.  His health care aide was dismissed for the show and the party, but meets them at the door along with their driver to get them back to their hotel.  There are no plans made to meet up the next day for breakfast or anything.  This is goodbye.  Davis gives both his parents long hugs, kisses his mother on the cheek and whispers something in his dad’s ear.  Mr. Brandon looks at me, gives a half-smirk that reminds me of Davis’ and says, “thought so.”  Mr. Brandon indicates that I should come over and hug him.  When I lean down, he brings his arm up as high as he can to pat my back and with emotion tells me, “Welcome to the family.” 

I stand up and smile down at him and mouth, “Thank you.”

Davis is standing by his mother. She is practically glaring at me when I turn back to

them.  I tentatively approach them and am relieved when Davis puts his arm around me.  He turns back to his mom and informs her we are engaged.  She says nothing.  She has no
change in facial expression.  If anything she might look subtly more displeased.  Davis gives his mom one last hug and then moves back to his dad.  Mrs. Brandon and I just stand and stare at each other, incredibly awkwardly.  She looks up to catch Davis’ attention and then weirdly pulls me in for a hug.  It is stiff and strange.  The worst part happens next, she burns the words into my ear with a dark menacing voice, “Well, he was engaged to Kathleen once, too, you know … and he is quite the … how should I say this, ladies man.  I wish you the best of luck.” What?  What is she saying to me?  Warning me off.  Warning me to leave him?  Trying to scare me?  And that didn’t really sound like a sincere, “I wish you the best of luck,” either.