STAGESTRUCK - The Complete Series (27 page)

I arrived at the makeup room ten minutes late and obviously out of breath.

“Kate, are you alright?” Mica asked as I collapsed into the chair. She looked alarmed and I searched for a cover story.

“I’m fine,” I assured her. “I had to run an errand and I lost track of time. I ran back to the theater so I wouldn’t miss our appointment.” I explained.

“Oh girl, don’t put yourself through that next time.” She told me as she brushed my long blonde hair. “Just send me a quick text so I know what’s going on. As long as you’re here at least two hours before your first cue, we can make it work.”

“I’ll remember that, thanks.”

“So…?” Mica asked with a smile.

“What?” I replied.

“Kate Harper, everyone knows that people are supposed to tell their hairstylists everything!” She sarcastically scolded me. “The papers have been running stories about you and Dylan for the last week and you’ve yet to say a word about it! I get it, you want to keep your private life private. But you’re in this chair for two hours every day, so if you ever DO want to talk about anything, I’d be happy to listen. If you wanted to talk about the real reason you were out of breath and late today, for instance.” She smiled knowingly; it took me a few minutes to realize what she was talking about.

‘She thinks that Dylan and I were having sex.’ I thought to myself.

“I appreciate the offer, Mica.” I told her. “Honestly, I wasn’t up to anything interesting earlier, I had to go file some paperwork to have my driver’s license transferred to New York.”

“Why in the world do you need a driver’s license?” She asked me.

I shrugged. “I don’t I guess, but my Iowa license is about to expire so I figured I’d renew it here. I wanted some sort of I.D. with my new address on it.”

“That’s right, you’re moving into your fancy Manhattan apartment soon. I know that you’re busy. If you want, I can come over on one of our dark days and help you pack up your place.” She offered.

“Thanks,” I told her. “But I think that Dylan’s going to help me pack.” I had no intention of telling Mica that I was moving out early and staying with Dylan until my new place was ready. But Mica was being nice, so I decided to throw her a bone and share a few details about my relationship.

“Dylan Matthews is going to pack?” She laughed. “I’d like to see a picture of that. He must really be head over heels for you, Kate.”

“I hope so.” I beamed.

“Oh honey, it’s obvious.” Mica assured me. “I’ve been around this theater for a long time. Every year, Dylan shows up for his guest run and we all start placing bets on how many flavors of the day he’ll parade through the place before his contract is up. I’ve seen that boy with plenty of women, but I’ve never seen him act the way he does when he’s around you.”

“He really did used to be a man whore, didn’t he?” I asked with a blush.

“Don’t you worry about that.” She told me. “I’ve always said that as soon as the right woman showed up, he’d settle down in a hurry. It looks like I was right.”

“Thanks Mica,” I smiled at her. “I’m sorry that I haven’t talked about Dylan before. It’s just so hard to know who I can trust around here.” I said, remembering the graffitied article.

“I understand.” Mica replied quickly. “And I don’t blame you after everything you went through your first weeks here. That’s all gotten better now though, hasn’t it?”

“Oh yes,” I lied. “Everyone’s been really sweet since my first performance. And I understand why they gave me attitude in the beginning. No one had ever heard of me and suddenly I was taking their friend’s job. Not to mention that I won a starring role without really paying my dues. But I think I’ve proven to everyone that I deserve to be here.”

“You’ve beyond proved that.” Mica told me as she spun my hair around the curling wand. “You said that everyone’s been sweet, have you and Serena made up too?”

“No,” I replied. “I meant everyone at Jersey Boys. I haven’t talked to Serena since my debut night. I doubt that she feels any differently about me though.”

“Don’t let her get to you Kate, she’s always been like this.” Mica confided in me.

“She has? I’m surprised to hear that. I met her through mutual friends and they said that she’s never done anything like this before.” I told her.

“Are any of your mutual friends also in the industry?” She asked. I shook my head. “Well, that explains why they’ve never seen this side of her. Serena’s always had the passion for the stage, but she’s never really had the talent. She says that she loves her job in the makeup room, but I think she really just wants to stay close to the stage. If she can’t be IN the show, she at least wants to be on the outskirts. You should hear her talk about some of the people on her show. She’s so jealous, she trash talks them every chance she gets.”

“Yeah, but I bet she’s nice to their faces.” I said.

“Yeah, I know she hasn’t given you that courtesy. But at least she’s stayed away from you since your debut.” Mica said. I thought of the article again, certain that Serena hadn’t stayed away from me at all. But I knew better than to mention it to Mica, so I kept my mouth shut.

Mica finished pinning my hair and moved on to my makeup. It was difficult for me to talk while she worked, so I sat silently and listened to stories about some of the craziest actors Mica had worked with. Finally, an hour before show time, I was ready to go.

“You look beautiful as always, Kate.” She told me as I made my way to the door. “Tell Dylan if he touches that hair or makeup before show time, I’ll make his life hell for it.”

“He already knows better,” I laughed. “But I’ll remind him.”  I told Mica goodbye and headed back to my dressing room, hopeful that I wouldn’t find any more surprises.

“So this is where you live.” Dylan said as Peter pulled up outside of my building.

“It’s not the Dakota, but it’s home.” I smiled. “Or at least it was home. It’s hard to believe that I’m already leaving the place, the day I moved in I hoped to be here for years. I knew that I was starting a new life that day, but I had no idea how fast everything would change.”

“No one ever does, Kate.” Dylan said as he helped me out of the limousine. His car looked completely out of place in the neighborhood.

“Don’t you have a regular car we could take every now and then?” I asked. “This one draws an awful lot of attention.”

“I have plenty of regular cars, but they’re all in L.A. I hate driving in New York so I just keep the limo here.” He explained as I led him into the building.

I’d forgotten that Dylan had another house in Los Angeles. “So that’s where you stay when you’re doing movies?” I asked as we climbed the staircase.

“Sometimes, if we’re shooting in a studio,” he replied. I unlocked my front door and we stepped inside.

“I like it here,” Dylan smiled as he surveyed my living room. “It’s eclectic… very you. And it looks like it will be easy to pack.”

I smiled, looking at the still full boxes from my last move stacked in the corner. “Yeah, I’ll probably be able to get it all done in just a couple of hours. I just have to throw my clothes and kitchen essentials into boxes.”

“Well for now, just grab some clothes.” Dylan said. “Peter’s waiting outside and, as you pointed out, there’s not much room for the car.”

Dylan followed me to my room and sat on the bed while I rifled through my closet. I pulled out my suitcase, unzipped it, and dumped a pile of paperbacks onto the floor. “I’ll have to repack those too I guess. Normally I’d have had them on a shelf by now. I really did mean to unpack, I just kept getting…”

“Busy?” Dylan interrupted with a smile.

“Crazy busy, I don’t know how you’ve done it so long.” I said. I pulled some pajama pants, t-shirts, and panties out of my dresser and tossed them into the suitcase.

“Why do you think I only do three month limited contracts now?” Dylan asked.

“Because with your movie schedule and your television schedule, that’s all you have time for,” I replied.

Dylan shook his head. “I come back once a year because theater is my true love. But I only stay three months because I hate the hours. Movies and television pay so much more and they’re SO much easier.”

“When is your Jersey Boys contract over?” I asked. I turned to my closet and started pulling jeans and sweaters off of hangers; I didn’t want him to see my reaction when he answered.

“Six and a half weeks,” he replied.

“And where will you go then?”

“I haven’t decided yet. My agent sent me a couple of scripts last week, one shoots in Vancouver and the other in New Jersey. They’re both good roles, I haven’t decided which one I’m taking. But I’ll have about seven weeks between contracts, so I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.” He promised.

“You could extend your contract.” I suggested.

“I could,” he agreed. “I’m sure that Hank and Bruce would let me stay as long as I want. Or, you could think about coming with me. Both of the directors want me and neither have cast their lead females. Read the scripts and if you like them, you can audition too.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I told him. “Can you imagine what the press would have to say about that? They had a field day when you got me the Jersey Boys audition, there’s no telling what they’d say about us if you put me up for a movie role.” I walked out of the room to pack my bathroom things; Dylan followed me and sat on the side of the tub as I wound up the cords of my blow dryer and curling irons.

“You’re probably right,” he agreed. “The press might give us a hard time, at first. But then the movie will come out, it will be phenomenal, and they’ll love us again. They’ll love us even more than they do now.”

I shook my head as I put the last of my things into the suitcase and zipped it shut. “I love working with you, but I don’t want to do movies. That was never my dream, Dylan. I know that the theater schedule is grueling. At this point, I might even agree with my mother and call it uncivilized. But I can’t imagine acting without the audience in front of me. When I step out onto that stage, I can feel their energy and it’s all worth it.”

“You’re still stagestruck Kate,” Dylan insisted as he wheeled my bag to the door. “It’ll wear off soon enough.”

I knew that it wouldn’t but I didn’t see the point in arguing. We stepped out into the hall and I locked the door behind us. “It’s too bad Peter’s downstairs waiting, we could have christened my sofa before we left.” I teased as we walked down the stairway.

“There’s plenty of stuff to christen at my place.” Dylan replied with a devilish grin.

Saturday afternoon, Janette and I met Mark and Parker for lunch at Syd’s. Dylan had reluctantly stayed home so I could have some quality time with my friends, so when he’d asked me to let Peter drive me to the bar I quickly agreed; Mark and Parker had promised to escort me to Lincoln Theater after lunch.

“So, what is it like to live with Dylan Matthews?” Mark asked. “Is it just divine? Does he wake up looking that good, or does he spend a lot of time getting ready in the morning?”

“He wakes up looking that good. He also walks around the apartment with his shirt off, likes to air dry after showers, and spends a lot of time in his home gym.” I smiled. “I work up a sweat just watching him lift weights.”

“I’m SO jealous.” Mark sighed.

“You can come over anytime you want, I’m sure Dylan wouldn’t mind.” I told him. “He wanted to come with me today but I really wanted to hang out, just the four of us.”

“Kate Harper!” Mark exclaimed. “Are you telling me that your rich, devastatingly handsome, internationally famous boyfriend wanted to grace us with his presence and you RUINED it?” He asked in mock horror.

“Alright, I get the point.” I laughed. “Next time I’ll let him tag along.”

“I didn’t know that you were such a Dylan Matthews fan. Should I be worried?” Parker teased.

“Of course not, baby. You know I’ve only got eyes for you.” Mark replied. He and Parker kissed. A month before, Mark had confided in me that he was afraid that they were drifting apart; I was relieved to see them getting along so well.

I turned to Janette. “I thought Paul was coming today.”

“He got a call from one of the families on the first floor. Their pluming busted a couple days ago and the super still hasn’t sent anyone out. They offered to pay Paul out of their own pockets if he could get the job done today.” She explained.

“Well, it’s good that he’s working.” I said brightly. Paul’s primary source of income was selling pot, but I knew that Janette had been pushing him to make a more honest living.

“Yeah, and it’s good that we’re getting out of the building. The place is going to fall down around everyone soon if the manager doesn’t do something. Have you let Gil know that you’re breaking your lease?”

“Oh shit, did I forget to tell you?” I asked. “Neither one of us have to break our leases, we can sublet. There are some women in the crew who were looking for apartments close to each other. Please tell me you haven’t already called Gil?”

“Nope,” Janette smiled. “This is so perfect.”

“Yes, as your male friends who’ve had to haul your shit across town multiple times, we’ve voted this our favorite of all of your moves.” Parker chimed in. “I love a woman who can hire a moving company.”

“You boys have been troopers.” Janette laughed. “So Kate, aside from the air drying and the shirtless exercising, what’s it really like at Dylan’s place? You’re not going to change your mind about moving in with me are you?”

“No, it’s way too soon to think about anything like that.” I insisted. “To be honest, I can’t wait to get in to our new place.”

“Don’t tell me that you’re already getting tired of the superstar.” Parker said.

“No nothing like that. I was just wanted the excitement and the newness to last as long as possible. I can’t completely relax and Dylan’s place, I’m constantly paranoid that I’ll do something ridiculous and shatter his image of me.” I admitted.

“That’s understandable,” Mark assured me. “There’s a reason most people date for more than three weeks before moving in together.” He teased.

“Oh, leave her alone Mark. You know these are special circumstances.” Parker scolded. He turned to me. “Has anything strange happened since Tuesday?”

“No, everything’s been pretty normal.” I told him. “Or as normal as such a crazy life can be. I still can’t believe that just a few months ago, I was still working at the community theater in Iowa.”

“Get used to your new normal.” Parker advised me. “My firm buys a lot of theater tickets. The boss gives them to our better clients and doles them out on employee birthdays. He took a big group of executives from Johnson and Johnson last week. When he came in to work the next morning, all he could talk about was the cute blonde with the big pipes. I was tempted to tell him that I know you, but I didn’t want to be tacky.”

“Maybe I’ll tag along to your holiday party and surprise him.” I laughed.

“That would be awesome, I’d probably get a raise.”

I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that I actually had fans, that there were people out there whose day would be brightened by a visit. With guilt, I remembered a big group of people I really owed a visit to.

“Are you okay, Kate?” Janette asked. “You look sad all of a sudden.”

“I was just thinking about the Youth Theater.” I confessed. “I promised all of those kids that I wouldn’t disappear on them and I haven’t made it by once since rehearsals started.”

“You needed time to settle in to your new schedule, surely they’ll all understand that.” Parker said.

“I know… but with all of the attention I’ve been getting in the papers, I’m afraid the kids will see the pictures and think that I’ve gotten wrapped up in my new life and forgotten about them.”

“Well, you were talking about turning a couple shows over to Maggie. If you let her take over the Monday shows, you could spend one day a week at the youth theater.” Mark suggested. “That would take away your two days off a month, but you could always let Maggie take an extra performance or two when you need a break.”

“Being with the kids never feels like work,” I told him. “But I know that I have Maggie for a reason. If I start feeling burnt out, I’ll use her.”

“Are you going to the youth theater this Monday, or are you going to stay home and pack?” Janette asked.

“I really need to go see the kids. Especially Fiona, she probably hates me. I doubt Max was tacky enough to tell her why we broke up, but she’s a smart girl. I’m sure she read the papers and figured it out for herself. I want to talk to her, even if she yells at me.”

“I just thought of something.” Mark gasped. “Do you think that Max could be the one behind that picture and the awful message in your dressing room?”

I hadn’t thought of that either. I considered it for a moment and then shook my head. “Max was pissed at me but I don’t think that he’d do something like this.”

“I still can’t believe that Serena had an alibi.” Janette added. “I was so certain she was the one behind everything. I mean who else knows where you live AND could get into your dressing room without anyone noticing?”

“I know.  But Marcus spoke with Arthur Meadows and he said that he was in Serena’s chair for four hours that day, and that article was delivered two hours in to his makeup job. I guess it takes a really long time to transform into Lola. Anyway, he said that Serena never left the room. There’s no way it was her.”

“Maybe she had an accomplice.” Janette suggested.

“I can’t think of anyone who hates me enough to work with her.” I told her. “The other women on Jersey Boys were bitchy when I first started rehearsals, but even that awful Samantha girl is kissing my ass now.”

“She may be kissing your ass to your face and plotting with Serena behind your back.” Parker suggested.

“Maybe,” I agreed. “Honestly, I’m sick of thinking about it. I’m going to go to the bar for a refill, does anyone need anything?” I asked, lifting my empty beer glass. Janette and Parker shook their heads.

“I could have another, I’ll go with you.” Mark offered. We made our way to the bar and signaled the bartender for refills.

“You and Parker seem to be getting along better.” I told him.

“We are,” he beamed. “I took your advice, we’ve spent the last four Sundays wandering around the Met and talking about the paintings. You have to turn your cell off in there, so we lose a big distraction. Last week, we completely forgot about our phones until we were drifting off to sleep last night.”

“I’m so happy to hear that.” I said. “You two are so good together and you’ve been together too long to let things fall apart now.”

“We’re stronger than we’ve ever been. In fact, we’ve been talking about taking a pretty major step.” He smiled.

“Oh my god,” I whispered. “Are you getting married?”

Mark nodded. “Don’t say anything until we make the official announcement. But yes, we’re going to take the plunge.”

“Oh Mark, I’m so happy for you. But I thought that you said the legal stuff wasn’t important to you.”

“It still isn’t.” He replied. “But it’s a necessary step in an even bigger decision we’ve made.”

“I don’t understand.” I told him as the bartender slid us two fresh beers. “What is getting married a step… oh my god. OH MY GOD MARK!”

“Quiet, Kate,” he whispered. “You’re drawing attention.”

“I’m sorry. But Mark are you saying…”

He nodded. “Yes. I know that the process is long and that our chances of getting chosen aren’t as good as a straight couple’s, but we’ve decided to start the adoption process.”

“I’m so happy for you.” I whispered. “I’d hug you but I don’t want Parker or Janette to see it and wonder what’s going on.”

“Thanks,” he smiled again. “So, will you be my maid of honor?”

“Of course I will.”

“Great,” he squeezed my hand. “We’d better get back to the table.”

We rejoined Parker and Janette; I tried to keep my face emotionless but Parker saw right through me.

“You told her.” He said, looking at Mark.

Mark shrugged. “I couldn’t help myself. If Janette’s still in the dark, then I’ll apologize for my slip.” He teased.

“Don’t let him guilt trip you, he told me yesterday.” Janette chimed in.

“Thank god,” I breathed a sigh of relief and bounced up and down in my seat. “I’m so excited for you! We need to go shopping!”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” Parker laughed. “We just want to have a simple ceremony at the court house. The two of you could probably wear your yoga pants and be the most well dressed women there, aside from the lawyers and judges in their business clothes.”

“Courthouse or no courthouse, no one involved will be wearing yoga clothes.” Janette insisted. “This is still one of the most important days of your lives. Kate and I have both suddenly found ourselves with more money than we know what to do with. Why don’t you let us throw you a wedding? We’ll keep it simple… we could even have it here.”

“That’s a great idea, I’m in.” I added quickly.

“We can’t let you do that.” Mark insisted. “If we wanted something fancy we could pay for it ourselves. And when would either of you have time to plan a party?”

“You’re going to let us do it because we’re not taking no for an answer.” Janette said firmly. “You two have been the best friends a girl could ask for. Think of the wedding as our way of saying thank you for all of the times you’ve taken care of us.”

Parker and Mark exchanged a look. “What do you say?” Parker asked his fiancé. “I’m in if you are.”

“I guess it’s settled.” Mark replied. “Plan away girls just know that I’m not going to wear white or anything with tails.” He warned.

“We can work around that.” I assured him with a smile. We spent the rest of the afternoon comparing the pros and cons of disc jockeys verses live bands, and then the newly engaged couple walked me to work.