Chapter 5: Back Stage

Charlotte and Stephen ended their early morning together. She had to get going for the show's afternoon performance. The two got to socialize a little more together, prior to exiting. He got on the subway and made his way back home. Stephen sat and thought to himself.

“Alright, gotta take this one step at a time. She's definitely a little different than I recall her. Though, I still totally have feelings for her.”

Stephen returned to the apartment. He wished to give his brother an update. Drew however, was fast asleep in his bedroom. Stephen knocked on his door. He woke up in a state of frustration. Drew flung himself out of his room and Stephen had to dodge to the side.

"Whoah, you alright there?" asked Stephen.

"Ugh, sorry. I get frustrated when woken up by a loud noise. Plus get real drained after tiring nights of service like last night."

"Oh, I'm sorry for waking you like that. What happened last night?"

"Nothing, just gets real brutal at times. Anyways, I'm guessing you've got an update for me about your girl?"

Stephen nodded his head. He gave him a rundown of what happened earlier. Drew smiled and walked over to the couch. He took the side, further into the room, and away from the balcony. Stephen sat on the other side of it.

"Hey, that's great to hear. Sounds like you're making progress both with this girl and with becoming a performer one day," said Drew. "Looks like you just need to keep up with these and work on one last thing."

"Oh, I'm sorry," stated Stephen in confusion. "I'm not recalling what that one last thing would be."

"You told me, back when we first met, that you felt that you didn't truly know yourself. I know that many consider their significant other as their other half. However, you wouldn't achieve that person without truly knowing your full self, Stephen."

"Shit, you're right. All this excitement has been distracting myself."

"Right, and you have reason to pursue these two things. Just also take the time to figure yourself out. Figure out hobbies or favorite past times you could share together. But most of all, best to figure out all of your cons prior to her doing so."

Stephen nodded his head. "Yeah, I'll try to figure those out."

"Good, now let me get back to sleep please. And try to remember that you have a much more nocturnal half-brother."

Drew got up and returned to his bedroom. Stephen took a moment to think. He thought that going for a walk could help him decide on what to try doing for himself. Stephen left the building and got back onto the subway. He made his way back over to Manhattan.

Central Park was a beautiful and much more natural feeling area of the city. Stephen decided on going for a nice long tour through it. He started at the nature preserve at the bottom and would then work his way up. It was a nice and quaint walk for him. Stephen liked it a lot and felt that he'd probably need a break like this regularly around here.

Stephen continued onward. He got past the zoo and amusement area, and over to the Bow Bridge. This was a much more crowded area. People were proposing, left and right, just like how it's the main area for them in films. He hated the crowd and pushed forward.

It had become much further into the day. Stephen didn't realize that he passed by Charlotte's current boyfriend, Travis. She wasn't there with him. However, Charlotte did tell him of her plans of meeting with an old classmate that morning, and shared an old class photo they were both in. Travis eyed Stephen questionably as he passed by. He didn't recognize him due to the hood obscuring his face and how he had his hands in his pockets.

Stephen made his way farther up. He reached the park's outdoor theater, and thought to himself. “Damn, too used to Broadway, totally didn't think of the city having a theater like this.” It had a sign by the entrance requesting volunteers. He was about to go in but then stopped due to a thought that came to mind..

“Okay, I am more than just a performer. In fact, am I really? I was just preferring that much more calmer walk than being around all those people. Alright, I'll really need time with Charlotte's friend to get some sort of idea if I really am still into this type of career.”

Stephen received a message from Charlotte.

“Hey, I spoke with my friend, Frances. She'd be happy to have you join the group after tonight’s performance. Which I of course got you a ticket for to make things easier for you ;)”

Stephen smiled both at the news and the way she wrote the message. He continued his walk. However, realizing how a reservoir divided the park into two parts, he decided that he'd save the north side for another day. Stephen made his way to the public library. He thought that he could kill some time there and try to do some more research on the area.

The public library was big and beautiful. It had huge art on the interior ceiling. Stephen got lost at first, looking around at everything. He got himself to calm down and sat at one of the desktop computers. The library had an advertisement for their locals to discover that the city has a set up for people to attend college for free, and it being without your past grades being calculated.

It was getting to be towards the end of the spring semester. Stephen figured that he should probably find something to take during the summer as back up. He definitely qualified as being someone with low enough funds. A thought came to his mind. “Damn, totally distracted and didn't think about how much I'm completely relying on my brother right now. This and backstage tonight are two totally different things that'd take two long. I need to find a middle ground.”

It was late at night. The library was getting ready to close and it was becoming time to attend the show again. Stephen departed and arrived at the theater. He made sure to grab the playbill this time. Stephen spent most of the time trying to read it to see how much he could learn about Charlotte through it.

The show ended. Stephen had to show his e-ticket to stick around. It included a signed message, from Frances, for him to stick around. He was brought backstage by a liaison. Stephen hoped that Charlotte would be part of this group.

Charlotte was not there. The group consisted of men and women in a range of 18-25. They had pins stating which of the local colleges they attended. This group activity worked as a credit towards their degree. Frances stood off to the side. She had beautiful long blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Hello there Stephen, was it?" asked Frances. "Welcome to the group. We'll be happy to have you join us in training. You get opportunities both midway and at the end of the season's training to audition and join theaters both on and off Broadway."

"Thanks. So, how should I partake?" asked Stephen.

"Hmm, let me see how you socialize with those in the group here. How I operate this is that I try to figure out a role of a character that each person could easily perform as. So, that they can then practice auditioning for that role or one that is similar."

Stephen sighed and turned to the group. He was never very social and tended to feel uncomfortable reaching out to unknown individuals. Stephen thought, I gotta try my best and work hard here. I'll get up to these people and show myself like a star. Like how you need to show yourself to the wide audience members of a show.”

Stephen rushed over to people. He tapped on their shoulders and started introducing himself to them, right off the bat. Stephen hopped from one person to the next, before getting any real responses from any of them. He was trying to get this done fast, in an attempt to impress Frances. She witnessed his actions and took them in a whole nother way.

"Alright Stephen, c'mon back over," said Frances.

Stephen came over to her.

"Alright, I think I have a role for you," continued Frances.

"Okay, so which is it?"

"Oh, well I saw how you were fiddling with everyone over there. So, I'd say that you'd be perfect for that side character. You matched his actions dropping in without notice and didn't seem to mind their own business. You don't agree with the role. Then you'll need to come off as a totally different individual."

Frances turned away. The group gave him a stern look. Stephen hated tonight’s result. He thought, “Hmm, why don't I try coming off as how they are portraying the Dracula character for his intro. That could be a much nicer persona that I at least witnessed recently.” Tonight's persona was honestly nothing like the ones he played as a child.