The Theatre Jock (Patreon)

This was supposed to be a one part commission, but I'm loving the characters so I'm going to make it a three part mini-series! 

All characters are 18+

“Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet: mine and my father’s death come not upon thee, nor thine on me”.

The entire hall fell silent as the words hung in the air, and despite the fact that I had always been severely cringed out by plays, I felt a rush of chills as Lucas Adler bowed low on the stage. Everyone erupted with applause, and the rest of the cast surged out from behind the red curtains and bowed alongside the lead performer.

Truth be told, Lucas had carried the entire thing. Aside from him, the rest had made it obvious that their rendition of Hamlet had indeed been a high school production, but Adler had something special. Everyone who had gotten to their feet had done so for him, but I remained seated and listened as Gary and Butch sniggered and jeered.

“What a pussy” Butch chuckled, “I still don’t know why he felt like he needed to come out of the closet”.

Gary cackled. “Right? It’s not like the entire school didn’t already know that he was a fa–”

“–Fantastic performer. Isn’t that right, gentlemen?” Mr. Harrold interrupted from the row behind, with a stern hand on Gary’s shoulder. I smiled to myself as his face burned red and he nodded with a gulp.

“So fantastic, in fact” the vice principal continued, “that I think it would be marvellous to have the entire baseball team involved in the next play. What do you think, boys?”

Gary gawped at Butch who looked as though he’d been slapped in the face. They both turned to me, desperately hoping that I’d be able to say or do something to change the man’s mind, but I could only shrug. Although the idea was less than appealing, it was somewhat deserved.

“I fucking hate that guy” Butch groaned as we left the hall, “who does he think he is?!”

“Uh… The vice principal” I reminded him, and pulled my jacket around my broad shoulders as we walked in the chilly night.

“Coach won’t be happy” Gary told us, “he’ll put a stop to it. I mean, look at that kid!” He pointed at the group ahead of us.

Lucas Adler was surrounded by students young and old. They flocked to him like sheep, and it was clear to see that the eighteen year old loved the attention. He shook hands, hugged and did that weird air kiss thing that French people do. I rolled my eyes, but I couldn’t help but smile.

We’d been close friends once upon a time. We’d grown up together, in fact. Endless days playing together. Nights spent under blanket forts, telling ghost stories. They’d been good times, but things were different now.

Lucas had changed. I’d changed, too. We’d gone our separate ways, and whilst I chose baseball and the gym, he’d gone down the theatre kid route. That, of course, and the fact that he’d recently announced to the world that he was gay, had ensured that our friendship could never be rekindled.

As we walked by the growing group, I felt my heart ache. We’d been like brothers once, and now we were nothing more than familiar strangers. I stole a glance through the sea of fans, and just for a second, our eyes met. Lucas flashed a handsome smile, but Gary and Butch were too close for me to return it.

“Imagine being in a dressing room with him!” Butch scowled, “I bet he loves watching all the guys getting changed”.

“I don’t think you’d have anything to worry about, for some reason” I said back, and noticed the harshness in my voice.

Butch looked like a particularly hideous bull dog. His face was mashed in and his head was at least two sizes too large for his clumpy body. My guess was that there were very few people on the planet who would have enjoyed checking him out whilst he undressed.

“Sounds like you’re in love with him, Austin” Gary scoffed, and I was glad that it was dark out as my face burned.

“See you two douchebags tomorrow” I said, turning off toward my street, and a moment later, I was alone.

I sat against the wall outside my house and took a deep breath. Why did things have to turn out so differently for us? Sure, I loved my life, and I was doing so well on the baseball team that going pro was beginning to look like a real possibility, but something was missing. Gary and Butch were typical jock assholes. They barely had a braincell between them, and spent more time talking shit about everyone else, than they did worrying about their own miserable lives.

As I sat there thinking about them, I realised that the best friend that I ever had wasn’t on the baseball team or in the gym, he was walking right down the street in front of me.

“I didn’t think I’d see you there tonight” Lucas smiled, and it was strange to see him alone after being surrounded by hordes of people back at the school.

“Had no choice” I told him, flippantly “English teacher insisted”.

He nodded, but kept his eyes on me. Lucas lived just across the street, which is likely the reason that we’d been so close for so long. Looking at him now, under the warm orange hue of the street lamp, I realised how grown up he’d become. He was no longer the flamboyant little boy who used to run around singing at the top of his lungs. He was bigger now, in all senses of the word.

“Mr. Harrold tells me that we might be working together soon” he said, and I could see his lip curl. “Won’t that be fun?”.

“I can think of other words to describe it” I chuckled, “for some reason, Gary and Butch don’t seem overly enthused”.

“Enthused?!” He gasped, placing his hand on his chest, “that’s an awfully big word for a baseball jock”.

Lucas had always been like that. He enjoyed teasing, but I didn’t mind. After growing up with him for so long, I’d become internally strong. which was something that no amount of baseball practice or weight lifting could provide.

“Aren’t you going to tell me how good I was?” He continued, smiling expectantly, but I shrugged.

“You were okay” I lied, “a little over dramatic, I’d say”.

His smile turned to a laugh and as Lucas began walking toward his house, he looked up into the night sky, held his arms out wide and said “what is life without dramatics, Austin Brooks!?” And left me alone, shaking my head and grinning.

“You’ve got that right, Lucas” I whispered.

“Alright, you there! No, no, no. You move there. And… Excuse me, can you please concentrate!”

The entire morning had been a chaotic, messy explosion of beefy jocks crashing into each other, and theatre kids standing around, tapping their feet and crossing their arms. Mrs. Adelaide had spent more time screeching at us than anything else, and when Gary had found a large phallus shaped object and held it to his groin, the drama teacher appeared to lose her last shred of patience.

“No, no, you can leave now. Both of you go! Get out, go and tell Mr. Harrold that I refuse to have such disrespect in my hall!”

Gary and Butch choked with laughter as they hurried from the large hall, and when the woman turned back, her narrow eyes landed directly on me.

“Do you want to go with them?!” She snapped, and although I towered over her, I gulped and shook my head. “Fine, then I want focus!”

I glanced over at Lucas who sniggered to himself. I flipped him the middle finger, and Mrs. Adelaide spun around and glared angrily at me.

“Sorry” I mumbled, much to the disapproval of the others.

By the time the lunch bell finally sounded, I was mentally drained. Trying to learn the lines of The Outsiders was turning into a complete nightmare. I could hardly remember what I had for breakfast, let alone a full script!

“Struggling?” Lucas asked from behind me, and I turned to see him grinning once more.

“How do you do this all the time?” I asked, showing him the endless script.

He took the sheets from my hand and held them behind his back. He stepped closer to me, looking up into my eyes, and then he spoke.

“I felt a little warm inside. Something was happening, but I didn’t know what. I wished I could have said something. I wished she would say something more. I was puzzled and frustrated”.

I stared at him, and he stared at me. For just a moment, it felt like we were alone in a room full of people. For just a moment, it felt like we were kids again, the best of friends, more like brothers than anything else. More than brothers.

“Part six” he said nonchalantly, “Ponyboy and Cherry Valance”.

He handed me back the script and patted me on the chest before walking by and out the door. I let out the breath that I’d been holding in, and flicked through the papers to part six.

“Motherfucker” I laughed, as I read the exact words that he’d just spoken.