New Scene: Enter the Club

The place was called Sparke & Flash, but it was usually just known as Flash. The name was fairly accurate, it was known for it's amazing lighting. It was so popular that, despite the fact that it was overall a gay nightclub, straight guys were not an uncommon sight inside. One thing that you could always say about these men was that they were comfortable with themselves.

Terry was comfortable with himself, well, he thought he was. Of course, as Alexis had pointed out, if he was as comfortable as he believed himself to be he probably would have ended up in Flash a lot sooner.

Almost as soon as they had entered the club, Alexis and Nathanial were accosted by people greeting them with enthusiastic hugs. A few had already met Terry, and they also threw their arms around him.
"Oh my Gawd, honey, it is so weird seeing you in here!" "I am shocked they actually go you out to Flash!" "Terry, baby, is this your first time?" They fired off their amazed greetings, interrupted frequently by Alexis or Nathanial introducing him to someone else. Then, quite suddenly, they had all dispersed, returning to the dance floor or to the bar. Neither of his compatriots looked at all shocked -- apparently this was typical.
"You know I'm not going to remember who anyone is, right?" he asked after a stunned silence.

Alexis gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "That's okay, I barely know who half those people were," she admitted.

Nathanial shrugged. "She actually knows more of them than I do, I think," he said sheepishly.

After working their way to the coat check and leaving their jackets there, the trio made their way towards the dance floor. Periodically they would be stopped by someone who had not participated in the storm of greetings when they entered, and the same pattern would commence -- a hug to Nathanial, a hug to Alexis, and a light handshake as they were introduced to Terry.
Once they finally reached the dance floor, Nathanial began to dance. For a gay man, it was clearly not his forte. Still, he was enjoying himself and that was what counted.
"He's better at choreography," Alexis said into Terry's ear, "Wait til they play the dance remix of 'Cotton Eye Joe'."

Terry's jaw dropped. "There's a dance remix to that?"

"There's a dance remix of everything, babe," Alexis explained, "These are gays. They can and will turn anything into a dance party. They're professionals at it."

"I doubt everything. They can't have done a dance remix of "Silent Night', can they?"

"If they haven't yet, I'm sure we'll hear it brand new this December." As the couple had been talking to each other, although they were being loud, they'd had to talk directly into each other's ears. As they'd gotten close, they'd begun to dance. Nathanial spun around them, an obvious third wheel.
Alexis smiled and brought her mouth up towards her boyfriend's lips, which he parted ever so slightly as they met.

"Feeling a little left out?" a voice asked the dancing gay man.

Nathanial stopped, frozen in the middle of a move. "Huh?" he asked, turning to face his ex-boyfriend, "A, why are you here? B, why are you talking to me? And PS, what are you even talking to me about?"

Brad took a step back, putting up his hands as though to show he was unarmed. "I'm allowed in here, it's a public place," he replied, "And B, I'm talking to you because I like talking to you. I miss you. And you're obviously not here with anyone so...I just thought you'd like some company since your friends are playing tonsil hockey." He nodded in the direction of Alexis and Terry.

Terry and Alexis gently pulled away from each other. The straight man looked up towards his single friend and scowled. He had caught sight of Brad. "Excuse me, babe," he said to Alexis before striding away, "I'm gonna get a drink."
Nathanial was almost assuredly playing hard-to-get, but everyone had seen what Brad could do to that boy. Maybe he'd say he was over his ex, but even so the manipulative jerk knew exactly what to say to get exactyly what he wanted. It was time for backup...

A blond boy at the edge of the dance floor caught his eye. The boy was talking to someone on security and was holding a Shirley Temple in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. This was a golden opportunity. With a smile to himself, Terry approached him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Look, Brad, you're being all sweet and stuff," Nathanial protested, although his resolve was clearly weakening, "But, really, whatever connection there is between your life and mine or whatever...it's coincidental. We're nothing and we can't be anything more than that."

Brad's lower lip quivered pathetically. "You won't know that til you try, and I know we already did but I just don't think we were ready..."

"I don't think he's ready for you yet anyways," an unfamiliar voice said, loudly but cheerfully.

Brad stopped and stared. Nathanial's jaw dropped as a pale white arm gracefully draped itself across his arm and over his shoulder. "Right, sweetheart?"

Nathanial gave a glance towards his two friends. Terry nodded. "Your timing is so good, honey," Nathanial fibbed, turning towards the stranger, "You're always so perfect like that." The boy was blond. Otherwise not bad on the eyes, but blond? He shot a glare at Terry. Brad was going to see through this in a second.

"You don't like blonds, Nathanial," Brad questioned, "And I really can't see you dating one of the dancers at this club."

Clearly a second look was in order. Brad was right. During their special events, this blond boy was one of the Flash dancers. "You wouldn't understand the connection we have," the dancer said poetically, "It's stronger than hair color. Stronger than occupations."

"You know, no is an answer too," Brad spat, turning on his heel and storming away, glancing back. He was too stubborn to be done trying for good, but he knew he'd been defeated for one night.

"Then why wasn't he taking it?" Alexis mused. Then she turned to the newcomer. "Thanks so much, hon. Brad's so hard to deal with."

"Cheap too, he never tips, just stares," the boy complained, "I'm Ian, by the way." The trio introduced themselves to Ian. It turned out that he'd come to the club alone that night, so the the three invited him to hang out with them for the remainder of the night.

(The last two pictures come from Jennifer Thomas's site, and all three were taken at Club XS.)

Short Scene: Phone Tag

Nathanial swung his bag up onto his shoulder and headed for the door to the classroom as everyone else packed up their stuff. As he went he called his voice mail box. He'd gotten a call in the middle of Theater History -- fortunately his phone was on silent or the professor might've leapt across tables and attacked. She had not been in a good mood.

"Please enter your 4 digit password then press pound." He complied with the phones instructions. "You have one saved voice mail. You have three saved voice mails. First new message:"

The phone switched over to a deep voice. "Hey hottie, it's Brad. I know we haven't talked in a while, a couple months. I've been super busy. Just calling to say hi. I miss you, Nathanial. Give me a call back some time. Talk to you later."

Before the instructions could even be heard Nathanial slammed a finger into the "7" button to delete the message. By now he was walking outside in the chilly January air, not too frigid but much colder than it was outside, and his suddenly foul mood was visible to anyone who got close enough to see his facial expression.

"Hey Thanial," a voice shouted. Only one person called him that -- Terry, who refused to use most people's full names, "What's up?"

Nathanial turned towards his friend and forced a smile. "Not much, Terry, how are you?"

"What's wrong?" For all the boy's acting skills, it was simply too difficult to fool Terry. He was very good at reading people.

But perhaps a part of Nathanial wanted his friend to know and had given him away. "Brad called," he sighed.

"No, you're not going back to him." The boy's reaction was instaneous, every joint of his body tensed and his jaw jutted forward stubbornly.

Nathanial rolled his eyes. "I know. Jesus, I know. I just hate that he calls every time he's single again. You'd think he'd delete my number at some point, he has with all his other ex's."

Reassured, Terry relaxed and became congenial again. "You were the only guy he's dated who didn't treat him like shit," Terry pointed out, "At least according to him." He smirked. "Of course, there's a reason that they treat him like shit."

Nathanial shrugged. "I guess. He is a douche. But I dunno."

In a split second, Terry's demeanor had changed again. "Don't know what? Whether or not he treats everyone around him like a toy or a tool that's completely expendable and to hell with how they feel? Cause that's been pretty obvious to the rest of us since the day you met him."

"Maybe he's changed, I haven't seen him in forever," Nathanial shot back defensively, "I mean, it does happen. And I kind of miss, you know, being with somebody."

"You can get any guy you want! Okay, tonight we're going to the club and getting you a man," Terry insisted.

Nathanial held in a laugh. "You're coming?"

Terry shrugged. "Well, I figure I'll be safe if I make out with Alexis all night. Right?"

"Sure, if letting you think that will get you there," Nathanial smiled.

New Scene: Audition

(The new characters in this, except for one, are minor enough that I will not be making bios for them. The one character who that is not true of isn't getting a bio because....well, because I'm lazy. :-P)

Alexis rubbed Nathanial's shoulders. "You'll be fine," she assured him, "Totally fine." She, Terry, and Nathanial were outside the theater wing, prepping the Theater Queer, as they affectionately had dubbed Nathanial, for his audition.

Terry nodded his agreement. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"It's a musical, I can't sing," Nathanial snapped, "You do the math, babycakes."

"You're a guy in a girl-heavy theater department," Alexis reminded him, "What song are you doing anyways?"

"I don't even know, I figured I'd pull something out of my ass when I get there," Nathanial answered.

"No wonder you're so nervous," a woman's voice interrupted. Hope was walking steadily towards them, a small pile of books under her arm. She was headed for the auditions, but she seemed totally nerve-free. "What's your range?"

"Uhm...male?" Nathanial tried. Music was not his thing, not at all.

"High or low?"

"Uhm....male?"

"Okay, here." She put down her pile of books and opened up one of them, then turned it towards Nathanial. "It's not difficult. Read it, when they play the music you give them, just do what the piano is doing with your voice."

"I can read music," Nathanial retorted. He paused then added, "Well, kinda."

Hope was unimpressed. "Do what the piano is doing with your voice." She picked up the rest of her books and walked by.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Are you here to audition?" the stage manager asked when Hope rounded the corner and found the table she had been looking for.

"Yes, I'm Hope Daniels I signed up for--"

"I don't really care," the stage manager replied, "We're so far off schedule that you could have signed up for three weeks from next Thursday and I'd let you go. Threw the whole damn thing out. "

"Who are you?" Hope asked.

"Laura Angelli," she answered, "Fill out these papers. Correctly, please. Then I'll let you in to audition." She slid a couple papers towards Hope, and then began ignoring the redhead completely.

Hope put her books down on the table, sat, and started looking at the paperwork. It was a fairly typical college audition sheet, just two copies of it.

"She's kind of a hardass, Hope," a boy sitting at the table finishing his own paperwork said, a comment which Laura either agreed with or was ignoring, "Totally anal retentive and probably OCD but that's why she's good at what she does. Stage managing that is. I'm Nick, by the way." The two awkwardly shook hands with their left hands so as not to stop writing.

Nick finished his papers and handed them to Laura. She whipped a camera out from under the table. "You get three shots. One of them is goofy. Go." Nick smiled, and Hope couldn't help but look. His teeth were perfectly straight and white and his already handsome face looked even better. The camera flashed. A few seconds later it flashed again. Then Nick was up, stradding the table. It flashed again.
"Go in," Laura ordered, pointing at the door to the theater, while handing his forms to another girl who ran into the theater with them and was back empty-handed in a flash.

Nick inhaled. "Wish me luck," he announced to no one in particular.

"Break a leg," Hope mumbled as she tried to determine what her scheduling conflicts would be.

It was then that Nathanial turned the corner. "Laura, who is in there now?" he asked before he even got to the table.

"Nick just went in," Laura said, "Fill out the papers."

"Conversation skills, Laura, have I taught you nothing?"

"Very little, Nathanial. I have work to do." Laura slid his papers across the table -- momentarily disrupting Hope -- and went back to ignoring everyone. She was now fiddling with the camera.

As she put the camera away and pulled out a three-ring binder, Hope finished her paperwork. "Here you go, Laura," the actress said, handing them to the stage manager.

"Three shots. One goofy. Go." Hope smiled. The camera flashed. She kept smiling. The camera flashed again. She paused. "What should I do for my goofy picture?" she asked. Before she knew what was going on, Nathanial's tongue was plastered on the side of her face. Her jaw dropped. The camera flashed.

"No problem," Nathanial smiled, and returned to his papers.

"Go in." Laura pointed at the door. She handed the papers to the other girl.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There were two students other than Nick already in the room, and neither of them was Laura's assistant who seemed to have managed to get out before Hope saw her again. One of them was on stage belting out a rendition of "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Miserables that, honestly, Hope wished she'd missed. She put her music on top of the piano as she walked by it to get to the seats.
"But the tigers come at night..."
Nick saw the redhead and recognized her. He smiled and even across the darkened theater seating, Hope could see the flash of pearly white. She made her way over to him. The other girl, who appeared to have finished but was waiting for her friend, was sitting on one side of him. The department's faculty sat several rows behind them.
"With their voices soft as thunder..."
Hope cringed slightly at the off-key notes.

"Thank you Caitlen," the department head interrupted suddenly, as though he had been asleep and was suddenly realizing how painful the noises he was hearing really were.

"No problem whatsoever! I mean thank you, Professor Strisky!" Caitlen answered perkily. She bounded off of the stage and the other girl got up to leave with her, waving shyly at Nick, who only nodded at her.

"Nick, why don't you show us what you've got?" one of the professors asked. The actor smiled at them, then at Hope, and then headed for the stage, vaulting up onto it.

"Are you singing us something of yours?" another professor asked. She sounded almost excited.

"Not today, no," Nick replied. There was a microphone on the stage, where the lights were at full, but he was making a point of not going near it. "I'll be singing 'The Old Red Hills of Home' from Parade. Carey's got my music already. And, Carey? I'm ready to go."

Piano music started. "Farewell my Lilah, I'll write ev'ry ev'ning."

And Hope was mesmerized. She did not even notice Nathanial plant himself in the seat next to her. The music erupting from the boy on stage's throat was so...perfect.
"Pray on this day, as I journey beyond them...
These old red hills of home..."

(To be continued...)

Short Scene...that I won't even pretend to have a title for...

"I'm done for tonight," Terry explained as he headed, as quickly as he could, for the door. It's not that Red Robin was necessarily a bad place to work, he just loathed working as a waiter, and the sooner he got to Alexis' car the better.

"There's a table in your section still!" his co-worker shot back quickly, "What about them?"

"What about 'em?" Terry retorted, "Barney's got 'em. Bye ya'll." He shot a wave to a waitress who was heading for the kitchen, she gave him a quick nod back. Her section was busy so that was all he was going to get. He pushed open the door and headed out to the parking lot.

Alexis leaned on the car, waiting. She really wanted a cigarette, but she'd made the resolution to quit smoking at New Years and she was going to stick with it. No matter what her boyfriend put her through, no matter what school put her through, she would not smoke again. But, oh, she wanted one.
Good thing there wasn't anyone nearby, or she probably would have mooched one. She didn't have any on her after all.

Finally, the door opened and someone exited. Terry. About damn time too. "I was about to leave without you," she teased, wrapping her arms around his neck and giving him a kiss, "I guess it's a good thing I'm done with classes for today."

"How long have you been waiting?" Terry asked.

Alexis shrugged and smirked. "Like five minutes. It's cool."

"And you didn't smoke?" Terry added, his tone expressing his awe.

Hs girlfriend rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I didn't have any cigarettes so I rolled up the pages you have so far of paper you need to write for Monday and lit them up."

Terry groaned at her mocking. "You are so mean to me. And I love every second of it."

"It's only because it's better than work," Alexis replied with a sly and playful smile, "And because you know you can punish me for it later. Now get in." She pulled away from him and moved towards the car.

He could never move while he was watching her. He soaked up every detail, her hair in the wind, the color of it in the sunlight, whatever outfit she was wearing. Everything was breathtaking and refreshing every time he saw her. Especially when he was leaving work. She was wearing a new top, a dark green color that worked perfectly on her. Long-sleeved, of course, as it was winter There was a hood, which despite the cold temperature he knew she would never put up. When she turned towards him at the door of her car, he saw that there was a translucent fabric where her cleavage would have been, had she not had a shirt on underneath.

"Coming?" she reminded him.

Terry nodded and started for the car. "New top?"

"Just made it this weekend," she nodded, grinning. It made her day every time he noticed things like that. Most boyfriends hardly paid any attention to anything, but he noticed whenever something was new or different and could tell what it was in under three minutes.

"I like it." He opened the car down and got into the passenger seat. He knew that the drive back to campus would be filled with her telling him all about her latest adventurers in fashion design, particularly where this shirt was concerned, but that was fine. She would be ecstatic to tell him about it, and he knew he would love every second of it just because it was her voice.

He was just a little bit head over heels for this one, but after eight months he guessed that was kind of expected.

Third Character

Name: Terrence "Terry" Johnson
Siblings: None
Parents/Guardians: Terry was raised by his grandparents
Birthdate: August 20th 1985
Appearance: At their primarily white college, Terry serves to fill the "diversity quotient", he stands out because of his dark skin. He keeps his hair very short. Of his group of friends he is the most muscular and built.
Style: His style is very metrosexual most of the time, but he has enough clothes in his closet that can fit him into the hip-hop look if he so chooses.
Hobbies: Terry is mostly an athlete, he plays basketball and football. He does enjoy going out to clubs and bars every now and again, though he is not as big a fan of those as most of his friends. Mostly, Terry enjoys partying with other college students. He enjoys hosting his radio show on the campus radio station.
Education: Terry is nearing his college graduation.
Sexuality: Heterosexual.
Dreams: Terry wants to become a huge success as a radio DJ, hoping to reach Howard Stern proportions.
Fears: Terry's greatest fear is insects, period. He is very squeamish for how tough he acts.
Celebrity Crush: Angelina Jolie.
Introvert or Extrovert: Extrovert
Happy or Depressed: He is very happy with the way his life has been going.
Indoors or Outdoors: Indoors
Single or Taken: Terry has been taken for eight months
Favorites:
Season: Winter, as it gives him an excuse to stay inside
Food: Pasta
Dessert: Chocolate Chip Cookies
Places to Eat: Macaroni Grill
Least Favorites:
Season: Spring
Food: Veggie Burgers
Dessert: Twinkies
Places to Eat: Red Robin