Page 30 of Footlights and Forever

Austin had very clear ambitions for his life. We had spent hours lying in bed after some truly heroic sex sessions talking about our futures and were we saw our lives heading. It warmed the coldest reaches of my heart to hear him talk about his future with me in it as a given, as if there was never any other plan without me there by his side. Austin wanted to conquer the theatre world on Broadway before eventually branching out into movie acting. He had the face of someone who belonged on the big screen, to break hearts and wow the crowds. I, however, had very different ambitions for my future. I dreamed of the writers’ room, of maybe writing for a sitcom or stage show. To have that thinktank of minds working together to produce something powerful and amazing. I wanted to be like Madelyn Pugh-Davis and Bob Carroll Jnr, who’d teamed together to write all the seasons ofI Love Lucy.

“Maybe I could take a break for a night and get a little messy,” I mused, mostly to myself.

“Or a lot messy?” Natalie pumped her eyebrows before giving me something of a wink but which turned out to be one giant blink. “I never could wink.” She scrunched her nose up and pulled out a small compact from her bag.

“So where’s this party?” I slung my backpack over my shoulder, linking her arm as we headed for the doors.

“See that’s the thing.” She tugged my arm to a stop. “It’s at the Delta Lambda Phi house.”

“Oh fuck no!” I pulled away from her and walked out of the room into the packed hallways.

“Dylan!” she whined as she fell into step next to me.

“Why would you even ask, when he is there?” I rounded on her.

In my opinion, the only thing worse than Kyle LeBeau was his twin brother Kevin LeBeau. Kevin had pledged Delta Lambda Phi during the fall rush and was a shoo in due to his flawless looks and ability to reduce a guy to a quivering heap with a few cutting words and a withering look. I’d been introduced to Kevin at a house party that Austin and his house mates had thrown to celebrate something or other, possibly the release of a new extra tight t-shirt from Abercrombie maybe? Who knew? That was beside the point. The point was that Kevin LeBeau sucked. I’d been standing quite innocently inspecting the punch bowl for signs of tampering, my boyfriend standing close behind me, his hands wandering under my t-shirt, caressing my stomach as he whispered in my ear about how I should just relax and try to have fun when Kyle had sidled up next to us.

“Hey Austin, I want you to meet my brother Kevin.”

I turned around only to be confronted by my worst nightmare.

“Oh my god, there’s two of them.” My jaw hung open as I looked between the two Roman gods standing in front of me, each with their own look of derision and distain.

“Oh, and this is his friend Dylan.” I looked up towards Austin only to see him roll his eyes at Kyle and punch him lightly in the arm.

“Boyfriend,” Austin laughed.

It was one of the attributes of Austin that I really did not appreciate. He would always assume that negative comments aimed my way from Kyle and his housemates were just good-natured banter or misunderstandings, rather than the outright asshole behavior that it was.

“Boyfriend huh?” Kevin smiled, reaching out to shake Austin’s hand. “That’s nice, for now.”

“What’s the supposed to mean?” I instinctively positioned my body slightly in front of Austin’s.

“I’m sure he didn’t mean anything by it, baby.” Austin smiled, leaning down to nuzzle my neck. “You know you’re the only one I have eyes for anyway.”

That was how each subsequent meeting with Kevin had gone. He would make some half-hidden comment which basically told me that he was just biding his time to make a move on my boyfriend, and infuriatingly enough, Austin either couldn’t see it or refused to see it.

“Nat, my idea of a good time isn’t to watch some beefed-up jock overtly hit on my boyfriend While simultaneously letting me know I’m not good enough for him. It just doesn’t scream good time for me you know?”

“Dylan, wouldn’t you rather be there to watch Kevin put the moves on your man, than be at home While Kevin puts the moves on your man where you can’t keep your eye on the fucker?” She had flawless logic. “Also, shouldn’t you just tell Austin to cut the shit and to put his friends in their place? You’re his boyfriend for god’s sake. You shouldn’t be feeling like this.”

“Austin is good to me.”

She nodded in agreement. “But his friends aren’t.”

“I have to go meet Austin for lunch.” I gave her a small wave before heading towards the exit.

“Tomorrow?” she yelled.

“Count me in.” I didn’t turn to see but I could almost sense the fist pumps in the air.

A little while later I found myself standing in the middle of Times Square, the hordes of tourists coursing through the city like waves. If you stood still long enough you could get carried along by the surging crowds. I spotted Austin sitting amongst the people, staring at me from the red stairs above the TKTS booth. His wide smile made me quicken my approach towards him. I got fifteen feet before I gave up on any kind of restraint,running the remaining distance and flinging myself into his open arms as he stood.

“That’s better,” he breathed against my lips, “I feel like I can’t settle until you’re in my arms.”

“Well luckily you can have me in your arms whenever you want.” I returned his smile, kissing his lips softly.

“I know we said we would meet for lunch, but I kinda want to do something different today?”

---