Page 57 of Footlights and Forever

The twisted smile on her face and the indignant way her stilettos tapped against the polished floor as she waited for me to take the money made my blood boil. I wanted to smack the fifty dollars out of her hands. However, instead, I nodded politely and pulled the cash from between her fingers.

“I’m sure you want to be getting home now, Dylan.” She gestured towards the entrance. “I imagine that these industry functions are completely boring to someone who doesn’t really belong here.”

Not wanting to make a scene or give her any more pleasure than she had obviously already gotten from me squirming on the spot, I quickly turned and made a hasty exit from the building.

I took a good hour and a half to get home, deciding not to take a taxi but catching the B train all the way to Yankee Stadium and then walking the quarter mile to 153rd Street and catchingthe 711 bus all the way home. I couldn’t stand the thought of having to sit alone with a taxi driver, making small talk about baseball or the NFL or some other shit that I really couldn’t care less about, all the while seething with anger at my supposed boyfriend, who’d decided to just up and ditch me at a cast party to go party with the cast somewhere else.

I jumped off the bus near to my home and stood still in the street under pale moonlight and a blinding white streetlight that shone directly on the bus stop. I thought about going home, smashing a few of Austin’s prized possessions before taking a long shower, fucking myself stupid with a dildo in my nightstand, cumming, and falling asleep. Instead, I fished my phone out from my pocket.

Me: You up.

Chapter 20

“Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.” – Maya Angelou

Austin

Iwas dead on my feet. It had been such a long night that I’d barely noticed when Teddy slapped his hands on the table in front of us, only slightly startling me out of my thoughts and what felt like a waking dream.

“This is good news!” Teddy’s booming voice echoed around the room.

In the car on the way over, we had all imagined that the Rainbow Room would have been bustling with celebrities and executives milling about, drinking glasses of the most expensive champagne and liquors as some mega superstar sang with a band on a stage in front of the amazing panoramic views of the Manhattan Skyline. We couldn’t have been more wrong.

They had changed the normal layout for the Filmflix private function. As we entered the grand space, we were greeted by a giant round table positioned under a small dome thathoused a huge, elegant crystal chandelier. The dome was lit up with brilliant silver lights that cast an ethereal glow down on the white tablecloth-covered surface below. There was a beautiful large floral centerpiece containing white lilies, daisies, and petunias, which must have been artificially scented as the powerful aroma of flowers permeated the air. Around the table, people wearing expensive suits and ballgowns sat in front of elaborate place settings with beautifully decorated china and cut-glass champagne flutes filled with pale yellow nectar.

Several spaces on the far side of the table had been reserved for us. Me and my castmates had taken our seats as Hank, the CEO of FilmFlix, had lain out the vision he had for our play and its transition to his streaming platform. It was very much a once in a lifetime opportunity for all of us, and a big risk on the side of production by wanting to move forward with four relative unknowns rather than buying the concept and casting more established actors.

“There’s just something about the chemistry between you four that we want to capture on screen, and we believe we can,” Hank had said, lifting his glass for a server behind him to fill. “We are fine to wait for the rest of the run of the stage play to finish before commencing with production, but we want to move quite fast after that.”

Of course, Lisa had had a million and one questions which she’d levelled at the executives about contracts and pay which we’d been assured would be handled by our agents. It had annoyed me that Mitchell hadn’t thought to contact our representatives and had sprung this meeting on us. However, if I knew my agent, Ruby, as well as I think I did, she would just see all the additional zeros at the end of my cheque and would push me to sign on the dotted line.

There were some sticking points I would need to iron out with Dylan, but he had always been supportive of my career, so Ididn’t really foresee any major issues. I had tried several times throughout the evening to get in touch with him, but his phone must have died as my calls kept being sent to voicemail.

“Okay, so I think we have covered everything,” Hank said, slamming both palms against the table and scraping his chair back loudly as he stood. “Now why don’t you kids get to getting While me and the other oldies here finish our meeting?” We said our farewells and made a move to leave.

“Can you believe this?” Lisa tugged on my arm as we made our way towards the bank of elevators. “We are gonna be like famous, famous.”

“We should not put all chickens in one basket, my littlekatyonak,” Teddy cooed, ruffling Lisa’s hair. “Let us wait till we see what suits say after negotiation, yes?”

Teddy was right, but I was with Lisa in the sense that it was hard not to get excited. This was what we had all worked for. This was also an opportunity that was not afforded to all theatre actors. Some players spent years treading the boards, While some never made the break into screen acting.

After what seemed like an eternity of dropping the other guys off in different parts of the city, the town car that Mitchell had organized for us finally pulled up outside the house where Dylan was now sure to be asleep inside. I checked my watch and winced as it showed it was a few minutes before three am. I paid the guy and made my way up the small path towards the front door. I briefly considered going in through the side entrance through the kitchen, but I changed my mind because of the neighbor’s demon pet. Pookie and I shared an equal dislike for each other. I showed mine by scowling at the demon hound, While it showed its displeasure by barking bloody murder whenever it sensed me nearby.

All the lights were out in the house. I frowned as normally Dylan would leave the kitchen light on in the back to deterburglars, and also so I would have some light as I was climbing the stairs. There had been several occasions when I had come home a bit more than tipsy and tripped on the bottom stairs, cursing loudly and waking him from his sleep. Rather than suffer the wrath of a sleep-deprived Dylan, I’d suggested that we leave a small light on just in case.

As I made my way quietly through the house, there was an eerie quietness about the place that made my gut clench. Normally, I would be soothed by Dylan’s soft snoring. There wasn’t a sound in the house: no snoring, no almost muted hum of phones charging, just a stillness that chilled me. I pushed the door to our bedroom open slowly, expecting to find him snuggled up under a mound of blankets and pillows, only to find an empty, fully made bed.

A chill burrowed deep into my bones as I tried not to panic.It’s fine! Maybe he went to see Natalie rather than coming home. Maybe he stayed at the cast party, and it ran a bit late.I dug out my cell from my pocket, but once again it went to voicemail. The panic rose in my chest, my heart pounding heavily at an almost painful rate. Not caring about the late hour, I began to text.

Me: Hey Natalie, Dylan isn’t with you tonight, is he?

It only took a couple of minutes for the reply to come through.

Natalie: No, I thought you guys were out in the city tonight. I was pissed not to be invited along, actually. Why isn’t he with you?

Me: We got a bit separated early in the evening, and I thought he was coming home. Maybe he’s just still out with the rest of the cast.

Natalie: Yeah, maybe, but hey can you let me know when you get hold of him?

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