Page 15 of The Dramatic Life of Jonah Penrose
Shaftesbury Avenue took him into its arms and sheltered him from the rain falling lazily from the sky. He’d been grabbed before, it was no big deal; he kept repeating it to himself as he walked to the tube station, keenly aware of anyone who looked like Edward or Wes, but to his relief he only saw unfamiliar faces who all blurred into each other and paid him no attention. As he boarded the train on the Northern Line, he saw a flash of orange and red flowers on the platform, only for them to vanish as the carriage doors closed and Castle Road called him home.
Jonah kept glancing at his phone as he brushed his teeth. The incoming message from Dexter loomed over him, an axe waiting to fall. The time inched closer to midnight, and he expected him to have been texting Jonah eager for feedback the moment he left stage door, but the message never came. Instead, as he peeled off his clothes and pulled the T-shirt he wore for bed over his head his phone lit up with a message from Bastien.
Omari told me you made out with the penis destroyer tonight?
Jonah glared at the message.Fuck off.
The little dots signaling Bastien replying kept disappearing then reappearing on the screen, and Jonah could only imagine how much his friend was likely enjoying how traumatizing the evening had been for him.
Heard it looked rather steamy on stage. Did he get you all hot under the collar?
Jonah scowled.
Leave me alone. Traitor.
How am I a traitor?
Getting the flu and leaving me to perform with the devil is traitorous behavior.
But I’m a faithful, Jonah!
Don’t make me call Claudia Winkleman to escort you from the theatre next time you come in.
Seriously, though, I hope it was okay?
He bit me.
Bastien took a moment to respond.
No, he didn’t.
Yeah, he did.
What the fuck?
My thoughts exactly. Please say you’ll be back tomorrow? Don’t make me kiss him again.
Probably not, I’m on my deathbed.
I hate you.
Love you too.
Nine
“The blood of the city pollutes the sea and angers Poseidon who dwells beneath the surface of the waves. If we torment the Gods, they will retaliate.”
—“Agamemnon’s Rally,”The Wooden Horse, Act One
I have hands down never felt such a range of emotions at the theatre. Joy and despair mixed flawlessly. Dexter Ellis was sheer perfection.
#Thewoodenhorse #Dexterellis
