Chapter Nineteen
The following week is more or less a nightmare as they rush to master everything: the set changes, the costume changes, the lights, the sound.
Zach is mostly too busy to think about Parker and whether or not kissing him is an advisable course of action.
Friday is approaching, and the entire cast and crew languish in the auditorium for hours after school doing full runs of the show, making sure everything is just right.
Parker’s costume comes together right before opening night—a vest of fake green leaves and a pair of brown leggings, plus a circlet of leaves and flowers on his braided hair.
Zach gets the same feeling in his stomach as he did upon seeing Parker in the Red Rum dress.
It does nothing to quell the anxiety of wondering whether or not he’s gay.
Though Parker isn’t the most natural actor, still holding himself like he’s a foot shorter than his actual height, he waxes Shakespeare like he’s been doing it all four years of high school.
Zach’s always had trouble in English class when they inevitably get to a Shakespeare unit, but Parker seems to know just how the sentences should be spoken, making each confusing verse sound natural.
Zach watches each day from the wings of the stage.
Parker’s face transforms when he’s acting.
He’s totally unbridled out there. Zach’s eyes keep dragging back to Parker’s mouth while he watches him on stage.
It’s not helping his ‘kissing Parker’ conundrum, like, at all.
A couple of days before the show opens, they all pile into Parker’s Subaru and go shopping for all-black clothes.
Bea calls them theater blacks. Zach isn’t sure that there’s any difference between regular black clothes and theater blacks.
He ends up choosing a soft sweater and a simple pair of black jeans.
On Friday, Parker is snappier than usual, both knees jiggling beneath the lunch table.
His hair is already in a braid—Zach thinks he must have done it that morning in anticipation of the show.
He can’t stop looking. He’s pretty sure he’s never seen Parker’s hair brushed, much less so intricately styled. Did Paige do it for him? His mom?
“You’re gonna be fine,” Bea soothes, rubbing her hand up and down Parker’s back. He slumps down on the table with his arms crossed, pressing his face against his wrists. “Besides, there’s only one opening night. The afternoon shows over the weekend will be easier.”
“Yeah, just don’t fuck it up,” says Isaac, patting Parker’s shoulder.
“Isaac,” Bea scolds. “Parker knows the lines better than both of our original Pucks. He could probably recite it in his sleep.”
Parker shakes his head, pressing his face into his arms harder. “I can’t believe my dad is coming,” he groans. “My dad is coming, and I’m gonna be wearing fucking—leggings. I didn’t think this through. Is it too late to quit?”
Bea stops rubbing his shoulders, and Parker lifts his head, frowning. “Kidding,” he says. She resumes smoothing her hand up and down his back.
At the end of the day, Parker gets swept away for costuming and makeup as soon as they arrive in the auditorium, while Zach goes to put the set up for the first act.
Bea is a nightmare, her no-nonsense attitude trending toward bullying as she tries to make sure that everything is exactly right.
Zach thinks he sees one of the freshmen start crying.
Finally, it’s showtime. Zach can hear the shuffle of people taking their seats, the quiet roar of conversation.
“Ready?” Paige asks him, squeezing his hand as they stand in the wings, waiting for the curtain to draw.
“Not really,” Zach breathes. He squeezes her hand back.
Zach is terrified that everything can and will go wrong at any moment, but nothing comes of his catastrophizing.
In fact, the entire show goes off without a hitch.
Zach thinks the whole thing is pretty spectacular for a high-school production.
He stays out of sight and does his designated duties, a little cog in the theater machine, and everything works.
Perfectly, in fact. Whenever Parker passes by him as he exits a scene, they exchange grins, even as Zach hurries to get out of the way.
When it’s over, the audience of mostly obligated parents bursts into applause.
It feels thunderous, filling up the echoing space of the auditorium as the practiced curtain call sends students back onto the stage in groups of twos or threes.
Parker bows alone, and Zach thinks his applause is just a little louder than the rest.
As soon as the curtains shut, everyone rushes out onto the stage in a fever of excitement.
Paige pulls Zach along, laughing and grinning.
There’s so much hugging. Zach manages to avoid most of it.
Parker is somewhere in the middle of the throng, spinning, searching for something.
He stops abruptly the moment he spots Zach, and then he’s throwing himself through the crowd until they reach one another.
“Zach!”
“Parker—”
Kiss him kiss him kiss him kiss him kiss him goes off in a deranged loop in Zach’s head as Parker hurls himself at him.
He wraps his long arms around Zach’s shoulders.
Zach hugs him back, cinching his grip around Parker’s waist, squeezing so tight that he hears Parker exhale a little oof!
Zach leans back with all his weight and lifts Parker’s toes off the stage floor, which makes him yell in Zach’s ear, laughing.
He spins them both around before putting him back down on the ground.
When Zach pulls away, looking up into Parker’s face, it’s like there’s no one else but the two of them. Parker’s skin is glistening, his stage makeup smeared, and he’s looking down at Zach with an expression so new and unreadable that Zach almost asks him if something is wrong.
But they’re not alone. Isaac bowls into both of them, wrapping his arms around their shoulders, laughing and congratulating Parker. They’re jostled apart. Zach watches as Parker gets swallowed by the rest of the students, exchanging excitement and hugs.
Eventually, everyone spills out into the hallway outside of the auditorium, where parents are waiting to take pictures of their children in their costumes, and friends are lingering with big bouquets of flowers.
Cool George from the student newspaper hands Paige a bunch of Gerbera daisies, a wide grin on his face.
The shy look on George’s face at the Halloween party makes more sense now.
Alicia and Ben are there, too, and they crush Paige in a hug.
The Reids are standing with Zach’s mom, which is kind of strange to see.
Mrs. Reid is nearly a whole head shorter than Zach’s mom, and she’s almost crying as she reaches out to hug both of her children.
Parker has to lean down so that she can squeeze her arms around both of their shoulders at the same time.
“Good job,” Mr. Reid says, patting Parker awkwardly on the shoulder.
Zach lets his mom envelop him in a big hug. He squeezes her back just as hard.
“Honey, did you paint all of those backgrounds?” his mom asks. “And the mushrooms? Those details!”
“Most of them,” Zach admits, a little embarrassed. His mom is grinning, though, holding him by the shoulders like she couldn’t be prouder.
Mrs. Reid takes a ton of pictures: of Parker in his costume, of Parker and Paige together, then of all three of them, then just of Paige and Zach in their theater blacks. Zach’s mom has a disposable camera, and they all pose so she can take pictures too.
“Hey, get me and Zach too,” Parker insists, grabbing Zach and pulling him back against the nearby wall. He throws an arm around Zach’s shoulders, and Zach hovers his hand behind Parker’s waist, not quite touching him, and hopes that his smile looks somewhat normal as Mrs. Reid snaps a few shots.
Eventually, Parker leaves to change out of his costume and scrub the makeup off his face so that his family can go get things ready at home.
The Reids have volunteered to host a party to celebrate their opening night, which Zach has a suspicion was mostly Mrs. Reid’s doing.
Parker had said his mom was really trying, and Zach thinks he can see it in the way she showed up tonight, frantically eager to support Parker and Paige.
When it’s time to leave for the Reids’, Zach hugs his mom tight and lets her whisper how proud she is of him one more time.
She insists he not worry about being home too late and tells him to have fun.
And for once, Zach thinks that might not actually be a problem.
He’s already having so much fun. Zach follows Isaac to his car.
As they settle in, he finds himself missing the heated fabric of Parker’s seat warmers.
There are cars lining the streets of the Reids’ neighborhood and packed into their driveway.
Isaac grumbles as he parks half a block away from the house.
The mid-December air sucks the breath out of Zach’s lungs as they crunch through tightly-packed snow to reach the front door.
Zach hasn’t been back since Halloween. The party is just starting when they get inside, peeling off their coats and stepping out of their boots.
Everyone is congregated in the kitchen. Bea is trying to begin a toast, proudly brandishing a plastic champagne flute full of sparkling apple cider.
Someone hands Zach one, and he squeezes it tightly in his hand.
Parker is across the room, wide-eyed and slightly bewildered.
Zach knows the feeling. He wants to go to him, to say something.
Words bubble up and get caught in the back of his throat, bottlenecked by a growing lump of anxiety.
“You were all amazing,” Bea says. She holds her juice up in one hand, standing on a barstool at the kitchen island so she towers over everyone. “I could not be a prouder stage manager.”