Contrary to Theo’s day, Julian’s day seems to drag on longer than necessary. By the time his final class ends, he’s drained but not ready to rest. He visits Mrs. Reba’s room on his way home to ask her about the play, but she has already left for the day by the time he knocks on the door. Instead, he finds himself running to catch the bus and sitting alone towards the front, scribbling even more notes in the margins of his script copy.

His stop is second to last, and there isn’t much else to go through in the script that he hasn’t already covered during his daily commute. He spends some time gazing out the bus window pretending to be in a music video before getting off on his street.

His front door is unlocked, as per usual, but he rings the doorbell anyway to let his dad know he made it home. This has been his M.O. ever since he was old enough to get home by himself. His dad doesn’t like to be interrupted during work, but the buzzing sounds of the doorbell is enough of an indication to let him know from his office that his son made it back without issue.

Julian crosses to the kitchen and turns on the radio, which his mom had left on a 90s rock station. He has an orange creamsicle popsicle before setting down his stuff on the kitchen table to start his homework. Since his family moves around so much, they try to keep unnecessary furniture to a minimum. He doesn’t have a desk, but his mom always keeps the kitchen table open for him to work.

His mom works as a lawyer, and for as long as Julian can remember, they moved whenever she was hired. She worked independently and Julian thinks she’s the best lawyer ever, so it made sense for people all over America to want to hire her as their defense attorney.

They moved to Eustace Springs because his mom was offered a very generous salary at a state-wide law firm. His mom says the next time he moves will be when he leaves for college, and Julian is pleased to finally have a place to call home.

He sings quietly along with “Interstate Love Song” on the radio as he opens his math book to work through homework problems. He gets through most of his work before deciding to take a break, deciding to video call Elena.

“What’s up?” Elena says, after picking up on the third ring.

“Just homework. I’m bored,” Julian says as he finds a book to prop up his phone on.

“Bummer. You should do homework on that long ass bus ride of yours,” she says, sticking her tongue out at him playfully. Julian just rolls his eyes.

“Then when would I have time to go over my play script for the 500^th time?” he says.

“If you’re not gonna do homework, you should go over the song demos I send you instead, but whatever,” she huffs. “Speaking of the play, any more news on that Theo guy?”

“Nope. I tried to talk to Reba after school, but she must have booked it out of there. Do you think she’s avoiding me?” Julian asks, which earns a laugh from Elena.

“I don’t think so. Do you think he’ll show up for rehearsal on Monday?” she responds.

“Elena, I don’t know the guy. I only saw him during lunch for a bit-”

“You mean you watched him during lunch?” Elena interrupts.

“No! No, I didn’t watch him,” Julian splutters, “I only saw him. He was reading the script. He looked like he was into it. I think he might accept.”

“I still don’t get why you can’t just be our Rowan, Jules,” Elena whines.

Julian sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “You know as well as I do that I can’t ‘play it straight,’” he says wearily.

“Just because one idiot director said it, doesn’t mean it’s true!” Elena practically shouted, though this wasn’t the first time they had talked about it. “I think you definitely could. The only person stopping you is you, babe,” she says.

Julian hears the buzzing of the doorbell followed by the front door opening.

“My mom just got home, I’ll talk to you later?” Julian says.

“Sure thing. I’ll send you those lyrics I was working on, too. Have fun with Family Night!” Elena says, blowing a kiss through the screen before ending the call.

Soon after, Julian’s mom comes into the kitchen, setting down her purse on one of the kitchen chairs. She plants a kiss on the top of his head before passing him to open the fridge.

“Chicken or burgers tonight, mijo?” she asks, taking stock of the fridge, formulating recipes in her head.

“You’re the one who worked all day, so you should choose, Mama,” he responds, standing to wash his hands and help her with the preparations. The squeaky door of his dad’s office creaks open, and he hears his father hobble out into the family room.

“Ana! Mi cariño, welcome home. What are we having?” his dad asks, entering the kitchen to kiss his wife on the cheek. He leans his cane against the counter before sitting down at the kitchen table.

“Chicken, potatoes, and green beans, if you’re both alright with that?” his mom responds, pulling the ingredients out one by one and setting them in the sink to be washed.

“I like anything you make, my dear,” his dad says. “Is there anything I can help with?”

“No, but it’s your turn to pick the game, Miguel. And from what I can tell, it needs to be a short one,” Julian’s mom says, eyeing the stack of opened textbooks and papers strewn across her table. Julian avoids her eyes and starts scrubbing the potatoes in the sink. His dad simply chuckles before standing again to retrieve a game from the shelves back in the office.

“How was school, my dear? Learn anything new?” his mom asks, taking the cleaned potatoes from him to chop up.

“Ah, wasn’t a very eventful day. No tests, no homework due. Rehearsals haven’t started yet, so-”

“Did your teacher find a boy for your play?” his mom asks.

“Yeah, I haven’t met him though. Only seen him in the hallways.”

“Well, I hope he’s a good actor. This is your last show of high school, mijo!” his mother exclaims.

“I hope so too, Mama. Believe me. Mrs. Reba picked him and said to trust her judgement, so I guess I’ll see if her judgement was right next Monday,” he shrugs before moving to clean the green beans.

During the rest of the dinner prep, Julian’s mom vents about the latest case at the firm. His dad comes back to show that he picked a card game they’re all familiar with before chiming in with his advice, even though he works from home. Julian hastily stacks up his books to clear off the table for dinner, and they eat and laugh and play their game.

This has been their tradition ever since his mom first started working as a lawyer. Wednesday nights are reserved for Family Night, and though there are Wednesdays where Julian is annoyed by his parents, he will admit that sometimes he looks forward to something so simple as dinner and a board game.

When Julian heads to his room for the night, he wraps up the last bits of his homework lazily before settling into bed. He debates with himself for a few minutes before he ultimately opens social media and looks up the name “Theo McKraken.” It’s for research, he tells himself. I’m assistant director, it’s my responsibility to know about the cast, right?

Still, he can’t explain the bitter taste in his mouth whenever he comes across a picture of Theo with his beautiful girlfriend on his arm. Julian falls asleep with more questions than answers about the male lead he still hasn’t met.