Theo sits comfortably on his living room couch, his arm hanging lazily over his girlfriend’s shoulder. They’re watching an old movie she likes that he doesn’t remember the name of, and she’s scrolling through group chat messages on her phone.

It had been about a week since Theo’s awkward moment at Jimmy’s, and even though the girls had insisted it was no big deal, it still felt like one. Julian would avert his gaze immediately after making eye contact with him and Tracy had teased him by sending him compatibility tests from quiz websites. Theo felt bad that he had managed to make things so awkward between them, since he really had started feeling like they were on their way to being friends. And worse, he didn’t know how to go about fixing things.

“You know, my dance practices are only three days a week,” Jessica says suddenly, “so I don’t think it’s fair that you have practice on all five days. We can’t do things on my days off!”

“I know, it’s a lot of hours. But at least we have the weekends, right?” he responds while tenderly stroking her arm.

“I guess… but then it’s like, what about family time? Or hanging out with friends?”

“Well, rehearsals are only for three months. In the meantime, we can still FaceTime after practices or eat together, stuff like that?” he says, to which Jessica only rolls her eyes and lets out a huff of air.

“It’s our senior year, babe. It’s not fair that you’re so busy all of a sudden,” she complains.

“I’m sorry. But I gotta pass English, and this is like, the only way to make that happen,” he says softly.

Jessica nuzzles into his side and stares forward at the TV, indicating the end of the conversation. Now with a quiet moment, Theo reflects on just how much time he had been spending at rehearsals after only a week and a half. It was starting to feel like his day revolved around them, since he thought about rehearsals during the school day and studied his lines at night. Jessica did have a point, and he had also noticed that they had been spending less time together more recently. But this didn’t bother him all that much.

Maybe it was because they had been breaking up and getting back together since freshman year, but Theo got the feeling that they didn’t really need each other. At least, not in the way that regular couples do. She didn’t ask him for advice, and he didn’t worry about the other guys she hung out with. She didn’t care about what was on his phone, and he didn’t care about what she told her friends about him. With them spending less time together recently, it kind of just felt like they had broken it off again or something. Theo could only spend so much emotional energy on her when he literally spent hours using up that energy at rehearsals being dramatic.

After the movie, Jessica gave him a chaste kiss on the corner of his mouth and let herself out of his house. Theo sat alone in the living room for a bit before opening up the “Drama Queens” group chat, which he hadn’t checked much during the last week.

-        Val- soooo, are we all up for something tomorrow?

-        Quinn- always. What do you have in mind?

-        Tracy-… Jimmy’s?

-        Val- omfg NO Tracy

-        Tracy- no harm in asking lol

-        Julian- I won’t be able to make it, its Family Night™

-        Elena- lmao imagine having parents who love each other

-        Tina- couldn’t be me

-        Elena- *virtual high five to Tina only*

-        Val- ok but fr what do you wanna do

-        Julian- you guys could work on studying your lines?

-        Susan- ah, the ass-istant director rears his ugly head

-        *Julian disliked a message*

-        Susan- bowling???

-        Tina- I like that idea

-        Quinn- me too! Can’t wait to beat you all again

-        Elena- we’ll see about that… right after rehearsal tomorrow, sound good for everybody?

-        Theo- can’t make it either, I’m sorry

-        Elena- ☹

-        Val- sounds good to me. We’ll miss u boys!

Theo tosses his phone onto the couch and leans back to look at the ceiling. It still felt pretty normal to talk with them through text, but the atmosphere felt kind of stuffy when he saw them in person. The girls were so laid back, that if he hadn’t been at Jimmy’s to see how their game of Paranoia went down, he wouldn’t have believed anything happened.

He leans across his couch to reach for his backpack sitting on the floor. He pulls his script out of the front pocket and lazily flips through the pages, noticing how frequently he had lines highlighted. I need to memorize this shit, he thinks to himself before putting the script right back where he found it. Later, though. I have time.

~~~

The next day at rehearsal, Theo mentally kicked himself for not working on memorization when he had the chance. Mrs. Reba wanted them “off book” for the first scene, but Theo didn’t know that meant he wouldn’t be allowed to hold his script anymore. He didn’t know what he thought it meant, but as he stood in the classroom, struggling over every line, he wishes he had asked.

“You talk a big game about trust, Marissa. It’s ironic that you don’t see what a hypocrite you are,” Theo recites a line towards the end of the first act, hoping he remembered it correctly.

“Save it, Rowan. I’m not the one who followed their significant other to see if she actually went to work,” Elena responds, her articulation and memorization flawless.

Theo flounders as he tries to remember what comes next.

“Um… Line?” he says.

“I had a good reason…” Julian cues him from his seat to the left side of their makeshift stage.

“I had a good reason! You know how I feel about Greg,” Theo catches onto the line.

“Yes, you’ve made that abundantly clear,” Elena retorts, still in character.

“You were… you were… um… line?” Theo winces at himself, wishing he wasn’t interrupting the flow of the scene.

“You were getting coffee with him, Marissa…” Julian begins, hoping that Theo will recognize the line and pick up where he left off. After he glances at him over the top of his binder for assistant director things, he sees Theo still looking at him with a helpless expression. “You touched his hand. He leaned in to kiss you,” Julian continues for him.

“Yes, right… uh, what he said,” Theo says with a nervous laugh.

“Alright, I think this is a good stopping point for today,” Mrs. Reba cuts in, rising from her seat with a clap of her hands. “We’ll start going over Act Two’s blocking tomorrow, so look over that tonight. Great work, you guys!”

The girls move quickly to put chairs and desks back where they belong, urgent to leave soon to head to the bowling alley. Theo takes a deep breath before moving to help them, but he is stopped by Mrs. Reba’s commanding voice.

“Theo, Julian, could you boys hang back for a sec?” she asks. The boys move to sit in two chairs facing her.

After the girls shout their goodbyes and head for the parking lot, Mrs. Reba turns her full attention to the two young men in front of her.

“So, Theo… I noticed you’ve been struggling to keep up with your lines,” she begins.

“Uh, yeah, about that,” Theo tries to begin an excuse, wringing his fingers together nervously.

“Look. I get it. You’re the lead in a Realist Drama with no previous experience. It can be overwhelming, and I’m not mad at you.” Theo lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “That being said, I think it would be a good idea for you and Julian to work together on line memorization.”

“Wait… what? No, I don’t think-” Theo tries to protest before she cuts him off again.

“You mentioned he was very helpful with the stage directions and blocking during our first rehearsals, right? I think he could help you with your lines as well,” she says with a resolute tone.

“Mrs. Reba, I don’t know if this is the best idea,” Julian begins, casting a nervous glance in Theo’s direction, “I have a lot of stuff going on as your assistant director, and I’m sure he doesn’t want to spend that much time with me outside of school-”

“It doesn’t have to be outside of school, Julian,” she says, “you guys can practice during lunch. You both have Lunch A, correct?”

The boys both murmur their confirmations.

“Then it’s settled. I will have you rehearse off book again for this scene next Wednesday, Theo. If you haven’t made improvement with Julian by then, we’ll figure something else out,” she says while standing to gather her belongings. “You boys have a pleasant evening; I’ll see you tomorrow!”

With a wave, she exits the classroom, leaving the boys standing together with wide eyes and slack jaws. They stand in awkward silence for a few moments before Theo finally decides to speak.

“So uh, I usually sit with my girlfriend during lunches. She won’t be happy to hear that the play is taking up more of my time,” he tells Julian, still not looking him in the eye. “Is it cool if we practice at the table with her?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s fine… you guys sit near the water fountains, right? I’ll come find you guys,” Julian says.

“Cool, cool… so I’ll see you tomorrow then?” Theo asks.

“Yeah, seems like I will,” Julian responds with a hint of a sigh.

And with that, their awkward exchange is over. They head their separate ways, both wondering what will come of their lunchtime rehearsal the following day.