In Rehearsal

by jack coey

He sighed when he saw the note: Gone to rehearsal. He didn’t know what to do. Jill was distant. He thought about the girl that came through his line: red hair, freckles, and blue eyes. Jill was drifting away from him; he could feel it. In the distance of Jill, he thought about the girl in his line. Jill didn’t care about anything except the play. He remembered telling Jill to take a chance – to get out of her funk. And she did. She saw the audition notice and got the part. He spent several nights helping her memorize her lines. She talked about the young professor from the community college who played opposite her with an enthusiasm that made him anxious.

He had gone to one year of voc-tech school before dropping out, and got a job as a cashier in a store. He was not handsome, but was comical in attitude and appearance. His ears stuck out from underneath curly red hair, and a dopey grin. He made women laugh; he was charming. He met Jill at the beach one day, and told her stories of his escapades in the laundromat.

There was this one time when I put a load in the dryer, and I went back to my apartment and had a few beers and I went back and got my clothes and it wasn’t till I put on the pants that I realized I got the wrong clothes. The pants was around my ankles. So I went back holding up my pants with both hands, and I says to the attendant, I took the wrong clothes, and he says, Talk the that guy over there, and I look and there’s this huge construction – type guy standing there with his arms crossed with a scowl on his face, and I says, Hey man, I took your clothes by mistake, and all of a sudden he starts laughing, and I get my clothes and go into the bathroom to put on pants and a shirt, and I come out and everyone in the whole place is laughing at me….

His charm was a force, and Jill needed some humor in her life after her boyfriend went to Europe to study. They would be at the movies and he would be walking down the aisle with a bucket of popcorn, trip, and send popcorn flying all over the audience. They were seated in a restaurant, and she said,

I think I’ll eschew wine tonight, and he answered,

I thought you were supposed to sip it?

As they drove by a big sign that read, Bowling, he commented, Look, a Chinese Restaurant. He went to get the door for her which was automatic, and went headlong into the store. They were sitting silently in the park, and Jill said to him,

You surprise me.

Is that good?

I don’t know yet.

He didn’t know how to take that. What was he supposed to do? Wait around for her to make-up her mind? The next night, he didn’t go over to her apartment after work, and the following morning there was the e-mail: Where were you last night? Jill. He laughed when he read it. What am I? Her toy? he thought. I’ll just go my way, and leave her to figure herself out, he decided. A couple of days went by, and there she was, in his line.

How about I buy dinner tonight? she offered.

I get out at four.

At dinner, he did a pantomime of his father falling asleep in church or at the dinner table that had Jill bent over laughing. Slowly he closed his eyes, and his head would start to weave and bob, and the really funny part was when he would catch himself napping, and jerk his head straight up into the air. The next morning, he woke up lying next to her. Things were different between them now. Some line had been crossed, some door opened, some new air in the room – he didn’t necessarily understand it, but he felt it. He spent most nights at her place and it became silly for them both to have a place. He broke his lease with his landlord which cost him some money but he didn’t care. Everything seemed to be going well except he noticed that whenever there was a social event with the teachers from school she never asked him to join her. It was like she had two worlds: her personal one and her school one. One time there was a party at someone from the store and she said she had a headache. After about a month of living together, Jill went into a funk, and that’s when he told her to take a chance and try something new. He could feel his charm over her slip away like a boat in current. He already knew the answer, but he asked her anyway if he could come to a rehearsal.

That would make me too nervous, she said.

Yeah, but not for the implied reason, he thought.

Jill came home later from rehearsals, and he began seeing this girl in his line. He thought about calling her Red, but thought again she probably gets called that all the time so he said to her,

You look like a Colleen. Is your name Colleen?

Maureen, she smiled.

Maureen, the Colleen.

You’re dopey.

He laughed and she laughed, and he didn’t mind playing the clown for her. One afternoon after work he stopped in at The First Watch, and she was behind the bar. They were surprised to see each other, and after she served him a beer, he watched her talk to the other men.

She is a flirt, he admitted.

He walked slowly home, and he knew he was attracted to Maureen, and he loved Jill so he was confused about how he felt, and as a result of that, about what to do. He felt he was betraying Jill and he felt guilty about that. Maybe he should cool it with Maureen. That’s it, he decided, I won’t go any further with her.

When he got home, Jill wasn’t there, and he had no idea where she was. School let out three hours ago. He got a beer from the refrigerator and sat at the kitchen table, and after ten minutes or so, he heard Jill getting out her keys to open the door. The door opened, and Jill entered in an agitated state. They made eye contact, and he felt like he wanted to cry. He sipped his beer. He struggled with his emotions. With her back to him she said,

Hi.

He said hi back. She looked at him, and he knew. She looked down at him sitting at the table.

I’m sorry, Bobby, she said.

Yeah, he whispered.

The next morning he woke, and looked around the room. He dressed himself and began stuffing clothes into a garbage bag. When he left for work, he took the bag with him and put it in the back seat of his car. About the middle of his shift, Maureen came through his line, and he said

What’s Irish and stays out all night?

She grinned at him, and said.

Oh, I don’t know.

Patio furniture, he said.

She laughed and he pretended to. When his shift was over, he drove to the Surry Motel and got a room. He walked to the park and sat on a bench and watched the people walk by, and didn’t say hello to anybody.

1263 words.