Jawbreaker

“Five minutes till show time!”

“Have you seen my cane?”

“Have you seen my bouquet?”

“Have you seen my brooch?!”

It was Friday and opening night of the show. All the rehearsals and lines and blocking that everyone had gone through was finally coming to it’s end.

And, as always, Natalia was going on a rage.

“Props! Know where your props are! Check ‘em, if you don’t got ‘em, fucking check them!”

She passed by the makeup room, sticking her head in.

“Lucy, sweetie? Can you do something for me?”

I looked up from my iPod to see her casting a sweet, false smile in my way. I knew what she wanted, and I wasn’t so sure that I wanted to do it.

“What?” I asked her, dryly.

Her smile grew wider. “Help out that tech weirdo with the cording backstage. Someone ‘effed it up and I really want it fixed before Act two.”

I stared at her for a long time.

There were only eight people on tech.

One of them was Noah Folds.

What were the chances?

I weighed my options. Do I really want to get up and help out? I haven’t done anything the whole week of rehearsal, why start now? All the actors had begun to learn to do their own makeup since I would just sit around in the backroom, listening to my iPod.

Besides, didn’t I want to avoid Noah Folds?

I stared at Natalia’s hopeful face.

Forget it. Noah was probably off somewhere, hiding Billie Jean’s brooch.

I got up from the makeup chair and walked out the room as Natalia squealed in delight. “Thank you so much!” she said. “I’ll buy you a grande strawberry mocha frappuccino next time.”

I was honestly going to hold that promise to her. I was in dire need for some caffeine.

Backstage was dark, with all the actors off to the side, silently pacing as they stared off stage, waiting for their entrances. I walked past them, making sure that I didn’t disturb them and saw a person in black carrying some cords.

“Need some help?” I whispered, nearing them.

He turned around and I saw that it was Leo. He held out the cords for me and said, in a low, hushed whisper, “Yeah. I could use some.”

I nodded, bending down to retrieve the electric tape that he was using.

We were quiet as he bent down to put the cord flat on the stage while I taped it down. I felt like there was something I should say, but my mouth was glued shut. I kept thinking, what was the point? We hadn’t talked for years. Just because he was at Abby’s funeral, it didn’t mean I was going to start talking to him again like we were good friends.

But we had been good friends.

I swallowed hard as the cord never ended and the taping never stopped.

“Hey, Leo, someone needs you up in the tech booth,” came a voice in the dark.

The both of us looked up to see Noah Folds standing right over us. He smiled at the two of us.

Leo stood up, shooting a glance in my direction. I didn’t say anything to him. He didn’t say anything to me and left.

Leaving me alone with Noah Folds.

“Need some help?” he offered, taking the black electrical tape out of my hands.

I ignored him, attempting to tape down the last of the cord. I figured, if I just ignored Noah, he would leave me alone. How could he torment someone who wouldn’t even give him the chance to, right?

I was wrong.

He crouched down on his knees, sticking his face near me.

“C’mon, Lucy,” he said, smiling with a chuckle in his manner. “I won’t bite or anything,” he joked.

I took the tape out of his hands, holding the cord down with my foot as I ripped off a piece.

Noah placed his hand on the cord, holding it down for me as I tried to tape it. I stopped, looking down at where his hands were. He stayed there, waiting for me to tape it. I wouldn’t.

“Move,” I told him.

He didn’t budge. When I looked at him, I saw that he was smiling. That made me even more upset.

“Move,” I repeated, my tone becoming harsher.

He laughed when I kicked his hand out of the way. Before I could even comprehend what was happening, he had grabbed onto my ankle and pulled me from underneath my feet. I fell to the stage, hard. I opened my mouth to yell but he covered it with his own hand.

Noah laughed as he watched me struggle, panicking. He brought me closer to him as he whispered in my ear, “Relax. I won’t try anything weird on you, Luce. I’m not that kind of guy.”

Then what kind of guy are you? I wanted to yell at him.

He chuckled. “Shh, there’s a show going on. You know either Natalia or Mrs. Kent will have your ass if there’s any disturbances.”

I stopped struggling. He was right.

He released me and I scrambled to get away from him. I stood up and stared at him. Noah was still sitting on the floor, looking back at me. He smiled.

I only turned away and went back to the makeup room.

But he followed.

When I sat down in my chair, Noah hopped onto the counter of the makeup room, swinging his legs forward. He looked bored as he said, “I’ve got nothing else to do. Wanna play a game or something?”

I snorted. “Do I look like the kind of person that would play a game?”

Noah shrugged, kicking his legs up and crossing them Indian style on the counter.

“I don’t know. Weren’t you the one playing robots with me in the middle of the parking lot the other day?”

I bit my lip, narrowing my eyes at him. Damn him.

“C’mon,” he said, jumping off the makeup counter. He reached over for my iPod that was sitting out and said, “We can use this for our game.”

“Give that back,” I demanded, standing up from my chair. But he resisted, backing out of the makeup room.

“You gotta play my game if you want it back, Lucy,” he mocked.

I followed him, trying to get my iPod back.

He smiled, turning forward. “Let’s see what kind of shit you got on here.” He pulled a pen out of his backpocket and clicked it.

“Noah Folds,” I said. “This is not funny. Give me my iPod back. Don’t you have like, Billie Jean’s prop to hide or something?”

He pulled a green brooch out of his sleeve. “Already done.”

This boy was unbelievable.

He sat down on the side of the hallway, outside of the makeup room, pulling out his phone from his backpocket. I watched as he unlocked the touch screen of his iPhone.

“Let’s judge your taste in music by doing one of those dinky music surveys on the web,” he said, scrolling through his browser.

I just sat down, not knowing what else to do.

He pulled up a survey and threw my iPod at me. I caught it, clutching it close to my chest.

“Put it on shuffle,” he commanded.

I blew a piece of hair out of my face. I had nothing else to do. Act One was still going on and we had a good ten minutes till intermission. Even then, it wasn’t like I was needed. Noah, on the other hand, was another story. Wasn’t he on tech? Shouldn’t he be doing something with lights?

I turned my iPod on shuffle. “There. You happy?”

“Ecstatic,” he responded, not even looking at me. “Give me an ear bud.”

I handed him one before sticking the other in my own ear.

“Okay, let’s start,” said Noah. “If someone says, ‘Is this okay?’, you say?”

“Why do you let me stay here. By She and Him.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know them. It’s kind of…old sounding.”

“It’s Zooey Deschanel, dumbass,” I said.

“Whatever--next question. What would best describe your personality?”

I changed the song. “Run to you by The Rocket Summer.”

He laughed. “You don’t seem like the type.”

“Shutup,” I said. “Next question.”

“What do you like in a girl/guy?”

“We Get On by Kate Nash. That seems suitable,” I said, moving my head to the song.

I caught Noah looking at me. “What?” I asked him.

He just shook his head.

“You have the weirdest taste in music.”

“You haven’t even heard the half of it.”

“Okay,” he laughed, “next one. How do you feel today?”

“Simply Because. Rooney. Great song. Great band.”

“Sure,” he said, “Next one. What is your life’s purpose?”

“Save Your Excuses by Mandy K.”

Noah stopped. “They’re good. Who is this again?”

“Mandy K. I ran into them at a Warped Tour date and they had me listen to their music. Bought the CD right off of them.”

“Nice,” he said, looking back at his phone. “You need to give me a copy of that right there.”

I shrugged. “Maybe.”

He laughed.

“Alright, what is your motto?”

“Bed. Brand New.”

“Awesome!” he exclaimed. “I love ‘Daisy’. I was a little scared because you know, Jesse Lacey’s a douche and all, but I fucking love their new album. Good song. Good album. Great band.”

“Alright,” I said, “next one, dude.”

“Okay,” he said. “What do your friends think of you?”

I stared down at the song I had turned to.

“Let Your Guard Down, Let Me In. Another Mandy K song.”

“Interesting,” he commented.

“Move on, next question,” I said, already preparing to change the song. He laughed at me before looking back at his phone.

“Fine, what do you think about very often?”

“Attention. The Academy Is.”

“Hate that band,” he said, while smiling at me.

“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” I retorted.

He laughed again. “Okay, alright. What is two plus two?”

“You’re Right by Paper Rival. I think that works…right?”

He nodded. “What do you think of the person you like?”

“Break Hearts Lyke Whoa. Another Mandy K song. I swear, my iPod has much more music than just that band,” I told him.

“I believe you,” he said, smiling. “But I’m not sure your boyfriend would want to hear that song.”

I rolled my eyes. “Leave Justin out of this.”

“Whatever you say.” Noah gave me a coy look before looking down at his phone again.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“Still Around. By 3OH!3...” I trailed off, staring down at my iPod.

Noah looked over at me. I could feel his blue eyes watching me as I stared at the words ‘still around’ on the screen.

I wish she was still around.

“Okay, moving onto the next one--” I snapped out of my own thoughts and looked to see that Noah was scrolling onto the next question. “What do you think when you see the person you like?”

“Electric Feel by MGMT.” Yeah, that was definitely not the case. As much as I liked Justin, and as long as we had been together, whenever I saw him, I never even got a spark of electricity.

But I wasn’t going to let Noah Folds know that.

Noah stared down at his phone for a couple of seconds before saying, “I’m bored. I don’t feel like completing the survey anymore. Let’s play a different game.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “No more games. You already got me to do that survey. Fun’s over.”

“Oh, c’mon, Luuccyy,” he cried, mocking me.

I lowered my eyes at him and he stopped.

The audience’s clapping filled the hallway and it signaled the end of the first act. I got up from where we were sitting as a rush of actors came from backstage and into the dressing hallway. Natalia was yelling into her headset and clutching a clipboard to her chest as she directed people into their places.

“We should probably get back to our jobs,” I said.

Noah nodded. “Yeah, I should probably actually work the lights up on the catwalk.”

“Is that what you were supposed to be doing this whole time?” I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

He just laughed it off.

“Oh yeah,” said Noah before walking off. He threw something at me and I caught it. “Give that to BJ for me, will ya?”

I looked down and saw Billie Jean’s brooch in my hands. As if on cue, Billie Jean’s voice was heard throughout the hallway.

“Has anyone seen my brooch? Seriously!”

I looked back up to yell at him, but Noah was already running past the sea of actors.

He was unbelievable.