The Premier Theatre

“Tommy you aren’t getting the point, it took me a whole year to adjust to the lifestyle I had with Greg, and now it is suddenly all gone, it’s hard for me to be alone when a day before I had Greg by me seven hours a day,” Kayla said, looking at the map of New York used as wallpaper in Subway. She turned her head at Tommy knowing that no matter what he said comfort was as far as it could be.
“I know Kayla. But look, why don’t you find yourself a pet?” Tommy suggested. And then it really all made sense to her that the only way to fill the empty space left by Greg was to replace it with someone else.
“Tommy, I was really thinking of asking you to move in with me for now, I have a whole bedroom for you, and plus I hate you living in the South side of town.” Tommy looked at her with his sympathetically painted face, he opened his mouth to say something, but closed it for lack of words fragile enough for Kayla’s break- prone figure, and then he reopened his mouth.
“I don’t know about it Kayla, I mean, what am I going to do with George?”
“God, I don’t know!” Kayla yelled, being disappointed with Tommy for not coming to her aid when it was needed. She breathed deeply and realized how pathetic that was, she was letting all her energy out on something completely different then the problem; Tommy was nothing like Greg.
“Okay, fine. But only for a month or so, after that I’m going back to my place,” he said with his voice soft and cautious, and a bit ashamed of his rudeness.
“Thanks Tommy, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, I gotta go to work,” she said, standing up and hugging Tommy before leaving Subway. The truth was she didn’t have to go, she still had an hour to wander around the city, observing the people passing by, judging her for her look of heartbreak and love-lost.

Kayla arrived to work at three, she was the assistant editor of Alternative Press magazine. She got into her office and sighed, it was all still the same, life felt so different but the picture of her niece was still on her desk and so was the teddy bear Greg gave her. She had a few notes on her desk from co-workers, ideas for future featured bands, latest music news and cover arrangement ideas. The October issue would be in stores tomorrow, and for now work was pretty calm since they didn’t have to start the November issue for another week.
She called Christina, the chief editor, to ask about her ideas for bands. Christina started babbling on about the new My Chemical Romance CD, but Taylor had already called their agent and they wouldn’t be available in months. So she suggested Cute Is What We Aim For. They were fairly new to the scene, but had time to spread their name. They were touring on and off this year, so the interview could be sort of a follow-up on their experience; that always got people reading. Add a poster or two, a demo from an unknown band, little articles on the monthly gossip of the scene and there goes the November issue. Taylor would have to schedule an interview, and of course Kayla would have to do it but she never minded, it was always a rewarding feeling to interview the cover bands.
“Christina, do you really think Taylor could get an interview with them in our building? Cause I really don’t want to interview them backstage or something, you always get horrible content from that,” Kayla whined into the phone.
“Sure she can, and if not we’ll just do it a phone interview, those seem to work fairly well, but I agree that in the studio room is much better.”

“Where are you?” Tommy said in his sing-song voice, pretending to not see Kayla’s 2 year old niece.
Yes, Kayla had left him there, in her apartment watching her niece while she went out to a spa with her sister. “Oh, isn’t life fair?” Tommy thought to himself. He didn’t want to go to a spa, but he would prefer it over watching a two year old, who wasn’t even potty trained and was still speaking gibberish. Tommy could of sworn that when he was two he could tell his parents just what was wrong with him. She had already broken half the living room and was heading towards the kitchen. That was the moment Tommy swore never to have children. She would scream so loudly his ears would pop, and then laugh after she made a mess as if to say, “You can’t do anything!”
“Kayla I really have no idea what to do, she found the chocolate and she’s covered in it,” Tommy whined, “when are you coming home to clean up the mess?” he looked around the living room, and his eyes landed on Kayla’s chocolate stained couch and her freshly killed Sequoia.
“Since when did I say I was cleaning up?” Kayla asked, “You’re the one that let her run wild,” she said looking in the mirror, her face covered in a cleansing mask.
“Well she wouldn’t stop crying if I put her in the crib, I didn’t know what else to do,” Tommy said. As much as he hated Hope right now, he couldn’t stand to hear her cry; it reminded him of the sounds he often fell asleep to in his apartment.
“Sometimes you just have to let them cry,” Kayla said, spreading the creamy substance around her face.
“But then you would be mad at me!” Tommy yelled. The truth was Kayla wouldn’t of found out, Hope couldn’t tell anyone if he had locked her in the crib.
“I might of, but it would of been better than having to clean up,” Kayla said in a calm tone. Nothing could ruin her relaxed mood, there was a light knock on the door and someone called for her.
“True, but I wouldn’t want to hurt the little devil,” Tommy said, but did he really hate Hope or was it his situation?
“Sounds to me like you would be glad to,” Kayla heard a crashing noise in the background, and Hope’s loud cry.
“There she goes off again, I have to go but I’ll call you later Kayla. This is not over,” Tommy said making sure to not sound defeated.
“Whatever you say Tommy,” Kayla replied with sarcasm, hearing her niece cry for a bottle in the background. She knew that Tommy wouldn’t have a clue what she was saying, too bad.
She left the bathroom and went into the main massage room, where her sister had already started being pampered. This was going to be fun.
“So Liz, tell me about Hope, how is she doing with preschool?” Kayla asked realizing that Hope was just as her name said, a hope for Kayla that things would all end for the better, even with tragedies in between.
“Oh, she’s been a sweetheart, her teachers love her and she has no problem leaving in the morning, just a sweetheart. But you know Kayla, sometimes she just says the funniest things, the other day she asked me how I got to be so big, and it was so hard for her to grasp the concept of growing!”
Kayla started to laugh at this story; Hope had asked hard questions ever since she could put a sentence together, but she never really spoke when you wanted her to.
“One time she asked me what made the water hot or cold, she made me go down into the furnace room to show her the machine,” Kayla said sharing one of her stories. Hope pointed at the water and asked “why?” and it took Kayla half an hour to understand the question, and even longer to answer it.
Kayla had realized how easily she had moved on, Greg was always a shoulder to lean on when her problems seemed bigger than she could handle, but now life seemed so calm she wondered if there was anything more to Greg than just her trusty shoulder.
Things with her sister were finally at friendly grounds, and work wasn’t such a hassle anymore. Kayla would of never imagined such a wonderful life after Greg, before she always thought that at this point in time she would be neatly tucked away from society in her tear stained Egyptian cotton sheets, but instead she’s walking down the streets boasting a new found confidence that surprised her, and after thinking about where Greg might be in his life’s path, she slowly drifted into a relaxed sleep.