He trotted up the steps and glanced at each room. Some doors were open and some were not. He reached room 215 and the door was closed. He knocked on the door. No one answered, so he stuck the key in the lock and opened the door.
J.T. looked inside and saw a young man his age sitting in a meditative position.
J.T. wrinkled his forehead. He didn’t know whether to say something, or go on about his business in the room. He decided to go for the former, sort of, and cleared his throat.
The meditator still sat in the still position. So, J.T. cleared his throat again. The meditator stared at the intruder.
“May I help you?” he asked J.T.
“Sorry to interrupt your . . uh. . .whatever it was your were doing. I was just going to let you know that I’m your roommate, Jayson Sumtrane, but must people call me J.T.”
“Oh, I was wondering if I was going to have a roommate and now I do.” The room mate clapped his hands together. “I’m Mario Vandersickle.” He flailed out a limp wrist for a handshake from J.T.
J.T. accepted his new roommate’s handshake, but was puzzled at his alternative ways. J.T. looked around the room and saw posters of abstract art and playbills from Broadway.
Mario stood up. J.T. didn’t look away soon enough. His new roommate obviously felt comfortable as an exhibitionist. Mario walked over and shut the door and J.T. flinched as it slammed.
“So, what is your major?” Mario asked.
“Theater and vocal performance. And yours?”
“Visual arts and choreography.”
“Great. Maybe you can help me when I have to start practicing dance moves for my role in RENT.”
“No problem.” Mario went to the shades and opened the curtains.
J.T. turned around, so no one would see him in the room. “Um, I need to start bringing my stuff in. And if it isn’t too much trouble and I’m not stepping on toes, would you mind wearing something when I’m here. I won’t be here very often, but I would appreciate it,” J.T. requested.
“Oh, that. No problem. I’m used to being home alone. I only do that when I’m meditating. Let me just slip on some clothes and I’ll help you.” Mario walked toward J.T.
“Oh, that’s okay. I have to go see someone about my stuff. I’m not quite sure where he put it. We were supposed to room together, but looks like things changed. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
J.T. backed toward the door and opened it with his hand behind him. He walked out and closed the door before Mario could walk out with him. J.T. walked outside and continued on the sidewalk. He dialed Court on his cell phone and waited for an answer.
“Court here.”
“J.T. What the heck is going on? Why am I not rooming with you?”
“Oh, yeah, that problem. Well, the scholarship I have has me rooming in the low class dorms. Y’know, the ones that are about the size of a cubicle. I couldn’t get out of it, so you get the stud duds and I get what was left along with my roommate, Luka, the foreign exchange freak.”
“Well, at least you don’t have Mario the Magnificent,” J.T. said imitating the lisp that his roommate had.
Court guffawed. “Sorry, man. Come on over to 115 and I’ll make it up to you. I mean, half your stuff is in my room right now anyway. The other half is sitting in the hallway.”
“Nice to know you care,” J.T. remarked. His cell phone beeped. “I gotta go, it’s Heidi. I’ll see you in a little bit.”
“Talk to me.”
“Dirty or sweet,” Heidi said.
“Just talk, Heidi. What’s going on?”
“Not much here. Ashleigh and Dashelle are helping me put my private room together.”
“How did you get a private room?” J.T. asked.
“Good looks.” Heidi giggled. “So, how did your meeting with Dean Harlow go?”
“Not so good. I was late, in her opinion, but I was really on time and then I get ramrodded for being a day late when she knew my circumstances. And to top it off, Court can’t be my roommate because of his scholarship and I get stuck with Homo Harry.”
“Hey, be nice.”
“Sorry. I’m not quite sure if he is or not. I should probably find out, but I walked into the room and he was meditating—“
“That’s not a bad thing to do—“
“Naked, Heidi. Beans, franks, and all.”
“Ok, that’s bad. You could always hang out over here.”
“Well, I have a feeling that I won’t have to spend too much time over there. Listen, I need to get over to Court’s room so I can pick up my stuff. Meet me over there and we’ll do something afterwards.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then. I’ll bring the girls with me so we can get done faster.”
“If you want. Bye.”
“Bye.”
J.T. walked inside the building where Court resided. He walked down the hall until he saw Court in his room with Luka, he supposed. He also saw Brady and Sam in the room rummaging through boxes.
“Hey, Mr. Broadway, how’s life?” Brady said.
“Could be better,” he answered.
“Man, you look like your dog just died. I’ll still come visit,” Court joked.
J.T. playfully pushed Court’s shoulder and Court mouthed an “ow” that was also playful.
J.T. sniffed the air and gagged. “What is that?”
Court pushed him outside and the rest of his friends followed. Court shut the door behind him. “That smell would be Luka.”
“Well, at least, I know that you don’t have onions and garlic growing in your room.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Sam said.
“He refuses to shower,” Court said. “I’ve got to get out of here, man. The walls are closing in.”
“Well, at least he wears clothes,” J.T. remarked.
“Um, okay,” Court mumbled. “Anyway, here is your stuff. I called the guys over to come help us so we could get it done quicker. Then, we can go out, but the warden, I mean dean, says we have to be back by ten o’clock.”
Sounds good to me. Heidi is coming over with the girls, so we should have plenty of help.”
“Well, let’s get started,” Court said. He opened up the door and the stench practically knocked him over. Luka had made himself a snack of sauerkraut and sausage.
“Luka, light a candle, man. You’re gonna make my guitar reek.”
Luka scowled. He wasn’t too happy about his new room mate and he didn’t understand most of Court’s antics.
“What do you mean?” Luka asked with a heavy accent.
“I mean, the room stinks and its going to make everything else stink,” Court explained.
“I don’t like you, Mr. Court,” Luka remarked.
“Well, I’m not too thrilled about the whole situation either,” Court grumbled. Court walked over to the corner of the room and wheeled the two-wheeler over to a stack of boxes.
“Across the street, right?” Court asked his best friend.
“That would be the place. Up one flight of stairs,” J.T. answered.
“Well, I needed a work out anyway,” Court said.
J.T. and Court loaded boxes onto the two-wheeler. Brady and Sam made more stacks of boxes and the guys headed out the front door. Parker came in to see what they were doing. He decided he would supervise the whole undertaking.
As they headed across the street, they heard a feminine wolf whistle. “Look at our guys at work!” Heidi exclaimed.
“Were not all your guys, y’know. Only one of us is actually attached to you,” Brady said.
“Well, were working on two,” Freedom quipped.
“Nice try,” Brady said. “What do you girls want?”
“Lots of things. But, we wouldn’t mind helping J.T. move his stuff into his new place,” Heidi said as she walked over to her boyfriend. She grabbed J.T.’s bicep which was hard at work holding boxes. He snorted when Heidi tickled his arm.
“If you’re going to help, do it the right way, Heidi.”
Heidi playfully saluted and took a box off the stack J.T. was holding.
“So, have you met your new room mate?” Sam asked.
“Um, yeah. I don’t think its going to work out very well,” J.T. said. “He likes to walk around naked.”
“I wouldn’t mind that,” Dashelle said.
“Wait until you meet him, then you’ll see,” J.T. said, not realizing the pun he had made.
“Wouldn’t mind that, either,” Dashelle added.
Court rolled his eyes. “Dashelle, do you ever think about anything besides boys?”
“Not right now. I’m in a new place and I’m hot to trot,” Dashelle remarked.
“Better watch yourself. I can’t take care of you all the time,” Court said, being the “big brother” type to one of his closest friends.
“Well, big brother, I’m a big girl. I think I can take care of myself.”
“You know if there’s any trouble, we got your back,” Sam told Dashelle. “All of us.” Sam indicated the other three men by nodded his head toward them since his hands were full.
They finally made it to the door and Freedom opened it. “Where are we going, J.T.?”
“Room 215, but let me knock first. Don’t want you ladies to see anything indecent, you know.”
“He can be nice when he wants to be,” Heidi said smiling at her beau.
J.T. plodded up the steps with his boxes and dropped them at his door. He knocked.
“Entre v’ous,” Mario remarked.
J.T. took a deep breath and cracked open the door. “Clothed?”
“Just for you, cutie,” Mario answered.
J.T. rubbed his forehead and scrunched his face. He noticed that Mario had been more comfortable (if that was possible) in greeting him than last time. He walked in and noticed Mario’s outlandish outfit. It was pair of black spandex pants and a bright orange button up shirt topped off with a fluorescent green beret.
“Actually, it’s not just for me. My friends are waiting downstairs to bring up my stuff. Let me warn you, they’re mixed company.”
“Oh, wonderful. I like meeting new people. Especially when I can get to know more about you, roomie.”
“Uh, yeah. Anyway, they’ll be up in a minute. I’ll be right back.”
J.T. went down the stairs and tried to keep his composure. As soon as he hit the bottom step and looked at his friends, he burst into laughter.
“Ohmigosh, you guys, you have got to see this get up Mario has on. He looks like he stepped out of the Eighties. Never mind, you’ll just have to see it. Let’s just get these boxes up to my room.” J.T. beckoned his friends to get the boxes and follow him.
On his way up, he heard the phone in his new room ring. Mario fluttered out of the room and sang out to J.T. “Telephone, J.T. It’s Dean Harlow.”
J.T.’s eyes darted from side to side. He put down the boxes in his room and his friends followed suit. He picked up the Picasso looking object that he figured was the phone since it had a cord and number buttons on it.
“Hello, Dean Harlow.”
“Good afternoon, Mr. Sumtrane. I am calling to let you know that I talked with your producer. Although, he was not too happy about it, he agreed to keep your rehearsal time on exact time and if there is a problem with a scene, he will work it out the next day. He does realize that you may miss some rehearsals due to your different classes, but you are still in the cast,” the dean remarked.
“And I’m still playing Mark, correct?” J.T. asked hopefully.
“Oh, of course. He wouldn’t do something like that on my account. You do need to talk to him when you’re at rehearsal tomorrow, though. He needs to go over some things that we discussed.”
“Okay. I hate to be rude, ma’am, but I’m trying to move in right now and I need all the time I can get. Thanks for your call.”
“You’re welcome, Mr. Sumtrane. Have a good day tomorrow.”
“I’ll try. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.”
J.T. wanted to slam the phone down, but he didn’t know how it connected to the cradle, so he threw it at Mario. “Do something with this, please.”
Mario hung up the phone.
“I’m going to hate the dean by the time my years here are up. Do you want to know what she did, the little witch?” J.T. asked pacing the floor addressing his friends.
“Calm down, J.T. Just tell us what’s going on,” Heidi said walking over to J.T. She put a hand up, so he ran into it and quit pacing.
“She talked to my producer. She “discussed” some things with him. I am so going to get my butt chewed out for that tomorrow morning,” J.T. said. He balled his fists up and inhaled deeply.
“What’s the big deal, big guy?” Mario asked. “So, she talked with your producer. Can she really control him that way?”
“I don’t know and I wish I didn’t have to find out,” J.T. said.
“It’ll be okay, babe,” Heidi assured him. “Let’s just get your stuff in here, so we can go out.”
“All right. Mario, do you mind helping us out?” J.T. asked.
“Oh, no, not at all. I need to get physical anyway,” Mario giggled.
The other guys rolled their eyes at the abstract creature before them.
“Where did this guy come from?” Brady whispered to Sam.
“San Francisco,” Mario answered, overhearing the question.
Brady gave Sam a knowing glance. Mario walked by and followed J.T.
“Looks like you’ve got competition,” Court told Heidi.
“I think I’ll risk it. J.T. doesn’t swing that way,” Heidi said.
“You never know,” Court sang.
“Grow up,” Heidi said. “Let’s just get this done, so we can go out.”
“No problem,” Court said.
The group went back down the stairs and out the door. It took them about three trips from Court’s room to J.T.’s room to get everything settled. When they were finished, everyone except Mario met at the Nocturnal. The party there didn’t start to get going until about 9:30 and the group completely forgot about their 10 o’clock curfew. They were about to find out what happened to rule breakers the next morning.
CHAPTER 6
J.T. tumbled out of bed when his alarm went off at 5 a.m. He threw on his clothes, trotted down the stairs and hailed a cab. The sun seemed so bright that he slipped on his sunglasses before he got in the cab.
“Madrid Theater,” he told the cabby in an incomprehensible tone.
“What?” the cabby asked.
J.T. repeated his request and the cabby headed toward the theater. J.T. jumped when his phone sang.
“J.T. here,” he answered.
“We are in big trouble,” Court said. “I mean serious trouble.”
“What did WE do?” J.T. asked.
“Broke curfew—by about 4 hours.”
“Are you serious? We have a curfew? “
“According to Dean Harlow, we do. She did a bed check last night and she noticed that eight of us were gone. We’re supposed to be in her office at 11:30.”
“Man that is just great. I have to go from one burning to another. Why didn’t you tell me we had a curfew, Court?”
“I thought I did. And if I didn’t, Harlow should have told you when you talked to her.”
The cab stopped in front of the theater. J.T. handed his driver a wad of bills, gave a “thank you” nod and headed inside, still talking to Court.
“So, we don’t even make it one day into school and we’re already on probation?”
“Looks like it, man. Unless we get off on being young and stupid.”
J.T. mimicked a laugh into the phone. “Listen, I gotta go. Rehearsal starts in 5 minutes. I’ll see you in the dean’s office.”
“Yeah, I’ll be there with bells on. Bye.”
“See ya.” J.T. turn
ed off his phone and looked around for Greg. He saw him looking over the script in the front row. J.T. took a deep breath and walked to the stage. Greg looked up and saw J.T.
“J.T., we need to talk. Come down off stage for a minute,” Greg directed.
J.T. trotted down the stairs of the stage and stood next to Greg. “Something I can help you with?”
“Yes. The Dean from Julliard called me yesterday and decided to tell me how to run my show. Of course, I took everything to heart, but she can’t tell me what to do. I understand that you are a student there and I also understand that you have obligations there, but you have obligations here also. If you think you can’t handle the two, make your choice now. I don’t want to keep getting calls from your dean. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir. May I ask what she told you?”
“She told me to cut my rehearsals down, so you could get to your classes on time. I can’t do that.”
“I know. She thinks she can run everything. I’ve noticed that attitude when I went to see her yesterday.”
“Well, just let me know when you need to cut out. I’m not cutting rehearsals, but I can help you out in some ways,” Greg said.
“Thanks, sir.”
“Please, call me Greg. I hate the formality.”
“Okay, Greg. So, can we start, because I’m already in big trouble with the dean on the first day. Apparently, I have a 10 o’clock curfew that I wasn’t told about.”
“Man, things just aren’t going your way.”
“No kidding. “
“Well, then, let’s get this show on the road.” Greg turned toward the stage. “Roger—I mean Kelso, let’s start rehearsing our lines.”
“Sure. I’m up for that,” Kelso remarked. He looked pale and sickly today.
“You all right?” J.T. asked.
“Fine. Just having one of those days,” Kelso remarked. “I’ll feel better when we get started.”
So, J.T. and Kelso delved into their scripts and rehearsed the beginning scenes together. When they finished a scene and practiced some songs, J.T. asked to talk to Kelso.
“I know that we barely know each other, but I need to ask you a favor that I told my friend I’d do.”
“Okay.” Kelso looked puzzled.
“You might not want to go along with it, but I’m going to ask you anyway. You probably saw her the other day. Her name is Ashleigh. She wants to meet you.”