My eyes flew open. A mound of white furry butt greeted me. A tail swished frantically in front of me as Bootsy slowly kneaded my left breast.What the…? BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!I slowly shook the brain fog out of my head as I nuzzled Bootsy off my chest, rolled over, and turned off my alarm clock. It was 6:30 a.m. Part of me just wanted to roll back over and sleep for another hour, but I had to get out of bed and head downstairs to the gym or I’d skip it again.
One would think all the crazy running around and dancing on stage would keep a Broadway actor in great shape. And it helps. But you need to be in pretty good shape if you’re going to sustain yourself eight shows a week during a long run of a Broadway musical. I threw my legs over the edge of my bed and grabbed the workout clothes I’d laid out on the dresser the night before. I put on my sports bra, which immediately squished my breasts firmly against my body. I then threw a tank top on which read,Divalicious! in a bright red font. I slipped into a pair of black running leggings, socks, and a pair of tennis shoes. I pulled my hair back into a ponytail, then pulled the ponytail through the back of a baseball cap emblazoned with theWickedlogo. With my hat in place, I was ready to work out. Well, ready to head downstairs.
Bootsy was already curled back up next to my pillow, probably enjoying the warmth from my body that had seeped into the bed while I slept. I grabbed my AirPods, iPhone, and keys and headed out of the apartment. I walked over to the elevator and pushed the button for the floor where the gym was located.
After I had finished laundry the previous afternoon, I’d lounged around the rest of the day doing a whole lot of nothing. I had wanted to have a chill evening without too much going on. Between six days of rehearsals and my disastrous date, I had wanted to lie on the couch, watch some Netflix, and veg out, so I had.
The elevator door opened, and someone else headed down to the gym nodded at me as I entered. She was wearing a similar outfit, but her ballcap was from the most recent revival ofCompany.What is her name?She was slightly older, and I knew she’d been in the latest revival, but I couldn’t remember what her name was off the top of my head. I really should get to know the people in my building better. Then again, this was New York City. We do a lot of nodding our heads to sort-of-strangers as we go throughout our daily lives when we’re not busy avoiding eye contact with people on the street.
After a couple more stops and a few more early risers joined us, our little group of morning gym-goers stepped out into the hallway before heading to the glass enclosure that was the building gym. For a Monday morning, the gym was already active. Thankfully, no one was on my favorite treadmill, so I went over and snagged it before doing a few light stretches. When I was ready, I hopped onto the treadmill and started moving at a nice slow jog. I ran the lines I’d learned the previous evening in my head. Once I was good to go with the lines, I put my AirPods in and pulled up my Broadway Mega Mix, which I’d created. The list of songs were all the ones that were upbeat and fun to run to.
Forty-five minutes later, I pulled myself off the machine and wiped it off quickly because no one wants to get on a machine coated in someone else’s sweaty mess. I did a few more stretches to ensure I wouldn’t get sore. Then, I headed back upstairs to the apartment. Before heading into the shower, I pulled out a protein shake from my fridge. I learned a long time ago that I am horrible at taking care of myself first thing in the morning, so a friend of mine from college who’s a dietician recommended protein shakes. I’d picked up some new pumpkin spice-flavored ones when I went grocery shopping a couple of weeks ago. But I grabbed the coffee-flavored protein shake because it had the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee.
I sat down at my small dining room table and looked through the news. Not too much was going on, so by the time I’d finished my protein shake, it was already 8:10, so I needed to get my butt in gear if I was going to make it to rehearsal by 9:00.
I showered quickly and then threw on a cream-colored cashmere sweater and a pair of black jeans. I said goodbye to Bootsy and headed out into the cold November morning. And it was downright chilly. I pulled my coat up around my throat as high as possible as I traipsed out into the morning air. Thankfully, most tourists aren’t blocking the sidewalks around the theater district early on a Monday morning, so I could make it to the theater in under ten minutes with no problem. One thing you learn about New Yorkers living in the city is we have two speeds, fast and get the heck out of my way—I have somewhere to be like ten minutes ago. Most New Yorkers avoid the places where tourists congregate because tourists gawk a lot and saunter down the sidewalk like they’re out for a Sunday stroll. I always joke there should be two different sidewalk lanes, one for tourists and one for people who live here.
The construction people were already streaming into the Maurer Theatre. Since I was early, I peeked into the main theater to see how things were progressing. The seats in the back part of the theater were already being installed, but there was still a ton of work that needed to be accomplished before the space was ready for audiences. I strolled into the orchestra level to see what it would look like. The interior was sleek and modern. Personally, I prefer the sense of history one gets when stepping foot into the older Broadway theaters. I continued walking down the center aisle until I emerged from the overhang of the flying circle, which was the level just above the orchestra. I looked up and could see both the flying circle and the mezzanine levels from that vantage point.
“Hey! This is a hardhat-only area, lady,” a voice yelled from somewhere in the theater. The acoustics of the hall made it difficult to see where the voice came from.
“Sorry,” I yelled back into the void. “I wanted to see how things looked.” I didn’t wait for a response. I headed out of the space and made my way to the Rose Theater, the small black-box theater we used as the rehearsal space.
I walked into the Rose Theater and found several cast members already sitting around the table at the front of the room.Guess we’re going to run the new script. I walked up and said hello to a handful of people. I found my name tag. Someone had already put out bottles of water on the table for all of us, which I was going to appreciate as the morning progressed. I looked at the names on either side of me and found that Katherine would be on my left and Peeter would be on my right.I guess they wanted to keep the ghosts together.
“Good morning,” Katherine said, sitting down next to me. “How was your Sunday?”
“Sunday was nice and relaxing. You?”
“Uneventful, like I wanted it to be.” Katherine looked around to make sure no one was within earshot before she asked, “How was the date?” Apparently, the facial expression I made instinctually answered the question. “That bad, huh?”
“The date was great. The finding out he was married part kind of killed the evening.”
“Doh!” Katherine said in her best Homer Simpson impersonation. “How’d you find out?”
I quickly told her the story. She guffawed at the right moment.
“Oh wow,” Katherine said. “That’s horrible. Men!”
“Men, indeed,” I groused. “Sometimes, I think it would be easier to be a lesbian or asexual.”
“Well, don’t give up yet,” Katherine said. “You know, I have a friend—“
“No more blind dates,” I said, crossing my arms in a bigxin front of my body.
“He’s a hot lawyer,” Katherine said in response. She pulled out her phone and flipped through a few images. “Take a look.” She handed me the phone. I had to admit, he was hot.
“And he’s single?”
“Very.”
“And we’re sure that he’s single?”
Katherine chuckled. “I can guarantee you he’s single. He’s shy. And his law firm has him working crazy hours, so he really doesn’t have time to get out and socialize.”
“Let me think about it,” I said.
“Don’t think about it too long. I’m sure a hottie like him will eventually be snatched up.”
