“I want to be able to drive my car home. No biggie,” he smiled again. I grabbed an onion ring from his basket, and he took a mozzarella stick out of mine.
While we ate, we talked about past shows and life on the road.
“My favorite production was ‘The Taming of the Shrew”. I hated when we did Shakespeare but that one was fun,” Thomas said.
“Wasn’t that your first lead role?” I rolled my eyes. He laughed.
“Yeah, and yours too if I recall.” I smiled, thinking about it.
“That was so much fun because all of us got to be in it,” Stacie added. “I loved playing Bianca,” she sighed deeply.
“We need more shows like that. Why did you have to pick a play with such a small cast to direct?” Erin shot at Stacie who only shrugged and took a drink of her beer.
“Eh, you’ll get over it. When it’s your turn to direct, pick something bigger,” she shot back. Erin glared but said nothing else. Stacie looked over at me.
“Are you still auditioning?”
I bit my lip. I wanted to, but with Cleo being pregnant and me watching Chase and Adrian’s newborn now, I hesitated. Plus, the band was picking stuff back up. Wait, wasn’t I just complaining about needing something to do?
“Yep. That’s the plan. I need to start getting out of the house more,” I decided. She smiled widely.
“Great. Next Tuesday and Wednesday evening. I expect to see you there.” She pointed at the rest of us around the tables. “I expect all of you to be there.” Everyone laughed.
“There’s only five parts, and you’ve pretty much given one to Renee,” Someone said from down the table. She scrunched up her face.
“Not true. She has to audition just like everyone else. Who knows, maybe she forgot how to act. It’s been a few years,” she smirked. I rolled my eyes.
“Maybe. I guess I shouldn’t come try out until I brushed up some,” I teased. She stuck out her tongue at me and demanded I show up. I put up my hands in surrender.
“You got it boss.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket suddenly. I took it out and saw Mark texted me. He was apologizing for still not being home. He said that he’d be out late. I replied that I had went out with my friends and would be home late as well. He shot me one last XO before he said he had to get back to work.
“Husband?” Thomas asked me when I put my phone away.
“Yeah, he’s working late tonight. They are working on a new album,” I explained.
“Ooh. I love Maria Maria. Are they gonna tour again soon?” Justin asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t get too involved in his career. It’s a lot to take in sometimes.”
“I bet. Do you go with him when they tour?” Erin asked. I shook my head.
“No. Although I did follow them with Cleo’s twins for a few weeks. I was their nanny while they were gone. Wives and girlfriends typically don’t come along to stuff like that.”
“That sucks. What do you do when he’s gone?” I didn’t say anything for a long moment. I didn’t know how to answer. Nothing. I did nothing.
“Well the last time I watched the twins, but that’s why I was thinking about getting back into the theatre. I need something to do while he’s working.”
“Well we are glad to have you back.” Stacie said. Erin stood up and came around to hug me tightly.
“You have no idea how much we missed you.”
After dinner the waitress cleared our tables and a voice came over the intercom and announced that karaoke would be starting in five minutes. The table started cheering and squealing with excitement.
“Who’s going first?” Justin called down the tables. A few hands shot up quickly. Michelle stood up to grab the big book of songs from the bar. She returned with the sign-up sheet and the book to pass along.
By the time it got down to Thomas and I, people had already started getting on stage. We heard very drunk renditions of ‘We are the Champions’, ‘Livin La Vida Loca’, and a group of girls sang ‘Mickey’, the cheerleaders anthem.
