The Taming (23 page)

I
slept from the moment I got home from the bakery on Saturday night until late Sunday afternoon. I slept the sleep of the dead. The only reason I roused from my coma was that I had to pee. That, and the apartment buzzer was buzzing itself hoarse. I’d pretty much slept sixteen hours straight, but instead of well rested, I felt drugged and thick-tongued.

“Hello?”

“Katherina, Kate, my darling shrew, is that you, sweetpea? You sound like a large man with a cholesterol problem.”

“Travis?”

“Me too!”

“Lisa?”

“Give our girl a pony!” said Travis. “Now, let us up, we have news!”

I glanced around the apartment and groaned. Lisa had been here exactly once and Travis not at all. “Give me a minute to pee and brush my teeth and then I’ll buzz you up.”

They practically burst through the door when I finally let them in. Travis didn’t gasp or anything when he got to my living room so I figured Lisa must have warned him. I mean, the place was pretty much spotless—both Mom and I were obsessively clean. It was just that the furniture must have looked like it cost a buck fifty, total. I knew that now, after spending so much time at Evan’s.

Anyway, Travis was cool, but Lisa was not. She stood back and gasped. “Katie! Oh my God! Your knee!”

I could hear my heart ramp up. I’d forgotten that I was still wearing a nightie.

“I … slipped, the night of the party.” I caught sight of the home phone just then. The message light was flashing. Evan. My iPhone was also vibrating beside my little purse and my shoes, which were all still on the coffee table where he’d left them when we came in. It
brrrrr
-ed and lit up again. If it were anyone but Evan, I could just text him that I’d call as soon as Lisa and Travis left. But he was psychotic on the topic of my friends. No need to get him all stirred up again. So, I just watched the phone vibrate.

“Katie?” Travis was frowning.

“Yeah! My knee.” I smiled at him. “Too much to drink, I guess. Doesn’t hurt, though. I forgot all about it.”

“You didn’t drink, remember?” Lisa said, folding her arms. “I was there as Josh tried to get a drink down you all night, but you wouldn’t budge.”

Wow. Was that the way she saw it? Was Josh really being more than just friendly? Come to think of it, his girlfriend wasn’t at the party. Maybe Evan had caught a whiff of something I was too thick to see? It just proved that he was right.

“Oh yeah, but it was slippery, remember, it rained. So, what’s the news?”

Travis plopped himself on the couch and thankfully it held, the couch I mean, you never knew about our furniture. It had collapsed under Joey twice so far. I was barely keeping it together.

“Okay, number one, the most antisocial but hilariously rich girl in the entire school has agreed to host the cast party on closing night!” Travis clapped and extended his arm to Lisa, who curtsied daintily.

“It’s true,” she said. “My parents, as you can well imagine, are so stupefied by the idea of me having anyone over that this thing is going to be over the moon, fair warning. They’ve been talking to
caterers
all weekend!”

“You’re kidding, right? I don’t believe it! Lisa Chapman is having a party!” I grabbed her by both shoulders. “Who
are
you and what have you done with my friend?”

She groaned and shoved me off. “Hey, what can I say? I loved Friday night, I loved it when the three of us were dancing and we weren’t a freak show. We were in without trying. I don’t know how it happened, but it was shocking how good it felt. Maybe it’s because we’re all older and wiser. Things change in grade eleven.”

Travis harrumphed.

“And grade twelve. Thing is,” she almost looked embarrassed, “I loved it so much that I’m going to throw my own party. Maybe it’s a big mistake but I’m prepared to make it!”

“I loved the party too, Lisa.” I hugged her. “It was absolutely the very best night of my life.”

Until it became the worst.

“Hey!” Travis jumped up and wheedled his way into the hug. “What am I, chopped liver? I’m the one who convinced her to let her parents have it catered. We’ll eat like kings after the show, just like they do on Broadway.” We threw our arms around him.

“Ummm,” he purred. “That feels great, squeeze tighter, girls.”

“Travis, that’s just the kind of thing that confuses everybody about your sexuality, honey,” Lisa mumbled into his shirt.

He gave us each a little extra hug before letting go. “Yeah, well, the line forms to the left on that one, my hot little savant, and I’m leading it.”

“Yeah, well, back to the party, the parental units have sort of promised to look the other way for a bit, but along with caterers, there will be servers, and food half our group won’t ever have seen before. It’ll be weird, but it’ll be
my weird
and I’m having it to celebrate …” Lisa disengaged enough to elbow Travis.

“Oh yeah, Part
Deux
of the news! So … Cooper has been banging the drum loudly, so not only is the woman from the National Academy summer scholarship program going to be there checking you out on opening night on Thursday, but … but … the assistant dean is in town, and he’s coming to the show on closing night, to eyeball
me
for next year’s application pool to the Academy and to flag
you
for admission the following year, dear heart!”

“Oh … my … God!” I squealed. We all squealed. We were pathetic, really.

Lisa grinned from ear to ear. “And I’m just going to get Daddy to buy my way in, because I’ve decided I want to do something stupendously creative with my life too!”

“Lisa, that is amazing!” I said. “You’re throwing a party
and
making positive choices about your future.”

“I blame it on the two of you.” She shrugged. “Bad influences.”

“Let’s hug some more!” said Travis.

“Okay, but don’t try to cop a feel!”

Just as we embraced again, the door swung open and Mom and Joey walked in. My head exploded as I caught the look on my mother’s face. But Joey saved the day.

“Hey! What are we celebrating?” he asked.

“Sorry for just barging in like this, Mrs. Rosario,” Lisa said. Then she stepped smoothly in front of me with one angled leg, so that my chewed up knee would not be visible.

“Hey, Mom, Joey, this is Lisa and this weirdo is Travis, my friend and my director.”

Joey, God bless his bones, marched over and shook Travis’s hand so hard I thought his arm was going to come out of the socket.

“We’re coming Friday night, opening night for the paying public! We can’t wait to see what you’ve done. Right, Cheryl?”

Mom smiled and nodded. She wasn’t beaming, but she wasn’t all pinched-looking either.

“Like your look, kid!” Joey still had a grip on Travis.

“Sir?”

“It’s good advertising.” Joey nodded. “You’re a director, not an accountant, you look arty, you’re your own billboard. I like that.”

“Speaking of which, we love your new bus shelter photos, Mr. Campana,” said Lisa. “My parents are going to be very impressed that I met you.” I loved this girl.

Joey puffed up and Mom went to the kitchen. Then, to compound a day of wonders, she called out, “Would you kids like to stay for dinner? Don’t worry, Joey made it ahead of time, not me.”

I’m not sure I have ever had anyone over for dinner, ever. Not since Nick Kormos, anyway. I’m pretty sure it was never allowed. What was Joey doing to her?

“No thanks, Mrs. Rosario, I’ve got a lot of prep to do from now on.” Travis turned to me. “Get sleep, more sleep. Just afternoon rehearsals this week. I don’t want anyone burning out before the first performance.” He squeezed my hand and Lisa kissed my cheek. “Love you to bits, Katie.”

“Great friends you got there, kid!” Joey called from the dining table when I’d shut the door.

They were.

Lisa, my prompter, discreetly hiding my injured leg, unasked. And Travis, being as happy about someone from the Academy turning up for me as he was for them coming to check him out.

I didn’t deserve them.

Wait.

Why not? They
were
great friends, and I promised myself that I
would
deserve them, soon.

“Joey?”

“Yeah, kid?”

“You were super, Joey, thanks.”

“Joey?” He grinned. “Call me Mr. Campana.”

I felt his smile warming up my back all the way to my room.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

H
e was so beautiful in that
I own a sailboat
kind of way, in any kind of way really, and yet, he loved me. How great was that?

We didn’t have drama on Mondays so Evan and I didn’t find each other until lunch. Actually, on that Monday, I’d thought he had a costume fitting scheduled so Lisa and I were chowing down in the Droopy Diaper on Organic Chicken Chili. It felt good. She didn’t say anything, but I knew it felt good for her too.

We were reviewing catering themes for her cast party. I finally agreed that Malaysian would be terrific, even though I wasn’t at all clear on what Malaysian food was, no matter how many times she explained it to me. I was startled to see Evan lope up the far end of the cafeteria. I was also startled to see that pretty much everyone stopped to sneak a peek, even after all these weeks.

He pulled up a chair across from me and Lisa. I felt her tense up. We hadn’t had lunch, just the two of us, since Evan and I had become an item.

“Hey, Lisa, what’s up?” Evan lasered her a smile that would have melted a glacier. Instantly, I was afraid. And then, just as instantly, I was ashamed.

“Not much.” She shrugged. “Just an FYI, Travis wants me stage left as your prompter Thursday night and Friday night, then, for some bizarre Travis reason, stage right on Saturday night.”

“Great!” I said. “I feel calmer already.”

“Final curtain calls, closing night bouquets. He’s thought of everything.”

Evan seemed, if not shocked, at least surprised by that idea.

“Well, let’s face it, the prompter’s job is all moot, I will never meet two more prepared actors than you guys.”

I could tell she was making a superhuman effort to be charming to Evan.

“I do know that tonight, Travis wants you to focus on the capitulation scene, the very last scene. I swear it’s the only bit that trips you two up.”

Evan threw his arm around me and caressed my shoulder. “Don’t know why,” he said. “You’d think I’d love to see my woman surrender.” He winked at Lisa. “Guess I just have trouble imagining how that would be.”

“Yeah.” Lisa nodded. “Guess so.”

“Total submission, Katie!”

That was Ms. Cooper calling from the back of the auditorium. We were at least an hour into rehearsal and apparently she couldn’t contain herself a minute longer and had to jump in on Travis, who in turn jumped up on stage. Hortensio and Lucentio grabbed chairs and sat down.

It was a pretty piece of irony that this bit was the part I had the most difficulty with. Kate the shrew, the volcano, I’d had no trouble accessing right from the start. I
was
her. But with each growing day and every rehearsal, I increasingly tripped over Kate the meek and Kate the well-behaved.

“Katie, you’re great, brilliant, etc., etc., but somehow you haven’t fully committed to the submission.” Travis took my arm and gently moved me away from Evan. “Look, you’ve bought what he’s selling by this point. Petruchio not only wins, but you’re glad of it. Commit, Katie. Total, utter submission. You are happily defeated. Got it?”

Defeated?

“He’s the prince, thy head, your sovereign, your king. You
owe
him and he
owns
you.” Travis leaned in close to my ear, practically kissing me. “Are you an actress or not?”

I nodded and allowed it to happen, the stage, the words, the transformation. My stomach tightened and I was off into Katherina’s line 160.

I am ashamed that women are so simple
To offer war for rule, supremacy, and sway
,
When they are bound to serve, love and obey
.
Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth
,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world
,
But that our soft conditions and our hearts
Should well agree with our external parts?