Lunch with Cinny? I guess that would be all right. But there is the issue of Judas. Today he’s roaming about Times Square waiting for me. “Could...maybe...my brother come, too?”
“Sure. Bring him.” She claps her hands excitedly. “And let’s go to Gush. You down?”
I frown. Gush. I know that spot because Aunt Karla goes out of her way to avoid the area. Dozens of paparazzi camp out on the street outside the restaurant waiting for celebrities to show up, and traffic is always a nightmare.
“Can we try a place not so busy?” And not swarming with paparazzi?
Cinny sighs. “I sorta had my heart set on Gush. They have the best avocado toast. Besides, we break for lunch at two. Gush won’t even be busy at that time. I’ll call ahead. Okay?”
“Yeah. I guess.”
I look over Cinny’s shoulder and see Nigel approaching. He kneels in front of Cinny and me.
“So,” he says. “We’d like to run the balcony scene with Tag. But we need to run ‘I Defy’ with Rob in 7C. Alan and Robbie are trying to work out some particulars with the song.”
My stomach churns. “I Defy.” The song Zeppelin first heard me sing. Or maybe Zeppelin never even heard me sing the song. So much of what he said to me could’ve been a lie.
Cinny yawns. “So is Tag gonna run the balcony scene by himself? Cuz I can’t be in two places at once.”
“Well...” Nigel pauses. “One of the understudies can mark your movements for ‘I Defy,’ since it’s more about Robbie figuring out arrangement stuff. It’s important you and Tag get into a groove.”
“Why?” Cinny rolls her eyes. “He’s not actually gonna be Roman, is he? Please tell me you guys are in the process of hiring a real actor.”
“Jesus, Cinny.” It’s the first time I’ve ever seen Nigel angry. “Give the kid a fucking break.”
“It’s not my fault he sucks.” Cinny is oblivious to Nigel’s enraged expression.
“Can I help?” I blurt. “I mean, if it’s okay with you, Cinny. I can run the balcony scene with Tag. That way you can work with Robbie and Alan.”
“Brilliant.” Nigel exhales. “Thank you, Jerzie.”
“Wait.” Cinny holds out a hand. “I’ll work with Tag. No offense, Jerzie, but if he’s gonna be my leading man, I’m the one who should be working with him.”
“No doubt,” I say quickly. “Was only trying to help.”
“So do we have your permission to use Jerzie to help Robbie?” Nigel’s not really trying to camouflage the anger in his voice. “Cuz if not Jerzie, we can use Kiara or Genevieve. Your other covers.”
“You don’t need my permission. Use who you want. I don’t care what you do.” Her cell chimes in her lap. “I gotta take this.” She places the phone to her ear and walks off.
Nigel turns back to me. “7C, Jerzie. You can head there now.”
I grab the pocket of Nigel’s cargo shorts as he tries to rush away. “Wait.”
He turns back. “What’s up?”
“I have a randomly weird question.”
“I love randomly weird things.” He sits beside me. “Talk to me.”
“Did Zeppelin ever come to the Beaumont Theater? While I was rehearsing there?”
“Not that I recall,” Nigel replies swiftly.
Zeppelin was lying. He never saw me rehearsing alone at Beaumont. Those rehearsal spaces were tiny. Of course I would’ve seen him come in.
“Wait a second,” Nigel says. “My memory gets fuzzy sometimes, but I remember now. We did have a payroll issue, and he had to come to Beaumont to pick up some paperwork from me. It was about a month ago. In fact...” He turns to me. “He must’ve seen you.”
“Really?” I breathe. “You think?”
“Yeah. Cuz he asked me what’s Cinny’s standby’s name.” Nigel nods. “Yeah. I remember now.”
That’s how he knew my name when I first met him. The day is still so vivid in my mind. Him backing away toward the doors to the rehearsal room. A smile so big it lit up the entire hallway when he said,
“I’m hoping for something really good. At least when it comes to you, Jerzie Jhames.”
He wasn’t lying. He really did see me at Beaumont.
I stand and pull my backpack over my shoulders. “No big deal.” I’m hoping Nigel can’t hear the quiver in my voice. “I was only curious.”
* * *
“When she goes upstage, you come down.” Alan holds a worn copy of the Roman and Jewel script, looking over the edge of his glasses to stare at the pages. “But it’s in a strange rhythm. Is that what’s making it seem so disconnected?”
“Hmm. I wouldn’t call syncopated strange, but I do see what you mean.” Robbie’s staring at his own copy of Roman and Jewel. I’m actually standing on my mark—well, Jewel’s mark—as they talk out the particulars, trying to be as still as a stone and as quiet as a mouse. Not that mice are quiet. In New York City they’re downright rowdy. Freakin’ gangster mice.
Alan sets down his script. “Is it the key change?”
Robbie shakes his head. “There’s definitely something about it that’s making me dislike it, but I really don’t think it’s the key change.”
It is odd. I’ve watched Cinny and Robbie perform “I Defy” quite a few times, and each time Jewel begins her solo, her desperate plea to Professor Lawrence, or Friar Laurence, as he’s known in Shakespeare’s version, it feels off to me. And Cinny’s not to blame. The song is right in her range, and she sounds really good when she sings it. But like, I can’t connect to it the way I want to either.
The rehearsal door is pushed open to reveal Linda, one of the music assistants who helps during rehearsals. She’s an older woman with gray hair. “Hi.” She’s fumbling with a massive music folder. “Sorry I’m late.”
“No worries, Linda,” Alan calls out. “We were about to take it from the top of ‘I Defy.’”
Linda sits at the piano and begins laying out her sheet music. I watch Alan and Robbie continue their discussion as Linda warms up on the keys. My ears focus on her as she lightly taps out the chords for “I Defy.”
It suddenly dawns on me. Like, call me crazy, but I think I figured it out.
“Excuse me?” I raise my hand. Linda stops playing, and Robbie and Alan look over at me as if realizing for the first time that I’m here.
“Yes, Jerzie?” Alan replies, brow furrowed. “Do you need to run to the bathroom? You don’t have to ask permission.”
“No, no. It’s just...” I pull nervously at my hair. “Can I show you guys something real quick? It’ll take like twenty-five seconds?” I don’t wait for an answer. I rush to the piano and stand beside Linda. “Hi. Could I borrow your piano?”
Linda nods. “You should know it’s not my piano, dear.”
She stands, and I take her place at the bench, studying the music as Robbie and Alan cross to me.
“Okay.” My hands are sweating now. Two Broadway greats have paused their rehearsal to listen to me? Holy shit. “So when Jewel and Professor Lawrence are chatting in the beginning. The verse stuff has all this chaos, right?” I play the beginning of the song, reading Linda’s sheet music. “Then, when the verse conversation morphs into Jewel’s solo, it turns into a pattern.” I pound out the repeated chords.
Robbie folds his arms under his chest. “I get that, Jerzie. I did write it.”
“Right, and it’s brilliant,” I say. “But listen.” I play the chords and sing over them. But rather than sing “I Defy,” I sing Journey’s “Open Arms.” Then I morph into Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
Robbie and Alan laugh.
I point to the music. “It’s a B-flat seventh chord resolving to C major. It feels weird to you guys, because it suddenly sounds similar to a bunch of really popular songs, and the melody line isn’t distinct enough to stand out above it.”
&nb
sp; “How do we fix it?” Robbie sits beside me, snatching off his baseball cap and running his hands through his hair. “Are you suggesting we rewrite the—”
“Melody line. Yeah. The common cadence is fine. But if Jewel could do some improvisations... Like this...”
“Wait. Can I record this?” He holds up his cell phone. “Just the audio?”
“Sure. Of course.”
Robbie hits the record button and sets his cell on top of the piano. I sing as I play the chords, dramatically changing the melody line and feeling connected to the words in a way I haven’t before. A defiant Jewel. No longer wanting to be a pawn in her parents’ divisive game. Wanting desperately to love her adversary. Adamant that’s exactly what she plans to do. When I feel my eyes start to water, I rush through to the end, then slide my hands off the keys.
“That’s all.” I look at Robbie and smile brightly. Thankfully the smile stops the tears from brimming to the surface.
Robbie looks up at Alan. “Well?”
“Fucking brilliant.” Alan looks at me. “Excuse my language. I shouldn’t be cursing in front of a sixteen-year-old.”
“Actually, I’m seventeen. Today is my birthday.”
“Well, happy fucking birthday.” Alan looks at Robbie. “I’m gonna get Mae. She needs to hear this. Now.”
“I’m coming with,” Linda says. “Left my glasses in 7A and I can hardly see a foot in front of me.”
I watch the two exit the rehearsal space.
“Not too many kids understand music theory, Jerzie.” Robbie retrieves his cell phone from the top of the piano. “You could compose. Like, for a living. Have you ever thought about that?”
I slide my fingers across the keys, careful not to make a sound. The quiet of the room feels comforting for some reason. “Yeah. I take all sorts of composition classes.”
“What kind of stuff do you like to write?” Robbie stands and leans against the piano, looking down at me.
“I dunno. Love songs mostly.” I look up at him. Just the mention of love, and my chest feels like it’s caving in. “How are you liking Tag as Roman?”
Robbie takes his time before he answers. “I think he brings something interesting. He’ll get there.”
“You miss Zeppelin?”
“I do.” He sighs. “But the show’s always gotta go on. Regardless of what happens backstage. That’s Broadway. Things have a way of morphing into something you’d never expect. I’ve learned to roll with it. But he was my perfect Roman. And I considered him a friend. Still do.”
“Have you talked to him? I mean, since, you know.”
“We’ve chatted through email.”
Once again my fingers glide silently across the piano keys. “How is he?” I’m trying to sound nonchalant. “He okay?”
“He’s sad. About the show. But mostly I think he’s a little lovesick.”
“Oh? Yeah, I heard he was dating someone.”
“Yep,” Robbie replies. “He confessed it all. Thinks maybe he’s lost her forever though. He was more sad about that than losing the show.”
“Well, he should reach out to her.”
“Apparently her parents took her phone?”
I look up now, my eyes wide with surprise.
“And they banned her from ever speaking to him again.” Robbie winces. “That’s harsh, if you ask me. But he’s a good kid. He doesn’t wanna get her in trouble. So he’s keeping his distance.”
The tears I was holding back have freed themselves from captivity and are now sliding down my cheeks. I wipe them away.
“I’m sorry I’m crying in front of you.” I cover my face with my hands. I feel Robbie sit down beside me.
“Jerzie. You’re not the first one of my actors to break down crying in a rehearsal. You won’t be the last.”
“I’m being sensible,” I explain. “I’m taking the road less traveled.”
“Remind me. Which road is that?”
“Where young love doesn’t ruin my life.”
“Ahh. That road.” Robbie’s quiet for a moment. “You know, when I was in high school, I was a terrible screwup. Ask my parents.”
I look over at him, wiping tears away. “No way. Not you.”
“Yep. It’s true. I was always listening to music. Terrible rap music. I was writing songs when I should’ve been learning calculus. Which, by the way, is very important. I was in rap battles with my friends on the street corners after school instead of studying. Also, I had such below-average grades that I didn’t get into any universities or win any scholarships and instead had to...” he pauses, places a hand over his heart “...go to a community college,” he whispers. “Where I...” He sighs. “Oh, God, Jerzie. This is bad. I studied music.”
I smirk. “Robbie. None of this is bad.”
“Oh, you haven’t talked to Mr. Ruiz. Also known as my father. He’ll tell you the truth. I was too busy ‘tinkering with music toys’ instead of being serious about my academics. I was wasting my life away. Doomed to fail.”
“What does he say now?”
“Now?” He leans back. “He says, ‘Roberto, my son. When are you going to get a real job and make your papa proud?’”
“That’s unbelievable.”
“In his defense, he says it from the deep blue metallic Model X I just bought him.”
I smile. “Well...” I’m staring down at the piano keys now. “My parents say they will take me out of this musical if I pull a Jewel and defy them. I can’t risk that. This means too much.”
“What you just showed me...” he taps the piano keys “...is that you know music. Like, you know it. And I’m guessing you didn’t learn it by listening to top forty on Spotify. I’m guessing you learned music by taking music theory and composition classes. I’m guessing your parents had something to do with that.”
“Piano since I was four. Theory every summer.”
“See, unlike my parents—God bless them in their fancy matching Teslas that their screwup of a son bought for them—your parents are all in. They want what you want.”
“So what are you suggesting?” I watch Robbie as he slips his baseball cap back over his mess of hair. “I can’t go against them.”
“No, no. God no. Don’t do that. Parents know it all. I’m suggesting this. There is the main road. The road less traveled. And then there is a secret third road that not too many people know about. I’ve been on it for decades.”
“There’s a secret road?” I perk up.
“Oh, yeah. You don’t even need a metro pass for it.”
I laugh. “I gotta know where this secret road is. Tell me.”
“That’s the thing. I can’t tell you. Because the secret road is a road you personally build. You are the architect, the construction crew. You do it all. And this road? Jerzie, it can be whatever you want it to be. Lead to wherever you wanna go. It can be twisty and turny or straight and narrow. It can travel over the ocean. It can soar high into the sky or delve into the depths of the ocean.”
I frown. “That sounds scary. Like a secret road that could lead to my ultimate doom.”
“That’s what you’re building? A road that leads to your ultimate doom?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Here’s the thing.” He turns to me now. “The main road? The one a lot of people choose? Booooring.”
I nod. “So boring.”
“The road less traveled? That road is a nightmare. It’s less traveled for good reason.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “There’s rattlesnakes on it.”
“And poisonous spiders and skunks and all sorts of random shit that’ll make you run for cover. Steer clear. But the third, secret road?” Robbie whistles. “That road is the ride of your life.”
The ride of my life? Am I ready for that?
“And, Jerzie?�
�
“Yeah?”
“I’m gonna use your new melody line. I love it. And since I plan to use it, I’m gonna give you writing credit for ‘I Defy.’”
I’m momentarily speechless.
“Are you okay with that, Jerzie?”
“You wrote the song. Not me.”
“It takes a lot of cooks in the kitchen to construct a song. You rewrote the melody line in less than a minute and I think it’s wonderful. You deserve credit. And would you look at that?” He crosses his arms under his chest. “Now your parents couldn’t take you out of this musical even if they tried. You’re in the Playbill regardless.”
I can only stare into his brown eyes, shaking my head in amazement. This cannot be happening.
“I’d say you just started laying the foundation for your new road. And if I were you, I’d keep that toolbox open. Keep building, Jerzie Jhames.”
I’m crying now. But these are happy tears. The happiest tears I’ve ever cried.
“And happy birthday, kiddo.”
“Here’s Drink. I Drink to Thee”
When Cinny’s driver pulls up to Gush, a dozen paparazzi with their cameras pointed at the car stand on the street screaming her name, and all I can hear is Zeppelin’s soft voice. The words he spoke to me at Aunt Karla’s house in the dead of night. It’s on repeat in my head. Scrolling and scrolling:
I bet it’ll be at some fancy place where a horde of paparazzi can take pictures to fuel the lie that you two are best friends. Cinny only does what benefits Cinny.
“Dang.” Judas gazes out the window. “All this for some damn avocado toast?”
I elbow him in the side. “Judas.”
He motions dramatically. “What?”
It’s not like Cinny heard him anyway. She’s been on the phone for the entire seven-minute car ride.
“Okay, Chance. I gotta go. We’re pulling up to Gush.”
Judas pokes me in the side. I look at him and he mouths, Chance the Rapper?!
I shrug.
Cinny stuffs her cell into her purse and, at last, acknowledges Judas and I are in the back of this SUV with her. “You guys ready?”
Roman and Jewel Page 19
