We were leaving the small studio, one of those cheap $10/hr places, at the end of a hallway that looked as if it would be cast as a hospital in a horror movie. Yellowed walls, soul-sucking lights, black scars running along it from furniture having been moved from somewhere to somewhere else.
I gave an extra jiggle of the door knob to make sure I had locked it, turned, and Jerrod was looking at me. Looking at me in
that
way.
"Are you sure there's nothing else I can do for you?" he said, and moved in with tilted head and eyes closing, for a kiss.
I instinctively held my hand out to his chest and stopped his advance, his face inches from mine. He opened his eyes and looked at me with a little surprise and embarrassment: had he just expected this to happen? Actually, wait. Hold on. Back up: what was
this
? Our rehearsal went fine, I wasn't throwing off any vibes outside of the usual nervousness of being in a rented studio space, since the last time I had worked a dance piece with nudity some presumptuous woman just swept into the space with three students
fifteen minutes
before our time was up (more correctly, fifteen minutes before theirs began). Chaos, stammered apologies, several extra stolen glances upon retreating at the dancers, who were more than happy to confront their stupidity by standing casually, panting and red, dicks and balls and tits and asses sweating. I now make sure to lock the door when renting a space, and then the PTSD hits and I check to make sure I've locked it about 23 more times before the end of rehearsal.
But Jerrod: he was shooting his shot here, and I needed shake off my shock and make a choice. Quickly. And I needed to, perhaps, make it look like I wasn't trying to get up to speed and match his energy. Play it cool. Jerrod was impetuous, like all 20-somethings, a little more flirtatious, sure, which makes someone like me (who is always concerned with any performance group at large) nervous that he'll bring the whole thing crashing into drama due to some unfiltered, offensive comment. So maybe I should have seen this coming. Maybe? I hadn't given any signs (that I knew of), I hadn't engaged in any of his lures via the texts we've shared to coordinate rehearsals (seems as though he called
everyone
"daddy," while would I take it any differently than "dude" or "buddy?").
But it was hard not to admire Jerrod's body, in the architecturally-soundness of youth; the piece we were committing to meant I was spending three days a week watching his every muscle and sinew work through its motions, and he was adept, confident, and more importantly, didn't shy away from the work. And while I shrugged at his suggestion he start rehearsing nude at the outset (nudity in the arts is just a shruggable thing after a time), and yes, my brain's initial reaction was
lock the door
.
Check the door. Recheck the door,
I couldn't help but look forward to time alone with Jerrod and marveling at his shapes, his sizes, and his strength writ large against this piece.
Maybe he was just feeling randy. Maybe he was just playing around. Either way, an opportunity with a remarkably fit young man presented itself, I was free from any other romantic encumbrances, and I was not above indulging dancers in heat. There were no other cast members to gossip with, and once this production was over with I was going to take some time off out of town...all the things were in the right position.
Of course, I
was
nervous for being in this public hallway. I would like to profess the same happy-go-lucky nonchalance that most people seem to have in relating these sorts of stories, but no. I'm not one for public shows, and it being 9 PM didn't mean anything to a city where someone always seemed to be ready to pop around the corner.
And no, I'm not going to bring this 20-something back to my place. I'm experienced enough to know that inviting potential drama into your home is like inviting bedbugs.
I tried to give myself some time to think of what to do here, my hand still on his chest. I looked him right in the eye and smiled, in order to not let him down, to not convey a distinct
no
. But I had to slip into some character, somehow, and quickly. "What are you doing?" I said.
His confidence shaken, words stumbled out of his mouth like drunk sailors on leave. He finally steadied a few: "I just...you know. A goodnight kiss."
"A kiss? What are we? Boyfriends?"