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Fiction Gay Romance

“What a beautiful theater,” said James, staring down at the dark stage. “Yes”, said Taylor. Earlier, James was walking around in awe of the ornate fixtures, hand-stenciled walls, marble floors, and intricate plaster moldings of the grand theater lobby. Although Taylor normally loved talking about décor and architecture, he was preoccupied with his thoughts. Previously in the day, during lunch, Taylor talked to his friend Cecily, at work, and told him he was unhappy in his relationship with James. Taylor was not as attracted to him as he once was. Or maybe he was just caught up in being in a relationship and now that the newness had worn off, he found he was no longer attracted. Cecily listened to Taylor but declined to give advice other than telling him that he needs to let James know how he feels. “No reason to drag it out and end up hurting each other even more”, she said.

Taylor rehearsed what he was going to say on the drive home. He decided to use the old “it’s not you, it’s me” to ease James into feeling that it was not his fault, but rather the fault of Taylor. Halfway through his hour-long commute, he turned on the radio and the song Escape by Rupert Holmes came on. Taylor always hated that song. It’s the story of a couple who are experiencing some trouble in their marriage and going through their own personal crises. The man takes out a personal ad in the newspaper and goes on to talk about pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and preferring champagne over health food and tells whoever shares the same interests to meet him at a bar called O’Malley’s to plan an escape. As he is sitting in the bar, the door opens and in walks his lady and all is good. Taylor always thought it was a cheesy song about cheating and he hated it. James, on the other hand, would always point out that even though the couple had a troubled marriage and were going through their own personal crises, they were truly in love. Taylor is always the practical thinker and James always has his head in the clouds. 

Taylor turns into the subdivision, goes down a couple of streets, makes a couple of turns, and then he is sitting in his driveway. He sits there for a long time. The longer he sits there, the longer it is before he must tell James that he wants to break up and move on. The house is dark. Maybe James isn’t home. He always parks the car in the garage, so Taylor presses the garage door opener and he sees the Supersonic Red Prius parked on the right side.  Ugh! James is home. He can no longer put off talking to him. Taylor pulls in next to James’ car and steps out of his own black Acura and makes his way to the door leading into the kitchen. As Taylor steps in, James is right there, all dressed up. He gives Taylor a big hug and says “Happy Anniversary”! In his hands is an envelope which he shoves into Taylor’s hands. “It was a year ago that we met at the club down on Main Street and I just wanted you to know how happy I am and how much I love you! I got us tickets to see Hamilton tonight to celebrate! Isn’t it just fantastic?” Taylor doesn’t know what to say. He is stunned. James nudges him and tells him to hurry up and go change so they can get to the theater a little early. James is numb at this point and dutifully walks upstairs to change clothes. He washes his face, pats on some aftershave, applies deodorant, and changes into a white button-down dress shirt, black slacks, and a grey tie. He knows James will give him a hard time about not wearing any color and will insist upon him going back upstairs to put on a red tie, so he goes ahead and changes to a bright blue tie and heads downstairs. “Are you almost ready, Taylor? We are going to be late!” Just then Taylor appears back in the kitchen where James is waiting by the door. James heads straight for the red Prius. They always take James’ car when they go out together because James prefers to drive and loves his hip little car and hates Taylor’s dull black unexciting automobile. The drive to the theater is uneventful. James talked the whole way. He talked about the hairdresser who works at the station next to his at the salon. He talked about how the lettuce was wilted on the salad he had for lunch. He talked about how rude the UPS driver was. He talked about a dozen other things, but never once asked Taylor how his day went. Taylor was okay with that. He didn’t’ feel like talking. He was caught up in figuring out how to tell James that it was over and now James had gone and ruined his plans to break up. 

Once inside, playbills in hand, and seated, James starts chattering about how beautiful the curtain is, how large the stage is, and goes on and on and on about the décor. “Isn’t it just beautiful?” “James, can you please be quiet for just a few minutes and just enjoy the beauty and not babble on and on?” James quiets down and sulks a little, but then the bell goes off to let the audience know the show is about to begin, and he straightens up, his eyes twinkling, his smile broad. He is overly excited. While Taylor has wanted to see the show for a long time, he just isn’t in the right frame of mind tonight and wishes that he were somewhere else and that he could someday enjoy the show without James being present. 

Taylor does find himself enjoying the show. He finds himself getting into the songs which are drawn from hip hop, R&B, pop, soul, and traditional-style show tunes. He is finally relaxing and letting himself enjoy the performance when suddenly the lights go out. The theater turns dark. A minute passes by and people are whispering. Two minutes pass by and people are starting to talk a little louder. Backup lights turn on and the theater is dimly lit. A man appears on the stage to say that there is a power outage and that the show will resume once the power is restored. The man then steps off the stage. People start talking and moving around. Some head out to the lobby to visit the restrooms and bar and stretch their legs. 

Taylor finally decides the time has come to talk to James. “James, I have something I would like to talk about”. James looks at Taylor, tilts his head slightly, and asks, “What is it, Taylor? Is everything okay?” Taylor doesn’t say anything. “Taylor, you are scaring me! Say something!”. Taylor is at a loss for words and at the same time he is afraid of hurting James, but he must do it now. He must tell James that it is over! He must find the words and tell him how he feels. He must tell him that he is unhappy. He must tell him that he does not think they are a good match. He must tell him! So…Taylor takes James' left hand and then his right hand. He takes them both into his own hands, looks James in the eye, and says, “Will you marry me, James?” Oh my god! He can’t believe those words just came out of his mouth. That is now what he meant to say! That is definitely not what he meant to say! How did this happen? He can’t take it back now and then tell him that he wants to break up! James is ecstatic! He is beaming as he says, “Yes, I will marry you!! Yes! Yes!” Everyone around them starts clapping and saying congratulations. People are patting them both on the back and shaking their hands. James is over-the-moon. Taylor is quiet. He has no way out. He sits back down quietly, and James sits down next to him, grabs Taylor’s hand to hold, and squeezes it tightly, staring at James with the biggest smile on his face and he says “You have made me so happy! I love you Taylor!” Taylor responds back and says “I love you too, James.” 

May 27, 2022 00:16

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