I Just Wanted Him To Be Quiet.

“Five! Six! Seven! Eight!” The director yelled to the girls that were dancing in time with each other. “Stop! Stop!... Stop! You’re off the beat.” he yells, waving his hands, and points to me. “For the last time Cindy! You are offbeat by just a hair! It’s very noticeable!!”

“Sir, with all due respect I am in the back..people are only focused on the actors and the front dancers. There never focused on the background. I don think me begin three seconds behind or barely behind will make a difference overall.” I say.

The director death glares at me. “It makes all the difference..everything will run smoother.”

“Mr. I’m behind Cindy, She is very in sync with Lindsey who is in front of her. From my perspective, she is doing expectational.” Pipes in Sabrina.

“Well from my perspective she is off, Sabrina. Now one more run-through of the song and you all will be able to go back to your hotel rooms.” He says. He begins to clap and yells numbers once more. He never does stop complaining.

Once we were done with that we all left the stage and got water. Others began to leave the auditorium and exit the building. Sabrina caught up to me. The lights that were on made her sweat sheen on her brown-skinned face. Her curly hair was in a bun and her brown eyes stared intently at me. She had full lips and a round nose with a sharp jawline. She was skinny but had a strong build. She was really pretty. 

“You know the director can be a huge dick you know. I can tell you weren’t off sync..he is just begin a bitch.” She says.

“Ah well, I wish he would stop. How many times have we performed this show? So many and he is now worried to begin in sync. I mean why he is so focus on the back-up dancers all of a sudden? He was so worried about the actors. Why the intense focus on us? I mean we’re in the back! Who cares!.” I say.

“Well, I think he is just stressed,” Sabrina replies.

“About what? This is like the 50th time we’ve performed. God knows how the number of rehearsals we’ve had. We know this show like the back of our hands!”

‘Well many things can cause stress.”

“Still not a valid reason to be a dick!” I say.

“True.” We begin to walk out of the building. We walked to the hotel that was about a block from the theater. 

“So what will you be doing?” Sabrina asked me.

“Oh, I think that I’m going to my room, take a shower, watch the tv and eat.”

“That sounds nice.”

“Ah well after the day...I just want to have some peace and quiet. Have some relaxing downtime.”

“Sounds lovely”

We walk into the hotel lobby and head for the elevator door. We walk onto the floor where we were staying and head our separate ways. As a Christmas gift, the director got us each a hotel room and we didn’t have to share which was like the one nice thing he did I guess. I walk in and go straight to my bathroom. I strip and take a shower. It was a nice stress reliever. I get out, put on a robe, plopped into my bed, and promptly turned on the TV.  

In about an episode of a reality TV show, I hear a knock on the door. I forgot to put the “Do not disturb” sign on the door. I begrudgingly got up. I see Sabrina at the door. She looked nervous.

“Hey?”I say.

“Um Hey.” She says. 

“What do you need?” I ask softly.

“Oh, I’m not in danger or anything. I was just wondering if you would like to go on a date?”

“A Date?” I asked in belweirdment.

“Ya like a Date. I’ve liked you for a long time and My gaydar went off when I saw you. I could be wrong and I’m sorry about that. I’ve heard of a nice diner down the block? If you want we could go tomorrow.” She says. She looks away and fiddles with her hair.

Now I never really considered dating a girl but I was down with the idea of dating Sabrina. I was attracted to her too.

“Yes, I would love to,” I say with a smile. 

Her face lights and she smiles. “Really?” she says.

“Yes, really,” I say

“Great It’s a date. I’ll see you tomorrow and an hour after rehearsal and we can walk down to dinner.” She says.

“It’s a date!” I say and wink at her.

She smiles “Ill see you tomorrow.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” And I kiss her on the cheek. 

Sabrina blushes and walked away. I smile to myself and plopped right back into my bed. After the next few hours, I finally fall asleep. 

I wake up dreading rehearsal. I was not ready for the dick’s torment today. I promptly got up and got ready. I walk out my door and run into Sabrina who is also walking out her door. 

“Hey,” She says.

“Hello”. We don’t talk much after that. We continue to our walk down to the theater to another horrible rehearsal. We walk into the auditorium. I can hear the director yelling at a few tech people. Something about lights, not my department so I didn’t care. 

“Yikes” Sabrina whispers. All I think is he yells too much.

When all the dancers entered the stage we began our wonderful rehearsal. The director of course yelled at me and a few others. By the end of it, I did want to strangle him. I got through it, I wanted to go on that date with Sabrina. It finally ended and Sabrina and I began to walk to the hotel. We got on the elevator and left it.

“I’ll see you soon,” I say to Sabrina. She smiles back. We both go to our hotel rooms. I enter mine and go straight to the bathroom. I take a shower, blow dry my hair, do my eyebrows, and put on some concealer. I put on a put on a yellow dress with flower designs on it. I heard a knock on my door. 

I walk to the door. “Sabrina you’re a bit early,” I say as I open the door. I see the director at the door. My smile automatically drops.

“Not excited to see me, princess?” He asked me.

“I just thought you were-”

“Sabrina.” He interrupts. “Can I come in? There are a few things that I would like to talk about you with. May I come in?” he asked.

“Sure-” and he walks in.

“Now I hear you’re going on a date with Sabrina.” He says.

“Yes, I am. You have a problem with that?’ I asked.

“You know that this behavior is not accepted in this show.”

“What dating? Last time I checked any show allows this.”

“No, this type is not”

“What? Is it that two girls are dating and not a man and a woman? Is that what you mean.” I reply. I really do hope he stops talking here soon.

“Yes, I hope you can see why I won’t allow this.”

“No, No I don’t, dick. You can’t control my love life and quite frankly I don’t care what you have to say.” I feel rage fill in with me.

“My name is not Dick-”

“ I honestly don’t care. It’s your new name. I hope it makes yours feel bigger.”

“This behavior will not be tolerated, first you go around and practice this unholy type of love and now you insult me!”

“Oh you and your fragile masculinity can go fall off a cliff and I would not care.” I see the anger flash in his eyes.

“I can and will fire you, Cindy.”

“Alright. Then do it. I won’t miss working for you.”

“You think any show will hire you? You are a terrible dancer...There is a reason why you’re in the back.”

“Well someone has to be there. I don’t mind it. Also, I must be somewhat of a good dancer. Why would I get hired if I wasn’t” I say

“You are a smartass.” He says bitterly.

“Indeed I am. Now if you came here to make fun of me and fire me, which you promptly have and now you have completed, leave.” I say with a gritted smile and point to the door wishing for him to stop talking.

“No, I don’t think I will. I’m not done.” 

“Oh, I think you are.”

“No, I’m not.” He slaps me. “Now what do we learn.”

I look at him, straight into his soul. “That you hit like a bitch.” I see nothing but red and hit in the temple with my elbow. He goes flying and hits his head on the corner of the dresser. He hits the floor and I see blood pool around him. I just stare at him. I don’t feel bad that I killed him...He deserved it I swear...he just needed to stop talking.

 I heard the door open. I see Sabrina standing there.

“Sabrina! Sabrina I can explain! He wouldn’t shut up! He wouldn't stop talking! I just wanted him to be quiet and he hit me and I lost control!”

Sabrina doesn’t say anything for a minute. “So we burning or burying?”