A Show Of Hidden Issues

"No... You Cannot go...?" A hitched male's voice echoed through the empty school's theater. 

"I'm sorry Christian, but I'm looking for somebody a bit braver. Somebody who faces his fears head-on, instead of running away." Annie spoke up as a response to the off-tone opening line. 

Her controlled breathing and strong voice carried through the open space towards the empty seats behind Wyatt who was reading from the script without looking at her or at the imagined faces and their eyes that could have been in the audience if this would have been a real performance.

Preparing was essential even if it still seemed like there was still a month left. A time where the young unknown actors from the drama club could show their faces and get their names out there even if only a small crowd would gather, there they still would be able to show themselves and be recognized and finally getting out of a situation where they only got low budget funds from the school. From which they barely could create any setting for the stage which the brunette adored none the less and always worked overtime to try and check everything to perfection.

Even if that was, impossible.

This time there was doubt it was any different, she had become Marie: a nobleman's daughter who kept refusing any proposal that was thrown at her as all men didn't seem to be good enough for her. Even in a simple practice section, she followed her lines perfectly with no short cuts, not even looking at her script which she still had in her hand remembering not only her own but as well her partner's lines who stood spacing out into the abyss in the dark corner of the stage with his back turned to the empty seats of the said audience whom he was supposed to entertain. 

"But, I am, The...no wait..." He quickly glanced over the lines. 

"I am such, person! Who else would fit that !?" The raven-haired male winced with a hitched voice at Annie knowing he messed up again and she only swiftly turned around on her heels.

She was even acting out the scene as Marie: turning away but then slowly tracing her gaze back with a light step back locking eyes with the useless Baron's third son who was trying to court her again. That was too explained in the script with tiny handwriting to make it clearer for Wyatt who recently was dragged into the play just because he fit the male lead's clothing at whom her serious expression began to dull into a stern one. The passion in her warm honey-brown eyes fading as she closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose exhaling with frustration in her breath which resembled all the people who were on the verge of giving up. 

"It's I am such a person which you need, who else would fit that if not me...?" The correction followed with a lilac tone, that was as clear as a sky on a warm summer's day as well soundly for even the empty back seats to hear. Truly better than whatever the male had just acted out while half reading the script standing in front of her like a stick stuck in the mud.

"Come on Wyatt...” She whined. "This is supposed to be the easiest part for you here," Annie added while hitting the script she held with the back of her hand showing to the hurriedly piled papers which seemed to be around forty pages.  

"I'm trying. Not my fault I can't act! I don't even want to be here, to be honest." Wyatt huffed out through clenched teeth, ruffling his messy hair out of frustration for repeating the same lines over and over again and never getting them right because he always added his own made-up sentences that had nothing to do with the script.

He just couldn't focus lately.

No matter if there were people around or if there were just the two of them on stage or if he was just spacing out in class through the window into the parking lot.

"But did I really have to dress up in this stupid puffy-sleeved, skin biting outfit which was made from cheap fabric for this?" The male's complaining just seemed to continue in rows while trying to ignore the fact he barely knew the lines and tugged at the costume that was finished not too long ago. 

"I thought it would help you image the role." 

"You just wanted to laugh at me!" 

"That too."

Annie didn't seem to hide her slowly creeping smile which she grinned at Wyatt who was still looking like his mother had put him in the most ridiculous outfit for Halloween and kicked him out of the house to go tricker treating with his friends instead of an actual costume for a play. Thought the male wasn't the kind of person that really considered the matter and just spoke his thoughts of complaint with no filters on at which the curly-haired brunette could only sight at "Dude... just, concentrate." Her hands extended showing at him and dropping not even sure how else to try and get his attention, as the male seemed more out of it than in most days. Looking at his phone for the last half an hour like time had stopped for him and his eyes never seemed to land on her. 

He was checking old texts which he exchanged with his brother before. A week ago or so.

"I'm just checking the time." He lied.

"And there's a hat I could add." Annie's voice followed soon after as she arched one of her sleek brows and crossed her hands in front of her chest at Wyatt who could only scurry to shove the phone back into his back pocket to just not get into more trouble with his friend who was known for taking her time with the bittersweet revenge more so on her friends. Leaving her on hold with her lips pursed at him. They were slightly rosy covered in plump colored lipstick, one of Annie's favorite from the many choices one could find in the endless isles in a makeup store. She too like all the girls in school, carried a light mask of makeup on her face but at least unlike the rest of the flamingo family ducks, she took a more natural look which didn't seem to hide her features too much still leaving her star scattered freckles for others to see. 

His phone buzzed again. 

Wyatt jumped right after it, hitting the sound buttons frantically wanting to turn it off as the countless notifications kept disturbing their practice while giving a quick glance at the message icon and only then turned his eyes at the brunette.

"I'm turning it off, I'm turning it off." He repeated himself with a slightly nervous chuckle in response to Annie's sharp dagger stabbing gaze which seemed to work on him every time.

Wyatt wanted to hurry up and finish up with their practice, It was obvious. Even more so when his friend took threatened yo take out the rest of that mentioned costume of his that had more to it than just the silly vest and slightly long pants that needed a bit of fixing since the costume didn't fit completely to his proportions. It wasn't his, to begin with, it had been made for Jayden, the real male lead for the school's play. And that seemed to put more pressure on Wyatt since now he was in the known perfect theater kid's shoes that everyone surprisingly admired and he was the one replacing the guy he never even got along with in the first place. It almost seemed like he was helping the guy, helping his said enemy who never even paid attention to those who just helped out behind the stage. That always seemed to prick at his nerves more.

"Really though why Jayden had quit in the first place? I can't do this! My nervousness is kicking in when there is no one here I can't say anything properly. Imagine there's gonna be People!"

The male wasn't the worst in the drama club but he wasn't the best at acting either, he was just the guy that helped with the stage's setting for the play, most likely to be seen somewhere comfortably sitting in a corner than the stage's spotlight. 

"Good time to face your fears." Annie grinned at him while putting her fists up enjoying the other's despair a bit too much.

"I will, I swear I will take you to a snake petting zoo and leave you there saying you are facing your fears too." 

"Good thing those don't exist..." She rolled her eyes at him not believing the other could sink to her level. 

It was rather silent now.

She slowly traced her eyes up at the dark ceiling with only a couple of lights on, they were dim but enough for the two of them. She blinked rethinking their conversation finally catching on the other's plan. They promised to practice for an hour after the club activities ended thought instead of it, they were more talking about everything else while ignoring the main thing they needed to focus on. While even going as far as to talk about snakes which were never the most comfortable topic for Annie even if it was just joking around with one of her closest friends.

Everyone had something they couldn't talk about to their closest friends or even family members. Wyatt had those secrets too, hiding them behind a curtain of a simple stage fright when there was a whole closet full of junk just thrown into a pile behind its closed doors for no one to see the mess. Even so, they always seemed to find topics that helped ignore those problems pretend they didn't exist just like the time they silently supported each other when his older brother left home with no warning. Everyone had troubles after all just some were more shown while the other more hidden.

"And I know plenty of people who have snakes even if there is no snake petting zoo." Wyatt continued.

"An yet I don't see you going to ask them to hang out in a "we are just friends" manner for the yearly school's dance, not beg me to go with you..." 

"What!... I did not beg! I just... "

Wyatt lost another argument against her. 

"Okay, maybe you kinda didn't... But you kinda also did..." Annie remembered it well, they were just at the cafeteria when a blondie had walked up to them and deadpanned the question like she was picking up the last of the pickings and there was no one else to go with. She remembered that the girl wanted anyone from the drama club an awful person the brunette wouldn't even want to talk to. So, in the end, Wyatt just said he was going with her instead while giving her the look begging to be saved, of course, she agreed like she had anything better to do than help her friend out to get rid of some girl. Even if she had a feeling that wasn't the full truth behind his anxious way of tiptoeing as if he wanted to run away.

And he was doing it again.  

His hazel eyes, turning from one door to the other, hand in his pocket as if he still wanted to reach out and look for the messages that weren't there. The usual pacing from one foot to the other always came back as a habit when someone was taking up his time while he just wanted to be somewhere else. 

"Want to talk about it?" She asked knowing her friend too well to ignore this matter, that's how she always began even if she already knew the answer to it.

"No..." He never spoke about it with her. She knew the closest one to him was his older brother. But now he could barely reach him, their meetings rare and barely planed. More surprise visits than anything and Wyatt no longer could talk his troubles out with him. Texts were not the same after all.

He had done that far too often. Just looking through their old messages, maybe his brother already spoke of visiting. It was a possibility why Wyatt kept acting like he did: at lunch, he would barely focused on eating and just looked at the clock, in classes he more wandered with his gaze to the courtyard or looked at his phone as if he was expecting a particular message silently gulping down all the words he could have shared with his friends than the brother he couldn't meet that often anymore.

It disturbed his life, more than he realized but that too was pushed under the rug as nothing, another subject they did not talk about like countless others.

"I guess we could finish early today," Annie mumbled under her nose with an exhale letting the matter of their practice go seeing it wasn't going anywhere either way and glanced over to her watch. It was already rather late. 

Wyatt couldn't help but blink, dumbfounded that the other agreed to this so quickly. "Jayden quit the club because of his failing grades, right?" He asked out of the blue while Annie knit her brows at the other's randomness. 

"What...? What's that about everyone knows that it wasn't clear why he quit, might have been an injury he never talked about." 

"He was injured?!" Wyatt couldn't stop himself from asking, he didn't even know he cared so much "I don't know... Maybe. There's a lot of rumors going around." Her voice pitched as she lifted her hands not sure what else to say anymore and turned around to grab her backpack and the bag the costume was in. "Why the sudden question anyways?" 

"Donno, just felt like I needed to check if you were really Annie." He kicked the dust. 

"Wyatt... Aliens don't exist and they wouldn't be replacing people either..." He and his theories always got on her nerves yet as well always made the brunette laugh. They were stupid, but also rather enjoyable how Wyatt just seemed to be immersed in something so ridiculous as supernatural beings. 

'That is what an alien would say!" 

"I see you still want the hat!" She shot right back while taking it out. 

The threat though didn't seem to work and only ended with their sudden pit of laughter echoing through the empty stage. "And besides he quit after getting together with that, ugh... What was her name again?" She pressed her fingers to her temple trying to recall the girl's face in the process.

"Tessie, her name is Tessie. And she's probably isn't awful enough for you to not remember her name." He grumbled out.

"Then why do you remember her name?" Annie smirked at him for an attempt to tease him into telling her more of this matter they never talked about but once again for nothing. It was a mother one of those matters they never got too into depth in which heavily weighed their heads down rounding it back with the unknown feeling of fear.

The dim light from the phone illuminated Wyatt's face. He was looking over the old messages again with an etched expression.

They all were rather short.

Just rows of the same sentence which screamed that the teen was desperate to talk to his older brother. Asking when he would come back or when he could visit, when would he be able to just hang out with him again.

Talk to him like before.

Annie could see he was desperate for that closeness which he was missing. None of them talked about it.

But she knew he really missed him. Still waiting every day and minute for his older brother to finally show up after he had written the simple answer of,

"Soon".