"Hey Jaime, Julia, wait up!" Lauren called as she jogged out of the Walgreen Drama Center and into the parking lot to catch up with her friends. Everyone was slowly making their way back to their apartments and dorms after the closing of the final showing of "Harry Potter the Musical."
Jaime and Julia paused as Lauren caught up. Jaime laughed as Julia mocked little Lauren's fluster to reach them. "Hurry up, short stuff, we thought you already left. We've got a lot to do and basically no time to do it."
Lauren nudged Julia playfully when she finally caught them. "Sorry, Joe and Dylan were taking turns putting the Draco wig on earlier and I remembered last minute that we never put it back in the box, so I had to run backstage after closing meeting and do that."
Julia responded jokingly, "Ha, you and your boys, always messing around. You've got those two on a string and are just yo-yoing them up and down!"
"Am not!" Lauren exclaimed, pretending to be offended. "They just are immature and think it's funny to mess with me."
Jaime joined in "Well, we will see tonight if anything interesting happens!" All three girls giggled and got back down to business.
"Right, tonight! What's the plan now till then?" Lauren asked excitedly.
Julia looked down at her watch. "It's almost 10 now, and Darren and the Langs said to meet at their apartment around 11, so we should get there say, 11:15? That gives us almost an hour and a half back at my place to get put our things down, finish getting the stage makeup off, and change into our party attire before heading over."
"Perfect" Jaime agreed. "We gotta look extra awesome tonight, ladies," Lauren began "it's the cast party for the closing of our final play here at U of M. The last cast party with us girls and those guys. The end of an era, if you will. It's actually… pretty sad. I'm gonna miss this. Miss us, you know?"
The mood suddenly became solemn, but Julia got them back in line "C'mon, Laur, that's just all the more reason to go out with a bang. This may have been the last play with our friends, but that doesn't mean we will stop being friends. And I mean, you never know. Maybe some day we will all come together again. We could do a sequel to the Potter show or something. Ha, that'd be great. Then we could actually incorporate, like, Umbridge and stuff. What I mean is, don't look at this as the end. Graduation and all of this… it's what is preparing us for our future. It's making us who we are. And in my opinion, us and all our friends… we are fuckin' amazing!"
They all laughed and took in Julia's inspirational yet perspective-setting speech. "Geez, Juls, you outta write books or something. At least add that shit to your blog!" Lauren said playfully as they arrived at Julia's apartment building. Julia unlocked the door and held it open as her friends made their way in. "You know me, Oprah is my queen and Dr. Phil is my king. Inspirational people rock my world."
They finally arrived in Julia's apartment. Jaime and Lauren pulled their outfit options out of their bags and made themselves comfortable on Julia's bed as she brought out her potential outfit pieces for the evening. They ran through and swapped clothes until each girl had her outfit confirmed. After Jaime helped Lauren make her decision on a cute pair of heels to borrow from Julia, the girls began their transformations from a 'post-show-leftover-makeup-drabby-sweats' look to a 'classy-and-gorgeous-but-not-overly-done' party look. As they applied makeup and did each other's hair they gossiped and came up with scenarios for possible turns the evening might take. Overall they came to agree on one thing: no matter what, this night had to be one for the books.
—
Darren was running around his apartment in nothing but boxers and an unbuttoned shirt, switching back and forth between getting things set up and getting himself ready. After leaving the theater late, it was already 10:50 and he had loads to do. The Lang brothers were setting up a beer pong table in the living room and Jim Povolo was on his computer working on a party playlist for the evening, occasionally calling out song titles for approval from anyone listening.
Matt called out to Darren "When's Walker getting here? He has the rest of the tequila!" Darren responded in a rush as he scrambled from the kitchen to his bedroom while trying to button up his shirt. "Not sure, him and Joey should be next-door though. Joey went straight to Walker's place after closing meeting to help sort out drinks. They said they'd be here at 10:30 but that didn't happen. Fuck, we should charge them a tardiness fee for screwing with our plans!"
The door burst open as Joe Walker and Joey Richter each carried in a couple bags of drinks. "That won't be necessary, gentlemen, we have arrived." Walker called out for all to hear. "But good suggestion, Darren, you keep on thinking." Joey added sarcastically.
"Sweet, you're here. Now you can get all the chips and dips out after you unload the drinks." Darren authoritatively called out from his room. "Aye, aye, cap'n!" Walker eagerly proclaimed as he and Joey shuffled around the kitchen. "And get the stick out of your ass, man, tonight is gonna be fun!"
"Dude, I know, today's been great and I know tonight will be even better, I just am freakin out all over the place. I'm sure I'll calm down when guests arrive. Pre-party jitters I guess." Darren burst from his room and slid across the floor to go rearrange some furniture in the living room so that there was more room for moving around and party games.
"Who all will be here?" Jim asked calmly from his seat on the couch. Nick walked over to the kitchen counter and picked up the list of people he had marked down as no shows. "Only Brosenthal, Rich, and Bonnie can't make it tonight. They are headed out of town for some competition tomorrow with the Speech Team and had to drive down to Chicago straight after the show so they'd make it. So that leaves us with the rest of the cast… you, me, Matt, Walker, Moses, Joey, Darren, Dylan, Tyler, Brian Holden, and A.J. are coming from the boys. The ladies: Lauren, Jaime, Julia, Devin, Britney, and Lily."
"Sounds like a party." Joey chimed in. "Yes it does." Walker responded with a smile.
—
The cast party was meant to be a low-key hangout, not the typical rager of a party they sometimes went to with every room packed full of people they didn't know. This was just a final celebration with the close cast for all the work they had put into the show: a little drinking, lots of music, and some games. The cast parties this group typically threw always were fun and pretty drama filled. Not bad or annoying drama, just the kind where people take action of feelings that had built up over the course of the play's production. Each cast member was anticipating the party to live up to its expectation, and it did.
At 11:03 the next guests arrived. It was Dylan and Joe Moses. They brought some delicious party favors and Matt helped them move these snacks into the kitchen.
"Nice! You brought puppy chow! I didn't know you two baked!" Walker said jokingly when he saw Dylan and Moses make their way in.
Dylan laughed. "Yeah dude, this stuff is delicious too. It's left over from the bake sale stuff we sold at the show to raise money."
"Moses, can you help me set these lights up?" Darren called from the living room. He was attempting to set up the special party lights they had stored in the back closet of the apartment; they only got these babies out for special occasions. But they really weren't too fancy- just mood lighting for the party.
"Dude, are you gonna put on pants?" Moses questioned as he headed over to help Darren while the rest of the guys finished getting food set up. "Yeah man, when the time comes." Darren responded absentmindedly as he attempted to untangle some wires.
"You guys really got a booming party going here." Dylan joked. Everyone looked over at Joey and Walker who were messing around and romantically slow dancing in the makeshift dance floor. "Funny… they'll be here. Leave it to the ladies, Tyler, Brian, and A.J. to show up late." Nick answered back.
As if on cue the doorbell rang. Nick ran over to the door and looked through the peek hole. "It's Lauren, Jaime, and Julia," he announced before beginning to open the door.
"Oh shit!" Darren mumbled as he bolted back into his room to finish getting ready before they saw him. Cast parties normally had a fancier dress code- not a full on suit and tie, but the men wore button-ups with a necktie and nice pants while the ladies wore dresses or skirts. They liked dressing up formally as a sophisticated hats-off to each other for a job well done. It made them feel grown up, and of course it was just a tradition.
Julia, Jaime, and Lauren walked in right as Darren's bedroom door slammed shut. "What's up with him?" Jaime questioned. Walker took their coats as he answered her question "Oh, you know Darren. He's not pretty enough yet and is hiding in his room until he's hot enough for you ladies." They laughed and made their way into the living room. By now the lights were dimmed, drinks were being poured, and the music was blaring through Jim's sound system.
Soon after Tyler, Britney, and Devin came in together, closely followed by A.J. and Brian. Everyone was conversing back and forth in the living room/kitchen area. The apartment was pretty open, so it was really like one big party room instead of broken off groups.
Matt's phone rang and he looked down to see it was a call from Lily. At this point it was 11:23 so he figured she was calling to tell them not to worry and that she'd be there soon.
"Hey Lil, you close?" Matt answered the phone. "Yeah, hey Matt, I'm like 5 minutes away. But you know how Meredith came to the show tonight? Well we got to talking afterwards and decided to go grab some coffee, so that's where I've been. Since Meredith is in the theater department and has been in, like, all our other productions I was wondering if she could pretty pllleeeaaasse come to the cast party? I know she's not technically in the show, but she did help out a lot and is all of our close friend, and-"
"Lily! Shush! Of course Meredith can come! No need to explain yourself, I was going to ask her if she'd come by anyway but I didn't happen to run into her after the show. Looking forward to you two getting here!"
He smiled when he heard Lily laugh on the other side. "Thanks, Matt. Just wanted to check before we showed up. Can't wait to see you!"
Matt hung up the phone and looked over at Brian, who was standing over at the kitchen counter. "You're in luck, Holden. Turns out Lily got ahold of Meredith after the show after all, so Meredith is gonna make it tonight. I know you were concerned when we couldn't find her after the show."
Brian started to blush a bit since Julia and Devin were across the counter giving him suspicious looks. Embarrassed and sarcastically Brian responded, "Thanks, Matt. Thanks tons for pointing out my concern in front of these two," Brian nodded toward Devin and Julia, "You're a real pal, you know that, Matt?"
Matt gave Brian a thumbs up and a wink "No, problem, bud! Maybe they can help hook you up!" Matt turned around and got back to the rest of the party, leaving Julia and Devin swarming Brian with questions about his feelings for Meredith.
It'd been about 15 minutes since Darren disappeared into his room, and Lauren noticed. She snuck down the hall and put her ear against the door as she lightly tapped the wooden panel. She could hear Darren's own music softly humming through his room despite the loud party mix blaring throughout the rest of the apartment.
After what sounded like Darren fumbling around with some drawers before coming to the door, the handle turned and Darren peaked an eye through the tiny crack he made in the doorway.
"Hey, sorry, I just wanted to check and make sure you're alright in there. The party is in full swing, and we want to get started on some games, so I thought I'd come see if you'd be ready soon."
Darren, who was still hiding behind the door, moved back and opened it enough for Lauren to just barely slip through. "Yeah, but I need your help."
Once Lauren had both feet through the door Darren immediately shut the door behind her. "Man, impatient much?" Lauren joked as she turned and saw Darren's exterior. She broke down into laughter and he sprang at her and pinned her down on the bed.
"It's not funny, Laur!" he yelled, although he too was finding it hard to contain his laughter. She tried to push him away, but was laughing so hard she didn't have the energy.
"I'm not letting you go until you agree to take me seriously." Darren said as he waited patiently on top of Lauren, holding her arms against the bed until her laughter faded into a small giggle.
"Okay, okay! Promise! Now let me go, you're crushing me, Dare!" Darren smiled as he rolled over and sat on his bed as Lauren straightened out her clothes and ran her hand through her hair.
Once Lauren had herself together she stood up directly in front of Darren, looking him up and down. She never understood how even without sleep, after a busy week of play production, and knowing that Darren did, like, nothing to his hair or skin… he still looked flawless. However, she held back her laughter when her eyes wandered down the rest of him.
"Well, we certainly do have an issue here, but nothing I can't handle." She smiled and nodded toward his closet. "May I?" She waited for his nod of approval then approached the messy closet that Darren had clearly been rummaging through for some time now.
"So, how did this happen?" Lauren asked with amusement as she flipped through the hangers, closely examining each option.
Darren took in a deep breath and sighed as he laid back on his bed. "No need to sound so amused! I did laundry last night after the show. It was late and I guess I wasn't thinking clearly. Anyway, I decided it would be a wise choice to mix that shirt I tie-dyed last week with Joey and Brian in with all of my whites. I got them out of the dryer this morning but was in a rush and just threw the clothes into the basket and brought them in here. Needless to say, when I went to the laundry basket about 10 minutes ago to grab my white pants, they looked like this." Darren looked down at his pants that were heavily spotted with yellow, purple, red, blue… just about every color imaginable.
"Huh. Smooth, Dare!" Lauren started, "The good news is that those pants have gone from a crisp, formal white to a groovy and very 70s tie-dye… very funky. Bad news: they probably won't do for tonight." They both laughed and Lauren grabbed a couple hangers out of the closet and brought them over to where Darren was laying.
She continued "So, what have you been doing the past 10 minutes since you've discovered the pants problem?" Darren frowned and stared at the ceiling. "I've been trying on every pair of pants I own. But I had my heart set on those pants since yesterday. And nothing but white matches this black shirt. I'll look like an idiot if I wear my navy ones or the dark khakis. I guess I could do my black pants but black on black seems too serious, I'll feel like I'm going to a funeral."
Lauren smiled at his fashion-ista ways even though Darren couldn't see it, and slowly took a seat next to him on the bed. "Darren?"
"Yeah?"
"Did it ever occur to you that you could just wear a different shirt… one that matches some of your non-tie-dye pants?"
He turned his head and looked at her with wide eyes. She smiled and softly laid the purple button up and khaki pants that she was holding onto his torso.
He smiled and looked at the clothes. Lauren stood up and headed to the door. She took Darren's silence as a mixture of his embarrassment and confusion about everything that was going through head. He was clearly overwhelmed. It'd been a long week (month really…) for him and she knew he hadn't gotten much sleep.
She paused at the door and turned to give him a reassuring look "Take it easy, Dare, let it all go tonight. You did great and now you can just relax and enjoy yourself. It's tough… it being the end of semester and all. Especially now, we have to actually face the real world and graduate. But you are going to be great Darren. You really are going to be someone amazing one day. You're going to change lives. I know it, and everyone out there knows it. So just take a deep breath, take all the time you need to clear your mind, get changed, and I'll see ya out there."
She grabbed the door handle and paused when she heard Darren speak up "Lauren… thank you." She smiled and laughed at his helpless look as he sat up on his bed. She nodded and began to exit again when he spoke up once more. "I mean it, for everything you've done and helped me with these past four years… it means a lot to me." His face was so genuine. "I know… it's no problem, Darren" she replied sincerely. They exchanged an appreciative look and Lauren turned and shut the door smoothly behind her as she exited.
