A Parting Rose

(Disclaimer in previous chapters)

Chapter 4: Fingers Crossed

"No, you're not getting it right. You have to sound natural. Have you ever even laughed before in your life?"

"Yes, sir…"

"Well, laugh!"

At that, Kevin couldn't help but chuckle a bit at Robert's frustration, which only made Robert get frustrated even more.

"You're not taking this seriously!" the director cried.

"Yes, sir…" Kevin mumbled, suppressing his glee.

"Jeez," said Robert, turning to Maggie as Kevin worked on the scene again with the rest of the actors. "Never thought working with a kid could be so hard before."

"He's only eight, it's probably all games to him," replied Maggie.

"He's really good with the serious scenes, though," said Robert. "Hey, Driscoll, how about we throw in a couple more serious scenes there, leave out some of the humor?"

"Your call," replied Jack in an indifferent voice.

"Ha… ha, ha…"

"That's still not right, boy!"

"Whoa, the boy's really getting to the director, isn't he?" An older teen paused by James as he worked on the stage lights. "But he's so good, everyone just has to deal with him…"

"I bet I could nail the humor parts," replied James.

"Ha," said the dark-haired boy, snorting. "You've never acted before in your life, James."

"It's just laughing," said James, shrugging. "Can't be much more to it than that."

"Hmm… perhaps you were looking forward to getting the part, James?"

"Shut up, John," hissed James. His eyes lowered as he resumed cleaning out the lenses on the lights. "I just thought… it'd probably be my chance or something. To prove I'm more than just the stupid boy who's always working backstage."

"James, you'll always be the backstage boy," replied John, sneering. "C'mon, you have no talent in you. I don't, either, but hey… I was never into acting. Directing, maybe…"

"Then, suit yourself," snapped James, turning his eyes on John. "I can't believe some stupid eight-year-old has their attention… just look at the way they admire him…"

"You know, this is really sad, James," said John, walking away to work elsewhere. "Jealous of a small eight-year-old…"

"Whatever," muttered James, looking away from the stage and concentrating on cleaning the old stage lights again. "This is stupid…"

"That was really good, wasn't it?" said Kevin, leaving the old theatre with Jack by his side.

"You're going to drive Robert insane," muttered Jack.

Kevin's eyes lit up. "But he's so fun to mess with," he said. "He's so funny…"

"Do you even take this seriously?" asked Jack, looking down at Kevin curiously.

Kevin frowned. "Of course I do!" he said. "It's just… it's just so hard to do a natural laugh…"

He felt a quick poke in his ribs and giggled, knowing it was Jack. "See, not so hard," said Jack.

"I guess…" said Kevin, looking ahead. He spared a glance in Jack's direction when he wasn't looking, and smiled softly. They were now in their second week of rehearsal. Kevin had gotten used to all of the adults he had to work with at the theatre, but none of them had been as friendly to him as Jack was.

He realized they were nearing his home now, the apartment complex now only a few blocks away. He wondered about inviting the writer to his home, introduce his new friend to his mother. Although, she probably wouldn't like him being friends with an older man. He remembered the last time he told his mother that he played a game of hide-and-seek with an elder man before… she flipped, telling him how young children shouldn't so easily trust older people, especially strangers on the street. But the older man had been so nice… he had even offered Kevin a bit of candy if he would just allow the older man to catch him, but Kevin had never liked being tricked to losing.

He was a year older now… and now that he thought about it, that man didn't always have such a friendly face all the time… Kevin cringed, now realizing that his mother had probably been right about having played with a stranger without her supervision…

But Mister Driscoll was different, Kevin could see it. Maybe this time she wouldn't mind so much, not after she met him at least…

"Mister Driscoll…" he started to say, when suddenly he could hear his mother calling him. He stopped walking, looking around until he saw her waving at him from their window, three stories up.

"Where have you been? You've been out for three hours and without telling me where you were going first, what were you thinking—?" she stopped, realizing he was with company. "And who are you with? Kevin, if this is another 'friend' of yours…"

Kevin cringed; she was so mad already. "Sorry, Mister Driscoll, it's my mom…" he said to the writer, but Jack had also stopped in his tracks, deadly still.

Jack knew that voice. He couldn't see the woman very well from this distance, but he was sure of it…

"Kevin!" she cried again.

"Yeah, yeah, Mom, I got it!" cried Kevin in return. "I'll be there in a sec!" He turned around to face Jack. "Well, I gotta go now…" he said sheepishly, clearly embarrassed with having being yelled at in front of everyone who was there to see.

And then his mom grew very quiet too. He wasn't sure if there was something going on that he was unaware of, but very fast, his mother was gone from the window. It took a minute or two for her to reappear, leaving the apartment complex, hurrying the few blocks toward them.

As she got closer, Jack could definitely see. It was Ann. The Ann he dreamed about almost every night, the one he had been dying to see again, even if only for a moment… An overwhelming feeling came to his chest then.

Ann stopped in front of them, her cheeks flushed from hurrying, panting. She pulled Kevin to her side, shielding him from Jack's view.

"Ann…?" Jack managed to say, but she cut him off immediately.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she said, glaring at him venomously, though her voice had cracked a little in her otherwise harsh voice.

"I…"

"Go away! Go away!" she cried, pulling back, tugging her son with her.

"Mom, what—?"

"I don't ever want to see you again! God, why are you here…?"

Kevin was able to look at Jack one last time before his mother fully dragged him inside the building with her. It confused him—the hard recognition in his eyes, the pain, the shock—and his mother's reaction to seeing Jack only confused him even more.

"I don't ever want to see you with that man again! Do you understand me?" cried Ann after they entered their room. "Do you understand me?"

"I…" Kevin started, so lost with everything that was happening. "I don't understand…"

"Just promise me you won't go walking around with that man again, okay?" Ann's voice had lowered, her hands now resting on Kevin's shoulders, quiet desperation in her voice. "Please… it's best this way…"

"Do you know him?" Kevin blurted out.

"Kevin, that's beside the point!" said Ann miserably, releasing her hold on him and turning away in frustration. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to calm herself down. She looked at her son again, standing there, so confused and hurt. "Please… I don't know why you were with him… but please, just promise me… you won't go seeing him again."

"Why…?"

"It's just…" Ann bent down so that she was eye-to-eye with Kevin. "Just trust your mother with this, all right? Will you promise me to stay away from that man?"

Kevin hesitated. He couldn't really comply with his mother's wishes, not with the play going on. Besides, Jack wasn't a bad person. He was his friend. He couldn't just ignore Jack. But he had seen on television once, how sometimes people who didn't really want to promise things crossed their fingers behind their backs so that the promise wouldn't really be a promise… And so he sneakily slid a hand behind his back, forcing a small smile for his mother.

"I promise, Mom."

Fingers crossed behind his back.

A/N: Yay, I've updated! I don't know, but I got to reading one of the chapters to this story out of boredom… and it somehow reignited my desire to finish this story. I used to have it all planned, but then I just started writing and writing, just letting out whatever came to mind… and suddenly, it wasn't quite headed where I had wanted it to go… So now, I'm just writing it with a few things in mind, but not really sure where things are going. Seems more fun writing this way, without having so many constraints holding me back while I'm writing. And Kevin's slowly slipping out of my control... I hadn't intended him to be quite so mischievous...

Chapter 5 will be out soon! (hopefully) :)