Audrey usually didn't like to linger in the theatre after rehearsals ended. She was enjoying all of the work they were doing to put a show together, but the room somehow felt very different when everyone else had left. Like the world they were creating had all faded away, and it was just a stage again. She liked being able to step into a different life for a while, but she was still working on washing away the old memories of getting up to perform in front of other people. She did think she was getting better at not being afraid of the idea, which was a good thing, because opening night was only one day away.
But she didn't mind it that day, because she wasn't left completely alone after everyone else had gone home. Seymour had come to meet her with a large box from their flower shop, and Audrey was excited to let him see the place where she'd been spending many of her evenings after work.
She led him to a prop table backstage, and Seymour opened the lid of the box to pull out a block of foam with a large bouquet's worth of red carnations sticking out of it.
"This should be enough for everyone, plus a couple extras in case any get damaged." He told her. Glancing down at the flowers, he eyed them a bit critically "Do you think they're big enough? I tried to pick ones that should be easy to see onstage."
"They're beautiful." Brimming with excitement, Audrey stepped over to a nearby clothing rack to grab the suit coat her co-star would be wearing during the show. "Let's see how it looks!"
Seymour held still as Audrey pulled the jacket around his shoulders and tucked one of the red blossoms into the lapel. She had told him about the part of the story that meant they would be needing flowers, how the gamblers planned to use carnations as a secret code to be allowed into their game, only for Adelaide's fiancé to end up roped into planning a wedding when a hasty excuse to a police officer turned it into a bachelor party.
"You know, the otha's think it's just adorable that my real-life husband is the one bringing us the flowers." Audrey noted. Her eyes were filled with affection as she took a step back to get a better look. "Very handsome. This'll be perfect."
Seymour shifted from one foot to the other, pushing at a sleeve that fell all the way over his hand. The costume had clearly been sized for someone a good deal taller than him, but even if he had a suit that wasn't nearly big enough to drown him, he couldn't image himself managing to fit into this sort of role.
Audrey seemed to be thinking something similar, and as she reached to take off the coat again, she noted, "Of course, you're not very much like Nathan."
"Guess I can't really pull off the smooth-talking conman thing… probably have to be more charming for that."
Though she was briefly distracted by hanging the costume back on the rack, Audrey glanced back over her shoulder with an affectionate look that helped to chase away a lot of the self-depreciating thoughts. "I was going to say it's because Nathan dragged his feet for fourteen years, and you wanted to marry me when we'd hardly been going out a few weeks."
He smiled sheepishly. "I was already in love with you for a long time…"
"And I'm very glad I wound up with you instead of someone who took more than a decade of convincing."
With the mention of their whirlwind marriage, Seymour remembered that the carnations weren't the only thing he had brought over from the shop, and he went to pull the other bundle of flowers from the box.
"I thought maybe you could use these too, in case you wanted flowers for your wedding scene at the end."
A wide smile crossed Audrey's face as she took in the simple white bouquet, and she could tell right away that he had done his best to recreate the flowers she'd carried on their own wedding day.
Audrey had learned that there were a lot of things she could relate to about her character. Working as a dancer in a club, desperately wishing for a more peaceful and settled life, sometimes being so heartsick she felt ill… But there were differences too. Adelaide was a lot bolder about speaking her mind than Audrey would have ever dreamed of being. She had found that she enjoyed that part of playing the character, like she got a bit of a chance to vent some of the frustrations she had experienced. And while her costumes weren't exactly what she would choose to wear nowadays, they weren't anywhere near as bad as the kind of dresses she had worried about being forced back into. Apparently, the people running their small-town community theatre had much more innocent minds than the people back on Skid Row. The other women in The Gutter would have laughed at the idea of these dresses being considered alluring showgirl outfits.
But most of all, she found it hard to relate to being desperately in love with someone like Nathan Detroit. She had dated a few men who bore some resemblance to him, even tried to convince herself that she loved them, but none of them had ever captured her heart the way her sweet little botanist did. A few of her new friends in the cast had gushed about how she was very lucky, because her co-star was just so handsome. Audrey still thought it was a lot easier to get through romantic scenes if she imagined Seymour up on stage with her.
Getting a sudden idea, she reached for one of his hands and took a step in the direction of the stage.
"Would you like to see how it feels standing up there, now that it's just us?"
Seymour hesitated, but he did his best to force his worries back down again, and he followed after her before his feet could end up rooted to the spot. He refused to let himself have such a bad case of stage fright he couldn't even stand in front of an empty theatre.
Once she had guided him out to center stage, Audrey watched him bounce on the balls of his feet a few times, as if trying to test out the feel of the wooden planks beneath them, then he looked over at her uncertainly.
"What do we do now?"
"Well… you could try singing something." She suggested.
Clearing his throat, he took his time stalling by looking around the set. The backdrops showing a bustling city painted a very different picture from the last time they had gone to see a show, but he still wound up with one of those songs running through his head again.
"Are there lilac trees in the heart of town… can you hear a lark in any other part of town… does enchantment pour out of every door… no, it's just on the street where you live."
His voice shook a few times, but with Audrey smiling encouragingly at him, finding the words wasn't as impossible as he worried it might be. He still wasn't sure yet, but he found himself thinking that maybe he could be open to giving something like this a try at some point in the future. Though even it did happen eventually, he doubted it would be anything quite like this, with him and Audrey standing hand in hand right in the middle of the stage. He thought she was talented enough to take on any role, but he didn't know of any shows where someone scrawny and awkward and nervous was going to end up as a leading man.
Audrey, however, was considering a very different thought.
"Sometimes, I think our story could be up here." She mused out loud.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, just think. Getting to our happy ever afta', we went through excitement, drama, romance… I bet it's just as good as any of the otha' stories people have written." Gesturing around the stage, she added, "Picture a fire escape right about there, just like Juliet's balcony. The lights start to soften, like the alleyway is turning into something magical. We're just talking at first, but the music starts to play, and then… Suddenly Seymour…"
Hearing the soft, familiar melody from Audrey's voice, the idea did sound almost magical.
He had never been bothered by the idea of Audrey acting out a love story with someone else. He knew that was just how theatre worked. But it was nice to know that when she thought up the kind of scene she'd like to see, she still pictured him as the one standing beside her.