Occasionally she would run out of an ingredient or realize that she had forgotten an item on her grocery list. Then she’d panic until someone jumped in the truck and rushed off to the store to pick up whatever she needed. The wedding was still two weeks away, but with so many people to cook for, she had to start early.
When we needed to leave for Danny’s play, Katherine was still at the sink, unconvinced that her kitchen was clean. Quite the opposite was true; I had never seen the place so sparkling. George was finally able to pull the rubber gloves from her hands and drag her to the car, but as soon as we pulled out of the driveway, Jack and Jordan realized they forgot the tripod for their camera, which they needed to film the play.
Five minutes later, Nathan remembered that he left the iron on and we had to turn back around again. When Parker noticed that she was wearing two different colored socks, everyone groaned in frustration. But this time, George told her to suck it up, and we continued on our way to the high school.
Only the row in the very back of the auditorium had enough empty seats for our entire group to sit, but we had to scoot by a family to get to the middle.
“Ouch, that’s my foot,” someone hissed as the curtain opened.
I sat down, Alex on one side and Nathan on the other.
“Up,” Cole whispered to Nathan.
Nathan leaned forward and saw that Zack and Benny had taken the seats after Cole. He shook his head. “No way, dude, I’m not sitting next to those two monsters.”
For that I was thankful. Since the party, Cole was different. Instead of his cocky obnoxious self, he was withdrawn and spent most of his time out in his garage. As a result, the dynamics of the Walter household had changed drastically. Without his outgoing attitude, which was the glue that got all of the guys and their different personalities to stick together, the house was silent. Everyone did their own thing—the days of baseball games and movie nights were fading.
On a rare occasion when I ran into Cole in the hallway, he would smile. However it was never a real smile, because it didn’t reach his eyes. I almost missed the smug smirk that was normally on his face. Alex on the other hand, was his happy-go-lucky, clueless self when his older brother was around. He flirted and laughed, acting like life couldn’t get any better. I tried to tone down the happy-couple vibe whenever we were around Cole, but Alex seemed to think that since his brother wasn’t acting mad, everything was fine.
It was a struggle for me to be around both of them at the same time when I could see so much happiness in one of them and so much hurt in the other. Knowing that I had caused all this didn’t help me feel any better. I didn’t want to feel the awkward tension of sitting between both boys for the entire play, because I wanted to focus on Danny’s performance.
“Too bad. I’m older than you, so I get to pick where I sit.”
When Nathan laughed, a woman sitting in front of us turned around. “Would you both be quiet?”
Cole glared at Nathan for a moment longer before giving him the finger and dropping into the only open seat next to Zack.
“Hey, Cole?” I heard Zack whisper. He held his finger an inch away from Cole’s cheek. “I’m not touching you.”
“Boys!” Katherine hissed at her younger twins. “If you don’t behave yourselves, then no dessert at dinner.”
They didn’t take their mother’s warning seriously because as the first actor stepped out onto the stage, I heard the twins’ evil giggles.
***
“Danny, that was amazing!” I exclaimed, pulling him into a hug. He had joined us outside the auditorium after the show, and he was still in his Romeo costume.
“Truly a heart-wrenching performance,” Isaac said, wiping away pretend tears. “Can I have your autograph?” Danny rolled his eyes and gave his cousin a small shove. They both laughed. “Really, dude,” Isaac said, getting serious. “It was great.”
“Thanks,” Danny responded, nodding his head. Doing one of those silly man hugs, they clapped each other on the back.
“Danny Walter?” a woman asked, coming up to our group.
“Yes?” He turned to look at her.
“Hi,” she said, extending a business card. Danny took it from her outstretched hand and quickly glanced over the tiny text. “My name is Jillian Rowley, and I’m a talent scout from the Starlight Group. We’re a theater company in New York, and I was wondering if you had a moment to spare.”
“I—um, yeah!” Danny said, looking back up. His face was neutral, but I had come to learn that Danny was very good at masking his emotions. The small stumble in his sentence said it all: he was ecstatic.
“Wonderful,” Jillian said and led him away from our group.
“What was that all about?” Alex asked, joining us. One of Kim’s sisters had been in the play, and after it was over, he’d gone to find Kim to talk about the latest GoG news.