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REED
SEVEN YEARS AGO, THE SEQUEL - A MONTH LATER
Tate was ignoring my texts. And phone calls.
Hell, any attempt to get in touch with him.
A month had passed since that party, and he’d all but disappeared from my life.
And I knew why.
And me? I wasn’t coping well at all. My best friend was slipping away, or rather, he’d already gone.
For reasons I knew but didn’t understand. For reasons that made me angry, but most of all, for reasons that hurt.
So, I called the one person that I turned to when everything else in my life went to shit.
“Hey, Mom.”
“What’s wrong?”
“How do you?—”
“Hold on,” she replied.
I waited silently and heard her yell ‘Roman, get down here!’, calling for my dad. There was a muffled ‘What is it, Rose?’ reply in return.
A few seconds later, she and my dad got on the line.
“Okay, Reed, spill it.”
That was my mom. Get right to the heart of the matter.
As a former teacher and acting coach, Mom was used to dealing with melodrama—on and off the stage. She was my inspiration, not just when it came to acting, but for life in general. My mom lived in the present, laughed often, and loved fiercely.
And of course, being married to my dad, who was a psychotherapist, meant that no issue was above discussion. Everything and anything that needed to be said in our family, was said.
“It’s Tate. He’s not talking to me,” I confided. “And I don’t know what to do.”
“Did you have a fight?” she asked.
“No, nothing like that,” I replied and stood up, staring out my front window. “We went to this party about a month ago, and ever since, he’s pulled away.”
“Something must have happened,” Dad interjected. “You know what it is, you just don’t want to say it out loud.”
As usual, nothing got past him.
“I think it’s because I’m open about being gay,” I confessed.
“What? But you’ve been friends for three years,” Mom replied. “Why is your sexuality suddenly an issue?”
“I’ve told you how ambitious Tate is. And he’s convinced that only hetero-presenting actors can get to the top. Plus, his new mentor is none other than director Neal Lockwin.”
My comment was met with unexpected silence.
“Hello?”
“Sorry, it’s been a while since I’ve heard that name. I’ve never met him, mind you, but I know people who’ve worked with him,” Mom added. “Neal’s reputation as a misogynistic asshole is well known in acting circles.”
