I winced. “I’m sorry.” I’d given her Tristan because he was a little shit, and had thought of the role as a punishment for him. That wasn’t something I was proud of from this vantage point.Little Women, but with dancing, from what I’d picked up now that I was more present in the goings-on at camp, was sounding like it was going to be amazing. But even if it wasn’t,what kind of person was I that my “help” was less than no help? Why would I give a fellow artist “help” that would hinder her? One interpretation was that Iwantedto hinder her—or at least that I didn’t care about hindering her. That I didn’t respect what she was doing.
None of that was true, but that was a reasonable conclusion, given the facts. And the real truth wasn’t any more palatable: I’d been so wrapped up in my own angst when I got here that I couldn’t see beyond myself. I’d thought of most human interactions as battles. Me versus them. I would have liked to be able to blame that on Scott, but it takes two to tango.
“It’s OK,” she said in response to my apology.
“It’s really not,” I said. “I promised you a Laurie, and I got you a shit one.”
“I appreciate that. All he has to do is count and spin in this scene—we’ve made it so he doesn’t even have to dance—but he can’t do it.Won’tdo it. Worse, he’s doing these little ‘subtle’ sneers at my girls. I’d been trying to cut him some slack, thinking,Well, he’s a teenage boy, and he’s been voluntold to be in this very girly production.But you cut someone too much slack, suddenly you don’t have a functional rope anymore. You don’t have a show. So he’s out.”
She was such a badass. It was hot.
“Though I admit I’m not sure how firing him is going to go. I’ve ejected plenty of kids—or their parents—from my studio over the years.”
See? Badass.
“But in that case, it’smystudio. I can’t kick Tristan out of camp, so I have to think about how I’m going to handle it.”
“Let me fire him for you.” It was the least I could do.
She squinted at me. “You would do that for me?”
“Well, I don’t know if it would be ‘for you’ so much as it would be cleaning up my own mess, but yes.”
“It’s OK. I’ll figure it out. But thanks. I appreciate the offer.”
“You want me to get you a new kid? A good one?” I paused. I feltreallybad about this. Which was weird, but it was what it was. “Or I can play the role myself if you like?”
That cracked her up.
“What?”
“While I would very much like to see you playing the part of Laurie, we are good.”
“You sure?” I told myself to stop pushing. Did Iwantto be Laurie inLittle Women, but with dancing? No, I did not.
“Laurie being played by our resident adult rock star would lend a distinctly creepy note to the proceedings, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“How old are you, anyway?”
“Thirty-five.”
“Ooh,” she said laughingly. “A younger man.”
“How old are you?”
“Forty at the end of the summer.”
Wow. She didn’t look forty.
“Hence the man cleanse, I guess,” she added, shrugging. “Maybe once you turn forty they fast-track you for cronedom.”
She was kidding. I thought.
“Anyway, I appreciate the offer, but I have a plan that requires no boys whatsoever.”
“Kind of like your plan for life generally.”
