DOS Ch-75

“Yes! Exactly like that, Troy!” Evan commanded excitedly as he ran around the room with the camera in his hands, and pointed at me. “Loki! Come here.” He commanded the puppy with confidence, and surprisingly, the husky listened to him. Over the last few weeks, he had gotten used to his new name, and the two of us had taught him some basic commands like ‘come here,’ ‘sit,’ ‘shake hand,’ and the like. He didn’t always follow the commands, but sometimes he would, and luckily that moment was one such time.

“Cut!” Evan shouted. “Let’s do it once more.”

I was surprised by the tenacity with which Evan assumed the director’s role. It had only been ten or so days since we started shooting scenes from popular films. We started with the scene from [Singin’ in the Rain], with me copying Gene Kelly’s iconic dance moves. Then we moved on to some performance-heavy scenes like Tom Hanks in [Cast Away] or Tim Robbins in [The Shawshank Redemption]. And when we were done with that, Evan came to me with a bright idea.

“I have written a short screenplay of my own,” he had said with a hint of pride in his voice. “Steve helped me with smoothing out some details, but the overall idea is mine, and I want to make this film. It will require three actors. You, Loki, and one other that we’ll decide on later.”

It goes without saying that I accepted the role of ‘Dog Owner’ in the short film we were making. Surprisingly, I was playing the supporting role in the film, and the lead role went to our dear Loki. If it was anyone else, I wouldn’t even consider doing it, but since it’s Evan, I couldn’t say no to him. Then there was the fact that the story of the film he had written was excellent for a short film.

“Boys,” Mum interrupted our filming session. “Didn’t we talk about this? You need to be at the Broadway Theater in an hour, Troy. And Evan, you have your tutoring session scheduled. You can’t dedicate all your time to this…project.”

“But Mom!” Evan whined petulantly before freezing in his steps. My parents had never asked Evan to call them Mom or Dad for obvious reasons. Hell, they hadn’t even asked me to do it. I did it on my own because I wanted to show them how much I appreciated everything they were doing for me, and I could separate the two sets of parents in my head without being overcome with guilt.

“It’s alright, love,” Mum smiled at Evan before coming over and hugging him gently. “Now get ready for your tutoring session. Ms. Anderson will be here anytime.”

“Y-yes,” Evan nodded while not looking at Mum.

“Troy,” Mum turned to me. “Need I remind you again about your show today?”

“I’ll go,” I raised my hands in surrender before noticing that Mum was wearing a very nice cocktail dress. “Are you going somewhere as well?” I asked suspiciously.

“I am,” she confirmed my suspicions. “There is this charity luncheon in the Upper East Side that a new friend of mine has invited me to. If you weren’t busy with your show, or Evan didn’t have his lessons, I would love to take you two. Most of them bring their kids along to meet other kids and socialize.”

“No, thanks,” I declined her invitation immediately. And from the looks Evan was giving me, he didn’t want to go to such a luncheon either. It was a little strange for me to know that the woman who didn’t even want to move to New York just last month had assimilated so seamlessly into the elite circle of the area in just two weeks that she was being invited to their parties. It was only a matter of time before we would have to host one such event. I shivered mentally at the thought alone.

“How’s Eli?” She changed topics suddenly. “I hope he’s better than the incompetent fool from last week?”

I frowned slightly at the reminder of last week when a few overenthusiastic fans had almost caused a stampede when I came out of the theater after the night’s show. It was such a great show where Jack Nicholson of all people came in person to see me and told me how much he liked my performance, and then that happened. My parents had promptly replaced the people who were handling my security that day and a new team, led by Eli Brown had been contracted for the job. It’s such a pity that Roger can’t stay with me in America because of his family. He is a very competent guy.

“He’s good,” I replied to Mum’s question. “Have fun at your luncheon,” I smiled deceptively at her, and she nodded in thanks before exiting the apartment.

I turned to Evan, “If you ever feel that I have turned snobbish, or like one of those entitled rich brats that would be present at that luncheon feel free to hit me.”

Without wasting even a single second, Evan rushed forward and hit me on the back of my head.

“Oww!” I cried out in pain before turning to the grinning boy with murder in my eyes. “You’re dead, Spader,” I announced before running after him. “Today I’ll show you what I learned in my martial arts classes.”

(Break)

Benji Cooper was beyond excited, and the reason was simple: he and his family were going to see [Billy Elliot: The Musical] at the Broadway Theater, with Troy Armitage himself performing as Billy. As soon as it was announced that Troy would perform as Billy Elliot in a limited run on Broadway, there was a frenzy amongst the audience to get tickets for the show. The ticketing window had opened on December 15, 2001, and all the tickets on offer (three months in advance) had been sold out within a week.

Benji’s father was one of the extremely lucky ones to grab three front-row tickets to the show. It was a little late in the middle of February 2002, but it was better than not watching the show at all, or worse, watching someone else play Billy. The best part about the show was seeing Troy live, or even a rarer chance to talk to him when the show was over. The latter was highly unlikely because, as his mother told him, these superstar types are very stuck-up and very rude in general. So it’s better to not get your hopes high. Still, Benji would love to get a photo with Troy so he could get bragging rights for the rest of his life. And maybe, just maybe, Troy is different from other celebrities and is actually nice.

So it was with these expectations that he went to watch the Broadway show, and it was better than anything he could have expected. Troy Armitage and the entire cast performed so well that Benji had almost forgotten for a moment that he was watching a play. Everything was so perfect that he felt as if he was watching some documentary with some dancing and singing mixed in between. When Troy started flying in the air during the dream ballet, or when he performed ‘Electricity’ for his dad and the selectors at the Royal Ballet School, Benji couldn’t help but feel light as if he could fly and dance just like Troy. When the audience erupted in applause after seeing Troy’s performance, Benji was one of the first ones to stand up and clap with all his might.

And then, the show was over. A sense of sadness filled Benji because he could not witness more of the performance. The worst part was that Troy would perform only for a limited time before the show would be overtaken by other actors, and all the tickets for Troy’s performances had been sold out.

Benji was about to get up from his seat like some of the others had already begun doing when a man walked to the center of the stage with a mic.

“Hello, everyone!” he said jovially. “I hope you enjoyed the show tonight.”

“We did!” a girl shouted.

“Good to know,” the man smiled in the direction of the girl before turning serious. “I know that a lot of you want to meet Troy and other cast members as they exit the theater. Last week, many fans were waiting outside when it led to a stampede in the back alley of the theater. While they are okay now, two people had to be hospitalized. To prevent any such incident from happening again, we have hidden five golden tickets at the bottom of your seats. All you have to do is reach down and feel at the bottom of your seat. If you find the ticket, you can come on stage right now, and I will escort you to meet Troy. To everyone else, I’m sorry, but we have posted security outside to dissipate any crowds. This had to be done for your safety.”

Benji’s heart started pounding in his chest wildly as he bent down and felt for anything below his seat, as most people in the hall were doing at the moment. He was crestfallen when he came up blank. It was even worse when a blonde girl of around 13-14 ran up the stage with a golden ticket. Then an older boy of 19-20, a middle-aged woman, and then a man in his mid-forties. All of them had excitement clear in their eyes.

“Son,” his mother called out quietly. Benji looked up at her and was amazed to see that she was holding one of the golden tickets. “Take it,” she offered. He didn’t have to be told twice as he gently clutched onto the said ticket. “Go to the stage. We’ll wait for you here.”

Benji could only nod in a daze as he got up and ran up the stage. He was the last person to go up, finishing the five lucky people who would meet Troy tonight, personally.

“And we have our five lucky winners,” the man announced. “We thank you all for understanding why we had to take this step.” Then he turned to the five of them and spoke without a mic, “Come on. Let’s go.”

Everything happened so quickly in the next few minutes that Benji couldn’t believe what was happening. He was escorted backstage where he witnessed the chaos of a Broadway theater in person. While everything on stage was meticulously managed, that wasn’t the case when so many props, costumes, and set decorations were being packed up for the day. It hadn’t occurred to him exactly what went into making a big musical like [Billy Elliot]. And now that he had seen it, some of the mystery and magic had waned.

The man who had announced the meeting with Troy deftly moved backstage as if it was an everyday occurrence. After a couple of minutes, he stood in front of a door with a placard on it that had “Troy Armitage” written in a stylized font. The man then turned to the five of them and asked, “Is there any other actor in the cast that you want to meet instead of Troy?”

Benji shook his head immediately. Why would he meet anyone else but his idol?

“Haydn Gwynne,” the oldest man in the group said excitedly. “I have seen her perform many times and I want to meet her.”

The announcer nodded and pointed down the hallway. “Second door to your left. Go and knock and see if she’s available.” The older man nodded once and went down the hall.

“Alright then,” the announcer turned to the remaining four people again. “Here are some rules for meeting Troy. Be polite. Don’t ask personal questions. If he says no to something, don’t insist on it. And most importantly, have fun.” Then he smiled before knocking on the door.

“Come in,” came a young voice from within the room. A voice Benji recognized immediately. As the door opened and the five of them walked inside the dressing room, Benji stopped in his tracks as he saw Troy live in front of him. He was wearing a pair of casual tan trousers and a black T-shirt. His black hair had been combed back, and his green eyes curiously took in all of them. A full grin was present on his face as he got up from his seat and came forth before shaking hands with all of them one by one.

“Thank you for seeing the show,” Troy said with a genial smile on his face as he shook hands with Benji, who was moving on auto-pilot by now.

“You’re welcome,” Benji said without realizing what he had said. He immediately regretted saying anything at all. Why couldn’t he just stay quiet? Now Troy would definitely think he’s some weirdo.

Contrary to what he was expecting, Troy laughed at Benji’s quip, put a hand on his shoulder as if they had known each other for years, and said, “I like you, mate. Come, have a seat everyone, and tell me what your names are.”

It was then that Benji realized there were six seats in the room, of which Troy offered one to everyone first. When everyone was seated, then only he took a seat. The announcer left the room, leaving Troy with four of his fans, including Benji, who was close to hyperventilating. Troy must have sensed something because he put a hand on Benji’s shoulder again and said, “Calm down, dude. I’m just a human, like everyone else. Come on, take a deep breath.”

Benji followed the advice and found that it did help in calming him down. “Thanks,” he murmured.

“No problem,” Troy said. “What’s your name?”

“Benji Cooper,” Benji said.

Then Troy turned to the other three and asked for their names, who happened to be Emily (13), Elizabeth (39), and Jeremy (20).

Troy was carefully looking at Emily for a few moments before saying, “Say, Emily. Are you an actress? I feel like I have seen you in the movies.”

Emily looked down at her hands in her lap shyly before shaking her head, “No, but I want to be an actress. You have inspired me a lot.”

“What’s your full name?” He asked curiously.

“Emily Stone,” came the prompt reply.

“Then I can’t wait to work with you, Emily Stone,” Troy grinned at the girl, who looked awestruck hearing those words. “I have a feeling that one day you will become a big actress. In fact, here.” Troy fished around in his pocket and brought forth a few cards that he handed out to each of them. “If you have any questions regarding your career, or anything else, you can shoot me an email there. Just don’t spread it around, or I won’t be able to reply if I receive too many emails.”

“Thanks, but I don’t need it,” the older woman, Elizabeth, returned his card back to Troy. “I don’t use the internet. Just wanted to meet you and tell you how good of a performance you gave today. In fact, if you can give me an autograph for my daughter, I’ll be on my way because my husband is waiting outside.”

“Thank you, Elizabeth,” Troy smiled sincerely. “I can do you one better than an autograph.” He got up and walked over to a table and picked up a Polaroid camera. “Let’s take a photo instead. Jeremy, will you take a photo of us?” Troy handed the camera to the 20-year-old, who had mostly been silent after his introduction, but he took the photograph as asked. While the photo was being printed, Troy also took individual photos with the other three fans and signed them all.

After Elizabeth left, the four talked for quite some time. Mostly it was Emily, Troy, and Benji who spoke with each other. Jeremy, sensing the disconnect, left on his own after a few minutes. Benji talked a lot about how he started taking dance lessons because of Troy, and how much Troy had made him love the movies. And then it was time for Benji to leave. He didn’t want to, but he had to. He had come to Troy’s dressing room around half an hour ago, and he hadn’t even realized that he was talking to one of the biggest superstars of present times. Troy was so down-to-earth and humble that he seemed like any other normal guy their age. He was so caring that Benji felt as if he was the most important person in the world when he was talking to Troy. And now he had Troy’s email as well. As he walked out of Troy’s dressing room towards his parents, he couldn’t help but think about what he would say in his first fan mail.