Falling Slowly-Chapter 4
Chapter 4: Phone Call
“He didn’t kiss you?”
“Why would he? It was just a FRIENDLY date!” I stated with full of conviction, emphasizing the word ‘friendly’, to Celine who was sitting on my bed as I laid down, getting ready to sleep when I got home from the friendly date with Robert. “Besides,” I started. “I wouldn’t let him even if he attempted to.”
“Why?” Celine stared at me, puzzled.
“Because…” I stopped when I remembered what I told Celine before I left the house. I lied to her that I gave up over contacting Adam. In fact, I had told her that I was over him after realizing I had no chance with him. Maybe getting over him was the right thing to do anyway. “Because I don’t like the guy.” I finished my sentence.
“I guess.” Celine shrugged.
“But he’s really nice. He has a charming smile, too. I just hate it when he keeps on smiling at me.” I turned to the other side, facing my back on her.
“Why?”
“Maybe I find it irritating.” I said, still looking away.
“Hmm… Anything else?”
I shook my head and drifted off to sleep when I heard Celine shut the door in the bathroom.
The next morning, I woke up with a phone call from one of the actors from Wicked two years ago. Apparently, they were planning for a reunion among the cast members in Wicked. They were planning to have it when others got back to L.A. after the productions going on now. They just wanted to inform us ahead of time. After all, the opening of the next production was going to happen in two weeks time. It took sometime to prepare for The Phantom of the Opera since the stage set was quite difficult too. And singing was also a lot of work.
As usual, I took my breakfast after the phone call and took a shower to prepare leaving for another rehearsal. We were almost done with the whole preparation. We just had to polish the music, choreography, and blocking.
I received a phone call from the same guy from the morning during our break time after two rounds of the whole play.
“Hello?”
“Odessa! It’s me, Mark. We planned to do the reunion at my house next Saturday night.”
“What about all our productions? How about the others?”
“I found out all of us are in New York now. And I just rented a house around the area. So we decided to do it here instead of gathering everyone back to L.A.”
“Hmmm, so we’ll have it on Saturday night next week?”
“Yep,”
“Hmmm, yeah, I guess that sounds good.”
“Great, well I’ll see you then.”
“Alright, bye,”
I put my cellphone down and spotted Robert approaching towards my direction.
“What’s up?”
“Great, they’re planning to have a reunion in two weeks.”
“Who`s they?”
“The cast of Wicked planned to have a reunion.”
“I see.”
“Well, shall we go on with The Point of No Return?”
“Yeah, we should.”
“Alright,” I stood up and went on the stage with him as Ma’am Lolita called the backup dancers.
Point of No Return was probably one of my most favorite parts of the musical. This scene was the part where the Phantom and Christine show their passion for one another. I’m just really thankful that I’m comfortable with Robert. The scene would be so difficult for me to do if I wasn’t comfortable with him. But I admit that I still wish Adam could’ve done Phantom’s part. The scene was quite daring. I mean, I’ve never had a guy getting to kiss me or touch me around my jaw up to my upper chest, down to the waist. Phantom is a very passionate character and that was exactly how he expressed his love. Not as daring as you think, but it was.
After days of successful production for The Phantom of the Opera, it was Saturday afternoon. I got ready to leave the hotel room at around 3:00pm to head for the house of Mike one of the actors from Wicked. He wanted me to be there earlier than the others since I was the only one available to help him out prepare the house.
I got a cab on front of the hotel and gave the driver the address. I wasn’t sure where Mike’s house was. But with the descriptions of the house and the landmarks given, I was able to know whether the driver was going on the right direction or not. We drove off the busy city for about half an hour and eventually got into a few streets with several houses as if in the Beverly Hills. I found the big, white house with windows and doors with brown frames and a small stoned path way right on front of the doorstep. Around the house was surrounded by grass and a garage next to the front yard. I paid the driver, got off the cab, and rang the doorbell of Mike’s house.
“Yeah, I’m coming!” I heard a voice behind the door. Mike opened the door and said, “Oh! Hey, it’s you, Odessa!” I smiled at him. “Come in! I was just about to do the marketing. Do you think you can watch over the house and fix the living room a bit? Oh, and if you don’t mind, the tables too?” He asked me, taking his car keys and a list of what to buy with him.
“Yeah, sure,”
“Well then. I’ll be going ahead.” He said, rushing to leave.
I close the door and walked towards the living room. It was wide with a cozy beige leathered settee a few distances away from the LCD TV with sound systems next to it and a glass coffee table between the settee and the TV. The walls and the floor were white and simple. But it was simple in an elegant way. The lights were fluorescent and even had two long lamps next to the TV. It was relaxing. Next to the settee was a side table with his white cordless phone.
Thinking the living room didn’t need to be fixed so much, I proceeded to the dining room which had a long rectangular table with about six seats. The dining table was glass and the chairs were white. There was chandelier on the center of the dining room and around the dining room was probably his mother or grandmother’s expensive dishes displayed on shelves. I went to get the placemats on one of the shelves to set the table up.
After looking around the house a bit for about fifteen minutes, I heard the phone ring. Not sure of what to do, I let the phone ring for about three times.
First ring, oh no. What to do? This isn’t even my house. Do I answer it? But what do I say? Maybe I’d rather not pick it up.
Second ring, but what if it was an important call? But what do I say if they ask me something? What am I supposed to do?
I found myself walking back and forth and pulling the end of my hair.
Third ring, argh! Whatever, I’m just going to answer it and it’s up to God to let me speak whatever.
“Hello?” I picked the white phone up.
“Hello?” A man’s voice answered. “Uhm, can I talk to Mark if he’s around?” The voice continued.
“Oh, Mark… he’s not here right now. He went to do some grocery shopping.”
“I see.” There was a silence for a minute. And the voice on the phone suddenly laughed. “Mark never told me he had a GIRLFRIEND!”
If the man on the phone had seen me, he would have seen me widen my eyes.
“N-No, I’m not.” I tried to stay poise and calm. But my insides were aggravated - maybe more annoyed in aggravation.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” The voice laughed again. Why did the voice sound so familiar? I felt like I knew the voice well. “I heard there was going to be a reunion for the cast in Wicked. You might be one of them involved?”
Wicked! My instincts were getting stronger and closer. Am I right about this?
“Yeah, I am. I was one of the backup. How do you know about this? Who…” I was cut off with the man on the phone with his laugh.
“I see! I’m glad you’re involved in it. Then you know me for sure. It’s me, Adam.”
ADAM? THE Adam Lambert? I widened my eyes even more. In shock, I didn’t speak for a moment.
“Hello? Are you still there?” I heard Adam ask me, and I got back to my senses just then.
“Oh… Adam! I’ve been seeing you on TV! Wait, do you remember me? It’s Dessa! Odessa Rochefort!” I suddenly felt myself raising my voice, astounding.
“Dessa! Of course I do! We talked for a long time during the thanksgiving party, didn’t we? I won’t forget that.” That was flattering, dear.
“Great! I’ve been seeing you on TV! How is it going in Idol? You amaze me every week.”
“Aw, thanks. Idol is great. It’s fun here. I met a lot of wonderful people. It’s a great experience.”
Great experience? Being on stage like that is sure a great experience. But is that the only reason to call it a great experience? How about the women you meet there? Have you met anyone your type? I was starting to get paranoid with his quotation on ‘great experience’.
“I see. That’s great to hear. I hope I can see you soon.”
“I hope so too. It’s hard to say when I can go back to New York. How long are you staying there?”
“For as long as the production goes on. But I guess we’re going back to L.A. in a few weeks.”
“Oh, great, if and when I make it to finals, then I can see you guys there and meet up sometimes.”
I was delighted to hear that. It lightened me more.
“I’ll look forward to that.” I said honestly and continued, “How can I contact you?”
“Oh, get my number from Mark and just leave me a message or whatever.”
“I got that.”
“Well, I know you’re busy. It seems quiet there. Isn’t the party starting yet?”
“No. I came here early to help him prepare since I’m the only one free to help him now.”
“Oh, that’s great. I’ll just probably call back a little bit later. I expected to talk to some of the cast members.”
“Alright,
“Well then if ever I can’t call back, just send my regards to all of them.”
“I’ll do that.”
“Okay, bye now, I still have a rehearsal.”
“Good luck. Bye.”
With that, we hung up. It was still unbelievable. I was able to talk to Adam FINALLY. It was hard to catch my breath. Adam never changed. He was still the same Adam I’ve always known.
Do I ever get to see him again? Is it possible?
I wondered as Mark came home with the groceries. He saw me spacing out and made him question me, “Odessa, are you okay?”
“Y-Yeah, I’m fine…”
“I’m glad to hear that. You were staring into space.” Mark laughed. “Come on, let’s get this thing started. We got not much time left.”
We headed to the kitchen and got the groceries out of the bag. I spotted a whole chicken as well.
“What are we going to do with this chicken?”
“Hmm, I was thinking to roast it or marinate it.”
“I prefer roasting it.”
“Right,”
With that, we prepared the sauce for the marinated chicken and prepared the chicken for roasting. I squeezed some lemon into the squeezer while Mark sliced some onions.
About an hour later, all the food to be served was ready. Then, I spotted a green bottle on the dining table.
“You bought wine?”
“Yeah, I heard it was the best wine in the winery I went to.” I nodded. Suddenly, I remembered to tell Mark about the phone call earlier. “By the way, Adam called earlier.”
“Oh, he did?” He replied in surprise.
“Yeah, he wanted to talk to you. He said he’d call back a little bit later.”
“Alright,”
We paused in silence for awhile, but I broke it off. “What’s his number…?”
“Huh?” He stared at me in confusion.
“You know…?”
“Adam’s number, you mean?”
I nodded, not saying anything. He laughed and left to get a paper and pen. When he came back, he started browsing through his cellphone and wrote on the paper.
“Here you go.” He handed me the phone when he was done.
“Thanks.” I looked at the paper and kept it in my pocket.
Minutes later, we heard the doorbell and people started coming in. With that, the reunion had begun. Even Julie Reiber came.
“Oh, Odessa, how has it been in Broadway?”
“It’s good. I enjoy acting as Christine Daae.” I admitted to the blonde.
“That’s good to hear. How you’re growing to be better and better is astounding.” Julie smiled. “Keep it up.” She said nicely.
Julie was actually nice. I honestly didn’t like her much. Maybe because I was just intimidated by her? Oh well. That doesn’t matter now. I got closer with her that night.
After a long night spending with everyone else from Wicked, Adam never called back. Maybe he was too busy? I decided to call him myself when I went back to the hotel.
I had a great time getting to spend it with the people from Wicked once more for the last time. And then I suddenly hoped that we can do it again with Adam next time. If we had the chance, that is.
Around 1:00am, I went back to my hotel room. I totally forgot about calling up Adam from all the exhaustion. Maybe I’ll just ring him tomorrow when I have the time. Did I dink too much wine? I didn’t remember a thing, but I fell asleep.
“He didn’t kiss you?”
“Why would he? It was just a FRIENDLY date!” I stated with full of conviction, emphasizing the word ‘friendly’, to Celine who was sitting on my bed as I laid down, getting ready to sleep when I got home from the friendly date with Robert. “Besides,” I started. “I wouldn’t let him even if he attempted to.”
“Why?” Celine stared at me, puzzled.
“Because…” I stopped when I remembered what I told Celine before I left the house. I lied to her that I gave up over contacting Adam. In fact, I had told her that I was over him after realizing I had no chance with him. Maybe getting over him was the right thing to do anyway. “Because I don’t like the guy.” I finished my sentence.
“I guess.” Celine shrugged.
“But he’s really nice. He has a charming smile, too. I just hate it when he keeps on smiling at me.” I turned to the other side, facing my back on her.
“Why?”
“Maybe I find it irritating.” I said, still looking away.
“Hmm… Anything else?”
I shook my head and drifted off to sleep when I heard Celine shut the door in the bathroom.
The next morning, I woke up with a phone call from one of the actors from Wicked two years ago. Apparently, they were planning for a reunion among the cast members in Wicked. They were planning to have it when others got back to L.A. after the productions going on now. They just wanted to inform us ahead of time. After all, the opening of the next production was going to happen in two weeks time. It took sometime to prepare for The Phantom of the Opera since the stage set was quite difficult too. And singing was also a lot of work.
As usual, I took my breakfast after the phone call and took a shower to prepare leaving for another rehearsal. We were almost done with the whole preparation. We just had to polish the music, choreography, and blocking.
I received a phone call from the same guy from the morning during our break time after two rounds of the whole play.
“Hello?”
“Odessa! It’s me, Mark. We planned to do the reunion at my house next Saturday night.”
“What about all our productions? How about the others?”
“I found out all of us are in New York now. And I just rented a house around the area. So we decided to do it here instead of gathering everyone back to L.A.”
“Hmmm, so we’ll have it on Saturday night next week?”
“Yep,”
“Hmmm, yeah, I guess that sounds good.”
“Great, well I’ll see you then.”
“Alright, bye,”
I put my cellphone down and spotted Robert approaching towards my direction.
“What’s up?”
“Great, they’re planning to have a reunion in two weeks.”
“Who`s they?”
“The cast of Wicked planned to have a reunion.”
“I see.”
“Well, shall we go on with The Point of No Return?”
“Yeah, we should.”
“Alright,” I stood up and went on the stage with him as Ma’am Lolita called the backup dancers.
Point of No Return was probably one of my most favorite parts of the musical. This scene was the part where the Phantom and Christine show their passion for one another. I’m just really thankful that I’m comfortable with Robert. The scene would be so difficult for me to do if I wasn’t comfortable with him. But I admit that I still wish Adam could’ve done Phantom’s part. The scene was quite daring. I mean, I’ve never had a guy getting to kiss me or touch me around my jaw up to my upper chest, down to the waist. Phantom is a very passionate character and that was exactly how he expressed his love. Not as daring as you think, but it was.
After days of successful production for The Phantom of the Opera, it was Saturday afternoon. I got ready to leave the hotel room at around 3:00pm to head for the house of Mike one of the actors from Wicked. He wanted me to be there earlier than the others since I was the only one available to help him out prepare the house.
I got a cab on front of the hotel and gave the driver the address. I wasn’t sure where Mike’s house was. But with the descriptions of the house and the landmarks given, I was able to know whether the driver was going on the right direction or not. We drove off the busy city for about half an hour and eventually got into a few streets with several houses as if in the Beverly Hills. I found the big, white house with windows and doors with brown frames and a small stoned path way right on front of the doorstep. Around the house was surrounded by grass and a garage next to the front yard. I paid the driver, got off the cab, and rang the doorbell of Mike’s house.
“Yeah, I’m coming!” I heard a voice behind the door. Mike opened the door and said, “Oh! Hey, it’s you, Odessa!” I smiled at him. “Come in! I was just about to do the marketing. Do you think you can watch over the house and fix the living room a bit? Oh, and if you don’t mind, the tables too?” He asked me, taking his car keys and a list of what to buy with him.
“Yeah, sure,”
“Well then. I’ll be going ahead.” He said, rushing to leave.
I close the door and walked towards the living room. It was wide with a cozy beige leathered settee a few distances away from the LCD TV with sound systems next to it and a glass coffee table between the settee and the TV. The walls and the floor were white and simple. But it was simple in an elegant way. The lights were fluorescent and even had two long lamps next to the TV. It was relaxing. Next to the settee was a side table with his white cordless phone.
Thinking the living room didn’t need to be fixed so much, I proceeded to the dining room which had a long rectangular table with about six seats. The dining table was glass and the chairs were white. There was chandelier on the center of the dining room and around the dining room was probably his mother or grandmother’s expensive dishes displayed on shelves. I went to get the placemats on one of the shelves to set the table up.
After looking around the house a bit for about fifteen minutes, I heard the phone ring. Not sure of what to do, I let the phone ring for about three times.
First ring, oh no. What to do? This isn’t even my house. Do I answer it? But what do I say? Maybe I’d rather not pick it up.
Second ring, but what if it was an important call? But what do I say if they ask me something? What am I supposed to do?
I found myself walking back and forth and pulling the end of my hair.
Third ring, argh! Whatever, I’m just going to answer it and it’s up to God to let me speak whatever.
“Hello?” I picked the white phone up.
“Hello?” A man’s voice answered. “Uhm, can I talk to Mark if he’s around?” The voice continued.
“Oh, Mark… he’s not here right now. He went to do some grocery shopping.”
“I see.” There was a silence for a minute. And the voice on the phone suddenly laughed. “Mark never told me he had a GIRLFRIEND!”
If the man on the phone had seen me, he would have seen me widen my eyes.
“N-No, I’m not.” I tried to stay poise and calm. But my insides were aggravated - maybe more annoyed in aggravation.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” The voice laughed again. Why did the voice sound so familiar? I felt like I knew the voice well. “I heard there was going to be a reunion for the cast in Wicked. You might be one of them involved?”
Wicked! My instincts were getting stronger and closer. Am I right about this?
“Yeah, I am. I was one of the backup. How do you know about this? Who…” I was cut off with the man on the phone with his laugh.
“I see! I’m glad you’re involved in it. Then you know me for sure. It’s me, Adam.”
ADAM? THE Adam Lambert? I widened my eyes even more. In shock, I didn’t speak for a moment.
“Hello? Are you still there?” I heard Adam ask me, and I got back to my senses just then.
“Oh… Adam! I’ve been seeing you on TV! Wait, do you remember me? It’s Dessa! Odessa Rochefort!” I suddenly felt myself raising my voice, astounding.
“Dessa! Of course I do! We talked for a long time during the thanksgiving party, didn’t we? I won’t forget that.” That was flattering, dear.
“Great! I’ve been seeing you on TV! How is it going in Idol? You amaze me every week.”
“Aw, thanks. Idol is great. It’s fun here. I met a lot of wonderful people. It’s a great experience.”
Great experience? Being on stage like that is sure a great experience. But is that the only reason to call it a great experience? How about the women you meet there? Have you met anyone your type? I was starting to get paranoid with his quotation on ‘great experience’.
“I see. That’s great to hear. I hope I can see you soon.”
“I hope so too. It’s hard to say when I can go back to New York. How long are you staying there?”
“For as long as the production goes on. But I guess we’re going back to L.A. in a few weeks.”
“Oh, great, if and when I make it to finals, then I can see you guys there and meet up sometimes.”
I was delighted to hear that. It lightened me more.
“I’ll look forward to that.” I said honestly and continued, “How can I contact you?”
“Oh, get my number from Mark and just leave me a message or whatever.”
“I got that.”
“Well, I know you’re busy. It seems quiet there. Isn’t the party starting yet?”
“No. I came here early to help him prepare since I’m the only one free to help him now.”
“Oh, that’s great. I’ll just probably call back a little bit later. I expected to talk to some of the cast members.”
“Alright,
“Well then if ever I can’t call back, just send my regards to all of them.”
“I’ll do that.”
“Okay, bye now, I still have a rehearsal.”
“Good luck. Bye.”
With that, we hung up. It was still unbelievable. I was able to talk to Adam FINALLY. It was hard to catch my breath. Adam never changed. He was still the same Adam I’ve always known.
Do I ever get to see him again? Is it possible?
I wondered as Mark came home with the groceries. He saw me spacing out and made him question me, “Odessa, are you okay?”
“Y-Yeah, I’m fine…”
“I’m glad to hear that. You were staring into space.” Mark laughed. “Come on, let’s get this thing started. We got not much time left.”
We headed to the kitchen and got the groceries out of the bag. I spotted a whole chicken as well.
“What are we going to do with this chicken?”
“Hmm, I was thinking to roast it or marinate it.”
“I prefer roasting it.”
“Right,”
With that, we prepared the sauce for the marinated chicken and prepared the chicken for roasting. I squeezed some lemon into the squeezer while Mark sliced some onions.
About an hour later, all the food to be served was ready. Then, I spotted a green bottle on the dining table.
“You bought wine?”
“Yeah, I heard it was the best wine in the winery I went to.” I nodded. Suddenly, I remembered to tell Mark about the phone call earlier. “By the way, Adam called earlier.”
“Oh, he did?” He replied in surprise.
“Yeah, he wanted to talk to you. He said he’d call back a little bit later.”
“Alright,”
We paused in silence for awhile, but I broke it off. “What’s his number…?”
“Huh?” He stared at me in confusion.
“You know…?”
“Adam’s number, you mean?”
I nodded, not saying anything. He laughed and left to get a paper and pen. When he came back, he started browsing through his cellphone and wrote on the paper.
“Here you go.” He handed me the phone when he was done.
“Thanks.” I looked at the paper and kept it in my pocket.
Minutes later, we heard the doorbell and people started coming in. With that, the reunion had begun. Even Julie Reiber came.
“Oh, Odessa, how has it been in Broadway?”
“It’s good. I enjoy acting as Christine Daae.” I admitted to the blonde.
“That’s good to hear. How you’re growing to be better and better is astounding.” Julie smiled. “Keep it up.” She said nicely.
Julie was actually nice. I honestly didn’t like her much. Maybe because I was just intimidated by her? Oh well. That doesn’t matter now. I got closer with her that night.
After a long night spending with everyone else from Wicked, Adam never called back. Maybe he was too busy? I decided to call him myself when I went back to the hotel.
I had a great time getting to spend it with the people from Wicked once more for the last time. And then I suddenly hoped that we can do it again with Adam next time. If we had the chance, that is.
Around 1:00am, I went back to my hotel room. I totally forgot about calling up Adam from all the exhaustion. Maybe I’ll just ring him tomorrow when I have the time. Did I dink too much wine? I didn’t remember a thing, but I fell asleep.