Fic: A Concert Day
title: A Concert Day
summary: A typical day, getting ready for a concert
rating: PG
a/n: I might eventually f-lock this one. I haven't quite made up my mind yet. It's a bit close to home, really, as I used to be an intern and about 98% of this fic is true.... Oh, and it was for the prompt A Day In The Life.
a/n2: I know I'm spamming, I'm sorry. >.< Just one more after this.
I find myself in the office first, as usual. It’s empty except for me, so I don’t sign in yet. A few minutes doesn’t affect my pay, and I don’t want to be here too much earlier than everyone else. A desk phone rings, but it’s Shana’s, so I don’t answer it. I hear footsteps outside; I spring up from my chair and sign in, glancing quickly at the clock just as the door opens.
It’s Shana, the manager, and Josh, another intern. I may always be here early, but it sometimes seems like he lives here. He grins at me and sidesteps a filing cabinet to sign in by reaching over my shoulder. I’m short and he’s tall, so it works, if I duck down a bit. I inhale as he leans in; he smells like springtime. Behind us, Shana answers the phone and waves us away. We don’t wait around for Billy; Josh leads me out of the office and we go to find Evan, the theatre’s Tech Director.
I heard loud singing from down the hall. “Dead puppies! Dead puppies! Dead puppies aren’t much fun!” Evan’s voice rings out through the lobby. The song is his new obsession and he has a different one nearly every week. But he always sings.
Josh and I follow the sound to the ticket window area, where we find Evan oiling the hinges on the Green Room door. We don’t announce ourselves; Evan has already started listing jobs for us without even turning to look.
“Josh, sweep the workshop; Jen, mop the stage; Billy, you’re with me in the catwalks.” Evan turns around when he’s finished. “Where’s Billy?”
“Not here yet,” Josh answers. I follow him to the workshop to get the mop. Josh takes up the broom, one of those huge, flat ones that janitors carry around. Josh must’ve already swept the stage last night if I’m supposed to be mopping it now.
The mop bucket’s noisy when I roll it across the stage, and besides the ghost light, everything’s dark. As I near the stage-right curtain, I see the control booth light flick on, and Billy and Evan inside. Evan slides open the window while Billy presumably turns on the light board. He brings up a spot that catches me on the shoulder; I step out of it.
“We’re going to refocus, so don’t turn on the work lights!” Evan shouts to me. I raise my hand in a thumbs-up and disappear backstage.
There’s a deep sink in the workshop, but the only place to fill up the rolling bucket is in the little shower by the dressing rooms. It takes for-ever. I sit down on the closed toilet lid while I wait.
Josh finishes up sweeping while I’m in the middle of the stage with the mop. He teasingly offers to do it for me, but he’s not serious; he hates to mop. He’s the best at it, though, and that’s not just because I don’t like it either: Josh is the tallest, taller even than Evan, and has the longest stride and reach. Billy and I are both the same height-short. For us, it takes a long time, but it’s a pretty mindless (if tiring) chore.
You have to go in stripes across the stage, back and forth filling up a single stripe, and then back and forth the opposite direction going back. Josh steps around the wet parts I’ve already finished and stands in near the middle of the stage.
Evan’s in the catwalks above the house, leaning over an instrument. He shouts to Billy to turn it on.
“Josh, go stage left!”
Josh does so, stepping forward and backward and sideways until he’s in the right position, and then Evan focuses the light on him so it makes a sharp circle. Evan then repeats the process with a few more of the instruments and Josh, since he can’t move, makes faces at me until I break out in giggles.
Over lunch in the Green Room, Josh starts up a game of poker with Evan and Billy. Shana has yet to emerge from the office, but she rarely joins us for lunch anyway. I sit the game out and position my chair so I can see Josh’s cards from over his shoulder. When I open my Lunchable, I give him the Andes mint that comes for dessert and he takes it without question.
I stay in the Green Room to watch the end of the card game: Billy wins, for once, and Evan says wistfully, “If I hadn’t lost, I would’ve won…” He then takes Billy and Josh with him and directs me to the office.
Shana’s on the phone when I get in, but she points to the computer and hands me a list to start typing up. I’m good at data entry; Josh has horrible spelling and Billy can’t touch-type. When I finish the contact list, I run a search for Josh’s name. His entry is blank but for his name and job title, so I search for his older sister, Miriam. Her address is in the database, but I wonder then if she still lives with Josh or has moved out on her own.
Shana sends me back to Evan on the stage. Billy is arranging chairs for tonight’s concert. I don’t see Josh or Evan right away, but the lights suddenly change to a subtle red; they’re both in the control both. I help Billy set up the chairs, following behind him aligning them properly whenever he does it wrong.
He leans close to me as he lifts a chair down from the stack and says, “I like your shampoo. It smells like apples.” I grin and mumble some sort of thanks.
When we finish up, Billy starts to set up the headset on stage right, leaving me to put away the remaining chairs. I push the cart past him to the storage room and one of the wheels turns the wrong direction when I cross the threshold, so it hits the wall and knocks off one of the chairs. I barely have time to cringe at the noise before Billy’s behind me, one hand on my arm and the other on the cart handle.
“Whoa, that was loud,” he says. “Are you alright.”
I nod and explain what happened. He helps me with the cart and we both go up to the control booth by way of the catwalks, which is more fun than just walking up the aisles. Evan’s alone in the booth now; he tells us Josh left a few minutes earlier. I wish I’d had a moment to say goodbye, but I suppose I’ll see him tomorrow anyway.
It’s now only an hour until the performers, players in a chronically-out-of-tune middle-school orchestra, arrive. Billy lives nearby, so he goes home for dinner. He invites me, but I brought something to eat from home. Evan and I go into the Green Room and play cards over dinner, which for me is a sandwich and for him is a teriyaki chicken bowl. Shana joins us for a few minutes, scarfing down a McDonald’s salad and an energy drink while keeping up a fast-paced conversation with Evan that randomly breaks out into show tunes.
Once she leaves again, Evan goes back to the cards. He does a magic trick for me, and then I do a better one for him. Without the boys around, Evan’s a bit quieter. He doesn’t get as annoyed with me as he does everyone else. We talk for a while about nothing in particular and he sings a few lines from a few more songs.
Billy returns after about half an hour and we play a couple of rounds of Blackjack and War while Evan shuts himself in the booth with his laptop. When the middle-schoolers start showing up, Billy darts off to the booth and leaves me to direct people to the stage. As quickly as I can get away, I hurry to stage right and put on the headset, but neither Billy nor Evan is on. I hit the call button.
“What?” Billy asks a moment later.
“I’m bored,” I say.
“Evan’s doing sound check, hold on.”
The kids finish their sound check. Billy takes down the house lights and the orchestra starts up. Apparently, nobody in the entire orchestra knows how to tune their instrument, and they sound awful. I hunch over in my chair and sigh.
“Entertain me,” I whisper into the headset.
Billy replies with a few lame jokes and then Evan joins in. Pretty soon I’m doubled over in my chair, trying to keep my laughter silent. Evan eventually starts commenting snidely on the orchestra’s quality. I can hear Billy laughing over Evan’s microphone. They’re lucky they don’t have to keep quiet up in the booth.
Over two hours later, the concert’s over and the stage is cleaned up again. Billy and I meet Evan back in the office to sign out. Billy brushes past me to do so first. I wait behind him and take my time checking the clock and writing the exact time in the spot next to my name. Below my careful, neat numbers is Josh’s hurried scribble. I smile at it and follow Billy out the door. He always waits for me. We chat idly on the sidewalk until my mom drives up to take me home, and then Billy waves and sets off down the street. As I leave the parking lot, I see Evan leaving through the workshop door, locking it behind him.
summary: A typical day, getting ready for a concert
rating: PG
a/n: I might eventually f-lock this one. I haven't quite made up my mind yet. It's a bit close to home, really, as I used to be an intern and about 98% of this fic is true.... Oh, and it was for the prompt A Day In The Life.
a/n2: I know I'm spamming, I'm sorry. >.< Just one more after this.
I find myself in the office first, as usual. It’s empty except for me, so I don’t sign in yet. A few minutes doesn’t affect my pay, and I don’t want to be here too much earlier than everyone else. A desk phone rings, but it’s Shana’s, so I don’t answer it. I hear footsteps outside; I spring up from my chair and sign in, glancing quickly at the clock just as the door opens.
It’s Shana, the manager, and Josh, another intern. I may always be here early, but it sometimes seems like he lives here. He grins at me and sidesteps a filing cabinet to sign in by reaching over my shoulder. I’m short and he’s tall, so it works, if I duck down a bit. I inhale as he leans in; he smells like springtime. Behind us, Shana answers the phone and waves us away. We don’t wait around for Billy; Josh leads me out of the office and we go to find Evan, the theatre’s Tech Director.
I heard loud singing from down the hall. “Dead puppies! Dead puppies! Dead puppies aren’t much fun!” Evan’s voice rings out through the lobby. The song is his new obsession and he has a different one nearly every week. But he always sings.
Josh and I follow the sound to the ticket window area, where we find Evan oiling the hinges on the Green Room door. We don’t announce ourselves; Evan has already started listing jobs for us without even turning to look.
“Josh, sweep the workshop; Jen, mop the stage; Billy, you’re with me in the catwalks.” Evan turns around when he’s finished. “Where’s Billy?”
“Not here yet,” Josh answers. I follow him to the workshop to get the mop. Josh takes up the broom, one of those huge, flat ones that janitors carry around. Josh must’ve already swept the stage last night if I’m supposed to be mopping it now.
The mop bucket’s noisy when I roll it across the stage, and besides the ghost light, everything’s dark. As I near the stage-right curtain, I see the control booth light flick on, and Billy and Evan inside. Evan slides open the window while Billy presumably turns on the light board. He brings up a spot that catches me on the shoulder; I step out of it.
“We’re going to refocus, so don’t turn on the work lights!” Evan shouts to me. I raise my hand in a thumbs-up and disappear backstage.
There’s a deep sink in the workshop, but the only place to fill up the rolling bucket is in the little shower by the dressing rooms. It takes for-ever. I sit down on the closed toilet lid while I wait.
Josh finishes up sweeping while I’m in the middle of the stage with the mop. He teasingly offers to do it for me, but he’s not serious; he hates to mop. He’s the best at it, though, and that’s not just because I don’t like it either: Josh is the tallest, taller even than Evan, and has the longest stride and reach. Billy and I are both the same height-short. For us, it takes a long time, but it’s a pretty mindless (if tiring) chore.
You have to go in stripes across the stage, back and forth filling up a single stripe, and then back and forth the opposite direction going back. Josh steps around the wet parts I’ve already finished and stands in near the middle of the stage.
Evan’s in the catwalks above the house, leaning over an instrument. He shouts to Billy to turn it on.
“Josh, go stage left!”
Josh does so, stepping forward and backward and sideways until he’s in the right position, and then Evan focuses the light on him so it makes a sharp circle. Evan then repeats the process with a few more of the instruments and Josh, since he can’t move, makes faces at me until I break out in giggles.
Over lunch in the Green Room, Josh starts up a game of poker with Evan and Billy. Shana has yet to emerge from the office, but she rarely joins us for lunch anyway. I sit the game out and position my chair so I can see Josh’s cards from over his shoulder. When I open my Lunchable, I give him the Andes mint that comes for dessert and he takes it without question.
I stay in the Green Room to watch the end of the card game: Billy wins, for once, and Evan says wistfully, “If I hadn’t lost, I would’ve won…” He then takes Billy and Josh with him and directs me to the office.
Shana’s on the phone when I get in, but she points to the computer and hands me a list to start typing up. I’m good at data entry; Josh has horrible spelling and Billy can’t touch-type. When I finish the contact list, I run a search for Josh’s name. His entry is blank but for his name and job title, so I search for his older sister, Miriam. Her address is in the database, but I wonder then if she still lives with Josh or has moved out on her own.
Shana sends me back to Evan on the stage. Billy is arranging chairs for tonight’s concert. I don’t see Josh or Evan right away, but the lights suddenly change to a subtle red; they’re both in the control both. I help Billy set up the chairs, following behind him aligning them properly whenever he does it wrong.
He leans close to me as he lifts a chair down from the stack and says, “I like your shampoo. It smells like apples.” I grin and mumble some sort of thanks.
When we finish up, Billy starts to set up the headset on stage right, leaving me to put away the remaining chairs. I push the cart past him to the storage room and one of the wheels turns the wrong direction when I cross the threshold, so it hits the wall and knocks off one of the chairs. I barely have time to cringe at the noise before Billy’s behind me, one hand on my arm and the other on the cart handle.
“Whoa, that was loud,” he says. “Are you alright.”
I nod and explain what happened. He helps me with the cart and we both go up to the control booth by way of the catwalks, which is more fun than just walking up the aisles. Evan’s alone in the booth now; he tells us Josh left a few minutes earlier. I wish I’d had a moment to say goodbye, but I suppose I’ll see him tomorrow anyway.
It’s now only an hour until the performers, players in a chronically-out-of-tune middle-school orchestra, arrive. Billy lives nearby, so he goes home for dinner. He invites me, but I brought something to eat from home. Evan and I go into the Green Room and play cards over dinner, which for me is a sandwich and for him is a teriyaki chicken bowl. Shana joins us for a few minutes, scarfing down a McDonald’s salad and an energy drink while keeping up a fast-paced conversation with Evan that randomly breaks out into show tunes.
Once she leaves again, Evan goes back to the cards. He does a magic trick for me, and then I do a better one for him. Without the boys around, Evan’s a bit quieter. He doesn’t get as annoyed with me as he does everyone else. We talk for a while about nothing in particular and he sings a few lines from a few more songs.
Billy returns after about half an hour and we play a couple of rounds of Blackjack and War while Evan shuts himself in the booth with his laptop. When the middle-schoolers start showing up, Billy darts off to the booth and leaves me to direct people to the stage. As quickly as I can get away, I hurry to stage right and put on the headset, but neither Billy nor Evan is on. I hit the call button.
“What?” Billy asks a moment later.
“I’m bored,” I say.
“Evan’s doing sound check, hold on.”
The kids finish their sound check. Billy takes down the house lights and the orchestra starts up. Apparently, nobody in the entire orchestra knows how to tune their instrument, and they sound awful. I hunch over in my chair and sigh.
“Entertain me,” I whisper into the headset.
Billy replies with a few lame jokes and then Evan joins in. Pretty soon I’m doubled over in my chair, trying to keep my laughter silent. Evan eventually starts commenting snidely on the orchestra’s quality. I can hear Billy laughing over Evan’s microphone. They’re lucky they don’t have to keep quiet up in the booth.
Over two hours later, the concert’s over and the stage is cleaned up again. Billy and I meet Evan back in the office to sign out. Billy brushes past me to do so first. I wait behind him and take my time checking the clock and writing the exact time in the spot next to my name. Below my careful, neat numbers is Josh’s hurried scribble. I smile at it and follow Billy out the door. He always waits for me. We chat idly on the sidewalk until my mom drives up to take me home, and then Billy waves and sets off down the street. As I leave the parking lot, I see Evan leaving through the workshop door, locking it behind him.