Authors Note: I meant to release this at Christmas time... Sorry it's a bit late. I should hopefully have more new chapters for my other stories out soon too.
*
"... Pasquier's use of controversial methods is likely what has kept him constrained to the semi-professional circuit because, once again, with a cast of mostly amateurs and spare-time thespians, he has put on a show that has outstripped its humble backroom, intimate environment. There are moments where one could truly forget they were not at the West End.
"OK, I will admit hyperbole, but for the price of a low-key production, we are delivered a compelling plot and a true chemistry between our lead roles. As I said at the start of this piece, the premise of a female teacher and her male student in a near-amateur production would have never caught my eye, but Pasquier's name drew me in. If it had not, I would never have had the true delight of witnessing performances by Samantha Phillips-Moore and Rob Ward, who truly sold me their forbidden romance.
"Hearing that Pasquier had included not one, but two, erotic scenes I postulated that he was trying to draw an audience; after all, sex sells, but I once again commend Phillips-Moore and Ward who pull off..."
"Yes, Sweetie?" prompted Sebastian's mother, as he abruptly stopped reading out loud the blog post.
Sebastian looked uncomfortably at his father then back to his phone, before responding to his mother, "Well, yeah, the reviewer just really likes your performance, well done Mum!"
She pressed no further, and Sebastian was glad; he and his father were proud of his mum, definitely, but there were quickly there became concerns when it was clear that Samantha would have to perform sex scenes on stage with another man. His father clearly showed some signs of jealousy but, and Sebastian understood this completely, the fact her opposite number would be playing a teenager character suggested a much younger guy would be cast and this seemed to bother him a whole lot more.
Sebastian was very much an unplanned pregnancy; his mother was a teenager when she had him and his father was a friend's older brother. Now that his father was in his early 40s and his mother in her mid-30s, the age-gap was pretty much a non-issue, but Sebastian wondered if it was one of the reasons why this play bothered his dad so much, even though they had both seen her act lovingly and even kiss other actors as part of other performances.
Sebastian found it strange to think that his mother would be pretending to be in a relationship with a guy who was likely to be close to his age, but at first it wasn't something that concerned him. However, that was before Rob had been cast. When it was just a theoretical concept it felt a little funny for Sebastian, but nothing he couldn't get over. When he heard that someone from his own class at school would be acting like he was having sex with Sebastian's mother, it became a whole lot less comfortable.
It wasn't just that it was a class mate of his, it was the fact it was Rob Ward. Of all the people, it just had to be him. Yes, it made sense; Rob had been the lead role for many school productions, and he had applied for drama school, and he, admittedly, had a few accolades to his name, but it still came like a punch to the gut for Sebastian when he found out. Rob was charismatic, funny, good-looking; it was no surprise he was such a performer, but he also had a heaped dose of arrogance and entitlement to go with it.
Sebastian put his phone down and returned pensively to his cereal. He thought about three months ago, when Rob was first given the part of Samantha's on-stage lover.
"Yo Seb!" called Rob, but Sebastian ignored him.
"Hey, Seb!" Rob called again, this time close enough that he reached out and squeezed Sebastian's shoulder, just a little too hard for comfort.
Sebastian pulled free and turned around before answering, "What do you want Rob?"
"Alright mate, no need to be so grumpy. We can find you a tampon if you need," replied Rob, quickly chuckling to himself.
"Just leave me alone if you're gonna be a dick," retorted Sebastian, feeling a twinge of embarrassment that his comeback sounded whinier than he had hoped.
"Fair enough," shrugged Rob, his larger, taller, imposing frame contrasting with the nonchalance of his tone.
He 'hmmm-ed' after a couple of seconds of staring down at Sebastian, then continued, "I just wanted to say congratulations your mum for being the star in a play."
"What?" asked Sebastian, his brow furrowed, "Why would you care about that? How do you know?"
"Oh yeah..." replied Rob, pretending to ponder, "You wouldn't know? Your mum and me, we're lovers?"
"What?"
"In the play, of course."
"No, piss off! You're not playing David?"
"Yup, we're David and Lisa," grinned Rob, "Though I think Sam and Rob sounds better. Either way... we'll be grinding and getting dirty on stage."
"Piss off, Rob!" shouted Sebastian, whacking his palm of his right hand against Rob's left pectoral.
There was a muffled thwacking noise as Sebastian tried to push his antagonist, but Rob barely had to take a step back to steady himself. As a small crowd of people turned to look at the pair, mostly drawn in by Sebastian's outcry, Rob grabbed Sebastian by the front of his shirt, and drew him in close.
Rob's free hand raised up to Sebastian's face level, which prompted Sebastian to flinch back, but instead, Rob just slapped his cheek, a couple of times, barely enough for it to hurt.
"I'll let that one go this one time, Seb," he said, in a faux-jovial tone, and released his grip, then stepped away from Sebastian with a grin on his face.
"...But just because me and you mum... we're like this..." he continued, raising his right hand up to show his index and middle fingers rightly crossed.
"Sebastian... are you ready to go?" asked his mother, snapping him out of his thoughts.
His mind returned to the breakfast table, where his cereal was now eaten, and his mother was already wearing her coat, ready to drive him to school.
Mother and son went to her car and Sebastian's mind began to wander again to the evening after Rob told him he would be in the same play as his mother.
Sebastian had been in his room when he heard the front door. He had been thinking about a way to talk to his mother about starring opposite Rob. It was a small performance; his mother did it more as a hobby than a career, as she had long given up trying to be a professional actress, primarily -- Sebastian did feel guilty about this -- because she had him at a young age and had to give up regular acting.
He came down the stairs and heard his parents having a heated discussion in the kitchen. He heard a few key words that gave it away they were speaking about the play and so he waited just around the corner from the kitchen and listened.
"Fine, I have admitted it, I know it's just acting, but I am bothered by you doing such a... well... a sex scene, in fact, two. Does it bother me it's with a teenager more than if it had been someone closer in age to you? Maybe. But the fact it's someone in our kid's class..."
"But Jeremy, honey, it is just a performance... I know this one is a little different from before but, please, this director is on his way up, and if I impress him then maybe I could get to be on a bigger stage and have a go at a serious performance."
"Trust the bloody French to have to throw in a sex scene in for no reason. Oh but zis ees art," replied his dad, with a weak laugh.
"Honey... It'll be fine..."
"I know, it's just that it's with a kid in Seb's school."
"What's up?" chimed in Sebastian, feigning ignorance, as he entered the kitchen.
His father was in a shirt and trousers; his outfit for work, and, guessing by her attire, he had clearly picked up Sebastian's mother on her way home from the gym. Samantha was dressed in skin-tight three-quarter length yoga pants and a cropped tank top that hugged the ample swell of her chest and exposed midriff up to just below her belly button.
At 37, she was younger than most, if not all, the mothers of Sebastian's classmates and she religiously attended the gym, so he accepted that with her relatively youthful and toned yet curvy figure she was going to be seen as the best-looking mum of his year. Combined with the fact she wasn't one to hide her well-maintained body by often, like now, wearing tastefully revealing clothes, Sebastian had accepted he would get a few jokes his way about his 'hot mum'. He had wondered on the way home that if his mum hadn't been so good-looking, would Rob have made such a big deal of getting to be her boyfriend within the play.
"Hi Sweetie," greeted his mother, "The play I'm in from November, they've chosen the guy who will play the male lead."
His mother paused, and Sebastian thought maybe now was the time to tell his parents about Rob's offensive behaviour.
He composed his thoughts as he prepared to speak, but his mother got there first, "It's actually a kid from your school, Robert Ward."
"Have you mentioned him before?" asked Jeremy to his son, "Now that you say his name again, it sounds familiar. Did you have a problem with him once or twice a few years back?"
Sebastian had let on to neither parent the full extent to which Rob bothered him, but his mother was far more aware than his father. Sebastian saw her look between him and his father with a level of discomfort, probably hoping he wouldn't lay into Rob too much and fuel his father's discontent further.
Sebastian still wanted his mother to give up this role but as he tried to say the words, he thought of what he overheard minutes ago, about how this particular performance was important to her, and instead he said, "Oh yeah, we had a few disagreements years ago, but its fine now. I hope... he works out well for you as a co-star."
He struggled over the words but he felt better after he said them; he felt like he had taken the mature stance and thought about his mum's wishes ahead of his own trivial arguments.
At least, that is how Sebastian felt at the time, back in the present, in the car, with three months of reflection, he wasn't sure anymore. Two to three times a week Rob would mock him about it, but always in a way that never quite pushed Sebastian too far. He'd show him lines from rehearsal where his mother would have to say something a little explicit, or maybe a scene prompt like 'David and Lisa kiss' but gave him very little that he could complain about that wouldn't sound like he was being petty.
The worst, as he expected was when they were rehearsing the sex scenes, but it wasn't for the reasons he imagined. He expected Rob to rub it in his face, to give him all the dirty details and to recount everything vividly... but he did the exact opposite.
He remembered back to around the third week of rehearsals; Sebastian was passing Rob in the corridor when Rob grabbed him and took him aside.
"So tonight is rehearsals," said Rob, abruptly.
"Yeah? I know... what's your point?" retorted Sebastian, trying to hide his irritation; he hated Rob knowing how much he got under his skin.
"We're rehearsing one of the scenes tonight..."
"Yeah that's how rehearsals work, I thought that's a simple enough concept, even for you..."
