Episode 761: Applause

What? Adria responded via text. You saw that? You’re here? Are you stalking me?

Dustin frowned. He had questioned pretty much everything he’d done since Adria accused him of sexual harassment. Time and again, he’d drawn the same conclusion, that she was wrong, that he had not, and would not, do anything wrong.

Not stalking, he wrote back to her. Just checking out the competition.

That was all. Nothing shady, he told himself. No lines crossed. Adria was married. Sure, he considered her marriage a shortsighted decision that she’d made at far too young of an age, but Adria had made that decision and he wasn’t deliberately trying to mess with that. He just knew they could do great things together. He knew it.

He watched her on stage, seated far off to the side, while a few supporting players worked on a scene. She grabbed her bag and her script and stalked off into the wings, where he could no longer spy her. He doubted he’d hear any more from her, either.

Dustin shifted his focus back to the stage, where he figured it should be if he were telling the truth, if this really was more about the work than it was about his attraction to Adria. Then, to his surprise, she texted him again.

What did you think of the bits of rehearsal you saw?

Dustin thought for a moment. He knew it was an opportunity to earn some trust. It was no small thing for her to admit that his opinion still meant something to her.

Your director isn’t making the most of her best asset, he typed.

Meaning?

You.

He waited for a response from her, wondering if he’d made yet another wrong move with her, when finally, she typed back - what would you do with me?

It struck Dustin as one of the most loaded questions he had ever faced in his life, even though he doubted Adria had meant it that way; he knew she wanted the professional answer that had sprung into his mind, not the personal one.

Episode 762: To Be Where You Are