I Know You're Out There Somewhere by Joe Baumann

Author:Joe Baumann
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Deep Hearts YA
Published: 2022-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

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Her mother gobbles her up in a hug when she and Kyle find Mila backstage, her brother thrusting an unbelievable, oversized bouquet at her, fragrant with roses and baby’s breath. She sets it on her makeup vanity, knocking a hairbrush to the floor that Mila doesn’t bother to pick up.

“My baby girl,” her mother says, holding her tight. Mila can feel her heavy, glowing foundation smearing along the sleeve of her mother’s shirt. “I’m so proud of you.”

“You were great,” Kyle says. He smiles and she gives him a close once-over. Nothing seems amiss.

“Thanks. I messed up one of my monologues a bit.”

“You improvised!” her mother says with a laugh.

“Something like that.”

She accepts another motherly hug. Ashley passes by them, glowering in Mila’s direction at her messed-up makeup. It’s two o’clock, and there are hours until curtain for the second show, but the actors have been asked to keep their makeup on. The crew will come around for touch-ups later. Mila can tell she’s going to have to have hers entirely redone. She doesn’t care.

Then she catches sight of Curtis over her mother’s shoulder. He’s standing in a shadowy corner, and Mila can see the uncertainty: does he hide, or does he introduce himself? She unfurls herself from her mother’s embrace and waves toward him, beckoning him to come into the light. Her mother turns to look at what she’s pointing at, and Curtis is forced to step forward, extending a hand as Mila introduces Lindy.

For good measure, Mila adds, “And this is my brother, Kyle.”

Kyle mumbles out a clipped, “Hey.”

While her mother asks smarmy, pithy questions to Curtis, who answers them with quick wit and laughter, Mila thinks about her brother. Something shifts inside her, as though she’s standing atop tectonic plates that are rumbling to life: her musical, she realizes, isn’t about Curtis. It is about him, Kyle, Kyle Filburn, her brother, her kind brother, her—she can see it as he shuffles his feet, stuffs his hands in his pockets, looks around the bustling backstage—confused but confident and popular but lonely brother. Her mother offers a weak joke and Mila laughs and shakes her head but keeps her eye on Kyle, a glowing pinpoint of light in her periphery.

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