Tucker to the Max

We had a belated party for the opening of Tucker’s show tonight and I knew we’d regret hiring him. The show was given a shorter run than the other ones we’ve got planned because of the debacle we’d had at the beginning that led to Tucker being hired in the first place. So, once the show closes (in three weeks) I will have a nice month-long vacation from running shows during the night and will only have to run rehearsals during the day. Sweet! But…back to what happened at the party…

Riley and Nick wanted to use Tucker’s reputation to bring in some donors to the theatre’s “friend circle” (basically a fancy name for people who donate to the company and there are different “tiers” of friends based on how much they donate and their names are printed in the back of our programs; at the end of the year we’ll have a lavish party thanking all of them for their money while simultaneously hoping they will give us more…ah the joys of networking) so they decided that a party to celebrate the opening of the show and inviting various donors to it would be a good idea. The party was actually at The Glass Penny and Steve used his connections as a publicist’s assistant to drum up even more talk about it. As a result, I asked him to come to the party as my date.

We arrived in style, he was wearing nice slacks and a baby blue button-down shirt while I was wearing a yellow summer dress and lime green heels I borrowed from Molly’s costume trunk. I have to say Ashley did a great job getting things set up for the party, we even had those rotating spotlights outside the theatre to drum up even more excitement. The party was after the night’s performance, so Steve sat in the booth as I called cues with Zeke next to me. He insisted it wasn’t boring for him but I think he found it a lot more interesting once I got him a head set so he could listen to everyone else I was in communication with in the wings and backstage areas. Once the show was done, though, it was time to party!

Ashley had arranged for a caterer and a bartender to provide refreshments to our guests all night as music played through the loud speakers. Banners with “Break a Leg!” and “Congrats on Opening!” were hung all over the lobby with shiny silver and gold balloons tastefully tied around various accents.

“This is so awesome, Faith, I’m glad you invited me.”

“Oh, please, Steve! I should be thanking you! You made sure more people came to this which means we might get more donors.”

“You know,” He said slyly, “I’d love to talk to Nick about potentially getting one of my boss’s clients to act in one of your shows.”

I looked at Steve with surprise. What he was proposing could be HUGE for our company. If we were able to get a well-known, or even an up-and-coming actor or actress to act in one of our plays it could drum up a huge amount of support for the company, not to mention what it would do for our reputation and potential for attracting even more well-known names.

“Are you serious?” I asked him.

“Yeah, my boss has several clients who have been interested in trying their hand at acting. A lot of them are more comedy-type actors who want to ‘prove’ themselves with a theatre role. It would be a win-win for everyone involved.”

“Oh my God, that sounds like an amazing opportunity!”

“It’ll take awhile to hammer out the details of any contracts so if it happened, it probably wouldn’t be until your next season and there will probably be an expectation that the show you choose gets approval from the actor’s team.”

This conversation took a turn to an area far outside of my expertise so I decided to bring Nick in on it.

“This sound great, to me, but let me go find Nick and put you two in touch. I think he’s going to jump at this opportunity, though.”

Steve nodded and picked up a champagne flute from a passing waiter’s tray as I left to go find Nick. I realized Tucker had arrived sometime between the start of the show and now because he hadn’t been present beforehand and he was completely under-dressed. He was wearing cargo shorts, his hipster glasses, and a short-sleeve button-down shirt that was only half-tucked in. I eyed him as I searched the room for Nick and was disgusted by his behavior. He was talking to an older couple who I knew had donated at least $2000 to our company and were close friends with Hazel and was telling a pretty vulgar story by the looks of it. He was holding his hands out in front of his chest as if he were holding breasts and the woman’s face was one of abject horror while her husband was offended. He grabbed his wife’s arm and they stormed off together.

I intercepted them before they reached the exit.

“Mr. Garcia, is everything okay?” I asked.

“No. As a matter of fact, we were just leaving. That director of yours just-”

“Sir, allow me to apologize for his behavior, theatre parties always get a little rambunctious. How can I make it up to you?”

“Well…” He looked at his wife uncertainly.

“Why don’t I get you guys in touch with Ashley? She’s our general manager and in charge of all front of house concerns, I’m sure she’d love to arrange a season pass for both of you free of charge.”

After a few seconds they nodded and I led them through the crowd to Ashley. She looked confused until I quickly whispered an explanation to her and then immediately took care of the rest.

“Can I get you both some champagne or a chocolate mousse tartlet?” I asked them as Ashley started up their paperwork.

They nodded distractedly as Ashley showed them the informational pamphlets we have about our ticket packages and I sent a waiter in their direction as I continued to search for Nick. I found him surveying the crowd on the second floor balcony with Riley and ran up the stairs. I realized I was being followed, though…by Tucker.

He was at the bottom of the stairs watching me.

“What are you doing?” I hissed and stopped halfway up the grand staircase.

He leaned to the side and I realized he was trying to look up my dress. I narrowed my yes and swept down the stairs toward him.

“You are SUCH a creep” I whispered angrily, “And you have clearly had too much to drink.”

Tucker waggled his eyebrows at me and leaned forward unsteadily to shrug nonchalantly. He smelled like a distillery and downed the rest of his drink. I took his glass away and stopped a waiter walking by right then.

“Please let all of the staff know not to allow him any more alcohol.” I said.

He nodded curtly, shot Tucker a glance, and briskly walked away when Tucker reached for one of the glasses on wine on his tray. Tucker narrowed his eyes angrily and rounded on me.

“Why couldn’t you just be cool, Faith?”

I huffed angrily, spun on my heel, and started up the staircase again with Tucker hot on my heels. By the time I reached the top of the staircase, he had gotten himself into a tizzy and was muttering a lot of really inappropriate things under his breath, all of which were directed at me. I felt my heart rate speed up and increased my pace to get to Nick and Riley as fast as I could but my shoes slowed me down. Tucker got past me and headed towards them. I saw him pull them both aside while giving me a look. I knew he was trying to get them on his side before I could get there.

“Riley, I need to speak with you. Right now.” I said slightly out of breath.

“It’s okay, Faith, Tucker told explained everything and he’ll be reimbursing us for the season pass that-”

“What he did violates the contract you had him sign.” I said.

“I didn’t fuck anyone.” Tucker said.

I looked at Nick and Riley who were silent.

“Do you really think that imitating breasts in front of a donor isn’t a form of sexual harassment? We’re lucky they walked away when they did.” I looked to both Riley and Nick expecting them to do something.

“Technically,” Riley said, “Tucker didn’t violate his contract. The contract we had him sign forbids sexual relationships with the cast and production crew. There’s nothing in it about anyone else affiliated with the theatre through other means, like a donor would be.”

I was absolutely livid that Riley and Nick weren’t willing to do anything about Tucker’s behavior. Nick pulled me aside.

“Look, I’ll call him a cab and make sure he leaves in an hour, okay?”

“In an hour? He’s already completely drunk. How many more donors do you want him to piss off tonight?”

“I’ll babysit him until he leaves.”

“Look, I have a friend who works for a publicist and he wants to talk to you about getting one of their clients hooked up to do a show with us next year. I can’t have you babysitting a drunk manchild while you network with him. It’s too good of an opportunity to let Tucker blow it.”

Nick’s eyebrows arched with interest and I pointed Steve out from the balcony, Steve waved at us.

“Okay, I’ll make sure to talk to him after I get Tucker into a cab.”

He pulled out his phone and started dialing a taxi company. Just then Riley and Tucker came over and Tucker was looking very apologetic. Riley looked at him expectantly.

“Faith I want to apologize to you for my behavior.” It was clear he didn’t mean it and was only saying it to appease Riley but I was backed into a corner.

If I didn’t accept his apology, it was unprofessional, but if I did accept his apology it gave off the air that I felt his behavior wasn’t as serious as it was. I set my jaw and looked at Riley’s face, he was watching me closely for my answer.

“I…apology accepted.” I said in defeat. How Tucker managed to weasel out of everything was beyond me.

“Now, let’s kiss and make up.” Tucker said coming towards me.

His mouth roved over mine as he pushed me up against the balcony railing. His tongue penetrated my mouth and one of his hands groped my breasts before Riley and Nick pulled him off of me. I stood up straight and wiped my mouth off when Nick came over to me.

“We’ll handle this, okay?”

I looked at him as he walked away to go help Riley handle Tucker and felt sick. I walked quickly down the stairs, through the lobby, and finally outside to a trash can by the parking lot where I promptly threw up. I had broken out in a cold sweat and my entire body was shaking. I sat down on the curb and took my shoes off before I realized I had tears running down my face. I was having trouble breathing and realized I was on the verge of having a panic attack. I tried to control my breathing when I heard two sets of footsteps coming towards me.

“Faith?” It was Steve and he had brought Molly with him, “I saw what happened, are you okay?” He sat next to me and tried to touch me but I recoiled from it reflexively.

“It’s okay.” Molly said as she sat down next to me, “Thanks for getting me, Steve, I’ll make sure she gets home.”

He nodded and hesitated on the curb before I nodded at him and he went back to the party. Honestly, I was so embarrassed and humiliated, the less people around, the better.

“Steve told me what he saw. Try to focus on your breathing. Do you want me to breath with you?”

I nodded and she held my hands and we breathed together for a few minutes before I stopped shaking and my heart rate slowed. She had pulled me back from going into a full-blown panic attack and I loved her for it.

“I want to go home.” I said quietly.

“I already called a cab, we’ll go home together.” She said, “They’ll never hire him for anything, again, Faith. You’ll never have to worry about him working here ever again.”

When I got home I immediately showered and changed but I could still feel him on me. I felt so many emotions. I felt violated, I felt pissed off that Nick and Riley allowed that to happen to me when I had warned them about Tucker so long ago, and I was angry that this happened at my job, in front of my co-workers and friends. Nick and Riley have promised me that Tucker will not be allowed to attend any performances or official events for the show from now until close which makes me feel a little better but all of this could have been avoided if they had just listened to me when I originally told them that Tucker’s behavior around female employees was a serious concern.

I sent Steve a text message apologizing for ditching him at the party and he was completely cool about it and told me he had an exciting talk with Nick that he thinks will lead to a meeting with his boss. So, at least something good came out of that mess of a party.