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Let the record show that being a part of the student arts committee was not in the plans of either Zoe or Connor Murphy.
When their mom had first told them they were being forced to apply, there were vehement protests from both siblings, claiming that Zoe had too much to do with jazz band and Connor would be utterly useless at events. Cynthia had backlashed by saying that Zoe needed more friends other than school friends and Connor had never let his condition get in the way of anything he’d done for his own enjoyment.
They were both disgruntled with the concept until they walked in the doors for their first meeting and met the illustrious Alana Beck, a councilmate of theirs. Zoe was immediately smitten by her (“she actually knows how to get her shit together, Connor!”) and went out of her way to make her less lonely. Alana was entranced with Zoe’s carefree attitude and how she always made sure to embrace every little thing in life. Connor knew he had to stay when he saw how much Zoe cared about Alana although he claimed it was because he didn’t want to get in trouble with his mom.
In their first meeting, Connor sat next to the boy in the blue polo who nervously explained that it was his first meeting too- he joined after his boyfriend convinced him it was a “lot of fun” and that he’d have a better resume because of it. He didn’t really care about that, he told Connor, he really just wanted to be around his boyfriend more. Connor took a liking to him- Evan Hansen, was his name, and they became fast friends- it hit Connor quickly. He had a friend. Guess his mom was right.
Evan’s boyfriend, however, was a different story. Jared Kleinman was an eccentric, talkative, and brash young man who kept making jokes at inappropriate times. It took weeks for Connor and Jared to warm up to each other- but it’s not like Connor could’ve avoided him, because he, Jared, Evan, Zoe, and Alana were literally the only five members of the committee. Jared explained that he and Alana had been the only members for a while, and that they needed more people because with only two members there were no tiebreakers so they didn’t get to help with any decisions.
With only five members, they actually became a pretty tight-knit group of friends, and whether they were doing face painting at events, dressing like Disney characters, or putting together an event, there was bound to be something weird yet hilarious happening.
Zoe fumbled with the keys as she unlocked and opened the door to the arts building that afternoon, leaving it open so Connor could trail in after her, dragging a cooler behind him.
“Go ahead and put that in the kitchen, Evan and I will deal with it later.” Zoe said.
As Connor opened the door to the kitchen and placed the cooler inside, he looked up at his sister.
“Now, remind me,” he asked as they walked down the hallway toward the auditorium, “It’s three in the afternoon. We don’t have to be here for setup until five. Why are we here?”
“You know the stage right dressing room backstage right?”
“Yeah.”
“And how there’s a door in that room with a stairway behind it that leads to another locked door that has insulation and wood and cardboard and all sorts of other crap strewn everywhere and it’s totally haunted?”
“How could I not?”
“I’m cleaning all that shit out today.”
Connor gasped. “Zoe, you can’t clean out the haunted staircase, then it won’t be haunted anymore!”
“Sorry Connor, I have to!” Zoe relented, unlocking the auditorium door.
“Says who?”
But he didn’t get an answer, as Zoe promptly walked in and shut the door behind her, locking Connor out.
“You do realize that you’re on your own if the stairway ghost decides to kill you right? There’s no one else here?”
Connor sat down in the middle of the open space in between the hallway and the auditorium entrance. Being the only one in the room made things quieter after he’d shut up. The only light was coming from the yellow bulbs in the older lights in the sides, making the entire room look warm and inviting and…
Connor was out within a few seconds.
///
Zoe practically bolted through the rows of seats in the auditorium and raced up to the stage, pushing past the curtain and slowly opening up the door to the stage right room.
The room looked pretty normal, like one might use it as a dance studio or a break room, with windows adorning almost the entirety of the two outdoor facing walls.
But this room was not what Zoe was here for.
On the wall closest to the stage, there was a brown door that Zoe excitedly opened to see her girlfriend sitting on the cluttered steps, smiling up at her.
“It’s about time you got here!” Alana smirked.
“Sorry, but you’re actually early.”
“I know,” Alana giggled, “I’m very punctual. I was secretly hoping you would be too.”
Zoe tossed her hair back, sitting next to Alana. “What, you think two hours isn’t long enough to hang out?”
“We never get to be alone Zo, I like to have all the time I can get with you.” Alana said, pulling Zoe into her arms.
“Me too, me too… but now no one’s here. Just us.” Zoe replied, sitting up and pressing her lips onto Alana’s.
Alana reacted by putting her arms around Zoe’s shoulders and pressing their bodies closer together, taking in the heat they were creating. Zoe pulled back and rested her forehead against Alana’s while they breathed, looking each other in the eyes.
“Are you sure there’s no one else here? Is this okay to do now?” Alana asked.
Zoe smirked. “The only other person in this building is Connor. And I left him outside the auditorium in the quiet, he’ll be asleep in seconds.There’s nothing to worry about.” she smiled, running her fingers through Alana’s hair and kissing her again.
///
Connor was, in fact, not the only person in the building. He actually had no idea what was going on right above him.
In the light booth, that was actually lacking a lights and sound panel, Jared had Evan pinned against the wall, their lips colliding in sloppy mess furiously.
They could not have gotten more handsy. Evan was running his fingers through Jared’s hair and Jared’s hands were slipped up underneath Evan’s shirt, running all over his back.
Well, that was, until they heard the voices of the Murphy siblings.
“Down!” Jared whisper-yelled, pulling Evan to the floor, waiting for Zoe to pound past them and walk into wherever she was going.
After a few good moments of silence, Jared turned over and held his head in his hands. “What are they doing?! No one’s supposed to be here early.”
“We’re here early, Jared.”
“Yeah, I know. Next thing you know we’re going to get up here to have alone time without our parents sneaking and Connor’s gonna be sleeping in here!”
“Well he can’t really help that, he has a condition… and by ‘alone time’ do you mean ‘makeout time’ cause that’s kinda all we do up here… not that I’m complaining!”
Jared giggled and nodded. “Yeah of course you wouldn’t complain, now you’re finally getting action instead of relying on porn.”
Evan blushed and pushed Jared in the arm. “Shut up.”
“I’ll do you one better.” Jared said, pulling Evan in by the shirt and kissing him again.
///
Zoe wrapped her legs around Alana’s waist as they sat, giggling and letting Alana pet her hair and kiss on her neck.
///
Jared was now lying on the floor with Evan on top of him, pawing at each other’s shirts and kissing at whatever bare skin they could see without having to take each other’s clothes off.
///
Connor remained on the floor sleeping, twitching as a piece of hair fell right across his nose but not unconsciously moving to do anything because the arm he wasn’t laying on had gone into cataplexy.
///
Evan and Jared slowly descended from the light booth to the entryway to the auditorium. Their hair (and subsequently Jared’s glasses) was disheveled and their overshirts had now become entirely unbuttoned. Actually, Evan was pretty sure he was wearing Jared’s shirt, but he couldn’t look down while his head was still spinning. They looked down at the black-clothed heap on the floor in front of them and both let out a breath.
“Thank goodness. Let’s go get changed before we wake him up.” Jared said, taking Evan by the hand and pulling him into the men’s restroom.
///
Zoe and Alana emerged from the auditorium just as Jared and Evan returned to wake Connor up. Evan looked up.
“Alana… you weren’t here when we-” Alana and Zoe cut Evan off with a guilty yet funny look that just made Evan laugh. “Oh… you guys too, huh?”
“Why else would we have gotten here early? It’s not like we needed any particular distractions for anyone…” Alana said, pointing at Connor’s sleeping form in front of them.
“Okay, we actually have work to do. Zoe, I’m leaving this situation to you. Come on Evan.” Jared stood up and pulled Evan toward the kitchen.
Alana stood up and dusted her pants off, hopping over Connor and walking in the same direction. “Good luck Zoe!” she said cheerfully, leaving Zoe to wake her brother up.