Theater Stand-In (FM/M)

[bfe8]

My phone suddenly buzzed across the library desk where I sat studying for my calculus midterm. Looking around to check that the librarian was out of earshot, I furtively picked up my phone and answered the call.

It was from Sarah, my girlfriend of two and a half years. It was the middle of the spring semester of our junior year.

“What’s up?” I whispered. “I’m in the library.”

“We need you right now! Someone called out sick and we have our publicity shots today. We need someone to stand in,” Sarah spoke desperately.

“What? No way, just find someone else!”

Sarah knew I was studying at the library, which was only a two minute walk from the theater.

“You don’t have to do anything! You just sit there for this scene! Please come, we like REALLY need you,” Sarah pleaded. “It’ll only take like 20 minutes.”

Sarah sounded really desperate so I caved. “Ok fine, I’m packing up now. But you owe me.”

Sarah had decided to take a theater class as she thought it would be a fun experience and an easy A. This semester they were preparing to perform a play with a weird sounding name. I didn’t remember exactly but it had to do with pee. Urineville or Urinetown or something.

I packed up my books and headed out of the library for the two minute walk to the theater. As I walked in the doors at the back of the theater, Sarah waved from the stage. She was among around 20 or so others who were dressed in shabby outfits that were somehow both colorful and drab at the same time. Sarah had mentioned to me they were taking pictures that day to promote the play.

Sarah was a strawberry blonde with pretty features and slim build. She was in a billowy white peasant dress adorned with flowers. It wasn’t the most flattering outfit, but she still looked great as always.

I dropped my backpack off in the front row of seats as Sarah motioned for me to come up onto the stage.

The drama teacher eyed me skeptically as I walked up. She was in her mid sixties, dressed in all black with gray curly hair, small spectacles, and a wiry body.

Sarah seemed to sense the drama teacher’s hesitation with me as a substitute for whatever role was needed. “Don’t worry, once we get him through makeup and wardrobe no one will notice.”

The drama teacher, still looking a bit doubtful, waved us through to the back of the stage.

The other students stood around and watched as we walked by, some giggling quietly.

“What is going on Sarah? What am I doing here? Who am I gonna be playing?”

“The person playing Hope called out sick today,” she explained. “We just need you to stand in. It’s just for our promo pictures. You don’t have to dance or say anything.”

This made me feel a bit better. I was no drama kid and had no experience in theater. I was soft spoken and a terrible dancer as well.

We had reached the makeup room, where Sarah hastily applied some to my face. I couldn’t tell what Sarah was doing to me as I was faced away from the mirror, though I did feel her apply something to my lips.

“Thank god you were clean shaven today,” Sarah said as she put on the finishing touches. She pulled me to my feet hurriedly. “Ok now put these on.”

Sarah dragged me to the other side of the dressing room where a red polka dot dress hung from a hanger. On the floor below, a pair of tan suede heels waited.

“What… no way, I’m not doing this! This is going to be seen by everyone!”

“Relax! Nobody will be able to tell, there’s not gonna be any up close shots,” Sarah tried to reassure me. “Plus we found a wig for you that should sell it even more!”

Reluctantly I took off my jeans and t-shirt and pulled the dress over my head. It was surprisingly light weight, with a v-neck and buttons down the front. Sarah helped me tie the matching sash behind my back, accentuating my waist. The fluttery sleeves of the dress hid my masculine shoulders and slight farmers tan.

I slipped on the heels, which were a bit tight on my toes, but I could still walk in them fine. I estimated them to be around 2 inches. They had a sturdy block heel which made it a bit easier as well.

“Oh wait, I almost forgot!” Sarah ran back to the makeup table and grabbed a brown wig that she placed over my head. “Perfect!”

I was beginning to realize an interesting trend. Since I had started dating Sarah, the number of times I had been crossdressed had increased exponentially. I wasn’t necessarily against it as it was fun (mostly) and seemed to make Sarah happy, but I almost felt like she was actively finding opportunities to allow me to explore my ‘feminine side’.

I looked over at my reflection in one of the full length mirrors along the wall and was pretty impressed at Sarah’s work. Seeing my reflection in the mirror calmed my nerves about being in the promotional photoshoot. I felt confident people wouldn’t be able to tell I wasn’t a girl from a distance.

I actually felt really pretty. The outfit looked and felt good, my makeup was done modestly, the wig looked (almost) real. I looked and felt innocent, like a girl that had just gotten out of church.

Sarah noticed me admiring myself in the mirror. “Let’s go! We don’t have much time before class is over!” I was done with classes for the day, but I knew Sarah had a quiz in the next period.

I was rushed out onto the stage, my heels clacking loudly, trying to keep up with Sarah in my tight shoes. Seeing us emerge from the dressing room, the other students moved into position. Some were watching me, smiling or giggling lightly. I ignored them as Sarah motioned for me to sit in a wooden chair, placed at the center of the stage.

“Let’s go, let’s go, there’s only ten minutes of class left!” the drama teacher called. “Who’s got the ropes?”

My eyes shot open as I looked up for Sarah for an explanation, but she had receded into the crowd.

I felt my hands being pulled behind me and they were tied quickly but effectively behind the chair back. There was a sense of urgency in the way I was being tied, with little regard to the tightness of the knots.

A couple more loops of rope were tied around my chest and arms, pinning me to the back of the chair.

At the same time another drama kid (a guy in a dirty outfit that looked like a pirate or something) tied my ankles together, securing them to one of the horizontal supports in the front of the chair. I was actually very securely tied and I couldn’t really move much.

It had all happened so quickly. I was looking around for Sarah but suddenly a hand was placed atop my wig and turned my head back to face forward towards the darkened audience seats. A black cloth was pulled into my mouth and tied behind my head.

“Okay looks good, now everyone in position!” The drama teacher yelled. The rest of the students crowded around me in the chair and made poses. The drama teacher began taking photos from the third or fourth row of audience seats.

“Hope, I need you to look scared!” The drama teacher called. I realized she was referring to me. “And close your knees together!”

I complied and did my best scared face as she took more photos.

“Okay now let’s try one with her up in the air.” Before I had time to react my entire chair was hoisted onto a few students’ shoulders. It was actually quite scary up there, as I realized I could be quite hurt if they dropped me.

After a few more pictures, I was lowered down to the stage. The drama teacher put away the camera and dismissed the class. “That’s a wrap, thank you all for your hard work. And thank you to our Hope for standing in! You did great.”

There were scattered claps as the students began dispersing to change back into their school outfits. I turned around to look for Sarah but she was nowhere to be found. I couldn’t look back or move too much as my body was still pinned to the chair. I was expecting someone to untie me and remove my cleave gag, but after a few minutes the stage emptied and fell quiet. Even the drama teacher was nowhere to be seen.

I became more agitated as I didn’t want to be forgotten alone on the stage tied up, gagged, and dressed like a girl.

I tried to call out through my cleave gag, but I couldn’t make much noise, as it was tied tightly. At this point the stage had cleared out, and I assumed everyone had left through a back stage door. I wriggled my body trying to find a knot to untie but couldn’t loosen anything. I was helpless.

I waited for Sarah, but after around 10 minutes, I realized she wouldn’t be coming back. She must have rushed off to her next class for her quiz and likely assumed someone else would release me.

It was close to the end of the day, so I prayed someone would come by before the doors locked for the night. Maybe a janitor but I didn’t know if they cleaned the theater regularly.

The theater was silent except for the occasional scraping of my wooden chair across the ground as I tried to loosen my bonds. I felt very alone and very exposed.


After an hour or so Sarah poked her nose through the double doors at the back of the theater. She had since changed out of her peasant dress and was now wearing a button up denim skirt and a maroon sweater. Upon seeing me still tied up on stage, she broke into a jog, her white sneakers squeaking slightly on the floor.

“Oh my gosh, you’re still here!”

I tried to yell at her through the gag for leaving me tied up but only incoherent noises came out. She ran up to the stage and began untying me.

“What the hell Sarah? You left me here for over an hour!!” I exploded as she removed the gag from my mouth.

“I’m so sorry! I asked Jared to untie you since I had to run off to take my quiz! I guess he forgot.”

Hearing that Sarah had in fact arranged for me to be released cooled me off a bit as I redirected my anger to Sarah’s useless classmate.

We walked back to the dressing room to retrieve my normal clothes.

“When you weren’t answering your phone I got worried and came back,” Sarah continued. “Thank god you did before they locked the doors for the night. You would have been stuck there all night!”

“Don’t remind me. I am never doing that shit again,” I muttered, somewhat thankful my experience hadn’t turned into a 12-hour ordeal.

As we neared the dressing room door, the lights in the theater abruptly shut off, leaving us in almost pitch blackness. A few scattered LED’s glowed from various AV equipment.

At the same time, the sounds of automatic door locks clicked all around us. The automatic door locks would let people out of the building, but not in. I realized that Sarah had been just in time.

This also meant that the door to the dressing room was locked for the night. We felt our way to the dressing room door handle to confirm, and my heart sank. I was in makeup, wearing a wig, a very girly dress, and heels with no change of clothes available. I realized I would have to walk home in this outfit and retrieve my clothes the next day.

“I would switch clothes with you if we were the same size,” Sarah offered unhelpfully.

The walk from the theater, which was in the center of campus, to my apartment was about half a mile. It was the end of the day, so throngs of students were out, returning to their dorms or apartments after a day of studying and classes.

As Sarah and I stepped out of the dark theater into the sunset glow, I paused to let my eyes adjust to the blinding light while mentally preparing myself for the trek. I knew my feet would be sore and blistered by the end of it but I didn’t care. I just hoped that nobody would recognize me along the way.

[Canuck100]

Great story!

[Fandango]

Another engaging and entertaining chapter. I find it intriguing how invested I become in your characters.

This one was also excellent, but it had me legitimately worried. I want to like Sarah. I enjoy her brashness and assertiveness. And I can forgive a good deal of her mischievousness and selfishness within the context of this relationship. But I'm not sure I was going to forgive her if she just flat out FORGOT about a captive.

Tormenting, teasing, and humiliating is one thing. But negligence over somebody that you're responsible for is a level of disrespect I wasn't prepared to tolerate. (No matter how hard Home Alone tries to whitewash it, I still think the McCallisters are terrible parents.) So I'm really glad that she did arrange for his release and did come looking for him. Now I just hate Jared and that useless drama professor. I hope Sarah feels a little guilty though and helps him study for that calculus midterm. They won't be able to afford $30 bit gags at shibari conventions if they flunk out of college. And if I'm him, I am going to razz her about her definition of "like twenty minutes" for years to come.

That being said, even if I am supposed to hate Sarah...I'll still read anything you're writing with these characters. I'm enjoying the ride. Great work.

[charliesmith]

Fantastic story. I enjoyed it.