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Chapter One – Just Like A Fairy Tale
I’ve always wanted to be a Drag Queen.
My first experience of the art of drag was accidental, mostly. I was small, and it was the night my brother, Connor, was born. My Dads were otherwise occupied with the whole birth thing and I was being babysat by my Dad’s twin, Enzo. We sat up on the couch awaiting the call to tell us both that Connor had arrived safe and well. I’d never seen the TV this late. We’d watched the news together than multiple comedy shows where the jokes went over my head.
Enzo left me to make some toast to get us through and suddenly there they were.
The screen was full of fierce and loud Queens. All of different shapes and sizes, different colours and creeds. All unapologetically themselves.
According to Enzo, zie had watched me for a few minutes. Smiling to zirself at how besotted I was at the screen. I’d barely acknowledged zir when zie passed me the toast.
The call came during the runway and I was livid Enzo was about to talk over this marvellous display on our screen, even if it meant I was getting a new baby brother. Enzo took the call out of the room and waited for the show to finish before telling me Connor had come into the world.
After that, my obsession just grew. I idolised any and all Queens I came to know. I adored the art, the commitment. The wigs, the clothes, the heels. I wanted to be in that world and every damn person knew it. I was Luca Madison-May and I loved Drag Queens.
I had never thought myself good enough. Not really, but then I saw it on the notice board at Rainbow Connection.
HIRING DRAG ARTIST at THE ROSE QUARTET
MUST BE 18+
NO PIOR EXPERIENCE NEEDED
And I went for it. I decided I had to. Opportunities like these did not come around often enough for me to look my dream in the face and think later. I took the poster.
It was only afterwards I found out it was my uncle Oakley who’d put it there.
And now I was auditioning.
I was stood on a stage, in a club. All the lights were on but it wasn’t any less exquisite. The tables were dressed in rose red cloths and individual lamps. The stage itself had little individual bulbs along the perimeter and a big LED screen.
There were two men sat in front of me.
Both were more sophisticated. The one who’d spoke to me the most was beautiful, he wore half rimmed glasses, his hair styled and white. His eyes so kind.
The other man was older than me, too, but younger than the first. He carried a little more weight, his hair blonde. He wore a floral shirt, and he wore it well.
They both seemed to like my song.
“Luca?” the first man asked. I nodded slowly, confirming my name. “I like Luca,” he told the man next to him, who instantly laughed.
“Jason, you like any Queen with a pretty face.”
Jason looked at me, crinkling his nose. “That’s true and you are a very beautiful Queen.”
“Thank you,” I replied as I played with the microphone because that had embarrassed me.
“Still modest, huh, we’ll knock that out of you,” the other man said.
I laughed, “Wait, am I hired?”
They conferred with their eyes.
“Luca, have you done drag before?” Jason asked. I looked down at my feet. “No?” I shook my head slowly. “That’s okay. Jesse had never done drag before either.”
“And now I’m the Queen,” he intoned.
Jason laughed. “Was…”
“Was the Queen,” he grumbled then stood from where he was sat and climbed up onto the stage walking towards me. He lifted my chin. His eyes examining me a quiet smile on his face.
“I stood on this stage at eighteen and told George, a man who you will learn all about, that I wanted to do Drag.” He looked at Jason then laughed, “I had never set foot in a drag club before. I had never even thought about it, but I had taken a job as a lighting technician up there.” He pointed towards the lighting box. “I saw the Queens. I decided I wanted to be one of them. Simple as.”
“Just like that?” I asked.
“Just like that. It takes work, yes, but if you’re willing, we can help you become the Queen you wish to be. Do you have a name?”
“Yes,” I replied without thinking then I sighed.
“It is?” Jason asked.
“A bit pretentious,” I said.
He laughed. “I’m HRH Queen Jasmine…” he tilted his head. “I wasn’t very creative at seventeen, Jason, Jasmine. Poor really but whatever.” He waved towards Jesse.
“HRH Queen Daisy,” he said as he curtsied.
I curtsied back as if it were a reflex. “Beau,” I said quietly then shook my head. “It was stupid. I was playing about with names and Beau just sounded good, I guess.”
“And it’s accurate,” Jason said nodding. I laughed as I tugged on my fingers.
“Beau, I like that,” Jesse agreed. “You’re hired, Beau.”
“Is it just Beau?” Jason asked. “I feel like you should have a last name.”
“My last name is Madison-May.”
“First of all, I love that,” Jesse said.
“But you can’t have Madison.”
“Oh no, definitely not. May though, Beau May.” Jesse said.
“Beau May,” Jason repeated as I grinned. We all turned as laughter came through the door.
“Speak of the Princess,” Jesse said in a laugh as two boys came through the door. One was tall, very tall, blonde, with tortoise shell glasses. He, I would imagine, would have an incredible hourglass figure when in drag. The second was shorter, his hair and eyes dark. He was petite, almost feminine although I guess he’d take that as a compliment, he also wore glasses, rounded and large.
“I present our current Queen,” Jason said waving his arm with a flourish. “HRH Queen Queenie…”
“Queen Queenie,” I repeated.
The taller of the two laughed. “Yeah, that so doesn’t work,” he said, his Scottish accent wrapping around his vowels. “Maybe just HRH Queenie. I think I prefer that.”
“Queenie is a musical theatre Queen,” Jason informed me, “and Princess Madison.”
“Madison,” I repeated as the petite boy waved.
“Queenie, Madison, meet Beau, our new Queen.”
“Oh,” they chorused.
“Beau,” Madison replied, as I looked away.
“You’re only a wee Queen, aren’t you? How old are you?” Queenie asked as he walked towards the stage, stepping up onto it in a singular fluid movement. Jesse groaned beside me, muttering something about how he wished he was still that young.
“Nineteen,” I answered, although I didn’t sound all too sure.
Queenie laughed looking over his shoulder. “Still the baby Jackson.”
“Reed,” Queenie reintroduced himself.
I smiled. “Luca. When they say you’re the Queen, what do they quite mean by that?”
“Ah…” he shrugged as if he was coy. “It’s just a title mostly. We’re currently in Queenie’s reign. Before that was Daisy’s,” he nodded vaguely towards Jesse. “Before Daisy, was Cherry Blossom’s, Jasmine’s Crystal’s… Rose’s…”
“Of the Rose Quartet, huh.” I said, then smiled. “So you’re the headline.”
“He’s the headline,” Jackson confirmed.
“But Queen sounds far more fancy,” Reed pouted; I laughed before looking away when I caught Jackson grinning at me.
“Our Queens will help you create Beau.” Jason told me from where he was stood at the end of the runway, his hands flat on the stage, he wasn’t making any attempt to join us up here. “They’ll teach you how to pluck, tuck…”
“I’ve been learning how to tuck since I was thirteen,” I informed him totally unnecessarily. I looked down as I felt my cheeks flush. He laughed it was soft.
“Queen after my own heart,” he said. “You’ll fit in just fine Luca and as I say, our Queens will help you out. They’re always up to lend a helping hand.” He rose an eyebrow at them, Reed laughed.
“Jackson can teach you how to walk in heels,” he informed me as he walked down the stage. I turned watching as he walked towards Jesse who’d sat himself at a piano.
“Jackson’s good at that,” Jesse agreed as Jackson walked pass me, his cheeks pink.
“Or have you been doing that since you were thirteen, too?” Jason asked. I scoffed at him, he rose an eyebrow at me.
“Please, I was nine.”
He laughed behind me as I joined Jackson and Reed at the piano.
“Let’s do some scales, Queens.”
“You’re not working tonight,” Jason interjected quickly, “don’t worry, baby, we’re not just going to throw you out on the stage.”
“I just want to see how you sound together,” Jesse told me.
My Pa picked me up from the club, as he’d offered his services to me when I was halfway out the door. I’d completely forgotten until my phone vibrated in my pocket asking me when I would be ready for my taxi.
Jason had excused me when he had arrived, telling me he wanted me in on Wednesday for my first lesson.
I’d agreed without asking for any clarification, because I didn’t need clarification. In fact, Jason could probably tell me to do anything right now and I’d bend over.
Pa looked stricken I didn’t share the afternoons events with him the moment I got into the car.
“Luca,” he gasped.
“Is Oakley visiting?” I asked, smirking at him.
“Not tonight, he and Sky have date night.”
“That’s a shame,” I said softly.
“He’ll be round Dad’s tomorrow.”
I nodded turning to look out of the window. He hadn’t pulled away yet so I could still see the emblem of the rose that hung on a wooden plaque above the staircase leading down towards the club.
“Good.” I nodded then bit my lip so I wouldn’t laugh too loud. “I must thank him; you know for getting me a job.”
“Shut up.”
I turned, “I will not.”
He laughed a squawk of a sound before wrapping his arms around me. “I am so proud of you; oh, you have no idea, Luca,” he said straight into my ear. “What do we need to get you? What do you need?”
“I…” I laughed shaking my head, “I don’t know. Jason, my boss,” we gasped excitedly at the same time, “said he wants me in on Wednesday for my first lesson, so I guess I’ll find out then.”
“What’s your first lesson?”
I shrugged back at him; he mirrored me almost perfectly.
“Oh, just wait until you tell your dad, and my Pa and…”
“I’ll tell them tomorrow,” I told him. “Grandad and Grandpa, I mean. I’ll tell Dad tonight.”
“We can get pizza,” Pa said enthusiastically. “From that place where the gluten free base isn’t too bad, deal?”
I nodded. “Deal.”
“Because we’re celebrating, Luca.”
I laughed as he turned the engine on and pulled away from the club.
He didn’t even look at me as he took his hand from the gearstick and onto my knee. Squeezing gently before shaking my leg.
“So proud,” he whispered gently whilst checking his mirrors.
♕
Just Like a Fairy Tale – Cameron James
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