Tone Deaf [Cleo]

[Deleted]

The scuffing noise of Charlie’s boots echoed through the halls as he dragged his feet as he walked, leaving small black marks on the the linoleum, unaware of the mess he was making. Even if he knew, he would apathetically acknowledge that someone else would have to clean it up, too absorbed in his own troubles to care.

A laptop was tucked under one arm, and his other carried a cup of coffee. It’s been an hour since his last class; yet, when he tried to study in his room, the silence drove him mad. So, he decided to relocate to the student lounge, where hopefully the background noise would help him focus.

As he approached the room, however, he begun to hear the harmonious melody of two distant voices singing a duet that quickly transformed into dialogue. Charlie peered into the room to see television playing an unfamiliar film, but to his aghast it was distinguishably a musical. He audibly groaned, but perked up to see a familiar face watching it.

Walking inside, he set his laptop and coffee aside and catapulted himself from the back of one of the couches facing the tv to the front, landing on its soft cushions and loudly creaking the coiled wires inside. He grinned at the girl and said, “Really, Cleo? A musical?”

[Cleo Warren]

Cleo had finally finally finished all of her homework. She’d been working on an essay for the better part of the morning, only taking a break to go to class and eat lunch. Junior English was always keeping her busy this year. Although, she supposed she’d rather write an essay than do anything involving Science or Math.

But now she was done, left to her own devices, free to do whatever she pleased. So once she printed out her essay and set it aside on her desk, she ambled down to the lounge to see who was around.

Unfortunately…no one was around. So Cleo just plopped herself down on the couch, taking up the remote and flipping through the channels. She supposed if she couldn’t find anything she could just go back upstairs and watch something on her laptop.

But as she flipped into some of the higher channels, she saw a familiar scene, followed by a tune she knew all too well. She suppressed a squeal of delight, instead setting the remote down. Les Mis was already about halfway through, which meant there was probably another hour and a half left to the movie since it was so God damn long.

It was one of Cleo’s favorites though. It was sooooo sad, but soooo good. She still thought that Hugh Jackman had been cheated out of his Oscar for this movie.

She heard footsteps coming up behind her as another student entered the lounge, but Cleo didn’t bother to turn around, too engrossed in Aaron Tviet and Eddie Redmayne’s duet. She had no choice but to look over though, as the student catapulted themselves over the couch next to her and addressed her by name.

Cleo scoffed in mock offense. “What do you mean, really?” Clearly, Charlie didn’t appreciate how amazing this movie was. “This is one of Hugh Jackman’s best movies.” That opinion would probably cause a lot of argument, but it was definitely better than the X-Men Series.

[Deleted]

Ah, Les Misérables, he should have known. After the movie came out, his two little sisters would sing its numbers at the top of their lungs day and night. It was always a joy to wake up in the morning to an off-key renditions of “On My Own”. And when he finally got them to stop, he received a lecture from his mom for “discouraging their creativity during their tender formative years.” After months of this torture, the charm of the film wore off… but, then came Frozen.

He thought he’d seen the last of Jean Vaijean, but even after his far too long death scene, his old foe has come back to haunt him. And, he obviously wasn't Hugh Jackman’s best role, as Charlie would be sure to correct his wayward friend.

“First of all, just no,” Charlie smirked as he continued, “He spends half the movie looking like an old tramp, and I can tell you, from first-hand experience, the only reason anyone sees a Hugh Jackman movie is the scene where he looks hot with his shirt off. So, by that standard, obviously not even close to one of his best films.”

He stretched out his hand to give the correct order on three of his fingers, as he listed, “Van Helsing, Real Steel, and all the X-Men movies, in that order. Kills vampires, fights with robots, and has a metal endoskeleton with a pair of claws to match. And, best of all, in none of those does he sing.”

[Cleo Warren]

Cleo rolled her eyes, “You sound like my brother.” Cass had always gone on and on and on about Van Helsing and what a great movie it was. Admittedly, Cleo had never seen it, but the premise of the entire thing seemed a bit laughable. She loved horror movies, but knocking off Stoker’s and Shelley’s classic novels like that seemed a bit cheap. Needless to say, her literature-fanatic parents had banned the movie from their household, much to her brother’s dismay.

“And it’s definitely the most acclaimed, regardless of your poor movie preferences.” Cleo teased. “You also can’t deny that star-studded cast.” Anne Hathaway was beautiful, despite her short-lived performance, Eddie Redmayne was fucking adorable, and Samantha Barks was on point, as always. Cleo had even been pleasantly surprised by Russell Crowe’s performance.

However, everyone knew the movie’s real gem was Aaron Tviet, since that man practically hailed from the heavens. She’d never forget when he signed her Wicked playbill on her tenth birthday.

“And besides, Hugh Jackman was bred into Broadway way before he started ripping his shirt off to play Wolverine.” She said, with a smirk. She’d seen the X-Men movies, all of them except for First Class. They were good, some better than others, but not as amazing as Les Mis. However, even the movie paled in comparison to the live show.

[Deleted]

“Well, that’s where you're wrong, because Hugh Jackman wasn’t bred like some Australian cattle. He was modeled by the hands of gods and placed on this world as an example for us mere mortals.” Charlie snickered as he imagined the man emerging from a clamshell Birth of Venus style, with long hair flying in the background. It was a disturbing thought; yet, also oddly enticing.

He looked back at the television, barely a scene has passed since he walked in. He forgot how long this damn film was; although, this was the first time he was conscious during this particular scene. He learned early on that Disney movies and musicals made good opportunities for naps, his sisters too immersed in the film to annoy him.

“I concede that they are very good actors,” he admitted. “Yet, I can only enjoy the quality of their acting on mute. I like music. I like movies. I just don’t like when they mix. It just feels awkward. Like, no one goes up to someone and starts singing their feelings out; it would be weird.” He got so much secondhand embarrassment from musicals that sometimes it was sometimes hard to watch. Just imagining someone serenading him made shivers go up his spine, and not in the good way either.

“And perhaps if they spent a little more time talking and little less singing, their lives might be less miserable,” he suggested, raising his eyebrows as a playful challenge.

[Cleo Warren]

Cleo wrinkled her nose, “Regardless…” She said, waving the technicalities off. “Wolverine might be his more popular role, but he was on the stage before someone even thought to make that a movie.”

She glanced at the television as he did, the duet between Eddie Redmayne and Aaron Tviet finally finishing up before giving way to more singing. She would give it to him that this particular musical could probably tone it down the singing a bit. The dialogue was basically nonexistent and she would agree that some of the conversation definitely didn’t need to be sung.

But after watching it like 25 times, that didn’t really bother her anymore.

“Alright, I think you’ve been watching too much High School Musical.” She laughed. “It’s not awkward. Have you even watched the full movie?” Cleo shook her head. It was supposed to be emotional and passionate. “Maybe if you saw it live on stage you’d understand.” She mused out loud. Technically she didn’t know if he’d seen the live performance. She just assumed that since he had such a distaste for musicals that he wouldn't go out of his way to see it on Broadway.

She rolled her eyes with a scoff at his next comment. “Har har you’re so clever.” She playfully jabbed him in the side with her elbow as she snatched up the remote. “So since you’re so cynical towards my movie choices, what did you come in here to watch?” Not that she was definitely going to change the channel or anything. Maybe she would, but only if he proposed something more interesting than a movie she’d already seen several times.

[Deleted]

“I was always more of a Glee kind of a guy, or Gleek if you will,” he stretched his arms along the back of the couch and winked. “I’m a sucker for a diverse cast.” The sarcasm was practically oozing, and Charlie didn’t both disguising the idiotic grin that appeared on his face as he stifled a laugh. “And, I’m guessing that the live version is longer? Yeah, I’ll pass then,” He added. Two and half hours was long enough for him, thank you very much. Besides if it was live then he’d have to look the actors straight in the eye as they sung, and he might literally die from the mortification. That would be a trainwreck he’d rather not experience.

He clutched his side as she jabbed him gently, faking a grunt of pain and cringing, all while wearing the same absurd grin. He muted his antics to answer, “Anything on Syfy. Terrible acting by relatively unknown white guys on spaceships. A recipe for disaster, you might think. And yet, I’m addicted.” Addicted was putting it lightly. He could spend hours binge watching Defiance or Eureka alone in his room. And that was impressive for Charlie who struggled to sit still in class for an hour or spent even a few minutes in silent study.

And on the subject of studying, that was why he came wasn’t it? Both his laptop and coffee laid abandoned on a nearby table, but he shrugged it off. He’d get to it eventually.

“I’m also a dedicated watcher of the Home and Garden Channel,” he added light-heartedly, nudging Cleo back.

[Cleo Warren]

The play was longer, but only a little bit. And then they had to figure in the intermission. Cleo could probably sit in the theatre for hours though, depending on the play. There were a few plays that her parents took her to that just simply dragged on and on and she simply couldn’t wait for the curtain to fall. However, most of them were incredibly well done.

Cleo scoffed, “We’ll see what’s on Syfy.” Cleo didn’t normally like the science fiction genre. She’s never been a fan of Star Trek or Star Wars, the whole concept of those space age movies and anything that was remotely similar, just seemed stupid and not even entertaining. She supposed to special effects could be cool, but for the most part that whole genre deserved a hard pass.

But sometimes the Syfy channel had a good slasher flick, and Cleo was a sucker for a cheesy horror movie. Or any kind of horror movie. She loved either laughing at the awful acting and cheap thrills, or hiding in behind her bowl of popcorn as the music would start to shift to let the audience know that something horrific was about to happen.

“You need to start watching better television shows. I’m putting together an intervention.” She was silently judging his TV preferences, though she knew that she had a few guilty pleasures of her own. “Now you sound like my mom.” She laughed, “Really? The home and garden channel? Are you a middle-aged woman?” She flipped through the channels, unsure of which one was Syfy. Really she didn’t know which channel anything was on. You’d think after four years she’d have known which was which by now, but she never watched enough TV down here to know the difference. And when she was she always just flipped around until she found something good.