It's (Kinda) Hairspray

When I was young, Taylor and I used to hang out a lot. Mom was gone and Dad was busy with work and an adult social life he never let himself have until my mom had moved out of our house and their divorce was final.

My sister was 12 and I was 11. We were holding on tight to our childish imaginations, which would soon become more mature and used for projects rather than time-wasting play time. Taylor was already starting to invest less time into play and more time into reading or drawing in her sketch book, but when Dad left us alone, it was our time to play with our imagination.

A lot of the time, we would park ourselves in front of the T.V. and turn on the Wii. We would play Mario Kart and pretend we were female racecar drivers. We would spend the first couple of races establishing character, story arch, and what we looked like. We would play a couple races; Taylor always came in first and I would always come in second right behind her. The only race I could ever beat her on was Rainbow Road; I've always been a little more careful than she has been.

Other times we would wrap our bed sheets around our waists and pretend we were mermaids. Usually our game never got started, because again, we had to explain our characters, what we looked like, what our names were, and all that other jazz. By the time that was all worked out we'd either get in a fight and retire to our rooms or we'd be bored of the game.

The game we both seemed to enjoy the most wasn't a game at all, but a performance. Taylor would climb up on the counter top and put the "Hairspray" soundtrack into the three CD changer and the performance would begin. It's important to know that before we started the music we always had a conversation about what our parts were in the musical. Since there were only two of us, it made sense that Taylor got to be Tracy and Motormouth Maybelle and I got to be literally everyone else unless Taylor decided she wanted to be the character I was playing.

When the CD got to the song "The Nicest Kids in Town" I knew my place in the lineup of kids. Taylor was all the girls and I was all the boys. Taylor thought she was clever making me be all the boys, but jokes on her, because I got to be Zach Efron, and let's be real: that's not a punishment.

We would do all the dances and even use the kitchen island as a stage during songs like "Miss Baltimore Crabs" and "Big Blonde and Beautiful". There were no rules when Dad was out of our house and that included all the rules about standing on the counters and climbing over the back of the couch (sorry dad).

When the show was coming to an end, we'd pause the music and find every aerosol can we could find in our house. Sometimes it was a can of AquaNet hairspray we used when Dad would curl our hair for special occasions. Most of the time, it was a can of Febreeze or Dad's spray deodorant (again, sorry). We'd hit play, and "It's Hairspray" would fill the house with the excitement of the Miss Hairspray Pageant. Sometimes we would coordinate our dance moves together, but most of the time we just ran through the house spraying the contents of the aerosol cans in every far corner of the house until it was misty.

At the end of the song, Taylor would drop her cans wherever she was to make sure she was center stage. By this time, center stage had usually moved from the kitchen island into the living room, right in front of the T.V. so if there we would have had a real audience they could sit comfortably on the couch and see her entrance. The song would switch right into "You Can't Stop the Beat" and Taylor would belt Tracy's notes. She would mock me as if I were Amber then dance with me as if I were Link. She was a star; we were stars. For the time being, we were important. We were somebodies.

Then the show was over, but the performance wasn't. On the "Hairspray" soundtrack from the movie, they included the songs they didn't include in the musical at the end of the CD. Taylor and I came up with choreographed dances for both. "Cooties" was our favorite; for this song Taylor took on the role of Amber and I was her back up dancer. I choreographed most of the dance though, so I didn't mind letting her be the front woman. During "Mama I'm a Big Girl Now", we didn't have parts. We just sang and acted annoyed with our imaginary nagging mothers; something we had little experience with in real life.

When the CD had ran out of songs, the changer would move over to the next CD. Sometimes it was Amy Winehouse and sometimes it was Sara Bareilles, but we always turned off. We were sweating; the sign that we had put on a great show.

After the performance, Taylor would make dinner. Sometimes dinner was a bowl of Marshmallow Mateys, but sometimes she would actually cook. She would put a box of Mac and Cheese on the counter and boil a pot full of the noodles. Halfway through making the dinner she would realize we were out of butter and milk, so rather than draining the water from the pot, she would just mix the cheese powder with the water that was already in the pot. It didn't taste good by any means, but it filled our stomachs. We'd turn on a movie or a show with the bowls of food in our laps and eat the runny and flavorless Macaroni.

Soon the door to the lock would click and Dad would be home again. He would comment on the strange smell of the house, then put the leftover chinese food he brought home for Taylor in the fridge. Then he would sit down with us until our show was over, then go to bed. We'd all go to bed, but never talk about what we really did while Dad was out of the house.

As the years have passed, my love for theater and acting has only grown. I've had the honor of being a part of over 12 productions and having a starring role in at least half of them. Taylor hasn't been a part of as many, but her love for musicals has never died. On the way back from my cousin's wedding in Illinois, Taylor and I listened to musicals the entire drive. We listened to everything from Hamilton to Peter Pan to Avenue Q to Rent.... we knew all the words to every song and we fell into our old performance ways. Taylor would be Hamilton and I would be Aaron Burr. Taylor would be Elphaba and I would Galinda. Taylor would be Joanne and I would be Maureen.

Through everything we have always had each other and musicals. There may soon come a day when we're not as close as we were or even as we are, but there will always be the love from the years we spent being each other's solace; the one fun thing in our world of madness. Those memories are something we will never lose.