Inevitable and Only(53)
“Um, I don’t really see him outside of class. But sure.” My face was burning, and, although I told myself I was imagining it, it felt like Robin could see right through my lie. Why would he care, anyway, that I’d spent the weekend at Center Stage with Zephyr? It wasn’t like we were dating. And anyway, even if we were, plenty of the cast was already going out with each other.
He muttered something that sounded like, “Too much talent to waste,” as I walked away. “Not you,” he said quickly, as I turned back to look at him, “you’re doing a wonderful job, Cadie. Making lots of progress. Sorry I snapped at you today.”
My mood soared. “I am? Making progress?”
“Oh, yes, most definitely. Actually, if you have a few minutes before your next class, let’s talk about that scene we’re going to rehearse tomorrow night—I have an idea I’d like to run past you.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“I knew this would happen,” I moaned, collapsing on Raven’s bedroom carpet. “Ever since we saw the Shakespeare Theatre production with my class.”
I wasn’t called for any scenes tonight, so I’d gone home with Raven after school and told her about Robin’s “idea,” and then I’d finally told her everything about my weekend, too—“All the beans,” she’d said, snapping her fingers, “spill ’em.”
“Having your first kiss on stage is not the end of the world,” she said, but the way she said it, she could’ve been pronouncing the imminent demise of mankind.
“I could say no,” I said, for the hundredth time. “Robin said to think about it and let him know if I was comfortable with it or not. He said I don’t have to do it if I don’t want to. He can re-block the scene instead. And it won’t really be kissing. He’s going to show us how to stage it so it’s just an illusion.”
“You said all that already,” Raven said. “But I still don’t understand how it works. How will the audience not notice that Zephyr’s kissing his thumb instead of your mouth?”
“He’ll have his downstage hand on the side of my head, and—”
“Okay, whatever,” Raven interrupted. “The point is, do you want to do it or not?”
“I think the scene will work a lot better if we do it,” I admitted. “As long as it’s not horribly awkward.”
“Zephyr’s been in lots of plays, I’m sure he’s done plenty of stage kisses before.”
“And it doesn’t count as my first kiss?”
“Definitely not,” Raven said.
“Okay. So why do you have that look on your face?”
“Because you went on two dates with this guy over the weekend, and you didn’t tell me about it until today.”
“They weren’t dates! I told you, he has a girlfriend. And I’m still in mourning for Farhan. Or something.”
Raven shook her head. “It’s just weird, dude. We always tell each other everything.”
“Well, I told you about the Friday night plan, dude. The Saturday night one was kind of last-minute.”
“And?”
“And … nothing. Everything’s so intense right now at home. It was nice to have a distraction.”
Raven nodded. “Okay, okay, fine, I forgive you. Now, speaking of distractions, I have to study for my history test tomorrow, my math test on Friday, and my debate tournament in two weeks. Pick one and quiz me.” She plunked a stack of notebooks down on the carpet next to me.
“Right. What’s a friend for?” I rolled my eyes at her and let out a Dramatic Groan. But I did feel a little better.
Maybe my dad had a secret past I’d never known about and my parents weren’t speaking to each other or sleeping in the same bed. Maybe my surprise sister was stealing my dad and the boy who’d been my one true love since forever. Maybe my brother was sneaking around and even more withdrawn than he’d ever been, which meant he was basically turning into a human snail. Maybe I wasn’t a senior, or a New Yorker planning to move to LA to direct movies, but Raven thought I was sophisticated enough to handle a stage kiss.
Sure. A stage kiss? No big deal.
Zephyr certainly didn’t act like it was a big deal. Robin had us come to rehearsal early Tuesday night to practice before everyone else got there, so we wouldn’t have to try it for the first time with an audience of teenagers. In my head, I flapped my arms wildly to make sure the gods were watching, so they’d reward Robin appropriately in the afterlife.
Although, Robin was the one who was making things awkward. He was describing how Zephyr should hold his hand, and the exact angle we should stand from the audience to create the illusion. But he was doing all this from the first row of seats. Ordinarily he didn’t hesitate to get up on stage with us during rehearsals, sometimes physically moving us around like chess pieces or giant dolls if we were struggling with the blocking and he got fed up with verbal instruction. Tonight, though, he was simply waving his hands in the air to explain what he meant.
Finally Zephyr said, politely, “Mind if we just try it? I remember how. I’ve done this before.”
Robin said, “Yes, yes, of course,” and waved his hands again, as if to clear away all the instructions he’d just given. “Of course you have. Take it away.” He folded his arms. I couldn’t figure out why he seemed so uncomfortable.