Inevitable and Only(54)
Zephyr placed his hand on the downstage side of my head, just like Robin had explained, slid his thumb over my mouth, and leaned in to touch his lips to his thumb.
I closed my eyes. It wasn’t a kiss. It didn’t even feel like a kiss. It felt like a boy putting his hand on the side of my head and kissing his thumb in front of my face.
But Zephyr’s hand was pleasantly cool against my warm face, and it smelled like cocoa butter and soap, and the touch of his thumb made my lips feel like they were swelling. I didn’t want it to end.
“Hold—and—yes, that’s it. That’s very good,” said Robin, clapping his hands twice, all businesslike. “Excellent. Let’s break until the others arrive.”
And that was it. My first stage kiss. Zephyr stepped away from me and picked up his script, slouched into the wings to practice his lines. I wandered into the audience seats and, with my back to Robin, touched my own thumb to my lips. It didn’t feel the same.
Rehearsal that night was glorious. We were mostly off book, at last, and the scene picked up a rhythm it hadn’t had before. It was the wedding scene—the first wedding scene, where Claudio and Hero are supposed to get married, halfway through the play. But Claudio has been tricked by Don John, the villain, aka Sam Shotwell, into thinking Hero is dillydallying with other men behind his back. At the altar, in front of everyone, Claudio accuses her of cheating. Then he storms off, Hero faints, and Beatrice and Benedick are left to figure out how to fix the whole mess, with Beatrice furious at Claudio for humiliating her beloved, innocent cousin.
Benedick finally declares his love to Beatrice and tells her he’d do anything for her. Cue stage kiss. Then she tells him if he really loves her, he should go kill Claudio.
Raven would love this part.
Tori Lopez was doing a great job as Claudio, storming around and preening like a male peacock, and Priya Pashari, playing Hero, did a very credible swoon. But our stage kiss took the cake—everyone hooted and whooped from the wings, and even Zephyr was blushing when he pulled away.
“People!” Robin yelled, clapping his hands for quiet. “All right, all right. Benedick, Beatrice, please proceed.”
We ran through the rest of the scene, on fire from all the excitement in the room. Everyone was watching us, holding their breath, it felt like, to see if we’d do it again. We didn’t—Robin had only blocked in the one stage kiss—and everyone stopped making a big deal about it by the end of the night, after we’d run the scene two more times.
“That’s a wrap for tonight,” Robin said, at last. “Go home, sleep, run your lines. Simultaneously if need be.”
“Hey,” I said to Zephyr, as we packed up our bags, “good job tonight.”
“Yeah, you too.” He smiled at me. “That wasn’t too awkward, right?”
“Nope, not at all. Hey, I was wondering if you, um, wanted to go get ice cream?”
“Right now?”
“Yeah, it’s on the way to my place, if you don’t mind driving. Unless you have to be home by a certain time—”
“Oh, no, I don’t.” Zephyr seemed flustered. I’d never seen him flustered before. “It’s just—I didn’t drive tonight, and my ride is leaving—what about tomorrow night instead?”
“Sure, sounds good.” Who had he driven to rehearsal with? I didn’t remember him coming in with anyone. And we’d both gotten to rehearsal early—Micayla had agreed to drive me over early, since she had extra work to do on the costumes.
“Oh my god,” she groaned, coming up behind me at that moment.
I spun around. “Oh, hey.”
“Sorry,” she said, “was I interrupting?”
“No, it’s fine.” I turned back to Zephyr, but he’d slipped away. I scanned the room but didn’t see him. He and his ride, whoever it was, must’ve scooted right out the door.
“Anyway,” Micayla said, “I screwed up Priya’s dress and I have to start all over again. Can you help me carry some stuff out to the car? I want to take this dress home and work on it more.”
“Sure,” I said, and filed the Zephyr mystery away to think about another time.
That night, there was another giant bouquet of flowers on the table—peonies, this time. Mom’s other favorite.
So she and Dad were still fighting. Or whatever they were doing. Or not doing. They’d waited for me to have dinner, which meant that everyone was grumpy and starving when I got home. Mom and Dad sat at opposite ends of the table and bowed their heads while Elizabeth said grace. Mom was clasping her hands together so hard her knuckles went white. The peonies were perched in the middle of the table like an awkward grin. Once the meal started, Mom didn’t say anything except for asking me or Josh or Elizabeth to pass things to her. Dad tried floating a few conversation openers her way, but she managed to avoid responding directly to him. How much longer could this go on?
“So!” Dad said, in Forced Good Cheer Voice. “Elizabeth, have you and your, uh, fellow decided what you’re going to see on Friday night? I hear The Super Duper Swamp Monster Blood and Guts IV is very good.”
“That’s not a real movie, Dad,” said Josh, while my stomach churned. Elizabeth and Farhan’s date—I’d completely forgotten.