Kyle’s place is a vegetarian restaurant with a full menu of tasty items, which I enjoy, even though I’m unrepentantly carnivorous.
After lunch, we walk back to the theater. Kyle is telling me a funny story from one of his early auditions, making me double over in laughter as we walk in through the stage door.
I look up and see Aidan standing in the corridor, and the laughter dies in my throat.
Our eyes only hold for a few moments before he walks away, but I feel as if I’ve been hit by a sledgehammer.
Kyle pats my arm. “See you at rehearsal, kid.”
“Yeah,” I reply, my good humor gone. “Thanks for lunch.”
After a short break in my dressing room, I go down to the stage and we spend the next few hours in rehearsals. We do the whole play from the first act, with Aidan stopping us now and then with his notes. By the time we finish, I’m almost too exhausted to move.
“Wardrobe,” Cruz reminds me as I head out.
I groan my thanks and head toward the basement, passing by Aidan, who is talking with a bunch of lightning and sound technicians. They are all laughing and one of them, a pretty woman in her twenties, is standing much too close to him, her face upturned toward his.
Is she flirting with him?
Does he like it?
He says something to her, and she laughs softly. He won’t call you after, I mutter under my breath, feeling resentful, and aching to experience a side of him that’s not barking directions at me, or mocking me. The side of him with those perfect blue eyes sparkling in amusement or animation.
As if he can somehow feel my gaze or my thoughts, he turns around and sees me standing there. My cheeks flame and I hurry to wardrobe.
“Liz!” Clara greets me with a fond smile. She’s a full-bodied woman with a huge laugh and warm eyes. She sweeps a large swath of fabric off a rack and holds it against my chest. “Hmm,” she says, shaking her head and tossing it back on the rack.
“You have such a beautiful figure,” Tammy, the other member of the wardrobe design duo says wistfully, tossing me a dress. “Put this on, okay?” She turns to Clara. “She has the longest legs. Going to be killing them on stage with more than her acting skills.”
“Which are great from what we hear,” Clara winks at me. “Go on. Get changed.”
It continues like that for the next thirty minutes. They chatter non-stop and I can barely get a word in-between. Not that I want to, it’s great to listen to them talk as they work.
By the time I’m ready to leave, the other cast members are mostly gone for the day. On my way to my dressing room, I head to the elevator, too tired to contemplate the stairs. The doors to the small elevator are already open and I rush forward, abruptly coming to a stop when I see Aidan standing inside.
He sees me and raises an eyebrow. His finger is hovering over one of the buttons on the panel, keeping the door open. Faced with no other sensible choice, I join him, keeping as much space between us as possible. It’s only two floors, so at least I only have to spend a few seconds trapped in the small space with him.
The doors close.
I can feel him looking at me, but I concentrate on a spot above the closed doors.
“Isn’t Kyle a little too old for you?”
I pause a moment before turning my gaze to meet his. He’s watching me, one eyebrow raised. Why is he so cute, so infinitely beautiful to look at? Why is he such a dick, and why do I even care?
“Screw you,” I mutter under my breath.
He chuckles. “Language, Liz.”
The elevator stops and the doors slide open. He follows me into the empty corridor. I should walk away, but I hate that he’s having fun taunting me.
I swing around to face him. “Let me translate,” I snap. “It’s not your business what I choose to do with Kyle or anyone else.”
“Isn’t it?” He takes a step toward me. “I’m very invested in the success of this play, and that success should be your major concern, not exploring your teenage fantasies of love and romance.”
I flinch. If only he had a clue who really features in my fantasies. “You know,” I start with a bitter smile. “Before I met you, I thought the world of you, but every day you’ve gone out of your way to show me what a dick you really are.”
A shadow crosses his face. “Maybe you should stop building people up in your head before you get to know them.”