“Fast Five,” he raises his brow a few times with a glint of amusement showing in his eyes. “You do like those movies, right?” His face drops slightly as I keep my face expressionless. “Shit.”
I burst out laughing and steal the bowl of popcorn from him. “Love them,” I throw him an amused smile as I place some popcorn into my mouth, before curling my legs up so I can get more comfortable.
“You think you’re funny?” He asks playfully, with his eyes now shining again. “We’ll see about that.” He presses play on the remote and rests himself against the back of the couch. From the corner of my eye, I catch him smiling, though he keeps his focus on the screen.
About half way through the movie, I feel my eyes getting heavy and then feel something hitting me on my head. I snap my head up and bust Brandon laughing as he throws popcorn at me. Really? He wants to start something?
Shaking my head at him, I stand up and reach out to grab the bowl from the table. Once I have a firm hold on it and know that he’s standing behind me, I turn around. He’s shaking his head at me, with wide eyes, and he knows exactly what’s coming next. Before he has a chance to block me, I dump the remainder of the popcorn over his head, and giggle uncontrollably at how he just stood there and let me.
“Not cool, Alexis.” He shakes off the popcorn and lets out a breath, before grabbing me by the shoulders and pushing me down onto the couch. He begins tickling my ribs as he climbs on top of me, and I squirm underneath him. I’m probably the most ticklish person alive, so I start squealing when he moves his hands to my hips. A few pieces of popcorn fall out of his hair and onto my chest, and we both let out a laugh until our eyes lock, and it doesn’t feel so innocent anymore. The fire in his eyes makes me still my movements and I see his face turning serious.
My heart begins to pound as we continue to gaze at one another. Our legs are tangled around each other, and for now, the laughter has stopped. His eyes are searching mine as his hands remain on my hips. There’s a flash of something in his eyes as he slowly leans down, and then I feel his lips brush over my bare skin, just below my neckline. A delicious sensation swarms through me when I smell the freshness of his hair, before he slowly lifts his head back up.
“Tastes good,” he mutters, and that’s when I notice the piece of popcorn in between his teeth that he must have just found on me. I thought he was going to kiss me. Stupid, stupid me. His face falls when he notices the disappointment on mine, and he gives me a small awkward smile as he moves off of me.
Sitting myself upright, I take another sip of my wine and turn back towards the TV.
“Alexis, come here,” he says softly. I turn to face him and see him putting his right arm out. “Come and rest your head on me.” He gives me a small smile as I move over and rest my head on his chest, while curling my legs back up. I feel his arm wrapping around my shoulder and hear his heart beating just as fast as mine.
He’s nice and warm, and as I inhale, I can smell the same spicy cologne on him that I did last Friday. His fingers begin brushing my waist lightly as he rests his chin on top of my head. Listening to his breaths becoming more even, I soon feel myself drifting off to sleep.
“Alexis …” For a moment, there I thought I heard Brandon’s voice. “Alexis …”
“Mmm …” I’m too comfortable to move.
“It’s almost daylight,” I can hear his soft voice, and feel his breath breezing lightly over my ear. When I open my eyes, I see bright, blue sparkling ones gazing back at me. “You snore,” he tells me with a smirk.
Rubbing my eyes, I sit up. I’m not in the same room I remember falling asleep in. I’m in his bedroom. Holy hell! I’m in his bed! Okay calm down, he must have carried me in here.
“What? Um …” I need coffee. “Why didn’t you stop me from falling asleep?”
“You looked like you needed to rest,” he answers, while standing up from his crouching position beside the bed. “It’s almost six.” He reaches over and hands me a mug. Coffee. Man of my dreams…
He smiles once before turning and heading out of his room. Taking a sip of my coffee, I look around and I’m pretty surprised by what I see, or what I don’t see. The room is … bare. Apart from a suitcase in the corner and the usual bed, dresser, and desk, there really isn’t anything else to make it look more, I don’t know, cozy? I guess Neil was right when he said Brandon wouldn’t be staying around for long. My stomach churns at the thought as I place the mug of coffee onto the dresser, before climbing off of the bed.
“Where did you sleep?” I ask when he walks back into the room. He clears his throat and eyes me for a brief moment.
“I slept … I slept on the floor,” he hesitates, which shows me he’s a little uncomfortable, and I think it’s probably time I made my way back to my dorm anyway. I don’t really feel like having to explain to the guys where I spent the night, even though it was all very innocent. “I really enjoyed spending time with you, Alexis.”
Think of something to say in return you loser!
“It was the popcorn that swayed my decision,” I answer as I walk towards the bedroom door. I hear him laugh lightly as he follows me through to the living area. “Thanks, though. I enjoyed it too.”
I walk by the couch and can’t see any popcorn in sight, so I’m assuming he cleaned it up while I was sleeping. Opening the door and stepping over the threshold, I turn back to face him as he leans up against the doorframe.
“Good luck with your audition,” he places his hands in the front of his pants pockets as he says this. He looks nervous. He looks sad. He looks … freaking beautiful. “I guess I’ll see you later.”
“Sure,” I answer before turning away and walking towards the exit doors. Later can’t seem to come soon enough, and with these thoughts, I think I’m most definitely getting myself ready for a fall.
***
I managed to get back into the dorm without being seen or heard by anyone. I’m not purposely trying to deceive Neil or Ryan, I just know I won’t hear the end of it if they find out I spent the night with Brandon. Even though he and I know nothing happened, the guys will automatically jump to their own conclusions.
It’s almost time to leave for the audition, and I’m actually feeling less nervous about it than I have been over the past few days. My mind keeps drifting back to when Brandon and I were on the couch, and I can’t seem to shift the thought out of my mind of when we were so close, so close to kissing again.
“Good luck gorgeous!” Neil beams as he leans over and kisses my right cheek, with Ryan doing the same on my left. “I need a photo of you so we can get your ID sorted for when we play at Aruba.”
“You’re making a fake ID?” I’m horrified. This is something my mom would definitely be against. “If it’s really going to be—” Ryan places his hand over my mouth before I get a chance to argue with either of them. I must admit that I would be disappointed if I wasn’t able to get to see them perform. Maybe it’s good to do something a little bad sometimes.
They both leave my side, and then Neil grabs the photo album Alyssa and I put together from one of the drawers in the corner. We made an album with all the photographs that hold special memories for the four of us: our first meal out together, birthdays, music events, etc. They’re all in there.
“Make sure you try and look twenty one too.” Ryan chuckles while flipping through the pages. “Here, this one is perfect!” He laughs and holds it up while I roll my eyes at him.
I hardly think the one where I’m pretending to be sucking Alyssa’s thumb is an appropriate one to use! Neil joins in on the laughter as Alyssa appears from her room. After spending some time looking through the photographs together, we pick out two that could probably work.
“Where are you getting this ID from anyway?” I didn’t realize they knew anyone who would be able to get a hold of one.
“Brandon!” Alyssa chimes while throwing me a wink, and I’m just glad that Neil and Ryan didn’t catch it.
“I need to ge
t going,” I tell them as I make my way over to the door. My cell phone buzzes and I grin widely when I see it’s from Brandon.
GL, beautiful. Remember… don’t think of me wen U do the kiss. X
Beautiful. I love it when he calls me that. I stand there staring at my cell until Alyssa nudges me in the arm rather abruptly. “Get rid of that dreamy look in your eyes,” she smirks while grabbing her jacket as we start making our way out of the door.
***
“Alexis Harper and James Caffrey, you guys are up!” I hear Miss Mitchell calling from the stage door. Where the hell is he? I’ve been frantically searching around backstage trying to find him. I’ve called him like six times, but James is nowhere in sight.
I know he went to his mom’s last night to watch his kid sister, but I’m positive he would have made sure to get back here in time. This audition is just as important to him as it is to me.
Hurrying over to join Miss Mitchell, I see the impatience in her eyes, and the way she’s stamping her foot tells me that she’ll take no prisoners. Dammit!
“Miss Mitchell, James isn’t here yet …” I can hear the anxiety in my own voice. My stomach is tying itself into the tightest knot and I feel like I want to throw up. “Could you please maybe delay the audition until I can get a hold of him and see what’s going on?”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Although she appears cold faced most of the time, I actually see slight sympathy there now. Thank God.
Pacing the floor backstage as I wait for her to come back with the judges’ decision, I try James’s cell phone one more time, but it still goes straight to voicemail. I’m starting to worry that something terrible has happened. I don’t even know if he arrived back this morning.
“Alexis, the judges said you have one hour. If you’re still unable to find James, or another partner, then I’m afraid you won’t be able to audition,” she tells me sternly before turning around and walking back through the side door.
Briskly walking out into the campus grounds, I head straight over to James’s place. Maybe he overslept and his cell died. This seems plausible.
After knocking on his door several times and still not getting any response, I check my watch and see that I now have forty minutes before I need to be back there. I go back outside and take a seat against the wall, between the arts and music buildings. Tears of disappointment are beginning to fill my eyes. When I look up to the sky, a few drop down and onto my cheek. I close my eyes, and try not to cry. All I wanted to do was make my mom proud. I wanted her to know how important she was to me, and if I had gotten a part, well, there’s no point in even thinking about that right now. It’s too late.
“Why aren’t you at your audition?” I quickly wipe my tears away when I hear Brandon approaching me. “Hey, why are you crying?” There’s worry clearly written all over his face.
“James didn’t show and I now have …” My voice is shaky as I look at the time. “I now have thirty five minutes to find myself a new partner to audition with, or I don’t get to audition at all.” I shrug my shoulders and look away from him as the tears try to make yet another appearance.
He sits down beside me and places his arm around my shoulders, “Have you tried back at our place and his cell?” He asks, while pulling out a tissue from his bag. “Here, you’re getting panda eyes.” He passes it over and I wipe my eyes and nose, while letting out a deep sigh.
“Thanks,” I say. “I tried calling loads of times and there’s nobody answering the door.”
“Let me take a look,” he grabs the file from my bag and begins scanning through it. “Which scenes have you guys been working on?” He glances at me for a brief moment before turning his attention back to the manuscript.
“Scene’s four and twelve,” I tell him. “We wanted to show them we could do both an emotional scene and a …” I pause when I see the look on his face as he turns to scene twelve.
“And the kiss.” He inhales a sharp breath and his lips form into a tight line. “How much does this mean to you, Alexis?” With his eyebrows furrowed and his jaw clenched, he lands his eyes on me.
“Everything,” I answer him as an image of my mom enters my mind. “I wanted to make my mom proud of me. I mutter in a small voice, and notice him nod once at my answer.
“Then, let’s go and practice.” He jumps up onto his feet before putting his hand out for me.
“Haven’t you got a class?” I ask as he helps me onto my feet. I see him smirk before he rests his hand on the small of my back. “Have you ever …?”
He rolls his eyes and then enlightens me. “Alexis, I was in class but then I saw you out here on your own.” He shakes his head before opening the entrance door and holds it open for me, so that I can walk in ahead of him. “How long do we have?” He glances up at me after sitting himself down on one of the plastic green chairs.
“Twenty-five minutes!” I throw my arms in the air with pure exasperation, and start chewing on my thumbnail while pacing the floor in front of him. “There’s no time to even go over it all!”
“Look, we don’t need to practice,” he answers me while keeping his eyes on the manuscript, that’s now resting on his lap. “Just stay calm and let me read through it some more.”
I let out a deep breath and begin jiggling my leg. “But you don’t even—” I stop talking when he throws me an accusing gaze.
“Do you trust me?” He muses as he places the manuscript on to the chair next to him. Do I trust him? Yeah, I think I do. He looks and sounds confident enough. I nod and sit beside him. As he looks over the manuscript, I watch him. He seems to bite his lip when he’s concentrating on something.
A little while later, the side door opens and my name is called out, so we make our way into the center of the stage. I’m feeling very nauseous.
Brandon isn’t an actor. We haven’t even been through the lines together once. I take a brief moment to explain James’s absence to the judges, and they don’t look particularly thrilled by this. This is my last chance, so I really need to give it my all.
I’m shocked at the way Brandon is handling himself up here. He remembers each and every word from the manuscript and I find myself in awe of him. It had taken me hours to perfect my lines, but then again, I’ve been distracted as of late.
Stepping closer to him with a smile on my face, I get ready for the kissing part. Butterflies are surging through me at the thought of having his lips back on mine. Maybe, just maybe, he’ll feel the same as he did that night at the ball and change his mind.
Although he looked overly confident when he acted out his last part, I notice his face has dropped and his eyes are glazing over again. He looks nervous and a little lost.
“Ready when you are.” Professor Hardy calls over.
Here it goes…
Lifting my hands up and joining them around the back of his neck, I look into his eyes. I notice him swallow, hard, as I lean up and brush my lips with his. I’m waiting for him to wrap his arms around me, or something, but he doesn’t. He just stands there, frozen to the spot, with his eyes getting wider as I get closer.
This is not going as I’d expected. I move my mouth away from his and notice that he’s watching me guardedly, while I lean my mouth over to his right ear.
“Don’t be scared,” I whisper lightly before bringing my mouth back to his. I see a flash of something in his eyes and then immediately feel his hands gripping at my waist as he pulls my body to his.
I don’t even have a chance to catch a breath before his tongue enters my mouth with the same need it had the last time. He moves one of his hands up my back and into my hair, grasping and tugging it as he deepens the kiss. Wow. This is … hot.
My heart is thrashing in my chest and I find myself automatically pressing my body against him, and that’s when I feel his excitement pressing into my lower abdomen. I run my fingers through his hair, gripping his black spikes between my fingers, and feel an enormous rush of heat … down there.
A
ll too soon, it’s over. He places his hands on to my shoulders and pushes me away gently. I glance over to the judging panel as I try to get my breathing under control and see them all chattering amongst themselves. They look almost as overwhelmed by this as I feel. A large grin spreads over my face at the realization that we may have managed to pull this off. I turn back around to face Brandon, and any joy I was showing is immediately wiped from my face. I take a couple steps forward until I’m standing right in front of him again, and when I look into his eyes, I see nothing.
“Brandon?” He looks pale and his eyes appear haunted. “Brandon!” I try to grab his attention again, but still nothing. His head and shoulders are slouched. He looks defeated. He looks hollow. He looks like he just died.
“That was incredible acting!” I hear one of the judge’s yell over to us while the rest appear to mutter in agreement. “Very, very impressive!” The male judge continues with great enthusiasm, but I really don’t feel so much like celebrating when I have Brandon staring at me the way he is.
The only sparkle present in his eyes now is the one caused by the tears that are beginning to well in them. “If only it was acting,” he mutters under his breath. I don’t think he intended for me to hear what he said, but I did, and I’m glad I did. I wanted him to feel it again. “I gotta go.” His voice is hoarse, and he breaks eye contact before he heads off of the stage.
8.
Tainted Water.
I called Brandon as soon as I left the staging area yesterday, but my call went straight through to his voicemail. A little later in the evening, I sent him a message but I still haven’t received a reply.
I’m wondering if it’s something that I did for him to react that way, but I don’t remember saying or doing anything that would upset him. Neil, Alyssa, and Ryan asked how my audition went and I told them it was fine. I didn’t feel the need to give them every little detail. I hadn’t even told them James didn’t show up or that Brandon was his replacement.
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