Touching Melody (A Forever First Novel)
Page 22
“Let’s go around and share a couple of things about ourselves,” says Maren. “I’ll start. As I said, I’m Maren Barnes. I’m an adjunct and you guys are my last Acting I class before I move up to the big leagues and teach Acting II.” She smiles. “Essentially, if you continue on in the program, you’re stuck with me.” She giggles. “I’m originally from Baltimore and did my graduate work at UC Davis before farting around trying to get commercial gigs in L.A. for a few years. You’re looking at the face of Torrance Flooring World, I’ll have you know. So, that was depressing and I decided to move to the great Northwest, live in a condo with a mildew problem, and teach you lovelies.” She nods to the blond girl next to her, sporting a tiny silver nose ring and expensive outdoor clothes that look like they were actually used to go on actual hikes because her body is perfect and fit.
“I’m Sybil. I’m an Enviro studies major and I’m taking this class as an elective. It seemed active and fun.” She gives us a megawatt smile. “I’ll probably suck, but that’s okay. I’m always up for an adventure. Oh, I’m from Whidbey Island up near Seattle.”
“Welcome Sybil.”
The next girl to go has long, glossy black hair and warm brown skin. “My name is India. I’m from the Bay area. I’m in the dance program, but thinking of doubling in Theatre.”
“Hey!” I pipe up. “You might know my roommate Elizabeth Danes? She’s a sophomore in the ballet program.”
India nods, but looks past me. “Yeah, cool, I recognize the name. I do mostly modern, but we collaborate with the ballerinas from time to time.”
After her, two more girls share - Evelyn and Cassandra. Both are pretty in an interesting way, Evelyn with her auburn hair and blue eyes, and Cassandra with her huge green eyes and long, long legs. They’re freshmen and roommates in the Creative Arts dorm that I lived in last year, both interested in becoming Theatre majors right out of the gate. I can tell they got all the leads in their high school plays. They are that girl.
Liam is up next. “I’m Liam Garrett. I’m a senior Spanish major. I am also taking this class as an elective.”
“Getting it in under the wire, huh?” Maren teases.
He smiles and then licks his lips. “I don’t know why I waited so long. I, uh, worked crew on all the plays in high school and always really enjoyed it, so this should be fun. I’m from Boise. That’s about it.”
I notice the rest of the class is paying just as much attention to Liam as I am, which isn’t surprising. There are fourteen women in the class and six men: three are definitely gay, one is questionable, then Liam, and a weird older guy who has to be auditing.
We finish up the sharing. The old guy’s name is Steve and he’s taking the class for fun while he gets his doctorate in Iranian Studies. The three gays are Jake, Jacob, and Jackson, if you can fucking believe it, and I resist the urge to claim them as MY gays before India can get her hands on them.
“I’m Dani Walker. I hail from the great state of Illi-noise. DeKalb. Home of Corn Fest and barbed wire and Cindy Crawford? No? It’s a booming metropolis of farmland about an hour from Chicago.”
“NIU is there, right?” Maren asks.
“Yup. And before you ask why I didn’t go to school in my hometown, you should probably look up DeKalb and see for yourself. I mentioned Corn Fest, right?”
Liam grins at me.
“Anyhoo, I’m a sophomore. I was an English major, but I’m switching to Theatre. You probably can’t tell just by looking at me because I’m off my fashion game when the sun is shining, but I got alllll of the minor and supporting roles in my community and high school productions. I was the Cook in Alice in Wonderland, twice. Be not afraid, you won’t see any divaesque behavior from me. I’m more Tina Cohen Chang than Rachel Berry.” I shrug. “That’s me.”
Maren gets on her feet. “I think this class is going to be awesome. Let’s get started on those warm-ups.”
We all stand while Maren leads us through a series of stretches and yoga poses before moving on to the vocal exercises. Clearly, the embarrassing part.
“Wheeeooooooooooo!”
“Wheeeooooooooooo!” we echo.
“Blah, blah, blah.” Maren opens her mouth wide and sticks her tongue out.
Liam catches my eye while we’re both mid-kabuki lion and cracks up when we shift into squinchy lemon face.
“Now that we’re all introduced and warmed-up,” Maren says, shaking out her arms, “please go take your seats for a moment and get out your textbook. Turn to the section with the open scenes.”
I follow Liam back up the stairs, admiring his Liam-asstic assets again. He stops at the top of the stairs and gestures for me to pass, giving me another quick kabuki lion face. We sit and take out our textbooks. I scan the open scenes. They are literally five sentences with lines like, “No wait…” “What?” “Where have you been?” “I want…”
“Tra la! My favorite part of class!” Maren says from center stage. “Simply partner with one of the people sitting next to you for this exercise and decide which open scene you’d like to perform.”
Liam and I are the only two people sitting in the back row. He looks at me and nods. Guess we’re going to be “I want” and “No, wait…” –ing with each other.
“I’ll give you a context for your scene and then you guys can find a spot around the premises to practice.” Maren starts with us. “Back row. Dani’s just told you that she’s pregnant with your alien child. Go.”
Liam turns to me. “That sounds easy enough.”
I laugh. “’Cause you’ve been in this situation before?”
He shakes his head, but doesn’t say no. “Wanna practice in the hall? I promise to let you be in control of the door.”
“Ooh, goody!” I stand and climb over the back of my seat into the aisle. I go to the door and usher him through. “And, that’s how you do it.”
He shakes his head again. “You’re weird.”
“And you’re pretty. Yay for us.”
He fixes his dark gaze on me. “I want…?”
I clutch my abdomen. It’s still a bit sloshy from the gigantor Diet Coke I had at lunch. “I wish…”
He reaches forward and grasps my forearm. “How?”
And I get this really vivid image in my head of Liam with an enormous, green, alien erection that makes me break character and giggle like a dumbass.
He raises his eyebrows at me and says, “How…?” again.
I can’t keep it together. “How do you think I got your alien baby in my belly, Mister?”
He blushes and chuckles. “I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking. How does it work with your species? On my planet, the female kneels before the male and opens her mouth--”
I slap his arm. “Gross!”
He shrugs. “What? She opens her mouth and sings a beautiful tune. Jeez, what did you think I was gonna say?”
I slap his arm again. “You know what.” I look at the clock on the wall above the drinking fountain. “Class is over in five minutes. I guess we better get our acts together and practice for real.”
“Hey, it’s up to you. I’ve been nothing but professional.”
I glare at him and then bust out a smile. “I’m thinking about your big green alien penis again. Sorry.”
“At least it’s big.”
I take two steps back from him. “Okay, I’m ready. My motivation is that I want you to stay with me and raise the baby. What’s yours?”
He chews his lip. “My motivation is to knock up as many cute Earth chicks as I can and then take an intergalactic walk of shame back to Zeldar.”
“Awesome.” I take a deep breath and calm my face, trying as best I can to put yearning into my eyes. It’s not that hard. Green dick or not, I’d hit that…if I made absolutely any effort to hit anything.
“I want…?” His voice is lower and sexier than last time. He makes my job easy.
“I wish…” I say, removing the question from my tone. I know what I want, to keep his a
lien spawn in my womb!
“How…?” He looks from my eyes to my stomach back to my eyes, his stare boring into me.
I can’t remember my line. It’s one fucking short sentence and I have to look down at my book on the floor. “Why does it matter?”
He turns away from me dramatically and then looks back quickly. “It does, doesn’t it?”
Maren sticks her head out into the hall. “Time to come in guys, I’ll give you five minutes to practice again at the beginning of the next class.”
Liam walks over and takes the door from Maren, holding it open for me. “I learned it by watching you.”
I reach up and pat him on the head. Well, aren’t we super familiar with the guy we’ve known for an hour! “The more you know.”
He smirks.
We both grab our stuff and shuffle out of the building with the rest of the class. He starts left and I go right.
Liam gives me a wave. “See you on Wednesday, Dani.”
“See ya, my alien lovah!”
That gets me a few stares, but considering we’re outside the theatre building, not quite as many as if I’d majored in accounting.
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About the Author
RaShelle Workman is the bestselling author of the Dead Roses series (Sleeping Roses is being translated into Turkish, and will be available in print wherever Turkish books are sold in 2014), the Immortal Essence series, and the Blood and Snow series. She's sold over three hundred thousand copies of her novels worldwide in the past year, including Japan, Canada, and Europe. You can find RaShelle all over the web, but the best place to start is on her blog: www.rashelleworkman.com.
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Copyright Information
ISBN 10: 0985318864
ISBN 13: 9780985318864
All rights reserved. Copyright @2013 RaShelle Workman
Cover design by: Steven Novak www.novakillustration.com
Design copyright @2013 RaShelle Workman
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the creation of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition is published by Polished Pen Press.
Table of Contents
Main Menu
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Epilogue
Afterword
Sneak Peek of Crossing by Stacey Wallace Benefiel
Additional Works by RaShelle Workman
Indelibles Link
Contact Information
Copyright Information
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Start Reading
Afterword
Sneak Peek of Crossing by Stacey Wallace Benefiel
Additional Works by RaShelle Workman
Indelibles Link
Contact Information
Copyright Information
Table of Contents
Main Menu
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37