“Here I kneel: If e’er my will did trespass ’gainst his love, either in discourse of thought or actual deed, or that mine eyes, mine ears, or any sense, delighted them in any other form?—’”
“Next.” I barely manage to squeak out the word, my mouth dry and chafed. She almost doesn’t hear me, and I scrub my numb fingers over my pants, trying to regulate my breathing.
Her presence up there—I’ve never seen anything like it.
She’s a breath of fresh air, and I can’t keep watching from this distance.
The auditorium falls silent once more. Quincy glances at me.
“Um,” Elle says, squinting out at the room. At us. Me. “Is there a problem?”
“I said next,” I snap, my fingers trembling slightly. Discomfort burrows in my chest like a breeze caressing bare branches, and I swallow over the sensation, desperate to ignore it. “We’ve seen all we need to.”
“But I didn’t get to finish my mono?—”
“Everyone got sixty seconds. Yours are up.”
Her hands ball into fists at her sides, pink staining her flushed cheeks, and she stomps off the stage. Quincy looks at her watch but doesn’t say a word.
Idly, I make notes in my folder about the auditions, scrubbing beneath my chin as Elle’s voice travels up the rows of chairs, taunting me.
“—really unfair that you didn’t get to finish,” Lexington says, his poorly veiled attempt at comfort making my head throb. “You were the best of the class, Elle, honestly. I’d never leave you so…unsatisfied.”
She laughs, and when I lift my chin, I curse myself for doing so. She’s already staring right at me, awareness radiating from her body. As she smothers a knowing smirk, I break my pencil in half and avert my gaze.
Quincy’s stare bores a hole in the side of my face, but I will myself not to take the bait. Fucking Andersons.
Did that kiss really mean so little to her?
My mouth is dry when I get up, dismissing the students for the day. I don’t stay to chat with Quincy about the potentials or go over our expectations for set and costume design, instead taking the side door to the theater department and heading for my office.
I’m completely unsurprised when Elle’s somehow already there, swinging her legs from my desk, leaning back on her palms. Her hair falls in waves, hovering above an open planner and a jar of highlighters she must have turned over when she hopped up there.
Exhaling, I toss my briefcase onto the green suede chair in the corner of the room and reach for my tie, loosening the knot. “Should you really be in here right now?”
“Well, given you cut my audition short, I thought maybe we could discuss why.”
“I heard there was a student waiting for the opportunity to… What was it he said? Leave you satisfied?” Running a hand over my jaw, I round the desk, doing my best to ignore her presence.
“You know, I wouldn’t have pinned you as the jealous type when we first met.”
“It’s not jealousy,” I lie, though I’m not sure why. “I’m merely suggesting that perhaps your time would be better spent chasing after people your own age.”
“You’re two years older than me,” she points out. When I cock an eyebrow at her, she shrugs. “Yeah, I was curious, so I looked you up. Physically twenty-seven. Spiritually, I know you’re batting one billion. But back to my audition. Did Quincy put you up to this? Don’t think I didn’t notice you using her as your co-casting director. She probably wants me to have a nonspeaking part.”
I roll my eyes, slotting a folder into place on the wooden organizer sitting on my filing cabinet. “No, your sister didn’t put me up to anything. She didn’t even want tobehere, but I managed to convince her to help out since my usual partner is on sabbatical.”
“Why her?” Elle’s voice grows small, and she toys with her choker, looking down. “Why are you always running toher?”
“Because, Elle!” I throw my hands into the air, exasperation coloring my tone and making me dizzy.How does she not get this?“I don’t… Have you ever considered that maybe I gravitate toward her to get to know you better?”
She narrows her eyes. “Quincy doesn’t know anything about me.”
“That’s not true, and you know it.” I meet her gaze. “You think nobody notices you unless you’re on a stage putting on a performance, but some of us are still watching even after the mask comes off and the curtain falls, Elle. Some of us like what’s underneathmore.”
She purses her pretty pink lips, tilting her head. I bend down to the minifridge beneath the desk and take out a water bottle, unscrewing the cap and downing a drink. The bottle crinkles with the sudden loss of fluid, and I pull off with a gasp, unaware of how parched I was.
A metaphor if ever there was one.
