“Great job, Jules!” someone called.
“Thank you.” She kept walking.
Once she reached her dressing room, she went straight into the bathroom, although not to be sick this time. Her mom had filled her so full of Manzanilla tea that she desperately needed to pee. While she was in there, she took off the dress she’d finished act one in and slipped into the pantsuit she’d wear for the first half of the second act.
When she came out of the bathroom, Sophie stood in the doorway to her dressing room, also already dressed for act two in black pants and a purple top. “Hey,” she said. “How are you holding up?”
Jules was mortified to feel tears brimming in her eyes. “I’m embarrassed mostly, I think. And just…out of sorts.”
“It was just nerves, then?” Sophie stepped forward to wrap her arms around Jules.
She closed her eyes, breathing in Sophie’s familiar, comforting scent, feeling something unclench deep inside her. “I guess. I mean, I still don’t feel great, but that’s probably just the aftereffects of being so stressed out, right?”
“Some stomach viruses are really quick too, so who knows?” Sophie held her tight, and Jules sighed in contentment.
“I think it was just nerves,” she admitted quietly.
“Doesn’t matter now,” Sophie told her. “The important thing is that you made it out there and gave a kick-ass performance, and now you’ll bring it home in the second act. Ready?”
She nodded, even as a tremor ran through her.
Sophie released her, giving her arms a quick squeeze as she stepped back. “I’ll see you onstage, then.”
“Yeah.” Jules watched her turn to leave. “Hey, Sophie? Thanks.”
Sophie glanced over her shoulder. “Any time.”
And then she was gone.
Jules sat in the chair at her dressing table, trying to keep her feet from tapping nervously against the floor as she touched up her makeup and adjusted her wig. All the while, she was mentally kicking herself for how close she’d come to buckling under the pressure and the poor impression she’d made on the cast and crew ofIt’s in Her Kisstonight.
The important thing is that you made it out there, Sophie had said.
Jules repeated that to herself as the lights flashed, prompting her that only five minutes remained until curtains went up. She sipped from the—now cold—tea her mom had left for her, letting it soothe her throat and settle her stomach. She sucked in several cleansing breaths, and then she stood, smoothing her hands over the front of her pants.
Here goes nothing…
She headed for the stairs, focused on her breathing as she took her place side stage, waiting for her cue. In this first scene of act two, the ensemble took the stage first, performing a musical number that set the scene for Bianca to enter. There was Sophie at the center of the group, dancing and singing her heart out. She really was mesmerizing to watch. So much so that Jules almost missed her cue.
At the last moment, she snapped to her senses and strolled onto the stage, joining them as they danced their way toward a group of chairs that had been set up for a dinner scene where Bianca would wrestle with the decision to tell her friends about the kiss with Melissa.
Jules’s gaze darted to the audience, finding her family in the fifth row, watching her with big smiles on their faces. She looked away before they could distract her, before she could be jarred out of character. Except, as she looked from her family to Bianca’s, realization washed over her. There was a parallel here.
Jules’s nerves hadn’t been about opening night, or not entirely, anyway. She’d been afraid of her family’s reaction to seeing her kiss a woman onstage, racked with guilt for the things she hadn’t told them at Christmas. She was literally making herself sick the longer she kept lying to her mother about her role in this play and her relationship with Sophie.
And it had to end, as soon as possible.
* * *
Sophie stoodin the wings as Jules took her seat at the piano for her big solo. Jules’s fingers danced across the keys, and then she began to sing, her rich voice filling the theater. Despite her rocky start, she’d been magnificent tonight.
And even though Sophie had heard her sing this song hundreds of times by now, there was something new tonight, a kind of electricity in the air. Jules’s blue dress sparkled beneath the stage lights as she sang. Sophie could feel the energy radiating off her. It rolled over Sophie, making goose bumps rise on her arms.
Presence.That was what they called it. Jules had the kind of stage presence that made it hard to look away from her. Tears stung Sophie’s eyes. She was so proud of Jules and everything that had led her to this moment.
When the song ended, Sophie and the rest of the cast joined her on stage for the final group number, as Jules and Micki slow danced together, gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes. Sophie didn’t give them more than a passing glance, though. She was focused on her own performance. Her routine had been shaken earlier when she’d prepared to play Bianca. It had thrown her off-kilter, and now everything she did tonight seemed to require extra concentration to make sure she got it right.
She and Tabitha locked hands and twirled, grinning at each other as they danced through the final beats of the song. And then it was over. Sophie kept one hand in Tabitha’s and took Elena’s hand on the other side. Together, they formed a line as they walked downstage to take a bow. Jules stood at their center, flanked by Amir and Micki, with Sophie and the rest of the ensemble fanning out on either side.
