“Andrew texted to let us know,” Tabitha explained. “I heard that Micki was raised by her grandma, so it’s not surprising she flew up to be with her.”
“Oh wow. I didn’t know that.” Sophie didn’t have much love for this particular costar, for any number of reasons, but she certainly wished her grandma a full and speedy recovery.
“Yep. So are you ready?”
“Actually, I was wondering, if you weren’t busy this afternoon, if you wanted to come over and run lines with me? I could order lunch. Your choice.”
“Make it subs from that amazing place down the street from you, and I’m in,” Tabitha said.
“Sold,” Sophie told her gratefully. “Come over anytime.”
“Be there in an hour or so.”
In the meantime, Sophie paced her apartment. This would be the biggest role she’d ever played, on or off Broadway, and she’d be performing as Melissa three times over the next two days. She stared at her phone, debating whether or not to text Jules. But what would she say? So in the end, she didn’t say anything.
Tabitha arrived, and they spent the next few hours rehearsing together. Tab read for both Bianca and Trevor, allowing Sophie to run through the whole show as Melissa.
“You’re ready,” Tabitha told her as they stood across from each other after finishing the final song. “You’ve got this.”
“Thanks.” Objectively, Sophie knew she was right. She knew the lines and her cues. Even if she screwed up, most people wouldn’t know the difference. She would be fine. But this was still a big deal—especially with these being the final preview performances—and she was practically vibrating with anticipation and nervous excitement.
“Have you talked to Jules?” Tabitha asked.
Sophie shook her head, bottom lip pinched between her teeth.
“I can’t believe you guys aren’t even speaking anymore.” Tabitha swiped a chip from the bag on the table. “It’s so sad.”
“I know.”
“Think it will be awkward tonight?”
“Probably,” Sophie said with a resigned sigh.
When the time came, she and Tabitha packed up and walked to the theater together. It felt like a lifetime ago when Sophie had walked home every night with Jules, the evenings when they would stop by Dragonfly for a drink or head to Jules’s apartment for a sizzling night in her bed.
Once they’d reached the Sapphire, she and Tabitha headed down to their dressing room. Jules’s door was closed, and Sophie resisted the urge to knock. Instead, she entered her own dressing room to find that the rack in the corner already displayed Melissa’s outfits. A thrill raced through her system. This was really happening.
Andrew popped his head in a few minutes later to run through last-minute details and make sure Sophie was ready to go. The next hour was a flurry of hair and makeup, punctuated by various castmates dropping by to wish Sophie well on her performance tonight. Without doing an official count, she was pretty sure everyone had popped in…except Jules.
Soon, Sophie was wearing Melissa’s purple-and-black opening outfit, a swarm of butterflies in her stomach. She pressed a hand against it, remembering Jules’s nerves before their first performance. She had a new appreciation now for what Jules had felt that day.
“Ready?” Tabitha said.
Sophie nodded. Together, they walked upstairs to the stage. As Melissa, Sophie would enter from stage right, the opposite of Jules. Across the darkened stage, she caught a glimpse of red, and the butterflies in her stomach gave another nervous flutter.
The house lights dropped, and the curtain rose. Jules stepped on stage, talking into a cell phone as she walked toward Amir. Soon after, the ensemble joined her, running onto the stage for the first musical number. Sophie felt so out of place here on the other side of the stage, watching a swing performer take her place.
“I’m just not sure,” Jules said, turning away from the other performers, and that was Sophie’s cue.
She stepped out as a surge of adrenaline rushed through her system, making her whole body shake. “Anything I can do to persuade you?”
Jules spun to face her, brown eyes snapping. “And who are you?”
“Melissa Barrett.” She extended her right hand.
Slowly, methodically, Jules stepped forward to take it. The moment was supposed to be loaded, as Bianca met the woman she would eventually fall in love with, but the electrical current that raced up Sophie’s arm when Jules’s fingers closed over hers had nothing to do with Melissa and Bianca and everything to do with Sophie and Jules.
Sophie’s confidence grew with each line that she delivered, especially the lines that drew a response from the crowd. She hadn’t dared look out there yet, not wanting to break character or distract herself. By the end of the first act, she was fully immersed in Melissa, as if she’d been performing this role for weeks, as if she’d nevernotbeen Melissa.
