Chapter 32
Dafne
I close the bedroom door behind me as quietly as possible while I hear Theodore shrug his jacket off. I turn and lean on the door, my arms behind my back.
“So,” Theo says.
“So,” I repeat, my lips quirking to the side.
Come on, Daf. You’re no coward.
“You’ve probably been wondering why we haven’t really spent time together today,” I offer as I step closer.
“You could say that,” he mumbles, but he doesn’t sound upset. More like curious, and slightly worried.
“Remember when you told me that you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing? Like, and I hate that word, but–a fraud?” I ask carefully, stepping into his space. He stiffens imperceptibly and nods, his brows slightly furrowing. He clearly wasn’t expecting me to bring it up again.
“Well, I wanted to prove to you that’s not true. You know, in case my word wasn’t enough. ”
He blinks rapidly and swallows, so I gently caress his cheekbone with one knuckle, and he relaxes ever so slightly.
I take my phone out of my jeans pocket and ask, “May I?”
He nods again, his hands coming to rest lightly on my hips, and we’re close enough that the back of the phone in my hands rests against his chest. “Theodore is the best goddamn actor I’ve ever seen IRL. He’s a hottie, too,” I read from my screen, and smile at the extra comment.
“What?” he breathes.
“TP was brilliant in The Comedy of Errors last year. Couldn’t take my eyes off him,” I keep reading the next slide, and swipe to another. “My mum saw him perform at the open doors event the school did last summer and told me it was only worth sending me to APDAS if I turned out to be half as good as him.”
I turn my screen so that he can see it and rapidly scroll down dozens of little boxes with my thumb.
He’s clearly struggling to believe it, but it’s all there.
“I put up a question box on my Instagram,” I tell him. “‘ If you’ve ever seen Theodore Price acting, what are your honest thoughts about him?’ I promised they’d stay anonymous. That last part was only half-true,” I smirk.
His eyes roam over the screen for another few seconds, then he takes the phone from my hands and carefully places it on the bed behind him.
“Theo? Are you–”
He moves a messy lock of hair with his index finger to tuck it behind my ear, rich brown and beautiful green flickering from my eyes to my mouth. The simple gesture is so gentle it makes me weak in the knees.
“Thank you,” he breathes. “For this, for being able to get past everything. Just–thank you.”
“Do you believe it, now? That you’re anything but a fraud?”
“I believe I can’t believe my luck,” he says with a little shrug. I try extremely hard to reign in a smile.
“Can I kiss you?”
“Permission granted,” I laugh softly before he cradles my jaw and plants the most incredible kiss on my mouth.