Chapter 37
EvanAnn
My phone buzzes in the dark like someone is calling. I push myself up from between Damon and Cam and look at the nightstand. It stops and then starts again. Damon reaches across Hawk and grabs my phone, handing it to me blindly.
I glance at the time. Four a.m.
It’s Mia calling. I sit up in bed in only a t-shirt, letting the covers pool at my waist, and answer the phone.
“Evan?” Mia’s voice is shaky.
“Are you okay?” I breathe out. A flashback to being alone out in the woods races through my mind. She could be hurt or stranded. I wake up more fully, ready in case she needs me.
She takes a steadying breath, but the words still come out shaky. “I don’t know what’s happening. My brother’s been hurt. He’s in the hospital, and they’re worried he won’t make it. I have to go. My aunt is getting dressed right now.”
“Oh my god. What do you need from me? What can I do for you?” I grip the blanket.
“I don’t know. I’ll let you know when I know more about what’s happening. But I’m going to miss play rehearsal today.”
“Of course, you have to do what’s best for your family. We’ll figure it out. I hope he’s okay.”
Damon’s hand touches my back through my t-shirt.
“I just...” she pauses. “I’m scared, Evan. My parents won’t tell us much. Just that he’s in the hospital and will be going into emergency surgery.”
I take a breath. Not every visit to the hospital is a bad thing. Not every illness ends in death. It’s hard not to feel that way though. “I’m here if you need to talk. Anytime, Mia. You can call me.”
“Thank you, Evan. Thank you for being my friend. I’ve got to go.” She hangs up.
I lower the phone, and the screen goes dark.
“Evan?” Damon asks. He wants to know what’s going on.
When I shake my head, water splashes on my hand.
“Hey,” he says softly and sits up, drawing me into his arms. I turn and press my face to his chest. “What happened?”
I laugh as I sob. “I don’t know why I’m crying.”
“That was Mia?”
I nod as he gently runs his hand over my back. “Her brother’s in the hospital. He’s been in some sort of accident and needs surgery.”
He takes my phone and returns it to the charger and pulls me back down to lie on his chest. He doesn’t say anything, just holds me. Cam wraps around me from behind. Hawk takes my hand and holds it.
I’m not crying for the guy I barely know, but for my friend for having to deal with this.
In the morning, I’ll have to figure out what to do with this information as the director. But right now, I just cling to the boys I love and am grateful none of them are in the hospital.
Keira and I meet in the black box theater an hour before rehearsal.
“Mia doesn’t know when she’ll be able to return. Apparently it’s complicated. I told her she could let me know when she’s ready. But that means we need someone for Desdemona.” I blow out a breath. We have a list of the entire cast in front of us.
“Are we sure she’ll be back for the show, or should we recast assuming she won’t?” Keira taps her pen.
“Okay, if we just let Jason stand in and deliver her lines, that holds the spot for when she’s back.
But if we do that and she doesn’t come back, we’ve lost a week that someone could be learning Desdemona’s lines and staging.
” I stare at the stage, wondering who would even be available to pick up my lead.
Everyone I would have considered is already cast in one of the two shows.
“Okay, so both Crystal and Sophie have been around enough to know some of the lines and some of the staging.”
“But then we’d be training two people their roles.” I push to stand.
Cam glances up from his homework, but seeing it’s nothing, he returns to his laptop.
“The people who could pick up the role quickly already have a part in Othello or The Crucible. Unless you go with one of the underclassmen.” Keira runs her hand over the back of her neck.
“I know. I don’t think an underclassman can carry this lead.” I pace to the stage and try to envision anyone else in the role. The underclassmen are strong, but they haven’t gone through as much training as we have.
Then there’s all the work I’ve done with Mark and Mia to make this convincing. The chemistry isn’t something I can just recreate. “We would have to hold auditions and have Mark there. It would take away from our rehearsal time.”
Keira stands and comes around the desk to lean on it, her gaze on the stage. I imagine she’s doing the same thing I’m doing, trying to sort through all the possibilities.
“Okay, hear me out.” Keira comes up next to me and crosses her arms. “We need someone who can step seamlessly into this role, and if Mia comes back, she can take over. But if she doesn’t, this person would be able to carry this role on show night.”
“I’m not hearing anything that we don’t know yet.” I turn to Keira.
“There’s one person who knows every bit of this by heart and has been with Mia and Mark this entire journey.” Keira smiles and looks at me like I’ll put together the puzzle she’s presented.
“I just don’t think Jason—”
“You, Evan,” Cam calls out from his chair. “She’s talking about you, goody.”
My heart stops. “Me?”
“You’re perfect for it.” Keira’s eyes light up as she looks me over like she’s envisioning me in the role. “There’s a lot of time Desdemona’s off stage, enough that you can still direct. And when Mia comes back, she’ll be able to take over her role. And if she doesn’t, you’re a performer.”
“I don’t—” I cut myself off. I need to think this through. Not just dismiss it because it doesn’t fit what I was thinking.
Of course I know all the words and staging. I know what we’ve tried to do with every step of her characterization, but would that translate into how I would do this role? How would I direct myself differently?
But in this case, I would have play the character Mia and I created for her. Because if she does come back, the transition has to be flawless. So seamless no one could tell the difference.
“You can do this, EvanAnn.” Keira steps back. “When you need to make notes on a scene, we’ll have Jason step in, but he can’t perform on stage as Desdemona.”
“What are you afraid of, Evan?” Cam’s voice carries.
I turn to look at him. Still trying to wrap my head around it. Could I do it? Yes. But, should I?
“It’s a valid option. You’re an actor. You know this thing inside and out. No one would do justice to the role like you would.” Cam grins.
“We’ll know better if Mia will be back by tech week.” Keira touches my arm. “We make the big decision then.”
The big decision, meaning who will perform. The actor who missed two to three weeks of rehearsal or the one who just stepped into the role two weeks prior.
“This may not be necessary,” I say. “Mia could be back at school this week.”
“But we should give our play the best shot, and why waste two or three rehearsals waiting to hear when we could have you learning the part better?”
Keira’s right.
I take a deep breath and glance at Cam. “I’m not going to have time to tutor you anymore.”
Cam holds up his books. “Doing fine, goody. Make your production shine. You’ve got us in your corner. We’ll support you how you need us to.”
I release my breath and get to work.
I have the script out on the dining room table, verifying the places I need to make any changes when Damon sits in the chair next to mine. He takes my left hand and kisses my knuckle above their ring.
I glance up at him, and he smirks.
We haven’t done the PDA thing in front of our parents before and apparently, Damon wants to. I don’t know how I feel about it. How comfortable I’ll be with it.
“Why are we working at the dining room table?” he asks, releasing my hand. He cocks an eyebrow at my script.
I straighten and meet his eyes. “With Mia gone, I’m down a lead. My understudy was for Hawk, which is Jason, and while he does a fine Desdemona, it’s not really the look I was going for.”
Damon chuckles. “I imagine not.”
“So for the time being, I’m stepping into the role.”
He touches my cheek and sparks light beneath his fingers. “You’ll be amazing.”
I blush. “I hope so, but I have to make sure there’s nothing that needs to be shifted. And I won’t be able to give notes as well for the scenes I’m in.”
“Evan, you can do this. There are directors who act in their own films.”
“Yes, but they have replays to watch. I usually watch as it’s happening. I guess Keira could give me notes.”
“Film it.”
My mouth opens and then closes because he has a point. I can do dailies. I could watch while we go onto the next scene or during breaks.
“You’re a genius.” I lean in and kiss him, barely a peck, but it warms me.
A throat clears, and Damon smiles against my lips as I pull back. Oops. A different warm nervousness floods me.
Adam stands in the doorway with my mom. Mom smiles knowingly at me. My cheeks heat. Especially since I’m the one who kissed Damon. I guess I’m okay with PDA. Of course, I worried about doing it inadvertently before our parents knew about us.
I got used to kissing them at school. Kissing Damon whenever the mood struck. Or him kissing me. It was bound to happen sometime.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Adam walks in and pulls a chair out for my mom.
“You weren’t interrupting.” I gather my pages and put them on the chair next to mine. Being the first one here, I didn’t want to just sit and play on my phone. I’m going to need every spare minute to make this work and to make sure I have the lines down.
At rehearsal, I used the script to make sure I have everything, but I need to be off script by tomorrow. I didn’t need to look as often as I worried I’d have to. But it’s different knowing the lines and performing the lines.
“You usually don’t work during dinners.” Mom nods to the pages. “Everything okay?”
I lift my gaze to hers. “My lead had to go out of town. Her brother is in the hospital. We don’t know when she’ll be back.”
“Oh, honey. Is that your friend Mia? Is she doing okay?” Mom looks like she wants to give me a hug across the table.