Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
Despite our agreement to talk tonight after rehearsal, after I change out of my costume, Holden is nowhere to be seen.
I search the wings and the green room as well as the audience, but when I come out on the stage, the only person in the front row, packing up her things… is Addison.
Exhausted and weary from the stress of the last few weeks, I scrub my palms over my face, not even caring that I’m almost definitely smearing my eye makeup everywhere.
She’s quite literally the last person I want to see.
Okay, maybe the second to last.
I try to ignore her and hoist my bag higher onto my shoulder as I take the stairs down off the stage toward the front door.
I’m almost there, almost free when she steps in front of me in the doorway, wedging herself into both my escape and my life. Again.
“Um, Kate…” she says, uneasy.
I lift my brows, doing my best to shake off the unsettled feeling gripping my core. “Yes?”
“I, um, I just wanted to say that you’re really great up there. As Skyler.”
Something pops like a champagne cork in my heart and I can’t help as my jaw gapes just the tiniest bit. “You stopped me from leaving after weeks of working together to tell me how great I am in the role you auditioned for but didn’t get?” Unmemorable . That was the word Holden used when he talked about her audition. Granted, at the time I thought he was talking about me.
She gives a self-deprecating chuckle, picking at her cuticles. “Yeah. I mean, I know you and I weren’t exactly friends in college?—”
My snort cuts her off and I recover quickly, clearing my throat. “Sorry. Continue.”
“I know, understatement of the year. But I was young and dumb and I thought you had to crush your opponents to win. I know better than that now. But back then, I was always so jealous of you.”
“You were jealous of me ?” I repeat, dumbfounded.
“You had everything. You got the part. You got the guy. Every teacher loved you?—”
Another snort escapes me as my eyes find McCay across the room talking with Maggie in hushed tones. “Not every teacher.”
Her smile falters a little. “That’s what I really wanted to talk to you about. When Missy Howl called me, offering me the role of your understudy, she also asked me to keep tabs on you and Holden… offstage. It was sort of a… um, stipulation of me getting the role.”
I suck in a sharp breath. I haven’t done anything wrong. I know this. And yet, the thought of Addison digging into my personal life launches me down a path I have no desire to revisit. “And? What dirt did you dig up on me this time?”
“Nothing much…”
“Nothing much?” I shouldn’t sound so surprised. I truly haven’t done anything wrong. I know that and yet, I can’t help the anxiety that buzzes around me.
“Some weird money thing with the producers, but that shouldn’t have affected you…”
My eyes drift closed and I sigh. Addison discovered the rent thing and turned it into USEA. It shouldn’t surprise me. You’d think after someone betrayed me time and time again, I’d stop being surprised by it. “Of course,” I mutter.
“That’s a producer issue though, right?” Addison asks, wringing her hands.
I nod because what else is there to do?
“Sure,” I say, “It’s a producer issue. Was that all you dug up or was there more?”
Addison swallows and tucks her sleek, auburn hair behind her ear, refusing to look me in the eyes.
Realization slams into me and my eyes flutter closed. “You found Megan,” I whisper. “And you delivered her on a silver platter to Missy.”
Addison has the decency to look embarrassed. “And to McCay.” Her face flushes, turning a ruby shade that matches her lips. “I didn’t have a choice,” she cries. “You have to believe me. I told Missy and then I told her I was out. I want to be an actress based on my talent, not some weird love triangle. And you might not understand it, but this understudy gig is a huge deal for me. I’ve been waiting for a break like this my entire career?—”
“I understand. Trust me, I understand.” Prior to getting cast as this lead role, I would have killed for an understudy part in anything. “You’re done with this sabotage crap?”
She nods. “I promise.” After a pause, she adds, “And that thing back in college with me and Holden?—”
I hold up my hand to stop her. “We really don’t have to talk about that. It was a long time ago.”
She nibbles her bottom lip as though she wants to say more, but then after a moment’s thought, nods and says, “If it makes you feel any better, McCay doesn’t exactly like me either.”
“I hate to admit it, but that does make me feel a little better.” I yank open the door and hold it for Addison to leave through first.
“Honestly, I don’t think she likes any women,” Addison whispers even though we’re no longer in the theater. “I think she comes from an era where we’re all competition, you know?”
I consider Addison’s words as we leave the theater together. In all four years of school, McCay was hardest on me; but that didn’t mean she was easy on any of the girls in our program. Addison might be onto something. Holden was a golden boy. So was Nate. The guys in our class always seemed to get special treatment the girls didn’t.
“Well, I think it’s time we break that pattern,” I say. Addison has burned me more times than I could count in college. But I want to believe the best in people; I desperately want to believe that she’s changed and that things can be different. I hold out my hand for her. “Truce?”
Addison nods firmly. “Truce. And maybe eventually… friends?”
I shift my weight from foot to foot, uneasy. I don’t trust easily on a good day with someone who’s never done a thing to me. I’m not sure I can fully trust someone who single handedly ruined my freshman year.
I clear my throat. “I’m not ruling it out.”
Addison pulls her hand back and nods. “I get it. I wouldn’t trust me either if I were you.” Her eyes lift and land on something over my shoulder as a little smile lifts her mouth. “I would invite you out for a drink, but it looks like you’ve got other plans.”
My brows crease and I shake my head. “I don’t have plans?—”
“Oh, yes you do,” Holden’s voice, thick and sweet like dripping honey, purrs behind me.
I turn to find him standing on the sidewalk, leaning against a limo and dressed in what has to be couture.
He pushes off the limo and starts a slow saunter toward me. Everything from earlier today melts into the past as Holden comes closer and closer to me; Addison, McCay, the rehearsal from hell, our impending argument: None of it matters when Holden looks and smells and sounds this delicious.
When he approaches me, he tucks a stray hair behind my ear tenderly. “We have a date tonight.”
I take in the crisp lines of his collared shirt; the satin lining of his expensive jacket. Caramel leather shoes that are so polished, I could eat Halal off of them without risk of a single germ.
“I thought we needed to talk,” I say pointedly.
He nods, his face solemn. “We do. But we also haven’t had a proper date in…”
“Ever?” I offer.
His chuckle is so faint, it’s merely an exhale. “Exactly. Wouldn’t you say it’s time?”
I nod. “I would say it’s time.”
“And we can talk later. After.”
He offers me his elbow and I link my hand into it as he guides us to the limo.
The warmth of summer has given way to fall and a chilly breeze cuts through the high rises of 8th Ave causing me to shiver.
As he holds the door open, I look down at my ratty rehearsal clothes. Yoga pants. A sports bra. A tank top that has a little hole at the bottom. “I’m not exactly dressed for a date night.”
“Don’t worry, Rose. I’ve got you.”