Liam winced. “Well, that makes one of us.”
I gave him a kiss hello, wanting nothing more than to snuggle in his arms. I really didn’t care that we were in front of everyone, sometimes I felt like claiming Liam for my own. I knew it was childish, but his attention was often so divided that I felt like I was sharing him with the world.
Liam put his arm around me and didn’t move it while he called out stage directions to the mass of actors.
Stumble-throughs weren’t expected to be anything close to the show. It was just an attempt to get through as much of the show as possible, preferably from start to finish, to give us some context.
“I heard from Sites,” Liam said, as everyone scrambled into position. “The episode will air a week on Thursday.”
“Really?” I looked up at him, my eyes as large as saucers. “I can’t decide whether I want to watch it or hide in my bedroom and wait until everyone’s forgotten about it.”
He laughed, giving me one more quick squeeze before letting me go. “It’ll be good, Amy.”
“Here’s hoping,” I said, and then headed up on stage.
“Amy, are we doing this with music?” Sarah asked.
I shrugged. “Don’t think so. The tech crew isn’t here.”
“Boo,” she said, as she pulled her tank top down over her shorts. She looked down at her body a moment, frustrated. “I feel fat.”
“Sarah!” I shook my head. “You’re not fat!”
“I know that. But I’ve put on like 4 lbs. I never put on weight. It just stays at 115lbs no matter what. I could eat half a cow and it would stay the same.”
“Maybe it’s all this dancing, building muscle.”
“And maybe I have an alien growing inside me.” She grinned and finished adjusting her shirt.
“I’ve seen that movie, it doesn’t end well.” I giggled, as the lights lowered, our cue for the show to begin.
Acting with Sarah was a dream come true. After all those years separated, I never thought I would be four feet from her, playing lead roles. Despite her dark appearance, with her piercings and eyeliner, her Christine was innocent and wide-eyed, wandering about the stage with a childlike air. I loved to watch her perform it, so much that I almost lost track of my cue to enter.
“Christine, what’s the dance step after this?”
Meg Giry was such a different character than Beauty, all perky and excited, with constant energy. Now that Sarah had told me what happened to the character in the sequel, I considered adding another layer; a jealous daughter who wants her absentee father’s attention more than anything. On stage, even in the stumble through, I felt like I was floating, and I knew I was born to do this. At least, until halfway through the scene, when my mind blanked.
“Line!” I called into the audience, sheepishly.
Liam was supposed to be sitting there, with a script, making sure we were word for word, and I knew, after rehearsal, he’d spend about an hour making me go over it.
But there was no answer.
Shading my eyes from the lights, I took a step forward to see Liam with his head turned, his hand on Nina’s, as he watched her drink from a thermos. An awkward silence fell over the stage as the rest of the actors took a step forward, watching the scene as well. Head swiveled from me to him and back to me, like there were watching a tennis match. I tried not to notice, but an actor always knew when several pairs of eyes were watching them. I cleared my throat, pasting a smile on my face.#p#分页标题#e#
“Liam?” I called, using the projection techniques I had been taught in class. My voice bounced off the walls and his head snapped towards me.
“What?”
“Line?” I asked again, pretending that he simply didn’t hear me.
Nina must need some sort of nourishment, and food wasn’t going to cut it, even during the day, that was all. He had told me that, on rare times, a vampire’s human form will take blood to speed up a healing process. I could understand why he was a little distracted by all of it.
“Oh, sorry,” he said, and gave me one of those smiles that sent chills down my spine. “Where?”
“End of act 1. Sarah just asked if I knew the ticket sales for the show?”
It was a bit weird and confusing doing a show within a show. But Liam understood instantly and flipped through the pages until he found the line.
“It’s a full house,” he fed to me.
I nodded, stepping back into the part. The stumble-through resumed, and everyone went back to their characters. But I couldn’t help but feel like eyes were glancing to Liam and Nina to me the whole time.