Page 15 of Rebel Romeo

“I… um…” I shifted, uncomfortably in my seat and glanced up at where Katherine’s gaze pinned me. “I think the script is cheesy and that’s not her fault,” I said. “I thought her acting was good for the material.”

“Hmmm.” McCay tutted and paced in front of the stage. “That wasn’t the question. You all are going to be given cheesy material a lot throughout your career. In fact, the line, ‘Help me help you,’ from Jerry Maguire is extremely cheesy. Terrible writing, right Keith?” She barely waited for him to nod before she continued. “And yet, Tom Cruise won an Oscar for that part and that became one of the more quoted lines from the entire film.”

“Actually,” Keith cut in, “That film swept the Oscars. It won Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Picture… among others.”

McCay nodded. “Exactly. Tom Cruise’s acting was so good that he elevated cheesy writing to a place where it won for best original screenplay.”

I blinked, a little blindsided by her wording. Keith went back to ducking his head in his laptop, even though McCay steamrolled right over him. Did she always do that to him? How many ideas did she take from him only to teach as her own?

I couldn’t help but feel a little bad for the guy and I almost zoned out, ignoring the rest of her speech completely. It wasn’t until McCay pointedly cleared her throat to get my attention once more and said, “So let me rephrase the question for you, Mr. Dorsey: In your experience, when someone cries, do they just let it all out? Or while they’re crying, are they trying to hold back their tears?”

I swallowed hard, noting the way Katherine chewed on the inside of her cheek, suddenly avoiding my eyes, staring at her flip flops. “I guess they try not to cry.”

“So it’s logical to think that if Eliza did have some tears slip out, she wouldn’t sob in front of Higgins. But she might have a couple tears fall that she quickly swipes away. Or she might turn away from him to try to hide those tears.”

I cleared my throat and turned my own glare to McCay. She was embarrassing Katherine on purpose now just to make some fucked up point to me and it wasn’t fair. “Fine. I guess so.”

“Great.” McCay whipped around to face Nate and Katherine. “Do it once more. This time, if you cry, I want it to be because you can’t not cry. And as the scene progresses, tensions rise, touch each other. It wouldn’t be proper in this time period of course—and you can’t kiss in this scene. But without yelling or raising your voices, I want this scene to be so heated that we all leave this theater fanning our faces. Eliza, you want nothing more than for Higgins to take you as his own. Higgins, you want that, too, but this beautiful, young creature is worlds away. The notion is ridiculous, no matter how much you want it.” McCay stomped back toward the seat next to me. “And for fuck’s sake, find an interesting choice that will surprise us as an audience.”

McCay took her seat beside me again, calling out, “Find your center. Make an unexpected choice. And go.”

As the scene started, she leaned into me, whispering, “See what I mean? Those bullshit tears? Years of bad theater training taught her that. She needs to unlearn acting and relearn how to tap into the real emotion.”

“Real emotion is messy,” I whispered back. “ No one wants to relive those moments.”

“Exactly. The people who refuse to tap into their vulnerability will never be great.”

“Katherine can tap into it. I know she can.”

“She can tap into it with you,” McCay said. “But do you think she can do that with Nate?”

My jaw clenched. On one hand, I wanted Katherine to prove to McCay that she was wrong about her. I wanted Katherine to accomplish everything. She was great. And I’d seen her be vulnerable.

But deeper down, a primal part of myself, didn’t want to watch it happen with Nate… or anyone other than me. “And you think I’m somehow deeper than Kate? That I can tap into this bullshit?”

“You’re missing the point, Holden. You are an untapped resource. That’s what’s so beautiful about your performances.”

I sucked in a breath as Katherine turned her back to Nate and lifted all the hair off the nape of her neck, tilting her chin so that he had full access to that delicious slope of her throat. “Will you take these to your room and keep them safe?” she asked.

“Hm,” McCay sighed, brushing her index finger across her top lip.

“What?”

“Your girl made an interesting choice there. Usually Eliza rips her jewelry off and flings it at Higgins. But she’s?—”

My throat went dry and I scanned my eyes down her body as she arched subtly, pressing her ass against him as he mimed removing her necklace. “She’s making him undress her.”

“Pretty clever, I have to admit.”

“So I guess she can take direction,” I sniped back at McCay. Even though the last thing in the entire world I want to watch is Nate undressing Katherine, I was proud of her.

Katherine’s gaze lifted, catching mine. In a movement so swift, her tongue darted out, wetting her lips. It was so sweet. So innocent. So pure that I felt like a goddamn creeper as my cock twitched to life in my pants, imagining those wet lips parting for me from her knees.

But then, Nate’s hands slid down her bare arms, caressing her. And from the front row where I was sitting, I could see the gooseflesh rise on her skin and the tips of her breasts tightening to points beneath the thin cotton of her t-shirt.

Nate caused that. Not me.

Fucking Nate.

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