Page 36 of Rebel Romeo

“Aw, but Hunny Bunny, I thought you needed to get your bra out of my car?” I swallowed my laugh as Katherine’s eyes flared. Then, I looked up at Addison. “We’ll be there in a minute.”

Addison ran inside and once the door closed behind her, Katherine spun on me, slapping my arm. “My bra!?”

I fell back against the wall, laughing so hard, tears streamed from my eyes. “Boo-Bear?” I said, wiping the moisture from my cheeks. “Trust me, I had it worse.”

“As if that’s any worse than Hunny Bunny!” Katherine sighed and stomped into Turner Hall, nudging me aside with her elbow. A little bit of the blended coffee sputtered out of the large hole on the top of the cup. “By the way,” she added, “before I go on stage, I only drink tea. Dairy messes with my voice.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.” I reached for the coffee cup in her hands, but she pulled it back.

“Oh, no. I’ll drink this apology frappe after,” she said. “But after this past weekend and that display out there with Addison, you owe me like a thousand more of these. And that doesn’t even count what you’ll owe me for helping you with your lines tonight.”

I grinned, my smile halting her words. “You’re going to help me?”

“For the sake of the show. Don’t let it go to your head.”

I opened the door to the theater, holding it for her so she could walk in ahead of me. “Sure, sure,” I teased her.

“Sure, sure,” she mimicked me, her hips moving with a subtle sway as she walked into the theater.

God, she was gorgeous. Understated, sexy, ridiculously hot in a way that she had no idea how hot she was.

“I cannot have a Romeo who stumbles like a dumb-dumb over his lines?—”

I nearly plowed into her when she froze, mid-sentence and stared up at the stage.

“Oh, good,” Keith said, standing in front of temporary scaffolding set up center stage. “You’re both here. Come on up to the stage.”

Professor McCay barely glanced up from her notebook. “There’s been a change in the schedule. We’re going to do the balcony scene today.”

“But… but that wasn’t on the schedule until next week,” Katherine squeaked.

“Yeah. That’s why I said, ‘there’s been a change in the schedule.’” McCay snorted.

We made our way down the center aisle, climbing the stairs to the stage and circling the scaffolding. From the audience, I heard a snicker and looked out to find Addison and Bailey sitting side by side, whispering.

“Is that even safe?” Katherine asked, pointing up at the scaffolding.

I had to admit, it looked rickety.

“Perfectly,” Keith said. “It’s so stable, I only needed to use half the screws it came with.”

A strangled whimper escaped Katherine, so quiet, only I could hear her. Her face drained of color, going whiter than that smear of whipped cream on top of her frappe.

Keith laughed. “I’m kidding! Of course it’s safe. Take a minute to connect with your characters and each other. Laurie and I are going to do a quick sound check on the floor microphones. Kate, when you’re ready, climb on up there and we’ll get started.”

Sweaty and pale, Katherine stared up at the scaffolding.

“Seriously, you’re scaring me. Are you okay?” I asked her.

“I don’t think I can go up there,” she whispered.

“Up there?”

Taking a stumbling step backwards, she nodded, bumping into me.

“Hey, easy,” I said, catching her gently before she backed right off the edge of the stage.

“You don’t understand. I’m terrified of heights. I thought I could manage being a few feet up in a set piece that was sturdy and built with a railing, but on this? This flimsy piece of scaffolding that’s nothing more than a plank and two glorified ladders?”

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