Page 7 of Rebel Romeo

She not only knew that I was her buyer… but she knew how fucked up and depraved I really was. This was why I didn’t want to date her. This was why I tried to stay away and didn’t even want to be her friend. Because I desecrate everything that comes in my path. I ruin things. Destroy them. And what I manage not to ruin? My family will.

“Kate, I’m sorry,” I croaked as shame heated my face. “I wanted to tell you, I swear?—”

But she didn’t let me finish. She shouldered open her dorm door and scowled deeper at me. “I’ll see you at rehearsal Holden.”

Then she slammed the door in my face.

CHAPTER FOUR

Rehearsal was going well. Was being the operative word.

Nolan and I are right in the groove. Our eye contact was unflappable. Partially, I think all my extra rehearsals and late nights have paid off and partially, I think we’re both so relieved that Holden won’t be written into the show, acting with us that we’re even more on top of our scenes than usual.

I don’t know how he did it, but Holden had talked his dad out of that plan while I was outside taking the call from my sister.

My bare feet brush the cool floor of the stage and I’m so grateful that Maggie sweeps and mops before every rehearsal. Since the show is supposed to mostly take place in our apartment, we rarely wear shoes, opting for the realism and comfort most people have in their own homes.

Our lines are natural, our movements fluid. If you didn’t know us, you wouldn’t even guess we are acting.

As Nolan reaches out a hand to brush the hair off my face, the back door of the theater slams open, hitting the back wall behind it.

We both startle at the sound and break character, looking out into the audience as the click of stilettos grow louder and louder.

Missy.

In a skintight purple dress that matches the hue of her eyes, Missy stands at the edge of the stage, staring up at us with a smirk on her scarlet painted lips. After taking a long slurp of her smoothie, she says, “Keep going. Don’t mind me.” Shaking the empty cup, she drops it into the trashcan at the front of the stage, then takes a seat in the front row.

Nolan’s jaw twitches as he looks back to me. He’s noticeably bothered by her being here, but the moment he touches my face again, the stress recedes from his features.

Just like that, he’s back in the scene.

God, I envy him.

With a sad smile, he recites his next line. “You’re still beautiful to me. Even with red rimmed eyes and tears staining your cheeks.”

I maintain his eye contact and fight the urge to fidget with my fingers. Instead, I busy them by gripping Nolan’s waist.

It’s not a movement that Holden gave to me in this scene, but it’s grounding me to hold onto him. To clutch him. To remind me that I’m not Kate standing in a theater with my ex-boyfriend and his supposed new girlfriend.

I’m Skyler. A woman who struggles with intimacy on every level.

Shit. That’s exactly why she—I—wouldn’t grasp onto Nolan in this scene.

I immediately release my hold from his hips and drop my hands at my sides once more.

There’s a soft noise that comes from Nolan… the tiniest clearing of his throat.

It’s supposed to be my line. Dammit. I know it’s my line and yet here I am biding way too much time between.

“You say that n?—”

A soda can cracks open and the noisy fizzing interrupts me mid-sentence. I stand there, mouth still open with no words coming out.

The sound of Missy taking a long, slurping sip from her Diet Coke grates against my nerves.

I slide a glance at her, sitting in the front row beside Holden. Diet Coke in one hand while the other slides up his thigh.

My eyes lock on that hand as my heart twists sharply in my chest. Jealousy’s a monster that rarely rears her ugly, green head, but I hate the gnawing feeling, as foreign as it is.

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