Page 13 of Method Acting

“Okay, teams,” Deirdre said, walking in. She wore gray tights with a gray tunic, but her glasses, headband, and lipstick were all bright orange. Oh, and her shoes. Let’s not forget those.

“Quick. Call Ronald McDonald,” Chase mumbled beside me, as if he’d read my mind. “See if he’s missing his shoes.”

I choked down a laugh, which of course Deirdre saw. “Excellent, two volunteers,” she said. “Amos and Chase, you’re up.”

Up for what?

“Come to the front,” she said, waving us forward impatiently.

Chase and I both walked to the front of the room and stood beside her. “Preproduction workshops are important to foster a relationship between your characters to make it believable to the audience. Now your characters, Dominic and Elijah, have been together for a year. So you will be comfortable with each other, touching, holding hands, hugging. Being in each other’s personal space, right?”

Chase nodded and I shrugged. “Right.”

I guess.

“Soooo,” she said, as if we were slow on the uptake. “Maybe stand a little closer.”

With considerable effort, I resisted sighing.

But we shuffled a little closer to each other.

Deirdre looked at us as if we were props that didn’t quite look right. Then she grabbed Chase’s hand and put his arm around me, then made him half back-hug me, with his chin on my shoulder.

“Relax into it,” she said. “Shake your shoulders, let go of the tension.”

I tried, even though I wasn’t relaxed because Chase’s hands were on me and he smelled so good.

“Okay, within two weeks, you need to make it look like this is as natural as breathing,” Deirdre said. “Try holding hands.”

Well, holding hands was easy.

Still awkward but not as much.

“Now I want everyone to do this with your partner,” Deirdre said. “Yes, you guys too,” she said to Phoebe and Jess. “Best friends can hold hands.”

The other couples stood up, all couples holding hands.

We tried a few exercises, walking holding hands, sitting holding hands, laughing at how ridiculous it was. Then facing each other holding hands, standing a foot apart, then standing closer, enough for our bodies to almost touch, now not really laughing at all. It was strangely intimate.

But after about twenty minutes, it almost felt natural. Except it was Chase Soria...

“Okay,” Deirdre said. “Now face each other, holding both hands. And I want you to just look at the other person. I want eye contact. It might be awkward to begin with and that’s fine. This production will require levels of trust between you. This will help foster that.”

So I stood there, holding Chase’s hands in mine, and stared at him.

At his perfect face and his pretty blue eyes. At his... not-so-straight nose, at his slightly uneven eyebrows.

“Your eyes are really dark,” he said. “Like I can hardly tell where your iris and pupils start or end.”

Oh.

I hoped I didn’t blush.

“Your face isn’t symmetrical,” I said, trying to play it cool. “I always thought you had a perfect face but it’s really not.”

He snorted. “Gee, thanks.”

“You have an old scar on your cheekbone. It’s very faded.” I’d never noticed it before.

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