Page 100 of Method Acting

“Then I shall feel nothing but hate ever again.”

“Okay, Anakin.”

He tried not to smile. “I totally get the draw of the Dark Side now.”

I sighed and fished his hand out of the bedding so I could hold it. “Did you really quit or were you just being dramatic?”

He pouted. “And you said I couldn’t act.”

“It was pretty convincing.”

“I don’t know if I can do it,” he admitted quietly. “Maybe I’m not good enough of an actor.”

“You are a good actor,” I said. I had to lean down and catch his eye so he’d look at me. “You were made for Hollywood. Or Broadway.”

He rolled his eyes, but he totally loved the compliment. I could tell by the twitch of his lips.

“The Chase Soria I know, who can belt out ‘Empty Chairs at Empty Tables’ and then take his shirt off and be hot as all hell, is the next Hugh Jackman for sure.”

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Hot as hell, huh?”

“You know you are.”

He frowned at me. “Why do your compliments always sound a little bitey? Like how can it be nice to hear but also sounds like it should hurt?”

“It’s a skill. I like to keep you on your toes. But I think it’s similar to how I can like you, but never has anyone ever annoyed me like you do. I think it’s like that.”

His lips twitched again. “You like me, huh?”

“I do. Against every fiber of common sense, yes. And as much as I try to talk myself out of it, and as much as I even hate myself for it, I do.”

“See, like that. That should be a compliment but it kinda stings at the same time.”

I chuckled and played with his fingers for a bit.

“There’s a but coming, isn’t there,” he whispered. “You like me, but...”

I swallowed hard. “I do like you. But I don’t know what it means outside of filming. I mean, you don’t date. You don’t want a relationship. You don’t like feeling things.”

“Because you don’t feel the same.”

My eyes shot to his. “Feel the same as what, Chase?”

My heart was thumping hard now, my belly full of butterflies.

“You haven’t actually said how you feel,” I whispered. “You just said it was terrible?—”

“Because it is.”

I snorted. “So is that your answer?”

“My answer to what?”

Sweet mother of all that is holy.

“To how you feel, Chase?”

He frowned at me. “Do I have to say it? Out loud?”

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