Page 3 of The Facade

Nash cleared his throat, bringing me back to the present as he answered Scarlett’s question. “I was planning to go as the Phantom.”

“Really?” Elyse turned to my brother with a smile on her glossy pink lips. “The Phantom of the Opera?”

Nash nodded. “I figured I might as well start getting into character early since I’ll be playing him soon.”

Nash and Elyse were both big into the theater program at our school, and while the auditions for the winter musical weren’t for several weeks, Nash was basically a shoo-in for the male lead. He’d already played bigger roles in last year’s musicals—not the lead yet since the drama teacher Miss Crawley liked to fill those with seniors when possible. But only something crazy would keep Nash from winning the part of the Phantom. And I was pretty sure Elyse had a good shot at getting the part of Christine.

As for me, I was still trying to decide if I wanted to audition to be one of the dancers. So far, I’d only worked as a crew member because unlike my brother who was a spotlight hog, I preferred to keep attention away from myself. But I did miss dancing, and since there would be other dancers on the stage with me, I figured it might be time for me to pull out my ballet shoes again.

“Did you already say what you’re going as, Cambrielle?” Mack asked from beside me, breaking me from my thoughts.

“Oh, um.” I licked my lips. “It’s a secret.”

“Really?” Mack raised a dark eyebrow, his brown eyes filling with intrigue the same way Scarlett’s had earlier. “And why’s that?”

Because I need anonymity in order to put myself out there.

“Just for fun,” I said instead. “I figure I’d keep everyone on their toes. Not all of us can go as ourselves like you apparently are.”

“And you’re sure you can’t tell me?” He cocked his head to the side. “You already know I’m great at keeping secrets.”

And when he winked, my cheeks burned because I knew exactly which secret he was referring to.

He must have noticed my blush because a wicked grin slipped onto his lips. In a low voice next to my ear, he whispered, “Which reminds me. Have you gotten your room all ready for me to stay in tonight?”

My eyes widened and I almost gasped out loud before I caught myself. “What?” I glanced around the table to make sure no one heard what he said.

Thankfully, everyone was looking at Carter and Ava as Ava told them all about the costumes they were considering.

“I’m kidding.” Mack chuckled, apparently loving my reaction. “I already know I’m staying in Ian’s room. Your dad obviously doesn’t know that I already spent a few nights in your room last month.”

“And we’re going to keep it that way.” I gave him a warning look before making sure our friends—and most importantly, my brothers—were still paying us no attention.

“Should I be offended that you want to keep me your dirty little secret?” Mack whispered in my ear, making chills race from my neck and down my whole body.

I shivered uncontrollably and whispered back, “Since my dad and brothers would kill you if they ever caught wind of that, then yes, I’m pretty sure I’ll be taking that secret to the grave.”

Mack pouted. “That’s no fun.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Well, since I’d like to see you graduate instead of have you come to an untimely death because my family found out, I think it’s fine to not be fun.”

Not that anything scandalous had happened those few nights he’d slept in my room. Sadly for me, the only times I’d ever been kissed had happened during a game of Spin the Bottle.

What had actually happened was that Mack started sleepwalking again when his parents went to New York for the first round of special treatments for his mom’s brain tumor. I had found him asleep on the bank of my family’s pond one morning when I’d taken my horse out for a sunrise ride.

When I’d gone up to him to ask why he was sleeping there, he had tried to play it off—pretend like he’d just gone on an early morning swim with the fish but got tired afterwards. But I had overheard Mrs. Aarden telling my mom about Mack’s sleepwalking episodes since her diagnosis, so I knew better than to believe him.

And when I heard footsteps on the path outside my open balcony window the next night, I hurried down to help him before he could end up in the pond again.

When it happened a third night and he still wouldn’t ask my brothers or anyone else for help, I decided to sneak him up into my bedroom so that if he had another episode, I could catch him when he first got up instead of having to chase him through the woods between our houses.

He came to my room the rest of that week, climbing up the tree by my balcony just after my parents and brothers had gone to bed for the night. And starting out in my room had apparently done the trick because he ended up not sleepwalking any of the nights he stayed on the trundle bed beside me—maybe his subconscious knew he had help close by and he was safe.

And so even though my family probably would have freaked out if they’d known I had a seventeen-year-old guy—one I’d had a major crush on at one point—sleeping just a few feet away from me at night, I was glad that he’d at least trusted me to help him when he wouldn’t tell my brothers.

“What time are you coming over, anyway?” I asked Mack as he wolfed down some of his teriyaki chicken.

He swallowed his bite of food and wiped his mouth with a napkin before saying, “They’re heading out after my dad gets off work, so I’ll probably be there before dinner.”

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