Page 78 of The Ruse

Nash wasn’t even here to watch us, and I was still stumbling my way through the scene.

And the dumb thing was, it wasn’t eventhatcomplicated of a scene. Not choreography-wise, anyway. All we really had to do was sing the song I’d been singing since elementary while looking at each other, hold hands and walk to the other side of the room, hug for a little while, walk around some more, and then have him stand behind me and hold me before we kissed.

Simple.

Easy.

But for some reason, every time I had to turn around and sing about Christine asking Raoul to tell her he loves her, my heart would race, my face would get all flushed, and I would find it impossible to remember what lyrics I was supposed to sing next.

“Would it help if we broke the scene down in smaller chunks?” Asher asked, tossing his phone back onto his bed. “That’s what I do when I’m learning a new song on the piano. Break it down page by page and practice the rough sections over and over until they flow.”

“That would probably work,” I said.

If that was how he learned to play the song I’d heard him playing the first day we met, it sounded like a technique worth trying—especially because he played the piano like a master.

Though, if I were honest with myself, there was really only one part that was causing my mind to get scrambled.

The part near the end of the song when the music swelled, and Raoul and Christine declared their love for each other before coming together for an epic kiss.

But I wasn’t about to just flat-out say that we needed to practice kissing. That would be super awkward.

I said, “How about we start from the beginning one more time, and as soon as the scene starts to get rocky, we can stop and just go over that part?” Over and over and over again until I stopped overthinking it.

Until I stopped stressing out over the fact that I might like kissing him again too much and it could make my life really complicated really fast.

“Sounds like a good plan to me.” He said it so calmly, as if he wasn’t the least bit nervous about kissing me again.

Which he most likely wasn’t.

This was probably just another stage kiss to him. He probably saw me in the same way he’d seen all the other girls he’d kissed and not fallen in love with during his previous musicals.

This was definitely not the kind of moment that might make him face the fact that he had feelings for me. Becausehedidn’t see me that way.

No, the only person trying to smother her confusing feelings for her co-actor was me.

All because I had tried to kiss Nash and kissed him instead.

Asher picked up his phone again, and soon the music was playing through the Bluetooth speaker. And as he sang the first few lines where Raoul tells Christine there would be no more talk of darkness and to let go of the fears she was having regarding The Phantom, I tried to quiet my mind and told myself to become Christine.

To forget Nash and how he’d be staring daggers at Asher right now if he could see us.

To forget how it felt a little like betrayal to kiss someone who wasn’t the guy I had a date planned with the next day—the guy I was planning to ask to be my escort to a ball in a few weeks.

Yes, I would forget about what was going on in real life right now and immerse myself fully in this scene and this moment alone with the guy who was playing Raoul.

I would stop thinking of Asher as himself, stop thinking of how he made my heart race every time he smiled at me, and only picture him as the person my character was in love with.

Asher walked toward me and held out his hands in the way he’d been instructed to by Miss Crawley and the choreographer. And when I placed my hands in his, I ignored the tingling sensations running up my arms and just looked in his deep brown eyes, letting the lyrics he sang fill my mind.

He really did have an amazing voice—the kind of voice that could make whatever song he was singing become your new favorite.

In fact, I was pretty sure he could sing the dictionary in his rich, tenor voice and it would still sound amazing.

It had actually surprised me the first time I’d heard him sing in rehearsal, because for whatever reason, I hadn’t expected him to sound so good. I’d been sure that there was no way Eden Falls Academy could have that much talent in one drama program.

But now that I’d been listening to him for a couple of weeks, his voice was soothing and familiar—just the perfect type of voice to soothe a worried Christine.

He continued singing. Raoul tells Christine that nothing will harm her and his words will warm and calm her. And just like in the movie, which I’d watched a hundred times, Asher lifted his hand and ran his thumb across my cheekbone like he was wiping away a tear. It was a gentle caress, a seemingly small gesture, yet my whole body glowed with warmth from his delicate touch.

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