Page 75 of The Ruse

21

ASHER

I foundElyse sitting in the common room after dinner and decided to take the opportunity to talk to her about what Miss Crawley had spoken to me about during rehearsal.

“You didn’t go to the basketball game with all your friends?” I asked as I sat in the stuffed chair beside her.

There was a boys’ basketball game in New Haven, and since Hunter, Carter, and Mack were all on the basketball team, I assumed Elyse would be going with her dad or her other friends to watch it.

I’d heard them chatting about it in class earlier, anyway.

“I decided not to go.” She looked up from the book she’d been reading. “It’s been a long week and I have a pretty big day tomorrow, so I just wanted a little more of a chill night tonight.”

“Is that book you’re reading actually a big ‘don’t talk to me right now’ sign that I didn’t understand?” I glanced at the Jane Austen paperback she held, worried I might be interfering with her plans for peace and quiet.

“No.” She laughed and placed her bookmark on a page before setting the book down on her lap. “I was just reading since I never have time for it these days. But I’m fine talking to you instead.”

“Well, that’s a relief.” I glanced at the couple wearing regency-era clothes on the cover of her book. “Though, I’m sure Mr. Knightley and Emma have all sorts of fun banter for you to get back to.”

“Wait—” Her eyes lit up. “You’ve readEmma?”

“Watched the movie.” I chuckled. And before she could get any ideas that I was a closeted Jane Austen fan, I held up a finger and said, “But I only watched it because Jace and Logan were out on dates one Friday night and my aunt wanted someone to watch it with her.”

“Well, aren’t you a sweet nephew.”

“Eh.” I shrugged. “Just trying to stay on her good side so she’d have me back for winter break.”

I meant it as a joke, but from the concern in Elyse’s eyes, I could tell she worried there might be some truth behind what I said.

Which I guess there was. I hadn’t exactly had a real home to go to for several years, and so I had tried to be as pleasant of a house guest as I could be while staying with my aunt and uncle.

Owen had always been great about me staying with him over the holidays and during summer breaks the first few years I was in high school, but I didn’t like always tying him down when I knew he had his own life to live and girls to date.

“So…” Elyse cleared her throat. “Which version ofEmmadid you watch?”

“You mean which version did I suffer through?” I arched an eyebrow, trying to keep up my manly facade.

“Sure,” she said, fighting a smile. And I liked that we could still be playful even if our rehearsals had been awkward this week.

“It was the Gwyneth Paltrow version.”

“And you didn’t like it?” Her jaw dropped, as if my dislike of the movie was a personal attack. “That’s one of my all-time favorite movies. In fact, I picked this book off the reading list solely because I liked the movie so much.”

“I bet you rewound that kiss under the tree about ten times, didn’t you?” I asked.

“How did you…?” Her eyes went wide, and then her cheeks flushed an adorable shade of rosy pink.

I laughed. “My aunt rewatched that part over and over again, so I figured it must be a girl thing.”

“It wasn’t ten times,” she said. “But yeah, that proposal is one of my favorite parts in the whole movie.”

“Well…” I said, deciding that this was as good of a segue as ever. “Speaking of kissing scenes…” I cleared my throat, noticing the way she stiffened a little. “Miss Crawley pulled me aside during rehearsal today and asked if I could arrange for us to get together sometime this weekend and practice the rooftop scene.”

“She did?” Elyse’s face paled.

“She thinks that we might be having trouble because of the…” I searched for the right word. “Because of theintimatenature of the scene.” I cringed as soon as the word was out of my mouth.Intimatewas such a weird word to say to the girl you might be getting the slightest crush on. “And it might be easier for us to figure things out without everyone watching.”

“You mean without Nash watching us?”

---