Page 14 of A Certain Step
“Bro, you’re lucky you don’t have to do anything else for three more songs,” Ethan said.
Declan bobbed his head. “Don’t I know it? Oh, listen, you still down to come with me to my buddy’s show on Sunday?”
“Yeah, is Sam coming, too? Or is it just us?”
“Us and Miles.”
“Cool, cool. I’m psyched.”
Declan grinned ghoulishly. “My hero,” he declared.
“Am I not always your hero?”
“Naw, only when you do things for me.”
Ethan shook his head back and forth. “You’re an idiot.”
“I’m tired, so I’ll let you have that,” he said, sliding down onto the ground.
Ethan chuckled, then quickly averted his eyes to the stage, noticing the number’s approaching ending. Since the number sped up and the ensemble moved around the entire stage instead of staying in the marks where they began, at this point, Ethan couldn’t spot Willa as easily. Good, because he needed to calm himself down still.
Rehearsals tookan hour longer than usual, and by the time it ended, he was exhausted and thrilled, nevertheless. Though so much was heightened byMidnights at Pemberley’sscale, thejuxtaposition of being tired and fulfilled would always be one of his favorite things about being in a Broadway musical.
It’s why the couch in his dressing room, where he would unwind with Willa, had become such a comforting fortress. The secluded little space they often occupied together stretched out to develop into something bigger, better. She was standing a few feet ahead of him at the stage door, hands animated in a conversation with Christian and Miles. She stepped forward when she spotted Ethan, hugged them both jointly, and then hurried over to him.
She smiled when she got closer. “Okay, so girl’s night turned into everyone is coming. Sam and Priya are meeting us there, and so are Miles and Christian now. Would you come, too?”
“Sure, what time?” he asked.
“Seven. We don’t plan on staying long since we’re all tired, but it’s something to do,” she specified.
He angled his wrist up and glanced at his watch. Three hours from now. That was doable. “Yeah, sounds good.” The dimples in her cheeks surfaced as her smile grew into an excited expression. It was bolstering for him to know that, if nothing else, she cared for his presence as much as he did hers.
It was comforting to understand that even if she never felt the way he did, she still appreciated spending time with him.
She wanted to include him in her plans.
She wanted him around.
That would have to be enough.
5
WILLA
Typically, Ethan and Christian would be heading in the same direction as them, but Ethan needed to pick up cat food on his way home, and Christian was in physical therapy.
“My hips hurt. Do your hips hurt?” Willa asked Sahar.
Sahar grinned cheekily. “You know, I’m partly jealous you have the intensity of ‘Forbidden Corridors’ as one of your numbers but also not.”
Willa maneuvered awkwardly down the stairs. “It feels like a truck ran into me. I don’t even know how that’s possible. It’s not that rigorous.”
“It’s not that rigorous, she says when Josie called it one of the most grueling pieces she’s ever choreographed,” Sahar noted.
Willa groaned, stretching quickly as they got to the bottom of the subway stairs. “I call dibs on a shower first, please.”
“Take your time, boo. I’m going straight for a nap.”
