Page 38 of Christmas off Script
‘Oh, yes, I did!’ Arthur continued. ‘We played “hide the sausage” in his back passage!’ He gave a heavy sigh. ‘And the poor man has never been the same ever since.’
‘Poppycock, Fanny!’ Steve cried.
‘Yes, there was plenty of both,’ Arthur said, with an exaggerated wink.
As Arthur and Steve continued their banter, Leo let it wash over him. He’d been looking forward to the read-through for months, but now he couldn’t wait for it to be over. His head was buzzing and his stomach was knotted with frustration. As if Ella hadn’t suffered enough recently, now Zach was crashing back into her life and re-awakening memories Leo had tried his best to help her forget.
When Buttons’ lines came up, Leo tried to give them some oomph, but his heart wasn’t in it.
Ella didn’t look up from her script once as she read the part of Cinderella.
‘That’s fabulous, everyone!’ Libby cried as the scene ended. ‘Next up, during the scene change, we have Fairy Cakes and then our first time meeting Prince Charming and Dandini in the enchanted forest!’
Leo clenched his jaw as Zach and Scott sat up straighter. It would have been easier to get rid of Zach if he’d been crap, but the moment he opened his mouth, Leo was transported back to being a teenager, acting with him in the school play. Even then, it was obvious Zach had talent as well as looks, and that combination had taken him far away from Foxbrooke and made him a household name.
But along with remembering Zach’s acting ability came other memories. Memories Leo had put in a box over a decade ago and deliberately forgotten about. Memories about Ella. They prickled across his skin, making him want to shake out his limbs. That, or punch Zach.
Many years ago, Leo had been so in love with Ella, she’d taken over his thoughts, whether he was awake or asleep. He’d never known a life without her in it, and he’d loved her as much as his own sisters. However, when puberty hit, this love suddenly felt different.Verydifferent.
Leo had spent the whole of year ten plucking up the courage to ask Ella out, but when his best friend, Zach, told him he also wanted to date Ella, Leo had stepped back. Since that moment, either he, or Ella, had been in a relationship with someone else, and Leo had never again thought of her the way he did when they were both fifteen.
Would things have been different if he hadn’t stepped aside for Zach? What would Ella have said all those years ago if Leo had told her how he felt? Or would the story have still ended the same way, with her turning him down and choosing Zach?
‘Fantastic!’ Libby cried. ‘Now Prince Charming, disguised as his manservant Dandini, happens upon Cinderella gathering firewood in the enchanted forest.’
Fuck. They were there already?
Leo flicked forward through the script, dread filling his veins.
‘But soft!’ Zach said, sending a chill down the back of Leo’s neck. ‘What light through yonder forest breaks? It is the east, and this maiden is the sun!’
‘Oh, hello,’ Ella said, her eyes still glued to the script in her lap. ‘Have we met before?’
Zach nodded, his gaze never leaving her. ‘In my dreams, I have met you. Are you real? Or will you vanish when I open my eyes?’
‘But your eyes are open now.’
‘So my wishes have come true. Tell me, who are you?’
‘Oh, I’m just a servant girl. What is your name?’
‘Prin—Dandini. Have you ever dreamt of falling in love?’
The silence in the ballroom was electric. No-one moved a muscle as they watched Zach. Already off-script, he spoke to Ella as if they were completely alone. Leo’s heart thudded faster and faster inside his chest.
‘Y-yes,’ Ella stuttered, her voice almost a whisper.
‘And did your one true love look like me?’
She swallowed. ‘Mostly.’
‘Mostly? How am I different?’
‘I never expected a beard.’
Zach mimed pulling it off. ‘And now?’
‘Oh! Yes! You are…’
