Rehearsal felt weird today, and everyone knew it. It was simply too quiet in the classroom with one particular loudmouth absent from rehearsal. Elena didn’t make a habit of missing practice, but her mom had surprised her with an impromptu trip to New York to see a show that was closing, so Elena would be gone from Friday morning to Sunday night. However, the show must go on, and so do rehearsals.

“You talk a big game about trust, Marissa. It’s ironic that you don’t see what a hypocrite you are,” Theo recites his line to an empty chair. Mrs. Reba told the cast to practice like Elena was still there, but she always had such a commanding presence that her absence created a black hole.

“Save it, Rowan. I’m not the one who followed their significant other to see if she actually went to work,” Julian shouts from the side of the room. He has his binder for assistant director things open on his lap with the lines available to him, but he doesn’t need it. His daily practices with Theo have led him to learn the lines of Theo’s counterpart. His eyes follow Theo as he follows his blocking.

“I had good reason! You know how I feel about that Greg,” Theo says, turning away from the empty chair to walk across the stage.

“Yes, you’ve made that abundantly clear,” Julian says, his tone thick with sarcasm, just the way it was when they practiced together.

Theo turns back to cross to the empty chair, then falters. Was he supposed to sit there yet, or was Elena still seated? Mrs. Reba notices his struggle and looks at him over the rim of her reading glasses.

“Is there a problem, Theo?” she asks.

“Well, I’m just not sure of where I’m supposed to be right now. I usually play the blocking off what Elena is doing when it’s scenes with just the two of us,” he admits.

“No worries, dear. Julian, why don’t you get up there and do Elena’s blocking?”

“Wh- well, I don’t know if that’s necessary, I’ll just slow us down with my script in my hand-” Julian tries to protest.

“We all know that you have these scenes memorized, Julian. We’re almost done for today, just get up there and then we can finish up and do notes.”

Julian hesitates for a moment before rising from his plastic chair, placing his binder in his seat. He sits in what would be Elena’s chair with his legs crossed in a feminine manner.

“Yes, you’ve made that abundantly clear,” he repeats, now in character as Marissa, ready to argue with Rowan.

“You were getting coffee with him, Marissa. You touched his hand, He leaned in to kiss you,” Rowan says, his confidence slowly returning as he crosses to Elena’s chair.

Marissa stands quickly. “And did I kiss him? If you were watching so closely, did you see what I did?” she snaps, crossing her arms and staring daggers at Rowan, now at eye level with him. Rowan opens and closes his mouth like a fish out of water before scoffing and flopping into the chair.

“I left the café, Rowan. I got my coat and I left. I can’t believe you think so little of me to think that I would cheat on you,” Marissa says with an exasperated tone. She moves to head downstage, but Rowan catches her hand, making her turn back. Just for a split second, when they lock eyes, they are Theo and Julian again. Theo recognizes the look in Julian’s eyes, and he knows that he feels the electricity that courses between them. He snaps himself back into character quickly.

“How am I supposed to know that you won’t?” he asks in a harsh tone, dropping Marissa’s hand now that he has her attention.

“Do you not agree that we have something special here?” Marissa turns to face Rowan. “Something worth fighting for?”

“I do agree.”

“Then why are you fighting so hard against this? Against us?” Marissa asks fiercely.

“If I knew, I would stop fighting, wouldn’t I?” Rowan replies softly.

Marissa stares at Rowan for a long moment. Wondering how exactly she came to love such a crybaby firework of a man. She takes his hand and lifts him to stand with her.

“We’re on the same side. Love is a team effort,” she explains tenderly, interlacing her fingers with his. With this romantic touch, Theo snaps out of character but doesn’t look Julian in the eyes. He is still Marissa, still putting on a performance that Theo is determined not to ruin, no matter how fast his heart is beating.

“I can’t give you my all if you can’t give yourself right back. So tell me, Rowan… can you meet me halfway?” she uses her thumb and forefinger to gently turn Theo’s head to meet her eyes. That’s when he notices Theo’s flushed cheeks and frightened expression.

“Hey… are you okay?” Julian asks in a whisper, searching Theo’s eyes for an answer. He releases his hold on Theo’s hand and tries to take a step back, but Theo tightens his grip on Julian’s fingers. They lock eyes and Theo gives him the tiniest of nods to let him know that he’s okay.

With cautious hands, Julian moves to cup Theo’s cheek. Elena and Theo had practiced the stage kiss a handful of times, so they had worked out a sort of choreography that they were both comfortable with. Julian had written it down in the margins of his script, just in case.

He places his thumb over Theo’s lips slowly, giving him time to push away or call a time out. When he doesn’t move, Julian inches his face closer carefully, before pressing his lips to his own thumb. They only stay like that for less than a second; the script describes the kiss as short and sweet; a peck, nothing more. Still, Theo’s eyes remain squeezed shut until Julian removes his hand from his face and takes a step back. Their other hand stays woven together, even though Theo’s palms have started sweating.

“Rowan… can you meet me halfway?” Julian presses on, no longer in character. Theo takes a deep breath before chancing a look into Julian’s eyes, pulling their hands apart.

“I… I don’t know if I can. I don’t know if I can give myself away like that. I don’t know… if I can trust you…” Theo manages to splutter. They both know that neither of them are in character. They are merely two people speaking written words at each other. They aren’t committed to telling a story right now, but Julian still feels hurt by the words that Theo speaks.

Julian takes a step back before turning to grab a few prop belongings off a table. He looks back at Theo. “Goodbye, Rowan,” he says, before exiting the makeshift stage.

Theo stands in stunned silence before the girls erupt into exaggerated applause. Theo jumps at the sound, having forgotten there was an audience at all. Mrs. Reba gives him an approving smile.

They gather around Mrs. Reba to receive notes on their performance. They have officially blocked and rehearsed all of the first act, so they will run through the act one more time without stopping when Elena returns before starting more work on act two. Mrs. Reba only has positive things to say about Theo’s performance today, even though he slipped up on a few lines earlier.

“You had a new spark in your performance of the last scene, Theo,” she says, “maybe you were refreshed to practice with a new scene partner.”

Theo smiles meekly, deciding not to mention that he and Julian were not “new” to each other at all. In fact, they had become quite close over the past few weeks. So why did he feel so shaky now when he never had before during lunch?

After stacking up the chairs, the girls discuss plans for the weekend. Julian stands by Val without saying anything, his eyes glued to the ground. He doesn’t know how to approach Theo after their scene, nor does he know what to say to him. He just hopes that Theo won’t run away from him again.

Theo says goodbye to the group half-heartedly, not stopping to say anything to anyone individually. He sits in his car in the parking lot for ten minutes after, thinking hard about the events of the last half hour, willing his face to cool off. Was he blushing from embarrassment? Or something else?

Julian sits in the passenger seat of Val’s car, his temple pressed against the cool glass of the window. She is usually his ride home since they live a block away from each other, and he was grateful that she was as uncomfortable with emotional talks as he was right now. He doesn’t know what to think, and he is grateful to have the weekend to figure it all out.