He pointed at the makeshift set with his pencil. “That was fucking amazing.”
Lauren blinked. “Today?”
He swiveled in his metal chair to face her. “Yes, today. The whole thing lit up like a Christmas tree. The story came alive. The relationship mattered. I know the whole fucking story word for word, and even I was rooting for them, and this was only the first portion of act one.”
Where was she supposed to go with this? On one hand, Ethan’s words were incredibly flattering. On the other, they didn’t really matter. She was the fill-in for the fill-in. “Well, maybe we can talk about why it worked so well today with Evelyn and recreate—”
“Do you really see that going well?” Ethan asked, now up and moving with purpose, except he didn’t seem to be going anywhere. Just extra energy he needed to burn off.
Lauren grimaced. “Not exactly, no. But if she’s a professional, she’ll try to take the notes.”
“I’ve given her eighteen thousand notes since we’ve started,” he said, with a hand extended outward. “She’s cold and unfeeling when playing a character who should be warm and lovable, which I’ve seen her pull off nicely in a dozen different roles. She hates Carly and it reads all over the scene like spilled blood on a white carpet.”
She watched Trip wince at the reference.
Ethan noticed, too, and pointed at Trip. “What did you think? You were here.”
Trip hesitated and passed Lauren a look, as if to ask for permission to speak honestly. She nodded at him, granting it. “I loved everything about the run today. They had fun together, but there was still this ball of sexual tension that kept me engaged. It’s the first time I’ve been sucked in by the story since we started.”
Ethan snapped his fingers and pointed at Trip. “Thank you. That’s what I’m talking about, too.”
“Ethan, I’d be happy to keep running lines with Carly.”
“Can we do some right now?” He looked at his watch. “I know we’re off the clock and rehearsal is officially over, but if you’ll show me the final scene of act one, I can know more.” He ran his hand over his scruff as he waited for her answer.
Technically, according to Equity rules, rehearsal was over, and asking Carly to work longer went against good standards and practices. She couldn’t do it. Lauren opened her mouth to advocate for Carly, when Carly herself turned from across the room. She’d been engrossed in her phone and had seemed to be out of earshot. Apparently, that had not been the case.
“I’m happy to run the scene, Lauren.”
Lauren stared at her, and then back at Ethan, running out of options. “The last scene?” she asked.
“If you don’t mind, that is. I don’t want to put you on the spot if you’re uncomfortable in any way,” Ethan said, more gently.
It was a big scene, the happily-ever-after fake out that got ripped away from the audience after intermission. There was a kiss in that scene, a pretty serious one. She closed her eyes and did her utmost to appear unaffected. She was a professional, and she could do this. It was for the good of the show. “I don’t mind,” she said, retrieving her script.
She joined Carly onstage.
“You good?” Carly asked and gave her hand a squeeze. That did it. The nervous energy, the self-doubt, the overthinking all seemed to slide away with that one moment of contact.
“I’m great. Shall we?”
Carly nodded.
“So, we’re doing this?” Lauren asked, as Mandy. She went for timid, excited, and fully in love.
Carly stepped into her space, hands at her side, confidence on full display. “Do you know what you’d be getting into? I let teakettles whistle too long on the stove. I scream when spiders show up.” Her proximity alone sent a series of tingles across Lauren’s skin. She didn’t try to move herself out of it, however. She put it into what the character would feel. “I know I’m not the easiest person to love. I’m pretty sure I just lost my job, and my cat moved out. I’ll probably be homeless myself in a matter of—”
“Ashley?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re talking a lot.”
Carly grinned and cradled Lauren’s face with one hand. “Should I stop now?”
“You should definitely stop,” Lauren said. “I have a lot of things to figure out, but one of them is definitely not you. You’re staying.”
Just as the script dictated, Carly brought her lips to Lauren’s and kissed her with determination, and tenderness, and