Lauren threw herself against the back of the couch silently, mirroring Carly’s exact movements. Her face was perfectly red.
Carly laughed this time and turned her face to Lauren’s. “See?”
Lauren sighed. “I do now. I really, really do.”
“Do you wanna have a quickie in the coat closet?”
“What?” Lauren’s jaw dropped. “No way. That’s a scandal, right there. You Hollywood types, such a bad influence on the innocent theater folks.” But Lauren was looking at Carly’s lips with intent and gave herself the hell away.
“Hey, you two,” Ethan said, as he strolled to the fridge. He pointed at Carly’s ankle that still lay across Lauren’s lap. “How’s it feeling?”
“I’ll live.” She pulled her leg back and sat up, remembering Lauren’s advice about working on her professional side. “Just need to take it easy for the next day or so.”
“We can make that happen.”
Sally, the assistant to the costume designer, stuck her head into the room. “Lauren, can I borrow you for adjustments to your act two dress?”
“On my way.” She gave Carly’s knee a slight touch as she departed, which gave Carly an uptick in energy. Everything about Lauren did. She watched her leave the room with appreciation. Lauren had amazing legs, and the slim black pants she wore in the show made that point over and over.
“You’ve come alive on those boards. You know that, right?” Ethan said.
She turned to him and refocused. “It’s starting to feel really good. If I can just avoid slamming into furniture, you know. Gonna practice at home.”
“I think you should be proud of the work. Your portrayal is deep as hell.” Ethan turned a chair from the table backward and took a seat. She received feedback from him in their notes sessions, and during scene work, but they hadn’t touched base one-on-one in a while. She was interested in his take.
“I feel it,” she told him, leaning forward on the couch, her elbows on her knees. “I don’t know how to describe it. It’s as if I’ve really bonded with this character. I get her, Ethan, in such a crazy way.” She sat back and scratched her head absently as she sorted out her thoughts, reveling in the exhilaration of this rehearsal process. She’d never been so fulfilled creatively. “I understand what drives Ashley forward, and I love everything about her, as different as we are.”
He nodded. “That’s all coming through. I knew we’d get there. It’s why I wanted you for the part.”
“Thank you for giving me a chance. Not writing me off because I was an out of control brat.”
He squinted. “You had me a little worried early on.”
“Rightfully so. I apologize. I had a stage management team who knew how to handle me, though. Kudos to Lauren and Trip. I’m trying to be more aware of…others.”
“It shows.” He nodded. “Speaking of Lauren, the onstage romance since recast?”
“Yeah?”
He shook his head as if in disbelief. “There’s such a specificity to it now.” He used his hand to make a mind-blown gesture and then opened the pop-top on his Red Bull with a crack. “I don’t know how we’ve gotten there in such a short span of time with you two.”
She smiled at the compliment and understood that he likely didn’t realize fully what was happening offstage. She agreed with his sentiment, however. She felt it when they were onstage together. “She gives me so much to work off of. I feel like we have great chemistry.”
“I gotta tell you. It’s never been more apparent than today.” He shook his head. “I don’t know what you two did differently, but if we could find some way to bottle it and save it for our audiences, I’d be elated. There’s a large amount of sexual tension there.”
“You have no idea what you’re asking of me,” Carly said with a sardonic chuckle. She knew exactly what they’d done to create that tension—starve themselves of the one thing their bodies craved. Yes, they’d decided to wait for Lauren’s benefit and peace of mind, but apparently the show was reaping an unexpected reward. They were dying to rip each other’s clothes off, and somehow, that bled through to the characters’ relationship.
“What do we think, Ethan?” Sally asked, leading Lauren, wearing a sundress, back into the room. “I’m thinking if we cinch it right here”—Sally pulled the fabric a little more to reveal the lines of Lauren’s waist—“we’ll eliminate the droop we saw earlier.”
“Looks great,” Ethan said. “Are we set otherwise?”