Stevie hadn’t really been prepared for all of that—the physical intimacy that came with making up a relationship. An intimacy that felt . . . emotional. But she knew emotions were tricky, easily misunderstood, easily mistaken for something else. So she forged on, playing the adoring girlfriend, meeting each touch from Iris with one of her own.
Still, by Friday’s rehearsal, she was exhausted, the effort it took to play not one character, but two, sapping most of her energy. True, she slept like a rock at night, but now, the day she and Iris were supposed to go to Stella’s in Bright Falls for line dancing, she felt like a wire pulled taut and fraying at the ends.
And the Much Ado scene they were working on didn’t help matters.
“Again,” Adri said, pacing the front of the stage, glasses on and her red lipstick perfectly in place even after three hours of rehearsal. “This scene is critical.”
“We know,” Stevie said. They were working on act 4, scene 1, where Benedick and Beatrice profess their love, followed by Beatrice’s insistence that Benedick slay Claudio to uphold Hero’s good name.
“Then do it right,” Adri said. “This interaction is painful. The cruel world coming into focus. But it’s also tender. Feel that.”
Iris lifted a brow at Stevie and mouthed feel that, causing Stevie to cover her laugh with her hand. Still, Iris said nothing to Adri directly. She’d been shockingly docile with their director this week, and Stevie, to be honest, was grateful. She wasn’t sure she could handle her own swirling emotions and Iris Kelly going full throttle at her ex.
“By my sword, Beatrice, thou lovest me!” Stevie said as Benedick, pouring as much longing as she could into her words.
“Do not swear and eat it,” Iris bit back as Beatrice.
Their eyes locked, a pause neither of them planned clouding between them.
“Yes,” Adri said as the tension thickened. “Good.”
“I will swear by it that you love me, and I will make him eat it that says I love not you,” Stevie went on.
“Will you not eat your word?” Iris asked, her question a mere whisper.
“With no sauce can that be devised to it,” Stevie said. “I protest I love thee.”
“Why then, God forgive me.”
Iris’s eyes shined with actual tears, but not overtly so. Her words were whispered, a rhythmic wave on her mouth. Stevie heard the hush in the audience, the rest of the principals watching.
“What offense, sweet Beatrice?”
Iris laughed, a beautiful, vulnerable sound. “You have stayed me in a happy hour. I was about to protest I love you.”
They circled each other, their steps bringing them closer . . . closer, until Stevie looped an arm around Iris’s waist and yanked her into an embrace. Iris gasped, hand flying to Stevie’s shoulders and her pupils blown wide as Stevie tilted her head, ran a finger along Iris’s jaw.
“And do it with all thy heart,” Stevie whispered, her mouth an inch from Iris’s. They watched each other, eyes glimmering under the lights, Iris’s lips gently parted, so gorgeous and full and—
“Good, let’s stop there,” Adri said softly, breaking the spell. Stevie stepped back, releasing Iris slowly.
“Well, shit,” Jasper said from the audience.
“Say that again,” Zayn said, fanning themself. “I think I need a cold shower.”
The principals laughed and Iris joined in, performing a cute little bow. Stevie waved them off, a blush creeping into her cheeks. Her heart was flying under her ribs, wings and feathers and all. Adrenaline wasn’t unusual when she was on stage—she needed it to get through especially tricky scenes, but this . . . yeah, this wasn’t just adrenaline. Her heart raced, sure, but there was also a distinct thrum between her legs she was trying to ignore, a shortness to her breath that had nothing to do with acting.
“Can we take five?” she asked, swiping her hair back from her face.
“Sure,” Adri said, head tilted at Stevie. “You okay?”
“Fine,” she said, and she was. She just needed a second to herself, a bit of fresh air. She jogged down the steps and grabbed her water bottle from her seat, then headed up the aisle toward the back of the theater.
She was nearly to the double doors, eyes scanning her phone for a distraction, when she heard her name.
“Stevie Scott.”
The voice was low and firm. Familiar. Her head shot up, looking around for the source. There, sitting in a purple velvet seat against the back brick wall, was a Black woman with long box braids, one ankle propped on her knee.
She grinned at Stevie.
“Dr. Calloway,” Stevie said. “Oh my god, what are you doing here?”
Dr. Thayer Calloway was Stevie’s favorite theater professor at Reed. She was queer, brilliant, and had been the first person to make Stevie truly believe she could. Dr. Calloway was tough and demanding and made Stevie cry more than once, but she also made Stevie into the actor she was today.
Whatever kind of actor that might be.
“I’m in town for my sister’s birthday,” Dr. Calloway said. “Horrific affair at a karaoke bar downtown. I can’t seem to get ‘My Heart Will Go On’ out of my head.”
Stevie laughed. “It’s so good to see you.”
Dr. Calloway stood up, dapper in her butch style of dark jeans and a white T-shirt under a navy blazer, flat brown loafers on her feet.
“I’m actually on my way to the airport,” she said, motioning toward her rolling suitcase, “but I couldn’t resist stopping by to check on my favorite students and the Empress.”
Stevie smiled. “We’re still here.”
“So I see.” Dr. Calloway smiled. “And thriving.”
“It’s all Adri. She’s very determined.”
“It’s not only Adri.” Dr. Calloway’s eyes narrowed on Stevie, a familiar gaze that always made Stevie simultaneously squirm and straighten her shoulders. Dr. Calloway had once stared at her for a full fifteen minutes in front of their entire class, asking her the same question about the character she was playing at the time over and over again—What does Angelica want, Stevie?—until Stevie gave an acceptable answer.
“That was quite impressive,” Dr. Calloway said, motioning toward the stage. “A Benedick unlike one I’ve ever seen.”
Stevie waved a hand. “It’s noth—”
“It’s not nothing, Stevie.” She lifted a brow, and Stevie nodded.
“Right. Sorry. I mean, thank you, Dr. Calloway.”
“Call me Thayer, please. We’re not in school anymore.”
“Thayer,” Stevie said, then immediately blushed. Half the theater department had been in love with Thayer Calloway, lesbians and bi and pan girls flocking to her queer energy like hens to their feed, along with a few women who had always assumed they were straight. And Stevie had been no different.
“Anyway, I do want to say hello to Adri and Ren, but I’m glad I caught you alone first,” Thayer said.
“Oh?”
Thayer smiled. “I’m in New York now, as you probably know.”
“I do. How’s it going?”
“Very well, actually. I’ve just been asked to direct As You Like It for Shakespeare in the Park this summer. At the Delacorte.”