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As they came to the end of the scene, I felt nervous. I glanced over at Peter and Trish. They both wore poker faces, not responding to the performance at all except to jot down notes.
Personally, I saw Corie in a different light. Maybe Mandy was the kind of Corie they wanted. Optimistic, yes. But also intelligent and persuasive. Not a simpering, saccharine wife, which is what I was getting from Mandy.
“Okay, good,” snapped Peter. “Now the dinner party scene.”
Frank, another veteran of BPAL who’d played numerous roles for the middle-aged characters, sidled over and sat near me. Meredith, the receptionist at my dentist’s office, looked a little nervous, fumbling with the script pages in her lap. I wasn’t sure how many BPAL productions she’d been in, but I crossed my fingers for her. She was so nice.
After the first scene, which went pretty well if you prefer your leading female to be a gushing sugar stick, Peter twisted toward me. “Let’s go, Betty. Get on up there. Then we’ll have Meredith and Frank try for Ethel and Velasco this time.”
As I passed Mandy, she said, “This doesn’t seem your sort of role, Betty. Kind of chipper for you, isn’t it?”
“That’s why it’s calledacting, Mandy,” I snapped right back and took my place on stage while the others shuffled places.
After avoiding eye contact with Bennett ever since I’d stepped into the theater, I finally chanced a glance. He was smiling down at his script, still chewing that damn gum. Annoyingly, his jaw looked fantastic. Bet those chompers could do some serious damage to a steak…or a pair of panties.
Where the hell did that thought come from?
“What are you grinning about?” I asked him, looking up and not remembering him being quite that tall. “Sold all your fifty-dollar cheese platters on opening day?”
He smiled wide, toppling the charm-proof wall I’d erected just for him. “Andthe seventy-dollar charcuterie platters,” he added playfully.
“Your little theatrical opening made me late for school. And I almost got a speeding ticket.”
“Sorry about that.” His stupid-fine grin was affecting my heart rate.
“No, you’re not.”
He huffed out a laugh, shaking his head and chewing the fuck out of that gum. How did it not get in the way of his reading a minute ago?
“You know, it’s a rule you shouldn’t chew gum on stage.”
“Who’s rule?” His brow furrowed, but there was pure amusement in those hazel eyes that hadn’t left me since I’d stepped onstage.
“Therules. You know…theater rules. Just like you don’t say ‘Macbeth’ on stage or you curse the play.”
“You just said ‘Macbeth.’ On stage.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t believe in that superstitious stuff.”
“We have something in common. I don’t believe in the no gum-chewing rules.”
“It’ll get in the way of your performance,” I snapped, seriously irritated.
He leaned closer as if to whisper something. I didn’t move as he dropped his head near my ear, where I could get a good whiff of fresh, minty breath and some other masculine, woodsy scent.
“Don’t worry,” he crooned. “I have perfect control of my tongue.”
“Let’s go, thespians!” shouted Peter. “I’d like to get take-out from Bon Creole before they close tonight.”
I straightened and shifted away, refusing to acknowledge thattheBennett Broussard was, in fact, flirting with me. I also refused to recognize that my body liked it very, very much.
When I heard his low chuckle, the glitter bomb incident instantly flashed to mind.
Twelve years ago, we were both in the summer teen production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at BPAL. He was playing the leading role of Puck, though, in my opinion, he should’ve played Bottom, the Ass. Anyway, I played one of the minor fairies.
There was this one scene where he had a glitter bomb on a rope which he was supposed to pop and explode right as Bottom transformed onstage. He had a bad habit of swinging the damn thing in rehearsals, and I’d told him a hundred times he’d better not or he’d hit someone with it.
Well dammit. He did hit someone. Me! Right in the boobs. In front of a sold-out audience, which included my mom and sister and this boy Evan I had a huge crush on. The bomb exploded all over my tits, and I do mean exploded. Everyone in the audience laughed, thinking it was part of the show since it was a comedy after all.
