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She says this person’s name like I know who they are.
Jade takes a pull of her beer and shifts her body so she’s facing me.
“Who’s Mac?” I ask.
“Mac’s dating my best friend, Jessie.”
“You live with your best friend’s boyfriend . . .?”
“It’s only slightly less weird than that. I live with my best friendandher boyfriend. They have the big room. I’m in the smaller room.”
“Oh,” I say.
“I can feel you judging me,” she says with a sly smile.
I shake my head to assure her I’m not.
And I mean it. Although I find the setup weird, I have a feeling this is just scraping the surface of all the weird things I might find out about Jade. I’d like to know more about her, but I can’t tell if she is interested in sharing anything.
We both take a sip of our beer and let an awkward silence fill the space. Should I start a conversation, or should I wait for her to start it?
The beer is already working its magic and I’m distinctly less nervous. In fact, I can’t remember why I was freaking out in the first place. Jade is cool and very chill and obviously not nervous, and dressed as she is in a crop top and leggings, with her hair in a ponytail, it all feels very casual and like maybe I was nervous for absolutely nothing.
Seth’s advice about keeping an open mind is working. I feel like I’m going with the flow, and as long as I don’t think too much about if we’re going to kiss or if I should go at all, I actually feel very relaxed.
“So this is your first play, huh?” she asks, shifting her body to face me, one leg crossed over the other. The way her lips are turned up in a smile, I feel a little bit like she’s mocking me, or like maybe we’ve got an inside joke but I’m not on the inside.
“Yeah. Gotta graduate on time,” I say with a nervous laugh.
“Is that all this is to you—a credit to graduate?” Her eyes are intense and she’s not smiling anymore.
I swallow hard, wondering if I missed a cue, because I thought things were light and fun, but she looks dead serious right now.
“I’m a tech kid. I won’t pretend like I’m excited to do this, but I’m not going to phone it in, if that’s what you’re worried about. I know, no one wants to be paired with the non-actor, but I’m going to work my ass off. I promise.”
I meet her gaze, trying to match her intensity. But something in her eyes tells me she doesn’t fully trust me. On one hand, that’s fair. In her shoes, I might be wary too. But on the other, I work really hard at everything I do, and I don’t like having my work ethic questioned.
I’m just as committed to this one-act as Jade is, and if that means we need to build chemistry, then by god, we will build chemistry. Interest be damned, I’m going to try it Seth and Jade’s way.
In one swift motion, I set down my beer and lean into Jade, pressing my lips against hers. Her lips are soft, and when she moves them against mine, opening and deepening the kiss, I taste the beer she’s been drinking.
It’s a nice kiss, but it sort of just feels like I’m being kissed. I don’t hate it, but I’m also not particularly enjoying it.
She must sense something, because she breaks the kiss, and for a second she searches my eyes. I don’t know what she’s looking for or what she finds, but she leans in again to kiss me. This time I lean in a little too, but then there’s a loudCLINK, and both of us rear back, clutching at our mouths.
“Ow!”
“Fuck!”
I touch my front teeth, checking to make sure I still have all of them. Jade does the same thing.
“Shit, that hurt,” she says.
“I’m sorry. I think that was my fault,” I say.
“It’s fine.” She waves her hand and leans back in toward me, but apparently I didn’t learn my lesson, because I lean too, and this time our foreheads collide.
“Ahhhh,” I groan.
