Love, Lust, and Jealousy.
It's a story Cora knows all too well - not because it's her own, but that of her character in Illicit Affairs, the murderous romance that's about to take Broadway by storm. It's her crowning achievement, her pride and joy...
Anais greeted Cora with a hug when she returned to her dressing room after the curtain call, taking the smiling but exhausted girl in her arms and patting her on the back. "Congrats, Cora."
She had always been proud of any show she worked on, but she felt a particular kinship to Cora. Maybe it was just because she was making her Broadway debut in such a huge role, but it made Anais really happy to see her grow into her own abilities so much over just the past few weeks and then blow it out of the park tonight.
"Now let's get this thing off of you."
Cora laughed as Anais started helping her out of her costume. After, once she was already back in her own clothes and had scurried out the door, there was a knock.
It was Gideon, Anais' male (and in her own opinion less pretty, but only slightly) counterpart, looking like pretty much everyone else around here did tonight: slightly disheveled but all grins.
"Just came by to say congrats," he said kindly.
"Thanks, you too," she replied as she set Cora's shoes aside to be inspected in the morning for any wear and tear. When a character stayed onstage as long as hers did, it wasn't uncommon to wear through shoes in a matter of a couple of weeks, not months. "You doing anything to celebrate tonight? Or are you more of a 'save it for opening night' kind of person?"
He was leaning slightly against the doorframe, giving her an unreadable look. There was a reason she worked backstage instead of on it—she was very mediocre when it came to understanding the nuances of body language.
And when he lightly asked, "Are you doing anything tonight?" she wasn't quite sure what to make of him, or what she even wanted him to be saying.
"I don't have any specific plans," she said carefully, holding his gaze. "But if someone invited me to go out, I wouldn't say no."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Cora didn't anticipate that there would be anyone wanting pictures or autographs at the stage door; or if there were, that it would be just a few curious audience members, no more than a dozen. So when she pushed the door open and there were at least fifty of them there, all with their playbills and phones at the ready, she stopped in her tracks.
Her heart lurched for what felt like the hundredth instance in the past thirty minutes. How many times had she been the little girl there waiting to have her playbill signed? And now she was the one on the other side of the exchange, fumbling in her purse for a pen or marker.
She had just assumed that she would have to make a name for herself first, that it would take until opening night at the very least for the crowds to really start forming. For starters, plays simply weren't quite as popular with the younger audiences as musicals. And in her own eyes, she was still a nobody, just a little aspiring actress without much more than a degree to her name, so hearing all of these people complimenting her performance while she hastily scribbled her signature on their playbills gave her the best sort of emotional whiplash. She knew she sounded flustered as she thanked them, but she hoped it was obvious that her gratitude was genuine. And that she looked decent in their photos.
