My Backstage Boyfriend | teen fiction

act 1, scene 5 - the audition

"Oh, me too." My cheeks flushed. Suddenly my neck was 1000 degrees. I dug my fingernails into my palm to try and chill out as we found a quiet place to rehearse.

"So, do you know what the show is about? I don't really know Christian at all and you know how vague Phelps and Listine can be - dramatic effect and all."

So I told him the gist.

The musical's main conflict is between the previously at-war kingdoms of Dark and Light, battling for who will dominate Earth. The royalty of both have made peace with each other, however the hatred between the people was still passionate. Now, Christian had only really told me the details for one of the subplots, so I only knew a few of the characters.

The subplot I knew and that we were reading from focused on Estella, the princess of the Light kingdom, and Cerin, the prince of the Dark kingdom. To unify their lands at the sunset, Estella and Cerin were raised to wed once they turned 18. Estella loved him fully, Cerin thought he loved her. His morals were questioned when the beautiful, lively Roxanne steps into the picture. It puts both of their kingdoms at risk for him to be with her.

At the end of the play, during the most dramatic scene, Cerin accidentally kills Roxanne and concedes to marry Estella in a bittersweet moment.

"Wow," Nick exhaled. "Intense."

"Yeah, intense is one way to put it." I flipped through the pages of scene we were to perform. "Okay, so I think this is from when Estella and Cerin first meet at the beginning, before Roxanne is in the picture. They've grown up hearing about each other their entire lives, and yet this is the first time they've ever spoken."

((Hi reader - Holland here! Just letting you guys know for future chapters, all lines from the play will be underlined to make sure there isn't any confusion. Thanks so much! Enjoy!))

"Alright, sure, sounds good. Here, I've got the first line." He cleared his throat. "Hello? Is anyone in here?"

"Yes?" I did my best to sound graceful, yet confused. "Oh."

"Oh." There was a beat of silence as indicated in the script. "Hello."

"Hello."

"You're the Princess Estella. Your parents said I might find you here."

"I love the gardens. They made this one for me when I was born." I gazed up at him. "And you must be Cerin. Prince Cerin, I mean."

"If we're to be married, I believe we can drop the formalities."

"Ah, yes, I suppose so. Cerin, then. You're different than how I pictured." He looked up and met my eyes.

"Am I?"

"You're far more wonderful than I could have ever dreamed." Sure, it was a little cheesy, but at the same time... My heart longed for a romance. Sometimes it felt like I was the only one who hadn't fallen in love - truly. I wished it were as easy as in the show.

"And far luckier, as well. I was just remarking to myself how fortunate I must be to have a true fallen star to be mine." The side was short, as most are when it comes to musicals. There was one thing left to do in the script. One tiny little stage direction.

It looked a little something like this:

(ESTELLA and CERIN kiss)

There was an awkward hesitation that lasted way, way too long as both Nick and I read it and absorbed what it said. I didn't look up.

"I mean... Well..." He fumbled for words. "It would be professional if we did. Actually, I think we should. They're not going to cast people who let stupid worries hold them back."

"Yeah, you're totally right." He was. In the real world, actors have to do all sorts of uncomfortable things. "But let's not kiss until we do it for the directors. That way, it will be more authentic."

It didn't exactly make sense, but he agreed. And before we knew it, our names were being called.

This time, Christian had joined the audience. He beside Leila, an open binder in his lap. All of the official people always had binders. Emmy saw Nick with me and gave me her "I-am-freaking-out-for-you" eyes along with some questionable winks (that were probably closer to blinks, if you ask me).

"Alright," Ms. Listine said with a flair. "Action!" She always said "action" like "ack-SHE-on!". I tried not to let myself get distracted by it.

I let myself become Estella, wistful and windswept. She was a soft glow of a person, and I tried to embody that in my every word and movement. Nick was easy to play off of, he was so talented. It felt like we were in lockstep with each other throughout the scene. It was electric, all the way until the kiss.

The moment came. His hands were on my face and I was gazing doe-eyed up at him. For a second, it felt real. For a second, I was living my dream. When our lips finally collided, soft and warm and... fake. It wasn't Nick kissing Penelope. It was Cerin kissing Estella. I knew in my heart he didn't feel that way about me, but it was so nice to pretend.

We let go and turned to face the audience. Emmy's mouth hung open, Leila was taking notes in her aforementioned binder, and for some reason, Christian looked like he had sucked on something sour. My spirits fell a bit as I wondered if I had disappointed him with my acting.

I felt kinda sad as Nick and I walked off together. My dream kiss had happened, with my dream guy, just not my dream circumstances. I knew it would've been better had it been real. I still felt tears pricking at the inner corners of my eyes as I replayed how upset Christian had looked.

I bid a quick goodbye to Nick and a "Break a leg!" to Jessie, then ran outside to where my mom was waiting in our sedan. I jumped into the passenger seat and as hard as I tried, was forced to swipe away frustrated tears.

She didn't ask me anything. That's what I loved about my mom. She knew I would talk about when I was ready.

Hey, I thought, look on the bright side. At least now I could say I'd had my first kiss.