Pippa didn't know how to react to Jasmine's choices as a director. But it was her midterm, so she didn't have any other choice. She had to just go with it. She had to pass, or she'd lose her scholarship. Pippa tearfully explained her choice to just go with it to Lin the afternoon after she got the inital call, and Lin was definitely not on board at the start, but Pippa convinced him in to it. On the condition that she'd swear to backout if the whole thing got to be too much.
The group met up for their first meeting for this midterm one act, later that Wednesday. "Hey, welcome." Jasmine started handing out scripts. "Alright, so Pippa, you'll be playing Emma, Jonathan, you'll be playing Ben, and Anthony, you'll be playing Nick, our antagonist. Now, for tonight, I just want to see Anthony and Pippa for a few moments, everyone else, you can go. Please have your lines memorized by our next meeting slash rehearsal." With that, everyone but the two leads left the theater they were called into by Jasmine.
"Excited?" Anthony asked Pippa, quickly fingering through the script.
"Yep." Pippa smoothly lied.
"Alright, you two, I just want to try some stage fighting stunts real fast."
"Okay." Anthony said, and Pippa just nodded. They had taken a few stage fighting courses in their time at Julliard thus far. They were pretty good at it, as far as it goes.
"So, for the first thing, can you just..." Jasmine took Anthony's hand and rolled it into a fist. She slowly showed Anthony the path she wanted his hand to take, ending up around ribcage. Pippa's breath caught in her throat. Her bruises still hadn't healed, what if this messed with her head, what if he accidently did hit her, what if--
Her thoughts were cut short when she noticed Anthony's coming straight towards her side. Pippa quickly jumped out of the way, shrieking quietly.
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry." Anthony began.
"No, don't be sorry, it's my fault that I was distracted. I'm fine." Pippa apologetically told Anthony and Jasmine.
Jasmine nodded at this. "Alright, I want to just try one more thing." The two actors nodded. "But first, do you have any problems with real, stage kisses?" The both of them shook their heads. "Okay, cool, so, could you, Pippa, sit there..." Jasmine pointed to a couch prop she had secured for this project. Pippa sat. "Then, Anthony, we're going to do a hit like the one we just did, but towards her jawline." She hovered her finger over the top of Pippa's jaw, about where she wanted his fist to "hit" her. "Then, to show the two-faced ways of the relationship, I want the hand that hit her to go to Pippa's waist, and I'd like a kiss." Both Pippa and Anthony executed the fake fight effortlessly. They were actors, and that's what they did. The only thing bad was that Pippa just bit her tounge to keep from screaming when Anthony started moving his hand towards her. It went off without a hitch, though. Pippa just a bit shaky right after for a moment. "Okay, that's a wrap. You're all amazing. I'll see you next Thursday for first runs."
"Great, thank you." Pippa smiled and Anthony led her out to where Lin said he was there to pick Pippa up.
"Hey, Love, how was it?" Lin asked, grabbing Pippa's hand.
"Good." Pippa nodded, but bit her lip. A subtle cue to Lin that she had something to talk about. Lin nodded.
"Alright, well, it's late, so let's go, Love. Bye!" Lin and Pippa both waved to everyone. The walk back to dorm was a quiet one, except for Lin kissing Pippa's hand here and there. "How'd it really go?" Lin asked, laying down next to Pippa in her bed. Pippa faced Lin and pulled the covers up closer to her chin.
"It was...scary. I found my mind wandering off a bit." Pippa shrugged and laid her head deeper into her pillow.
"You can always back out if you feel uncomfortable, Pip. We can talk to the teachers and academic council, they'll understand." Lin told Pippa.
"I know, but...I'm okay. I'm not scared of Anthony, I know he'd never actually hurt me." Pippa nodded.
"That's good. I know he wouldn't either." Lin kissed Pippa's forehead.
"Hey, speaking of that, um, I want to tell you about one more thing about tonight." Pippa told Lin.
"Yeah, what's up?"
"I just...Jonathan is playing Ben, who represents you, and we have to kiss a few times. Are you okay with that?"
Lin looked confused for a moment. "Yeah, I mean, I don't care. That's just acting. Why do you think it'd bother me?"
"Just making sure. I don't know if you'd think it'd be weird me kissing "you" like...on the lips." Pippa dryly chuckled. "I don't know, just a thought."
"Alright." Lin cupped her cheek and ran his thumb under her eye. Something sweet he always did before they went to sleep. How it started, they didn't know, but it was just a "thing" now. "Goodnight, Love." Lin kissed her forehead once more.
Even when Pippa turned the light off, Lin's hand went from Pippa's cheek to her hand. She needed the gentle contact, and Lin knew that. Lin also knew that she was partially lying about how she felt about this one act. He could tell that maybe she shouldn't had done this for her midterm; maybe she just didn't see ways around it. Maybe.
