Confessions of a Teenage Broadway Star

24 » ❝Helpless❞

        Scarlett sputters, "No," fairly unconvincingly, then adds, "I-I was - I was taking a break. You know, running away for the summer, going upstate and all that." Good save, Scarlett - can't go wrong with a Hamilton reference.

        Audrey arches a brow as the girls sit down across from her, and Scarlett can already tell that she's going to need a lot more than a clever musical reference to get her out of this argument. "So you haven't been thinking about him... at all?" she asks with suspicious eyes.

        Scarlett struggles to maintain a steady gaze. "Nope."

        "Not even a little bit?"

        "Hasn't even crossed my mind."

        "Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh, what a beautiful day," a familiar voice sings as he passes by the open door of the green room in a daze, and Parker stops humming the Oklahoma tune in favour of stopping to flash the girls a smile. "Evening, girls - five minutes to the top of the show," he informs them cheerfully. "Hi, Scarlett," he adds, flashing her a lopsided smile that doesn't fail to make her heart speed up at least a little bit more than she'd like to admit.

        Scarlett's not proud of the stupid grin that appears on her face. "Hey," she says, trying to ignore how breathless they both sound. God, she's in way too deep.

        There's a long pause in which Parker and Scarlett hold each other's gaze with a glimmer of a blush on both cheeks, until April finally breaks the silence. "Hey, lover boy?" she pipes up, and Parker manages to shift his attention. "You forgot your corsage, genius."

        Upon further inspection, Scarlett discovers that Parker's choir shirt is, in fact, completely bare. He laughs, "I guess with all of the busyness I just forgot." The girls nod at him with suspicious smiles that, being Parker, don't seem to faze him a bit as he gets up to retrieve his rose. "I don't know where my head's been today," he admits with a chuckle before strolling away.

        "I think I do..." Audrey sing-songs, and Scarlett elbows her. Once he's gone, the girls fix Scarlett with a knowing look. "You were saying?" Audrey smiles, and Scarlett gives her an annoyed glare. "Something about not being completely in love with your best friend?"

        She shakes her head in disbelief. "That's-" she smiles stupidly despite herself, "that's ridiculous. If I was-" Scarlett begins, then pauses to correct herself, "even if I was in love with Parker, one kiss doesn't prove that he'd love me back," she points out.

        Peyton's not buying it. "Come on - you're telling me that in all the whirlwind of the past few weeks, he hasn't done anything to tell you that he wants to be with you? Because I could definitely name a few," she accuses, and April and Audrey nod in agreement.

        Scarlett bites her lip. "That's - that's crazy," she denies, though it comes out spectacularly less convincingly than would like to admit, her cheeks colouring slightly. "So we've stumbled into a few slightly romantic situations. So I kissed him in New York. We didn't do anything about it then, not even when he..." she trails off, admittedly scared to finish her sentence for fear of her friends' reaction.

        April pins her with a suspicious look. "When he what?"

        "When-he-kissed-me-before-the-curtain-went-up-on-opening-night," Scarlett blurts out at the speed of light, already regretting the words as they leave her lips.

        The girls are practically floored. "He what?!"

        Audrey's smile has lit up to a thousand watts. "Why didn't you tell us!?"