•••••Joshua's Perspective
"She what?" The shock in Aiden's voice reverberated through the theater.
I nodded, wincing as I fiddled with my hands. "Yeah."
She shook her head and sat back against her chair. "I can't believe that."
"I can't either, honestly."
"In all the years I've known her, she has never cried. Not once." She toyed with one of her thick, kinky curls. "This must've really done a number on her."
"It did." I bit my lip, recounting the events from the night before. "She let me hug her for a really long time. We just...sat there."
Aiden nodded thoughtfully, a small smile creeping across her lips. "Well, looks like you did it."
I tilted my head. "I did what?"
"She actually trusts you now." She reached over and grabbed my hand. "You're officially her friend."
My stomach dropped, and I pulled my hand out of her grasp. "That's...that's why I asked if I could talk to you about it."
"What do you mean?"
"I know it's exciting that I...that I 'made it', I guess," I said, making air-quotes with my fingers, "but...there's something else,"
The violinist wrinkled her nose, puzzled. "I'm not following you."
It was getting harder to breathe, and a fierce shade of red was bleeding onto my cheeks. "Um...I don't want—well, that's not right, I mean, I do want to be her friend, of course...I mean, I always have, but I just...I..."
"Josh?"
"I want to be...more than that..." I finally spat out, unable to meet her piercing blue eyes, "...more than her friend."
When I eventually did force myself to look back at her face, those eyes were wide with a bewildered sense of surprise. "Ah. I see."
I nodded. "Yeah."
"I see."
"Mhm."
"Wow." She managed a light laugh, shaking her head slowly. "Why didn't you tell me any of this before?"
I frowned. "I—I don't know, actually."
"Who else knows?"
"Just Ben."
She gave me a look. "Really? You told Ben before me?"
"I'm sorry." I laughed, thankfully feeling the tension in the air dissolve. "I wasn't thinking."
"So, how long has this been marinating in your head?" She asked.
I grimaced. "I'm really not a fan of that expression."
She laughed. "Sorry. But..."
"A while." I answered. "Since the bonfire, I think."
"The bonfire?" She gave me an incredulous look. "You mean the bonfire that we had, like, two months ago?"
"Yep."
"Wow." She said again, drawing out the 'o' sound.
"I know." I bit my lip anxiously. "So, what do you think?"
She smiled, crossing her arms. "I think you two would be super cute together. Natalie thinks so too."
"That's a relief." I breathed. "But, how are my chances looking?"
"Um," she sucked in a breath through her teeth, "not too good, I'm afraid."
My heart sank. "Yeah, I didn't think so."
"But, you never know until you ask."
I furrowed my brow in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I mean that you should talk to her about it." She explained. "That is, if you actually want to...y'know, start something."
"If I want to date her, you mean?"
Aiden nodded.
I lowered my gaze to my feet. "Alex hates that kind of stuff."
"She does, but—"
"Which means she probably wouldn't even consider it if I asked."
"Whoa, there," Aiden's hand found my arm, and she shook it slightly, "what happened to my Mr. Positive?"
"He's finding out that some things don't have an upside." I snapped, before sighing. "I'm sorry."
She shook her head. "No, it's okay. I understand that."
I covered my face with my hands. "I'm just not sure that I can cross that line. It was hard enough trying to be her friend in the first place."
"But it's clear that both of you are better for it." She said firmly. "Maybe you two are just—"
"Please don't say 'meant to be'." I begged her. "The phrase makes me want to throw up."
Her jaw dropped and her body began shaking with laughter. "You're already starting to sound like her!"
I joined in with her fit of giggles, before we were cut off by a sharp voice asking, "What's so funny?"
Aiden smiled at Cricket, who had magically appeared beside us. "Nothing important."
"Cool." Alex crossed her arms. "I probably wouldn't've thought it was funny anyway."
"Definitely not." Aiden shot me a knowing look, before returning her attention to Alex. "I need to head back to the hotel and grab Coralee before the six o'clock call for the show tonight. Why don't you keep Josh company while I'm gone?"
Alex shrugged. "Whatever."
"Great. I'll see you both soon, then." Aiden stood up and turned towards the door. But before she reached it, she stopped and spun back around, making eye contact with me as she jerked her head in Alex's direction.
I gave her a discreet nod, and then she was out of sight.
Alex cleared her throat, shoving her hands into her jacket pockets. "Hi."
I smiled at her. "Hi. How are you?"
She shrugged. "Eh."
"Are you okay?" I asked, bending my head to catch her eye.
"I'm okay," she nodded, shrugging again, "I'm just not great."
"Well, 'okay' is a start." I nudged her. "How's Natalie?"
"She's good."
"Good."
Alex took a deep breath, rubbing her eyes and commenting, "I'm so tired."
"Why? What time did you go to bed last night?"
"This morning." She corrected me. "Around one, I think?"
My eyes grew wide. "That's not healthy."
"Yeah, well, I'm not a healthy person."
"You should go to bed earlier." I said. "You deserve to be healthier."
"I'll think about it." She rolled her eyes. "So, what do you want to do?"
"Hmm?"
"Until Aiden gets back. We've got, like, ten minutes to spare."
"Oh." I shrugged. "I don't know."
"Because, like, if you need to go warm-up or something, then I can just chill in the tech booth."
I tilted my head. "Warm-up?"
She looked up at me. "Don't dancers do stretches or something before shows?"
"Oh, yeah. Yeah, we do."
"Then you could go do that, and then just come to the tech booth when you're done." She suggested.
"Yeah, okay." I offered a laugh. "If you could tolerate me being in the same space as you, and asking a million questions about all the pretty buttons on the light board."
"Yeah." She cleared her throat. "It's endearing."
"Okay." I gave her a nod. "I'll see you in a bit, then."
"Cool." She responded, nodding back at me.
But neither of us moved. We just stood there, quiet.
"I never really understood you guys." She said after a while, breaking the silence.
I looked over at her. "Who?"
"Dancers." She clarified. "Dancing is just a strange concept to me."
"Oh. Have you ever danced before?"
She shook her head. "No."
A smile crept its way across my face. "You want me to show you how?"
She glanced up at me. "What?"
"Do you want me to show you how to dance?"
"I—I'm not sure that I could,"
"No, you can." I held out my hand to her. "I'll teach you."
She stared at my hand for a minute, before taking a deep breath and giving in, intertwining her fingers with mine. "Oh, what the heck?"
Grinning, I squeezed her hand and led her through the theater and behind the closed curtain.
"Alright," I tapped my foot against the stage's floor, trying to think of a simple dance to teach her. "I'm not going to make you do anything super hard."
"No Newsies choreography, please." She teased me without a smile.
I breathed a laugh. "I promise."
I decided on one of the first, classical dances I'd ever learned: some basic ballroom steps.
"Okay, so straighten your back and your shoulders." I said, demonstrating the proper posture.
She did as I'd said.
"Now, put one hand on my shoulder, and with your other hand, hold my hand, like that," I instructed, repositioning her hand in mine. "And then I'll..." I stopped abruptly, remembering another detail.
She raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"
I cleared my throat uncomfortably, my cheeks beginning to color. "Um...can I...may I, put my—my hand...on your...waist?"
Frowning, she tilted her head. "What do you need to do that for?"
"It's, uh, it's part of the dance."
"Oh." She shrugged. "Yeah, sure."
Clearing my throat again, I set my hand cautiously on her hip, glancing up at her face to make sure that she was still okay with it.
When her expression didn't change, I let my hand settle there.
"Follow my feet." I said, slowly walking through the steps.
She kept her eyes on my shoes, attempting to stay with my tempo, but she didn't quite go fast enough, and nearly tripped over my foot. "Shoot,"
"It's okay. Try again."
She nodded and started over, moving in sync with me.
That time, she nailed it.
"Good!" Tightening my grip on her waist, I pulled her closer and stood up on my toes, spinning us in a circle, before setting her down and releasing her. "And that's it!"
"Huh." She frowned.
I nodded. "Yep."
"I think I'm done with physical activity for the day." She declared, plopping down into a sitting position on the floor.
"Fair." I sat next to her. "So?"
"That was..."
"Fun?" I offered hopefully.
"Hard." She stated.
"Oh."
She shrugged. "And a little fun, I guess."
I breathed a laugh, gazing down at my hands in my lap. "You don't have to say that just to make me feel better."
"Don't worry." She said, nudging me slightly with her elbow. "I'm not."
I looked back up at her, meeting her inky black eyes. But my attention was suddenly drawn to her lips.
A jolt shook my shoulders as my ears turned pink, and I quickly returned my gaze to my hands.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
"Nothing, nothing," I tried and failed to put up a believable smile. "It's just something I thought of."
"What?"
I shook my head. "It's not important."
"Look me in the eye and tell me that, then." She challenged. Out of the corner of my vision, I saw her cross her arms. "Or stop being a baby and tell me the truth, since something is obviously bothering you."
"It's something that I want to do." I blurted the words at her, like spitting out a sip of lukewarm tea. "But I don't know if you'll be okay with it or not."
She tilted her head, fixing me with an incredulous expression. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that I'm nervous."
"No, I mean, what kind of thing do you want to do?"
"Uh," I swallowed hard. "I—"
"Is it another dancing thing?"
I shook my head. "Well, no,"
She watched my struggle with boredom in her eyes and a frown on her lips. "You know what? Just do it."
My eyes grew wide. "What?"
"You heard me." She shrugged. "Do it."
"But—but what if you don't like it?"
She rolled her eyes. "Knowing you, how bad could it really be?"
My heart thumped wildly against my ribs. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, why not?" She asked with a shrug.
I looked down at her mouth. "Really sure?"
What was I doing?
I almost backed down, but then she said, "Positive."
And mumbling, "Please don't punch me," I leaned in and kissed her.
•••••Cricket's Perspective
"Please don't punch me." He whispered, his voice trembling, before he swiftly closed the remaining distance between my mouth and his.
My eyebrows shot up as a spark zapped through me.
'Oh.'
Truth be told, I had never kissed anyone before, and I had never been entirely sure what I thought of the notion.
But right then, I wasn't thinking straight. In fact, I wasn't thinking at all.
I pressed my lips back against his, completely losing myself.
It wasn't until I felt his fingertips against my cheek that I remembered what was happening.
What was I doing?
"Wait," I opened my eyes and pulled back, desperately trying to collect my thoughts.
Josh watched me closely in this state of confused comprehension, his dark eyes full of anxiety. "Yeah?"
My expression contorted in disgust, and I stared down at the floor. "I can't believe I just did that."
His face fell, and he sighed at himself. "I'm so sorry—"
"I cannot believe I just did that." I stood to my feet, backing away from him slightly, before turning on my heel and running through the curtain and off of the stage as fast as I could.
"Alex!" Josh called after me, but I didn't listen.
I sprinted down the hallway, hot anger burning through me.
My feet pounded the ground as they carried me out of the theater, across the street, through the hotel's front doors, and up to my room.
Once I was inside, I shut the door sharply behind me, and slammed my fists against it.
Breathing hard, I tried to replay the occurrence, trying to figure out how it happened.
But I couldn't remember how it happened.
I could only remember how it felt.
At first I tried to convince myself that I was utterly disgusted at what he'd done, and how I'd reacted to it.
Unfortunately, I couldn't believe that lie enough to make it real.
I clearly wasn't disgusted in the slightest; butterflies were swirling around in my stomach, and my face was red hot.
But, at the same time, I hated it.
I hated that I was wrong about him.
I hated that he made me so happy.
I hated that my stomach flipped every time I was around him.
I hated that kissing him was something that I never wanted to forget, and something that I wanted to do again.
I hated that, contrary to popular belief, I didn't actually hate him.
Problem was, I wasn't quite used to feeling any other emotion, and if I didn't feel hate, then what did I feel?
_________
No one asked but I wrote their first kiss while listening to 'Africa' by Toto so there's that