Forever Crimson

Chapter 10

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" ELLIOT ASKED.

Scarlet turned to him and blushed. She hadn't realized she had zoned out, but it was hard not to. Jake performed his lines on stage for Mr. Williams. The lighting crew started practicing up in the controls, so a spotlight shone over his figure, creating a halo effect around him.

"Uh, yeah," she stammered. "Sorry. I'm not... here, I guess."

Elliot studied her before nodding. Those amber eyes trailed over her body before he pursed his lips. His hands gripped the back of one of the velvet seats until his knuckles turned white.

"I saw you at school today," he said. Scarlet looked up at him. "I wanted to come up to you, but you looked so... out of it."

Scarlet gulped at his keen attention, and turned back to the stage when the audience clapped. Jake smiled, and the spotlight shut off.

"Oh, you know, it's just one of those days," she told Elliot. "It's foggy today." Her tone took a lighter turn, but the joke didn't land because Elliot only stared at her, jaw set, as his eyes drank her face up.

"I'm here if you ever need to talk, Scarlet." He said it with so much meaning, Scarlet didn't know how to respond. Luckily, Ms. Stanford summoned her to get her to sort through bundles of flyers. She waved at him before heading back, her heart pounding hard in her chest.

She caught Jake's eye as she went up the steps to the stage. Ms. Stanford pointed backstage where she had placed some flyers in one of the dressing rooms. Before she could ask for more details, she walked past her as Gina asked her a question about the costumes.

Scarlet sighed and walked past the sound crew, who were busy making out which of the microphones worked and which didn't. From the looks of it, not many did their job. She recognized Bonny sifting through manuals with complicated diagrams in one corner. She noticed her gaze and shook her head as if in disapproval before diving back to her task.

Scarlet frowned, but ignored everything and opened the door in the corner to go backstage just as Elliot walked up to the sound crew.

She closed the door behind her, biting down on her lip hard. She tucked a loose strand of her hair behind her ear and set out to work. The time wasn't going to pass any quicker.

The next hour was spent with her sorting through flyers to send to both schools, businesses, and for bulletin boards across town. Scarlet felt like her eyeballs would fall right out of her sockets by the time she slipped the last flyer into its corresponding folder.

She was sick of the dark design of black and red with an elaborate mask taking front and center. It paid tribute to the infamous masquerade ball Romeo sneaked into, but its shape was going to haunt her for the rest of the week. Had she been in a different mood, she could have appreciated the grungy feel. But she wasn't in the mood to appreciate anything that play brought to her.

Scarlet closed the last folder and sat back, stretching her body with a sigh. She hoped the time was seven o'clock, so she could get out of there as soon as possible.

Allowing herself to look around, she admired the typical dressing room Aura would fawn over. Mirrors covered almost all walls with framing Hollywood-style light bulbs, casting a yellow glow over her face. The counters in front of her were a mint green. Each station had a seat available, and she could envision the cast of the play getting ready there before having to go out and give the people a show.

She stared at the cream vinyl tiles, getting a flashback from the time she had to mop them. The shadow of her legs entertained her as she swung her body around on her seat. She embraced the small moment of nothingness as she waited for Ms. Stanford to come tell her she could leave.