and we scored

Scene 48

NINI

I'm on the balcony, looking at the cheering audience as the curtains want to close. I've made it through the first half of the play without crying every time I looked at the empty seat. I've made it without making any mistakes when saying my lines, although my head is empty and all I can think of is him. I've made it without wanting to scream out loud.

I watch as the curtains want to close, announcing the thirty minutes break before the second half of the show begins. I have to get down from this balcony, get backstage and go to the costume team so that they can work on my makeup and help me change in the next costume.

I have to do all that.

But something stops me.

Coming from afar, I can hear a song.

It's very low at first, like a whisper, but it gets louder and louder until I can hear it clearly and it's not just me hearing it. Everybody in this room turns in the direction the music is heard from. And all of us freeze when we discover what, who, it is.

Caden is standing in a tux that makes him look even more perfect than he normally is, a microphone in his hand, singing to I Love You Baby. I can see how nervous he is, how much he might regret doing this. Some people in the crowd start filming it and I can see Alec giving everyone who wants to film a death stare. Many stop. Caden swallows, a bit braver as before hard and continues singing and dancing to the music, making his way through the rows of chairs and people, walking straight to the stage.

I'm still on the balcony of the improvised tower the props team built, looking frozen at the scene. He told me he would never do this. He told me he would never sing and dance in front of an audience. But he's doing it. For me.

For me.

He only stops as he's standing right under my balcony, kinda like Romeo and Juliet. I can see him take a deep breath before his eyes meet mine. I can read every feeling in his green-blue eyes. I can see how nervous he is. He's afraid of how I might react. He's a bit embarrassed after the show he had just put on. He's angry at himself for screwing up and making us break up. But most of all he's hopeful. He's hopeful that we can be more again.

Caden doesn't look at the crowd as he speaks again. He only has eyes for me.

"Dear Broadway, I know I screwed up."

I can hear the crowd gasp and more phones start filming. Alec tries flipping them off again for them to stop, but the gossip is too important for them not to take the risk. The famous hockey legend just admitted he had a screwup.

Caden looks at me as if to tell me it's alright and he doesn't mind and that it's just us in this world right now. I nod and focus solely on him again.

"I screwed up, Broadway", he begins again. "I know I did. I can't say that admitting that deal was a mistake. I know it was, and I know I should have never done that because I was playing with someone's feelings and you didn't deserve that. But I can't also imagine how my life would look like right now if you haven't had become a part of it. I can't say that I hate ever making that deal because without it, I would have still been the idiot who chases after a girl for whom I didn't feel even half of the things I feel when I'm with you. You light up my world, Nini. You're the reason I breathe. I don't know how I managed to live twenty years without you. It's a mystery. Because I for sure know that I'm not going to survive another twenty, even more, the rest of my life, without you in it. When I go to sleep, you are my last thought, and when I wake up, it's the memory of you that helps me start my day. I smile daily knowing that I'm going to see you."

"You turned my world upside down. Love was supposed to be simple. Love was supposed to make me feel something, but not like this. No, Nini. When I'm with you, my feelings are so insane, I wonder how they can even be real. I catch myself thinking this is all a dream and that I'm sleeping and that it is not possible for someone to be as happy. Because you make me the happiest. When you smile, Broadway...Your smile...I have never seen anything like it. Anything so beautiful. So pure. Your smile is pure beauty. I would give up many things if I ever had to, but I could never give up your smile."