Moonsland (EN)

Emily (XXVIII)

  Tomorrow is the big day. We were supposed to start practicing at ten, but it's almost eleven and the teacher hasn't arrived yet. As we have to rest and physically prepare for the performance tomorrow, today is the last day to practice, so we would have two hours in the morning and two after lunch to do so. We're all starting to get nervous, because we don't have the teacher to guide us or Louise, the main female character, to start practicing on our own. As I'm heading for the exit, I see the teacher almost running in.
- Emily, we need to talk. - she says. I feel nervousness run through my body. - James, can you start the piano solo, please?
- Of course. - he replies, taking the stage. The rest of the people sit in the second and third rows, pretending not to hear my conversation with the teacher.
- Emily, I was late because I was with Louise. - she says, panting.
- "Is everything all right?" I ask, worried.
- No. I asked her gym teacher not to make her do anything too dangerous these last few weeks so that nothing would happen. What did he do?
- What?
- He put her through triple jump training and she got hurt. Tell me, do I deserve this? - he asks, waving his hand like a fan.
- And now? Can she perform tomorrow? - I ask. I start sweating all over.
- We still don't know. The ambulance showed up a while ago. You're going to train for her role anyway. - I would have liked the lead role, because it's an opportunity to show my potential, but not like this.
- And tomorrow I'll play the main character?
- Until further notice, yes. I'm off now to pick up the girl who's going to play your starting role. While I'm gone, try to control things here and tell everyone the news, please.
- I'll let you know. See you soon.
  The teacher storms out of the theater and I tell everyone what happened, even though I know that everyone already knows. When I go on stage to practice my new role, James, the only one to act with me in the scene after his solo, comes up to me and asks me, laughing:
- You can admit it. You're the one who sent her to hospital for asking me out, aren't you?
- Her what? If you'd told me that earlier, she wouldn't just have a sprained foot. - I reply, laughing.
- You're more dangerous than I thought. - say.
- You haven't seen anything yet. - I reply, winking at him and moving away to the position where I have to start the scene.
- Sexy. - he says, smiling, before we start acting.

  It's a few minutes after eight in the evening and James and I are sneaking into the theater. When class ended in the afternoon, James proposed that we come when the school was empty so that we could practice one last time. I couldn't turn down such an invitation, firstly because I found out today that I was going to play the most important role of my life, and secondly because I'm going to train with the boy, I'm in love with. Better than this? I don't know if it's possible.
- Shall we? - he asks, holding out his hand to me theatrically.
- Let's go. - I reply, putting my hand in his. We walk down the corridor to the big stage, surrounded by chairs that will be full in a day's time. I get a chill in my stomach just thinking about what awaits us. And even more so when I remember that I brought James into this.
- Do you realize what I've gotten us into? - I ask, as we separate to go up the side stairs to the stage.
- I'm also to blame. - he says. - If I didn't like you, I wouldn't have taken the bet.
- But you accepted because you really thought you were going to beat me. - I say, laughing.
- Yes, I did, but my goal was to win and then tell you that I was going to take part in the theater anyway, since you wanted too so much. - she confesses. I feel myself blushing. We approach each other in the center of the stage and hold hands.
- Whoever wrote the play could have added this scene. - say.
- It would be perfect. - When we're about to kiss, he pulls away with a smile and asks:
- Are you going to turn on the lights?
- I will. - I reply. I'd even forgotten that we're only being illuminated by the dim stage lights. I turn off the spotlights and only turn on the stage lights, dimming them to level three out of ten. It's enough to read the script, but everything else is dark. I look at the parterre and I can't see half the rows of chairs further away. That's perfect. At that moment, James is shirtless in the front row.
- You don't have to take your clothes off now. - I joke.
- You want to train first, do you? - answer.
- I'd rather. First work, then fun. - We laughed.
- Okay, then. - he says, putting on the vest he's going to wear in the play. I can't get dressed now, because I'm going to wear a dress, since the play is set in the nineteenth century.
  We started acting with the script in hand, James playing the men and I the women, since it was just the two of us. At times we had to pause the practice because we couldn't stop laughing, as we had to jump from one place to another to play our part and that of the others. At her solo, I pulled up a chair and leaned my head on the piano's tail and watched her concentrate on playing that song. You can see through his eyes that he loves what he does. His eyes sparkle like those of a child receiving a sweet, or a father holding his child for the first time. He has a passionate passion inside him that overflows through his fingers when he touches the piano keys. It's admirable.
  When he finishes playing, he looks at me, but I remain motionless. I can't look away from his beautiful eyes.
- Come on, you'll fall in love later. - she tells me, with her teasing smile.
- You're really anticlimactic, you know that?
- I'm sorry. - he says, centimeters away from me. Our lips almost touch, but he pulls away again. He laughs, because he knows he's torturing me.
  From our positions in the second scene of act two, we go back to acting, this time as serious as if there were a large crowd watching. We stop twice for a drink of water, since we're actually going to have breaks when we're not on stage, and after a lot of sweating, dancing and talking, we reach the last scene of the play. The two characters say how they feel about each other, as they come closer, sealing their love with a passionate kiss.
- Should we kiss? - asks James, when all that's missing from the script is the stage note of a passionate kiss.
- Didn't you want to practice the whole play? - I ask, putting my arms around his neck.
- If I were the other girl in your place, I'd be listening to a megaphone right now saying cut. - He laughs, wrapping my waist in his arms, making me fall back a little.
- Shut up and kiss me. - I reply, making the distance between our lips non-existent. Feeling his lips makes my heart race faster and faster and my body scream with joy. From the sound of the many leaves falling to the ground, I guess we dropped our scripts at the same time. We both open our eyes in sync, staring at each other like two children in love. He comes closer and gives me an Eskimo kiss. I don't know what I'm supposed to say now, so I smile and look at the floor, where all the paper we've dropped is, in order to hide my red cheeks from kissing. He bends down to pick up the papers and I do the same, when suddenly he stops to look at one of the sheets.
- Living with youmeans falling in love with you every day as if for the first time. - he says,as if he's reading that line from the script. I'm speechless at suchperfection. I think the racing heart, the flushed cheeks, the silly smile andthe butterflies in my stomach say everything my mouth can't at the moment. Welie on the floor of the stage looking up at the ceiling, where the lightsindirectly illuminate us. I imagine we're looking up at the sky, where thelights are the stars. I smile. I haven't felt so happy for a long time.