Temptation

Chapter Twenty-Nine

 Tom arrived to the theater on campus early with Diana. He showed her to her seat and she gave him a kiss on the cheek, wishing him to break a leg. As Tom headed backstage, he did a head count and noticed that Alice was not present. Tom checked in the dressing room for the women and asked if they had seen Alice.

"I haven't seen her." One replied.

"Maybe traffic? The loop buses aren't always reliable." A second spoke.

"Thanks." Tom exited the room.

As he walked over to the sign-in sheet, he worried if traffic was the issue. He didn't need Alice more stressed than she already was. Just as he turned the corner to look at the sheet, Alice came barreling through the stage door and ran to the sheet. Tom carefully glanced around him before he approached her, placing his hand on her upper back.

"What happened? Your call time was ten minutes ago." He spoke softly.

"Some things came up. I have to talk to you." She put the pen down.

"Get changed first. My priority at the moment is ensuring you're ready to go onstage."

"But..."

Alice trailed off watching Tom pace down the hall and turn back around the corner. She hurriedly made her way to the dressing rooms and set up her station. She frantically began applying her make-up as the other women in the room began putting on their costumes.

"What happened? You're always on time." One spoke.

"It was nothing. I need to focus right now." Alice panted.

When the others were done changing, they went up to the backstage of the theater. Alice did her finishing touches and put on her costume. Having the dressing room to herself, she decided to make the most of it by doing some warm up exercises for voice and body. When she had finished, she tried to find Tom and saw him in the wings talking to the assistant stage manager. She rushed to his side and tapped his shoulder.

"Yes, Alice?"

"I have to talk to you."

"It'll need to wait a bit longer. The stage manager isn't here and they have the notes with all the lighting cues so we're making a back up right now. It won't take long. Just sit in the dressing rooms and calm yourself down." Tom spoke to her softly.

He went back to talking with the assistant stage manager and Alice felt her heart start to race as she walked back to the dressing rooms. Sitting in front of the mirror, Alice couldn't help but think about her potential pregnancy as well as her performance. Everything was catching up with her and she didn't know how to handle it. After a moment, Alice quickly wiped at her nose and sniffled as one of the students walked in.

"Alice, you okay? You look pale." She asked.

"I'm... I'm fine." Alice gagged.

Before the student could say anything else, Alice rushed out of the dressing room and into the bathroom.

Once Tom had figured everything out with the assistant stage manager, he called for all the students to huddle backstage.

"Now, it's been a long journey but I am so proud of each and every one of you. You've all grown so much these past two semesters and now it's your time to shine. Now, I do have a special guest with me to give you all a bit of a pep talk."

Tom walked out into the hall and returned with Diana at his side.

"This is my mother, Diana." Tom announced.

All the students greeted her warmly and as Diana began speaking, one student came rushing to Tom's side and pulled him aside.

"Where were you? I was just-"