In The Spotlight - Solangelo

Chapter Thirty Seven

"So, that's all the cabins over there." Will pointed towards the back of the hall. "The activity places are all at the bottom of this hill..."

"What's in that forest over there?" I asked, looking towards the wings, where I could see Jason standing.

"Oh, y'know, trees and stuff," Will replied. I looked back at him as he continued to talk. "We just use it for wide games. Capture the flag, foxes and hounds, stuff like that. You wanna look around?"

I shrugged. "Sure, why not?" We walked off stage side-by-side. I glanced at Jason, sending him a silent message to leave the wings and go sit in the actual theatre, if he really wanted to watch the play. He must have understand the message, because he left just as Will and I walked back into the stage through the entrance on the other side.

I stopped in my tracks after taking a few steps, as Will continued forward. "Are you sure we should be here?" I asked nervously, looking around me.

"It's fine, stop worrying so much!" Will reassured me.

"But... No one else seems to be around..." I argued. "And it looks really dangerous."

Will turned around and looked me straight in the eye. "Just trust me, ok? I know what I'm doing." I trusted Will, for sure. He was probably the person I trusted the most in this universe, even though I had only know him for a couple of months. I even trusted him more than my own sister, my actual sister, Bianca. Now that she was gone... I suppose I did trust him the most. Wow.

"I just feel like... Something is off..." I looked around the hall, finding Jason sitting at the back. With Drew. Oh god. Drew was watching our performance. That meant she will eventually see me kiss Will. Why the hell did Jason bring her in here?! He wouldn't have invited her on purpose. She must have just joined him without permission, and since they are working together, he couldn't say no. Suddenly, all the anxiety that I had before the show resurfaced. But the show still had to go on. For Will's sake more than my own.

"Hey, who is the tour guide here?"

I sighed. "You are."

"Then trust me on this, we'll be fine."

I hesitated, but nodded. "Ok."

We began to walk around the stage, looking around us, entranced by our surroundings. Which, of course, we couldn't actually see, but we acted like we were in the most beautiful place in the world. Beautiful, but terrifying. At some point, Will exited the stage, and quickly threw on a make-shift monster costume.

I turned my back on him. "Will? Will, where are you?" Silence. "H-hello?"

Will crept up behind me. I turned around, coming face-to-face with a monster, which I screamed at, and ran off stage, with Will running closely behind. Once we were both off stage, Will took off the costume, and walked back on stage, pretending I was still behind him.

"And here we have, uh..." He trailed off. "I don't... Recognise this part of the forest... I, um..." Watching him from the side of the stage was an experience. I could hear the worry in his voice, even though I wasn't there with him. I couldn't see his face, but... I knew exactly how he was feeling.

"We should head back." He turned around. "Nico? Nico, where are you?" he asked. I wanted so badly to say that I was here, and that I would never ever leave him in real life, but I couldn't. He looked me right in the eye as he delivered his lines. "Is this some sort of joke? It isn't funny! I'm responsible for your safety right now! If I... If I lose you, I'll have to... I-I don't know. It won't be good. Nico?"

He ran towards me in the wings. We passed each other as I raced onto the stage, panting heavily. I stopped centre stage, and caught my breathe. "Th-thank God I got away from... whatever the hell that was." I looked around me, catching Will out of the corner of my eye with my phone, presumably getting the recording ready. It was already plugged into the speakers, so the audience wouldn't have a problem hearing my sisters beautiful voice. "B-but I still don't know where Will is... Will... Will!"

"You want to find your 'Will'?"

I jumped back. "Wh-who said that?"

"It doesn't matter who I am," the voice replied, echoing around the hall. "It's who you want that matters."

"Wh-who I... want?" I inquired, confused.

"Will. You are looking for Will," the voice explained. "You are afraid, because Will isn't here. Will makes you feel safe."

I frowned. "Because he's my tour guide?"

"Well, yes. And no. That isn't the only reason."

"Why else w-would he make me feel safe?"

"You love him, don't you?" I could hear gasps from the audience. Some of Drew's 'friends' had joined her, and I could tell they were judging me. By this point, they must have figured out that this was a romance, and that it was between two guys. Yeah. They wouldn't take this well. "You want to be with him."

"I-I, um, uh," I stuttered. I took a deep breath, and said, "Yeah... I do."

"Then I believe you can find him. If you search deep within your heart," the voice advised, "you will know where he is. Because... You are meant to be." Her final words echoed around the hall as I ran of stage, and Will entered on the other side.

"Nico? Nico!" He sighed, and threw himself down on the ground, hugging his knees. "I've been looking for over an hour now!" he exclaimed, talking to himself. "Where the hell is he? Ugh... This is all much fault. If I hadn't lead him to this part of the forest in the first place, we wouldn't have got lost, and we would be safely back at camp, and..." He was close to tears. "Why am I only now realising that this part of the forest is forbidden?! Who knows what could be in here?!"

"Will?!" I shouted from the side of the stage. It dawned on me that this was the part where Will and I would kiss. Drew and her friends were watching. They were about to see us kiss. I couldn't do this. I couldn't... They would make fun of me afterwards, they would bully me, they would... Oh, God, what had I gotten myself into? I... I couldn't stop now. I had to do this.

"Nico?" Will shot up, and turned to face me. "Nico, I'm over here!"

I took a deep breath. This was it. No turning back now. I ran onto the stage and pounced on top of Will, putting my lips on his midair. I pinned him to the ground, as we kissed for a moment longer. How is is that every single kiss we share is better than the last? Even with people watching who I knew would hate me because of it, I felt as if it was just us, lost in the moment.

I slowly pulled away, and Will looked up at me, blushing, "N-Nico?"

"I love you," I blurted out, not caring about what other people thought, "When you left, I was just... I couldn't cope. We are meant to be."

Will smiled at me, a smile which I gladly returned. We stood up, and walked off stage, hand-in-hand.