Act of Attraction - a Forbidden Novella

Chapter 1 - First glance

I noticed her the first time she walked into our rehearsals late, something I would later learn was a habit, as I sat to the side quietly chatting to my friends and waiting on our cue to enter the scene.

She moved slowly around the outskirts of the rehearsal group and found a seat, taking her phone out of her bag to take pictures of us and make notes in a folder she took out of the bag she'd carried. Immediately I wondered who she was. Definitely not a cast member, we were already in the last four weeks before the show and every role had been cast. Someone from a local paper perhaps?

I was playing the romantic lead in a well known musical for an amateur theater company and we were currently doing a run-through to iron out kinks, so a visit from the papers would not surprise me this close to opening night, though usually we got a heads-up to make sure we gave our best at rehearsals.

I saw our producer Steve move over to chat with her and her face light up with a welcoming smile as they softly spoke, her small hands gesturing excitedly to us to accompany her words. Brushing her long, curly raven black hair away from her face and back over her shoulder, she kept my gaze captivated with that innocent action.

Taking the opportunity to really look at her, I was sure she was a few years older than me, yet carried it beautifully. I had always found myself attracted to older women rather than to ones my own age, though why was a complete mystery to me as I watched her listen intently to something Steve said.

I followed the curve of her throat as she spoke again and took the time to study her more. She was small in stature, with enticing, mature curves which suddenly had my hands itching to trace them. I stared down at my hands in thought, flexing them to get rid of the tingling feeling running through them while wondering what colour her eyes were. Barking a soft laugh and frowning at my own thoughts, I realized that I had lost trail of the rehearsals going on in front of me.

"You ok, man?" I heard one of my buddies Brian ask to my left, looking at me enquiringly. "You seem miles away and you're almost up."

I nodded my head in his direction and focused on the task at hand, entering on cue and delivering my lines flawlessly as I had always done in the past, trying my best to ignore the woman who was once again sitting alone, watching us for the rest of the rehearsal. I somehow made it through, though I found my gaze slipping her way more than once, unable to stop myself.

At the end of the practice, she stood and left again after a few words with Steve, but not before glancing back and catching me staring intently at her. She blushed sweetly and gave me a half smile before dropping her eyes from mine and making her exit, leaving me with a weird ache in my stomach and a confirmation as to the colour of her eyes.

Chocolate brown.

I didn't see her again until the next week, as she returned to our rehearsals with a buff-looking guy in tow, whom she seemed to have an easygoing relationship with. I was busy helping Brian set out the props we were using, when I felt more than saw her. I scanned the room and surely, there she was, standing to the side and gesturing to the cast as she spoke to the guy at her side, her body language speaking of her excitement over the subject of conversation. I suddenly wondered who the guy at her side was and felt a strange feeling of jealousy running through me as I watched them converse.

I frowned at my body's betrayal. What the heck? I didn't even know her! How could I be jealous?

Purposely turning my back on her to break the spell, I set out the props I was holding in my hand before joining my leading lady Melanie and the other cast members in warm ups with our director Erin. Erin was young, but a passionate and talented director and we all respected her for it. In fact, most of our cast was young and full of excitement for our production, having spent about a year together as a group rehearsing already and becoming fast friends in the process.

As we started rehearsals again, I saw Steve leading my lady (when did I start calling her that?), the guy with her and another lady who had joined them late, to the back of the hall where there was a small side room which he used for his meetings with the production team. They were chatting and laughing as they walked and I smiled softly as the sound of her rich laughter reached my ears before she muffled it with her hand.

"I see you are looking at the same thing I am," Melanie whispered next to me, startling me out of my reverie. "I wonder who they are," she continued. "Any idea?"

"Nope," I absentmindedly whispered back to the blonde haired girl at my side while trying not to look too interested in the subject of our conversation. "You know Steve. He's always bringing people on board to help with stuff."

"You're no help," she pouted prettily, before speaking my thoughts out loud. "Not knowing is killing me."

"Oh Melanie, you are too inquisitive for your own good," Brian winked at her from her other side, nudging her arm flirtatiously as she giggled at his comment. Melanie was young and pretty, with a beautiful singing voice. Even though I'd not been interested in her for anything other than friendship, Brian was a totally different story and he used every opportunity to try and catch her attention – though I could have sworn he told me he had a girlfriend.

I looked back towards the room where Steve and the trio were still enclosed in their meeting. No, my taste in women ran to the more... mature... side.

Another 15 minutes into our current rehearsal later the back door opened and Steve and the trio emerged, walking back to the front of the hall while still in deep but soft conversation.

I kept looking at the woman who had caught my interest as the group passed us, catching her eyes for a moment before she looked away and continued walking. I was good looking and I knew it - and now she knew it too. My dark hair with a sweeping fringe was collar length and my eyes were green, a deadly combination. Add to that my toned physique which I was quite proud of and there was no way she could not have noticed me.

Yes I sang and I acted and even modeled some, but I liked women and they liked me. Period.

Brian and Melanie moved to the side of the hall for a break with a few of the other cast members, all happily discussing various subjects while I was stuck pondering the attraction I felt to a woman I did not even know. Usually I was the one causing these kinds of feelings, not the one on the receiving end. I felt drawn to this woman like no other before her and I didn't even know her name. She was a challenge and I liked those.

I stared at the door as she stepped through it, suddenly finding myself fiercely hoping than the woman who just left the hall would somehow be connected with the production.

I watched the door slowly close behind her. Yes, I would be definitely be accepting that challenge.

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