Boring, 1997-1998

Auditions (pt. 2)

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kate growled. Luke sprang from his chair and narrowed his eyes, "You need to get out of here."
"Woah, cool it kiddo. So, what'd I miss?" Oliver said, kicking his feet onto the table.
"You're 19, you can't be in this movie." Luke stood with clenched fists.
"You think I came all the way back to Boring to be in your movie?" Oliver snorted, "Damn. I do not miss the narcissistic mindset of high schoolers." He saw their confused expressions and rolled his eyes, "I came back for Emaline, and to get more money from my parents. I'm going back to New York as soon as possible."
"Emaline doesn't want to see you." Kate calmly said.
"Yeah? How would you know?" He sneered at her, and stood from his chair. "Because you two are so close, right? Last time I checked," he brought his face close to hers, "she hates you, Messner."
"Well it's been a hot minute since you checked." The brunette felt his smokey breath on her face, but didn't cower or flinch. She broke his stare and walked to the door. "We have more auditions today, so if you'd kindly get the f*ck out, that'd be great."
He indignantly raised his eyebrows and made his way across the room. Kate held the door open for him, and he didn't break eye contact with her as he exited. This resulted in a full body slam with a short girl entering the room.
"Hey! Watch it, asshole!" Emaline stumbled backwards. She looked up, met his gaze, and she went completely pale. Before she could even blink, Oliver had cupped her face in his hands and pressed his lips to hers. For a second, Emaline felt herself melt into his embrace as her knees slightly buckled.
It was only for a moment, but it didn't escape Kate's eyes.
Emaline's posture quickly straightened and she violently pulled out of his grip. Fuming, she sharply slapped him across the face. "What the actual hell was that, Oliver?"
His fingers lightly grazed his cheek, he looked at her with a dark expression,"I came back for you, Emaline."
"A little late for that, don't you think? Not that I wanted you to come back anyway. I'm in a healthy relationship now, and damn. Mutual respect must be such a wild concept to you, because looking back..." Kate had never seen her more angry, "You treated me like shit, Oliver. You better get out of my face before I make you wish you never left New York, pretty boy."
"Relationship, huh? Yeah, I heard about that. Who's the lucky guy?"
"Seriously? That's all you took away from that?" Annoyed, she searched his face, but received no reaction, "Jesus. You're more dense than I remember. As for who I'm dating," she made brief eye contact with Kate before meeting his eyes again, "His identity is absolutely none of your business. Now if you'll excuse me, I have an audition."
She pushed past him but he caught her wrist. "Emaline, you're lying to yourself if you say you still don't have feelings for me. I felt it, and I know you felt it too. Come back to New York with me."
"You're delusional. God, I can't believe I ever let you take advantage of me. You're an asshole, Oliver. Leave. Literally no one wants you here."
He slowly walked into the hallway, but before the Emaline closed the door, he said, "You're crazy if you think I'm giving up this easily." She glared at him and shut the door.
She quietly turned to Kate and Luke. They were both staring at her. No one knew what to say. The silence was deafening.
"I... I think I should go," Emaline said.
"C'mon, Em. You've made it this far. Just audition." Luke playfully said, trying to lighten the mood.
"Luke, everyone knows we're going to cast her as the lead. She showed up, who gives a shit if she auditions? Emaline, lets go home." Kate looked into her eyes, and the blonde nodded.
"Kate, you can't just leave! There's still a bunch of kids who need to audition!" Luke was clearly frustrated.
"Okay, we'll have them come back tomorrow! Or you can cast them without me. You're the director, I just do costumes and makeup. Besides, we already casted the leads. I'm going home." Kate reached for Emaline's hand and led her out of the room.

...

"Emaline?"
"Yeah?"
"What the hell happened in there?" Kate turned to look at her, but the girl was staring out the passenger seat window. She was silent. Raindrops began to hit the windshield, and Kate turned on the wipers.
"Em, do you want to talk about it?"
She was very quiet, and Kate had to strain to hear her, but Emaline quietly said, "I hate him. He used me, embarrassed me, and left me." Her weight shifted in her chair and she gazed out onto the open road ahead, "I gave that boy everything, Kate. My trust. My dignity. My virginity, for God's sake. I loved him. He ruined me, and he thinks he can just come back and I'm all his? I hate him. I'm so glad you showed me what love actually is. The old Emaline would've run right back into his arms." She placed her hand on Kate's thigh and felt her tense.
"Emaline, I saw how you reacted when he kissed you."
"Old habits die hard. Kate, I'm never going to leave you. I'm sorry that he caught me off guard like that."
"Okay," She hesitated, "Can I ask one more thing?" Emaline nodded, and she continued, "I know we're not out to everyone, and frankly in our current climate I don't think it's a great idea to tell people. But why did you deliberately use male pronouns when you were taking about me? It felt weird."
Emaline's face was dark and intense, but there was an underlying fear behind her eyes. "You don't know him like I do. I did it to throw him off. Kate, he's already on a mission to find the 'guy' I'm dating, and I don't even want to know what he'll do if he finds out that I'm dating a girl. Kate, I was with him when we wrote 'dyke' on your locker. He seemed genuinely angry that a girl touched my tits, more so than if a boy had. I'm trying to keep you safe."
The girls were quiet, listening to the soft fall of rain and the rhythmic thumping of the windshield wipers.
"Will you sleep in my room tonight?" Kate asked.
Emaline kissed Kate's shoulder and rested her head on her for the rest of the car ride.