Tangerine Kisses: A Novella

Chapter Three - Ava

First day of rehearsals is always the most stressful and knowing that Sebastian is just there makes things ten times more stressful. Even though we hardly must interact it is as though I can feel his presence lingering over me at all times, stopping me from concentrating fully on any task I need to perform. By the time lunch rolls around I am incredibly grateful to know that I will be allowed half an hour of peace in my office.

I grab my lunch from the theatre cafe and head to my small but cosy office away from the stress of the day. I push open the door and stagger in with all intentions of taking off my shoes and getting lost in a book for half an hour. I freeze in the doorway.

Sebastian is already in my office and has made himself quite comfortable in my chair.

The door swings shut behind me as Sebastian smirks at me from the chair.

'What are you doing in here?' I ask even though I also want to know how he found my office in the first place.

'It's great to see you too, Ava,' he says ironically, raising his eyebrows at me. 'How have you been? Long-time no see.'

So much for pretending we did not know each other before. I grit my teeth.

'Fine, thank you,' I reply, my polite British-ness getting the better of me. 'You're in my chair.'

'I like it.' He slowly spins around in it and comes back to face me. On the way round he must have picked up a photograph of me and my best friend Amelia. 'You and Amelia still friends then?'

'Yes.' I am getting annoyed now. I do not have any other chairs in my office because I do private work in my office. We have a separate room for meetings. I really want to sit down and he is in my chair. I take another step closer. 'Can I have my chair back?'

Sebastian rises abruptly and moves around the desk so he is standing in front of me. 'How have you really been?' he asks me.

'Fine, I told you.'

'Ava, I know you better than that. When you say you're fine you are lying.'

Damn. How did he know. Wait, I know how he knows. I force myself to smile. 'I'm honestly fine, Seb, seriously.'

Something changes in his expression and it falls from playful in a second. 'You called me Seb.' There is something different in his voice now, something that sounds almost sad.

Oh crap. I realise my mistake. That is what I used to call him at uni. Seb. Not Sebastian. Not Bash, which he was known as among the other drama geeks.

'Slip of the tongue?' I say with a weak shrug, taking a step back and feeling the desk against the backs of my legs.

Sebastian seems to be moving closer and since there is nowhere left for me to go I find he is suddenly standing within inches of me, so close I swear I can feel the heat from his body.

'Mmhmm.' Sebastian's playfulness has returned, laced with full-on actor charm. He does not even need to use that charm on me but for some reason he is. His eyes linger on my lips and I can feel my face start to flush.

Oh crapppppppppp.

He is so close and I find myself falling into his emerald eyes, his lips inches from mine until-

'Well, it was nice seeing you,' he says, stepping back abruptly and breaking the spell. He smirks once and then strides from the office.

What the Hell.

** ** **

After half an hour of agonising over exactly what Sebastian Booth was doing lurking in my office I return to the main auditorium for the read-through. The actors are gathering chairs and putting them in a circle so we can all sit down. I grab one chair and place it as far from Sebastian as possible. He sits in his chair, slightly slouched, one leg over the other whilst Lillian, the lead actress, talks earnestly to him. I can tell a lot of the other actors are enchanted by him too. For some of them, this is the first time they have been in a play with such a big name. For others, like Martin, they have been doing this for over twenty years and barely give Sebastian a sideways glance. I like Martin, he has been in some of our past plays and is a great actor, and familiar with the theatre which really helps other actors who are not. They are a mixed bunch, some from a company we use regularly that Martin and Jackson, the director, are a part of. And others, like Lillian, are outside auditionees. Henry wanted to be "more inclusive" this time round.

'OK,' says Jackson, looking round at the cast, 'now we are all here, your favourite part... ice-breakers!'

A couple of people groan but in general most people just shrug. One thing I have learnt about actors is that they generally don't mind the old "ice-breaker" challenge as it falls into their category of "things they feel comfortable doing". I, on the other hand, hate them. I wonder if I am exempt from this, being the Assistant Artistic Director, but asking that or getting up to leave will only draw unwanted attention. So I reluctantly stay.

Jackson makes us go round and do the classic introduce ourselves and then say an interesting or unusual fact. For this ice breaker most people say something acting related, for example, Martin's is that he was in his first play age ten with Sir Patrick Stewart himself after going to an open audition on a whim, and Lillian's is that her father is some hot-shot director in America. Mine is that Tangerine Kisses is my first play to be performed in the West End (writing school plays does not exactly count, does it?). When the turn comes round to Sebastian he seems to be taking his time telling us his interesting or unusual fact. I wonder what he will say until he comes out with, 'when I was a kid I was on a track my dad's band recorded.'

About fifteen pairs of interested eyes stare at him.

'Oh wow! So cool!' chimes Lillian. 'I didn't know your dad was in a band! Which band?'

But he smiles a secretive smile. 'The ice breaker is for one interesting fact only,' he says which Lillian pouts to.

However she forgets quickly about this when Jackson announces that it is time for us to begin the read through. As we start Scene 1 I find it interesting that of all the people cast in the role of the villain it was Sebastian. He plays the character beautifully, although I can tell Lillian wishes he was her hero and not Martin. As the read-through progresses and the actors bring my story to life I find myself growing more and more excited about the finished prospect, and worrying less about the fact that Sebastian Booth is sitting opposite me.