Tangerine Kisses: A Novella

Chapter Four - Ava

'OK how about a round of Never Have I Ever?' Lillian grins wickedly across the table at the plethora of actors and stage hands squashed around a table meant for six. A couple of people groan and roll their eyes, she is joking of course. We are all mature adults here. Never Have I Ever is a game reserved for university students and underage drinkers.

'Come on, it will be fun!'

OK maybe she is being serious. Lillian is snuggled awfully close to Sebastian, something I could not help but notice when we were all grabbing seats. I, on the other hand, made very sure to sit as far away from him as possible, as usual. Rehearsals for the play have been going on for a week now and this is our traditional end-of-the-first-week excursion to the local pub. A tradition usually implemented by the back stage crew who discovered that a good way to breach the "them and us" gap between the actors and the stage crew was to go out for a wild night of drinking after the first week. Even though I am not a big fan of the wild drinking part, I have to admit the scheme works. We all get utterly trashed together, tell each other all our secrets, and by the start of the next week the actors and the crew are as close as old friends. Of course as the Assistant Artistic Director it is not actually compulsory for me to attend, and Henry certainly never goes, but I enjoy getting to know the team of people with whom I will be working for the next few months.

Maybe it is my imagination but I can feel Sebastian's gaze lingering on me as he suggests an improvement to Lillian's game: truth or dare. I refuse to meet his eyes. I have managed to avoid any more private encounters with him since the first day. We do have to interact during rehearsals but luckily with everyone else around I manage to keep my cool and he manages to not make me feel hugely uncomfortable. But that is changing now. I know the reason for his staring. A game of truth and dare at university was how we met.

Naturally because it is Sebastian Booth's idea the whole table seems keen and within seconds Martin has placed his empty beer bottle and is already spinning it. Isn't that Spin the Bottle? I roll my eyes and sip my G&T. Whatever.

The bottle comes to a stop on Sebastian and half the girls at the table squeal. It is well-known that Sebastian's private life is shrouded in mystery. Despite the ever-looming presence of the press he has an excellent lawyer and has managed to all but evade their attempts at digging up any dirt about his past. I am surprised really since he certainly knows how to drink. But maybe that is his secret. He gives them enough to talk about his present that the media forget he might have a juicy past. And they are all over what he is up to these days, maybe a little less now the whole drama around him and Katya Katana has calmed down.

'OK, Sebastian,' says Martin. 'Truth or dare?'

'Hm... let's see.' Sebastian pretends to think about it. 'Truth, I suppose.' Another award-winning smile. He is not even drinking beer like the other men at the table. He is drinking whisky. How pretentious is that?

'Tell us about your first lover, who you lost your virginity to,' says Lillian instantly. She has clearly been planning this for a long time. I must give her credit. I expect half the girls at the table want to know the same thing as Sebastian's love life recently became the most talked about phenomenon on the internet after he and Katya cheated on each other at the same time at the same party (personally if you ask me I think it was faked).

Sebastian laughs but to me it sounds a forced. He takes a sip of his whisky. 'It's not that interesting really,' he says, making it sound massively intriguing. 'She was my first girlfriend, we met at school and were together for three years.'

A silence falls as the girls digest this. Then Sebastian grabs the bottle and spins it. It lands on another fellow actor. And the game goes on.