Limitless: The Second Edition

Hannah

Courtney pulls into the parking lot of my favorite Chinese restaurant.

"This is where you want to go, right?" she asks me.

I nod. "Yep. This is my favorite place. Is this okay with you?"

Courtney smiles. "As long as you're happy, I'm happy. This is about you, girlie."

We enter, and she asks for a table for two. Once we're seated and have ordered our drinks, we head up to the buffet to grab our dinner. When we return to our booth, we start talking about everything that's happened the past twelve years.

It turns out that Courtney went to college for musical theater after she graduated, which was shortly after I left the program where I met her. From there she got a job with Chain Breaker's production team. She was assigned to work on the choreography along with three other people. Then she moved on to teaching the choreography to the cast, which is how she met them. Derek was seventeen at the time, just starting his role as Enso after the previous actor aged out of the role. He was now nineteen, still acting in the role, because he's apparently one of those people that never ages. I've actually seen some people call him a vampire, because he hasn't changed a bit in two years. A lot of people in his fan base theorize that in ten years, he'll still look like he came straight out of a teen vampire movie.

We move on discussing other things, such as all the concerts and plays I've been in in the past few years.

"What's been your favorite completed show so far?" she asks me.

"Oh, definitely the one we did freshman year." I reply. "I loved the music and dance numbers. We got to pick our costumes for that one."

"What was yours?"

"My freshman year. Some people picked some outfit based on an anime character or another fandom. I asked to be put in the most amazing hip hop dance outfit they could make up, because that was my favorite dance class I did at the time. They put me in the coolest outfit I've ever seen."

"I want to talk to you about Oliver," Courtney says suddenly.

"Isn't he amazing?" I reply. "So perfect for the role. I wish he'd see how good he is the way the rest of us do. He really needs to stop all the negative talk."

Courtney pauses thoughtfully. "Well, I agree with you. No questions there. But that's not all, Hannah. I wish you could see something about him, too."

"What's that?"

"I think you're in love with him," she says. "I saw the way you guys danced this evening after rehearsal."

I throw up my hands. Yes, I feel something when I'm with Oliver, but I think it's just happiness. Courtney just threw the "in love" scenario right on the table, and I'm definitely not ready to face it. "We're just friends, Courtney," I protest with a laugh. "I just like him a lot because he reminds me of Enso." Yep. That's got to be the reason. Enso's my favorite character on Broadway, and my favorite actor is his actor, so it all adds up. The fluttery feeling I get with Oliver is the result of my excitement over Chain Breaker and being friends with an actor who not only plays but embodies him.

Courtney grins. "Sorry to say, sister, but 'like him' is an understatement for you. And 'friends' don't look at each other like that when they dance. I saw that look in your eyes. That's love if I've ever seen it. Don't even try denying it."

"No," I object. I'm going to deny this until the day I die. I can feel it. "Oliver and I are just friends."

Courtney giggles and winks at me as if she's teasing me. "You'll come around, Hannah. Just give yourself time to realize it. I think he likes you as well."

"How can you tell?" I ask through a mouthful of sweet and sour chicken. I'm not ready to face the possibility that I love Oliver, let alone the outlandish possibility he likes me back.

"I said it before, and I'll say it again. Friends don't look at each other like that when they dance." Her eyes sparkle with mischief, and in that moment, I feel like Courtney is my big sister and we're talking about boys in a blanket fort or something. Who knows, maybe she's right. But for now, I'm standing by the belief that Oliver and I are just friends.