Behind Closed Curtains (Desires of the Forbidden)

Chapter 20

The night out with Zach was in a word... tense.

I was on edge the entire night, waiting for him to explode, to berate me with hundreds of questions as to why I was calling out another man's name in my sleep and why he found me with that exact same man when he arrived for his 'surprise' pick up.

Yet, he didn't.

Instead, he held whatever emotions he had boiling inside of him inside, making me question if I was in fact imagining the whole scenario or overthinking it in my mind.

Alas, when we arrived home, I crashed into bed almost immediately. My limbs were weak, my mind was numb of thought, and I knew I just needed to sleep the entire stressful, steam filled day off.

And that's exactly what I did.

Rehearsal began as usual the next day. We ran through the entire show completely off book without stopping, just as we would be for the actual performances.

As much as I strived not to be, I was undeniably awkward around Kaleb the entire day. I would allow nothing but fleeting eye contact between us; the very notion of his radiant stare on mine for longer than a second sending my heart into overdrive and filling my mind with an utter bafflement as to why.

I couldn't pin point what but something drastic changed within me yesterday. Something about the tenderness embedded inside of Kaleb's words as he drove me to the brink of my pleasure ignited a switch of turmoil to flip inside of me.

I didn't know what to call it; what emotion Kaleb stirred inside of me yesterday.

All I knew was that it was mystifying and complicated every aspect of my life considerably.

"And that will be curtain!" Dave bellowed out from the audience as the final line of the play was spoken, signifying the end of the play.

Meg, Jackson, Kaleb and I all walked to the front of the stage, taking a seat in various positions on the edge of the stage, prepared to listen to Dave's notes of our performance.

Of course, Kaleb sat right next to me.

"Honestly guys," Dave began, clapping his hands together with a surprisingly pleased look shadowing his features. "I really don't have much to say at all. I would even go as far to say that this was your best performance as a cast yet. You guys are really coming together and working off of each other beautifully. Plus we finished two hours early!"

That elicited a small round of cheers from everyone in the audience and on stage.

"And, since you all were so good today, as a treat," He paused, staring at us all and letting the anticipation gnaw away at our curiosity.

"You all get to go home early!" he finally announced, earning another, considerably louder round of cheers from everyone in the theater.

Everyone except me.

Zach had the day off. Leaving early meant going back to the apartment and spending even more time enduring the maddening tension consuming Zach and I's relationship since yesterday.

As my unwinding reluctance washed through my body, my shoulders slumped over and I physically felt my face fall in defeat.

Of course, the ever watchful man next to me took notice right away.

A swift movement next to me caught my attention briefly as Kaleb dropped himself off the front of the stage, landing expertly on the floor, and found his way in front of my still sitting figure.

I refused to look up. I was very aware of the fact that he was there, his ever dominating presence as subtle as an explosion as it surrounded me, invading my soul and piercing my mind with its potency.