“Absolutely not!” Logan exclaimed, pale-faced and wide-eyed.
Alex raised her eyebrows in fake surprise, her corner lip twitching, “You don’t mind?”
“I mean, I do. I absolutely DO!” Closing his eyes, Logan pinched the bridge of his nose. Alex snickered at the hint of pink in his ears.
All Logan wanted was to meet a nice girl, maybe ask her to be his girlfriend, maybe ask her to be his wife and maybe they’d have kids someday.
His sexual orientation could not be compromised if he wanted this future. He could barely diffuse the rumor about his relationship with Alex. Up to now, people still remembered the conversation they had in the hallway. A few of his acquaintances had actually asked him about it and blushing like a girl did not really gave him any advantage.
Logan huffed, “Alright, then. We won’t do the tomb scene.”
Then, he grabbed his script, clearing his throat, “So which one?”
Alex hid her triumphant smile and skimmed through her copy.
For the first time since Alex and Logan became a pair, they had a proper discussion about the project. Now that they had a common goal to find the least suspicious scene to do, they worked in sync and barely had disagreements. They crossed out a lot. Each one that had a kiss was automatically dropped. The bed scene was also out of the question. They didn’t even think about it…
… until they were left with two possibilities.
One of them involved a third party so they crossed it out…
… and so… only one truly remained.
Yet, both of them could not relish in their accomplishment. Neither looked at each other as a gray cloud hovered above their heads.
Alex read the scene again and sighed, “Is this really the best one?”
Logan also let out a breath, “Yeah… we already turned the play upside down. This is it.”
Alex began highlighting her lines, mumbling them as she did. Then, she went back and underlined the keywords for better memorization. After that, she encircled the ones needed for emphasis and added marks for pauses and stops.
Once she felt satisfied, she spoke them to herself, testing the way they sound. She made the necessary adjustments as she progressed.
After a few minutes into the practice, a voice interrupted her concentration.
“No, no, no” Logan pushed her script down and forced her to look up, “That was horrible. Are you really this robotic?”
Alex blinked at him, answering him with a scowl, “What’s wrong with it?”
“You sound like you’re reading the dictionary” he scolded her, “Read it like you’re speaking to the girl you love. You’re supposed to have this easy compared to me.”
Alex closed her eyes and breathed deeply through her nose then gave Logan a deadpanned. Who was he to criticize her work when he hadn’t even started with his own practice? Her left eye twitched a little as she glared at her partner.
Unfortunately, Logan seemed oblivious to her growing irritation. He merely tapped on the script she held, saying, “Well, go on.”
He stared at her and waited, his arms resting over the counter. His face had a composed expression. Alex peeked at his script and saw that it had no marks unlike hers. He obviously didn’t do any work and he had the nerve to meddle with hers? Or did he just want to mess with her since she got Romeo’s role?
Well, she had every right to it from the beginning and if Logan would use her ‘poor’ performance as an excuse to take the role from her, he had another thing coming his way.
Alex bit her inner cheek, shaking the script in her hands. Then, she opened her mouth and recited her first line.
“Eck, no, awful,” Logan instantly critiqued, “Again.”
The throb on her temple intensified but, nonetheless, Alex tried again.
“Blegh. Do it again.”
And so she did.
“Nope, that’s not it. One more time.”
Alex followed his command and tried one more time but before Logan could protest some more, she dropped the script onto the counter and yelled, “Are you seriously messing with me right now?!”
“What?” Logan’s eyebrows squeezed together, “I’m helping you.”
“No, that’s not helping,” she accused him, “That was the sound of a guy who is pissed that he didn’t get the role he wanted.”
“Please, Alex, we’re not that close yet. You don’t know me that well.” He snorted, “You’re just so monotonous that I felt sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
“That you’d be single forever.”
At this point, the bulge on Alex’ temple became noticeably visible, “Are you saying that I don’t know how to court girls?”
Logan frowned, thinking for a moment, “Are you even interested in them?”
Alex stood over the counter and pulled the front of Logan’s shirt. She raised her right arm raised and clenched her hand, aiming it at his nose. A defense mechanism she developed every time her sexual orientation was questioned.
Violence is never the answer but sometimes a little bit of it could change a person’s mind.
In response, Logan immediately moved his head back and held up his hands as a shield.
Time stopped.
The world stood still.
Only this moment existed.
Nothing else mattered.
Before Alex could scream at his face to butt out of her business, her aunt walked into the kitchen.
Both of their heads pointed towards the doorway. Alex’ toes shook on the stool’s stretcher. She needed some height boost to reach the other side of the counter. On the other hand, Logan planted his feet on the floor so that his stool didn’t fall over.
“Kids, what do you want for dinner?” Aunt Lilly asked, her head bowed and her eyes on her phone. She just received an email about her defendant but the sun had begun to set and she had two teenagers to feed.
“Pizza.”
Then, she tapped her thumbs over the screen, completely missing the fiasco inside the kitchen, “What flavor?”
“Pepperoni” the kids answered together again.
Logan smirked at Alex, “Nice taste, buddy.”
To which she snorted, her arm and hand still in a position to strike, “Likewise, Parker.”
“Drinks?”
“Coke”
“Pepsi”
“Alright then.” Aunt Lilly nodded, her feet taking her out of the kitchen.
The grip Alex had on Logan’s shirt tightened. She bit her bottom lip hard as electric currents whizzed between her eyes and Logan’s. Logan caught her raised fist and pushed it up, causing Alex to lose her balance and to land on the countertop.
Her other arm had been captured as well and soon, a debate/wrestling match between the two carbonated drinks filled the air.
