Page 87 of Broken Romeo
Damn him. He knows me way too well.
“I like your…” Panic chokes high in my throat. There are a million things I could compliment about Nolan. His eyes, his hair, his talent… Just say something, Kate! Anything. Pick a random body part and just go with it. Anything is better than standing here like an idiot saying nothing. “…Butt.”
Shit.
His smile edges wider. “You like my butt?”
I was wrong. Saying anything was not better than saying nothing.
Holden’s cough comes from somewhere over my shoulder, and for once in this stupid chemistry-building exercise, I’m grateful for the fact that I’m not allowed to take my eyes off Nolan.
“Butt—ery voice,” I say, trying to salvage it. “I didn’t finish—I meant to say, I like your buttery voice.”
Yep. Good save, Kate.
Nolan squeezes my hands. There’s about two and a half feet between us, so we’re not standing right on top of each other, but for how uncomfortable this exercise makes me, I might as well be naked at the SATs.
“I really like your butt—ery voice, too,” Nolan says.
Oh, fuck. The tips of my ears go hot and even though I can’t see myself, I’m sure my face is flame red.
“No repeating,” Holden snaps, sliding into our moment like a knife’s edge. “Stay in the bubble with each other. As soon as I see you two deeply connect, I’ll start the music, and I want you two to jump right into singing your duet.”
Nolan seems completely unfazed by Holden’s correction. “Right. In that case… I like the way your hair always seems to fall into your eyes.” He lifts his hand to my temple, brushing a few fallen strands off my forehead. “And the way your nose scrunches when you laugh really hard.”
“One compliment at a time,” Holden says. His voice grows tighter by the second. He’d promised me he had changed. That he could do this—direct us and not allow his own feelings to get in the way. Besides, this is his stupid exercise.
“I admire how easy you make all this look,” I admit. “You act and sing and dance with a confidence I wish I had.”
Nolan steps closer to me, and I have to fight every instinct I have not to back away from him. “I love your work ethic. You’re like this force to be reckoned with. So talented, hard-working, and natural… you’re going to take Broadway by storm.”
I work hard because I’m not good enough to have a normal rehearsal schedule, like you, I think. My raw talent and charm aren’t enough to land me a normal leading role. Instead, I have to endure this grueling schedule. Tears well in my eyes, and I press my lips together to stop them from trembling.
The music starts—our cue to sing. But… I can’t. It’s too much. I open my mouth, singing my first verse. I’m on key. The notes are correct. But I’m off… distant. I can feel it, like an object I’m reaching for that’s just out of reach, brushing my fingertips. It’s all there, and yet, also not.
“Don’t lose it, Kate!” Holden calls out over us singing.
The intense eye contact, the hand holding, the forced compliments that neither of us means—and now I have to stare into Nolan’s eyes and sing about undying love to him?
The stage spins around us and it’s too much. I close my eyes against the intense eye contact.
An uncomfortable laugh bubbles up from somewhere deep inside of me. That sort of stupid laughter that happens when you’re awkward and uncomfortable.
The music stops and next thing I know Nolan is chuckling, too.
Something tells me it’s not hard to get Nolan to laugh.
Even still, humiliation burns in my cheeks and when I open my eyes, I expect to see Holden completely pissed off.
But he isn’t.
In fact, he’s… smiling.
Or, at least, smirking. That little tilt of the corners of his lips he does is usually the biggest smile we get from Holden on any given day.
Holden steps between us, literally breaking our hands apart. “Okay. Good job you guys. That’s enough for today.”
But I know he’s just talking to Nolan—not me. Because it’s never “enough for today” when it comes to me.