Page 85 of Forbidden Romeo
The scent of Katherine’s rose perfume lingered in the air as she drew closer, mixing with the musky scent of sweat and booze from the crowded party.
I shot Duncan a warning glance. “Be nice.”
He lifted his hands up. “I’m not the one who deflowered her on stage tonight.”
“Hey guys,” Katherine said, stepping out onto the frost covered balcony. Her shoe slid across the ice and she squealed, grasping my arm quickly to steady herself. “Oh! It’s slippery out here!” She giggled, then wrapped her arms around her torso, the exposed skin on her arms immediately lifting with goosebumps. “Cold, too.”
I shrugged out of my jacket and Katherine graced me with a grateful smile as I draped my jacket over her bare shoulders. “Too cold,” I said. “We should go back inside.”
“It’s not so bad… now,” she answered, snuggling into me and pressing a soft kiss to my neck.
“Good job tonight,” Duncan said, pausing only to clear his throat.
“Thanks! I didn’t know you were coming,” Katherine said, slipping her hand into mine.
“Yeah… it was a, um, a last minute decision.”
“Jill couldn’t make it,” Katherine added pointedly, her eyes flashing.
“Yeah,” Duncan scrubbed at the back of his neck with his palm and I wondered if he’d already moved on from her and broken her heart. His fatal flaw was that he grew bored as soon as he had sex with a girl. “We’re supposed to grab sushi when I get back to school.”
"Hey, good game tonight! I heard you scored the winning touchdown,” Katherine added.
I gave her a strange look. “Who’d you hear that from?”
She winked at me. “I have my sources.”
Duncan nodded, puffing his chest out a bit. "Thanks. I slipped right through the defense in the final minute. You were great tonight, too. You both were believable as—” Duncan started to say but was quickly cut off as Bailey screeched, jumping onto the bed and holding her phone high in the air.
“The review just came out!”
“Already?” I asked. A knot twisted in my stomach, tightening like a snake coiling around its prey. My heart raced, fueled by nervous anticipation as I braced myself for the impending review.
My heart raced and my hands trembled as I waited for the judgment to be passed down upon me. It was like standing on a tightrope with no safety net below, my fate hanging in the balance.
Noticing immediately, Katherine squeezed my hand. “Reviews are a part of acting,” she whispered. “It’ll be okay.”
“I’m more concerned about us… you… are we okay?”
“We’re better than okay.” Turning to face me, she cupped my jaw. “I’m not made of glass, you know. You aren’t going to break me.”
She hugged my jacket closer around her, pausing when her hand hit the inner pocket.
Like a slow-motion car accident, I was helpless to stop what was next as she reached inside and pulled out my mother’s flask. She blinked a few times in confusion before the realization dawned in her expression. “You… you were drinking tonight,” she whispered. “Before the show… during it?”
Shame heated my cheeks as I looked down at my feet. “My dad came to visit me right before places. He-he got into my head.”
“So you were drunk when we…” Katherine paused, glancing at Duncan who was pretending to be enthralled with something on his phone.
“Tipsy,” I corrected. “Not drunk.”
She opened her mouth to say something, tears springing to her eyes, but Bailey’s voice drowned out anything else either of us might say. “Who’s ready to hear it!?”
The entire cast cheered, raising their drinks high in the air.
Bailey cleared her throat dramatically before reading from her phone in an exaggerated posh accent.
"Romeo and Juliet sizzled with passion in tonight's Kennedy Center performance. There were many notable performances within the show, but I would be remiss not to immediately state that it’s the chemistry between the young leads, Holden Dorsey as Romeo, and Kate Harris as Juliet, that sets the stage ablaze, transporting us to a world of forbidden love and reckless abandon. While the supporting cast gave solid performances, all eyes were on the star-crossed lovers whenever they occupied the stage.