Page 86 of Love Me Not
We had a good size crowd for opening night, but there were still tickets left come show time. The first show was often that way, and then word of mouth either drew more people in, or could keep them away.
“She’s right,” Kaitlyn said, ever the confident one. “We nailed that performance. Even I wanted to cry, and we’ve done it a million times.”
Emma relaxed. “People did cry, didn’t they?”
“Couldn’t you hear all those sniffles?” Kaitlyn replied. “I can’t wait to do it again tomorrow. What are we going to do in the spring? It needs to be dramatic, like this one.”
Not having to lie about whether there would be a spring play was such a relief.
“I haven’t started thinking about the spring, but I’ll see what I can find.” I gave them both a quick hug. “You ladies made me proud tonight. Thank you for all the hard work you put into this.”
“It’s all thanks to you,” Emma said, drawing back. “None of us could have done this play justice without your guidance.” Tearing up, she said, “I’m really going to miss you when I graduate.”
I was not a crier by nature, but I also wasn’t totally dead inside. Fighting my own tears, I hugged her again. “I’m going to miss you, too. But one day I’ll come see you on stage in New York, and I expect to be thanked in your Tony speech.”
“Oh my gosh, I’ll never win a Tony, but if that miracle happens, you’ll be the first one I thank.”
Knowing that wasn’t true didn’t dim the sentiment in the least.
“Looks like we need tissues over here,” said Trey, appearing out of nowhere. “I hope these are happy tears.”
Emma nodded as she plucked a tissue from the box in his hand. “I’m really happy right now.”
“We need to go meet the others,” Kaitlyn said, snagging a tissue of her own. “Burke’s dad is taking us all out for pizza. You two are coming, right?” she said, looking from Trey to me.
“Are we?” he said, looking to me for an answer.
He didn’t mention that he was hosting our friends at his place, and I was tempted to see what he’d do if I agreed to the pizza. Presumably, he thought I didn’t know about his little get together yet.
“We’d love to,” I started, and watched his shoulders fall, “but Coach Collins is hosting a gathering of some friends at his place, and the host can’t not show up for his own party.”
“Then you can come,” Emma replied, pointing at me.
With a smile, I cut my gaze to Trey. “I’m actually going with him, but maybe next time.”
The girls took a second to catch on, but then their faces split into knowing smiles.
“Right,” Emma said. “That makes sense.” Taking Kaitlyn by the hand, she called, “See you tomorrow then,” over her shoulder as they hurried off to meet the others.
Trey watched me, his lips curving up in a grin. “How did you know about the party?”
“Josie told me.” My phone dinged and I checked the screen. “And now I have the address. Guess I’ll see you there.”
“Wait,” he said, snagging my hand as I turned to walk out. “Are we good? You had me worried before the show started.”
How should I answer that? Was I supposed to pretend I didn’t know? Let him keep his secret and act like I wasn’t a complete basket case for the last two weeks?
Who was I kidding?
“Carole told me what you’ve been doing.”
Disappointment swept the grin away. “I asked her not to do that.”
“Why?”
Trey sighed. “I didn’t want you to think I was trying to be a hero. I saw a problem and I set out to fix it if I could.”
I was not a schmoozer, nor did I have the connections he was afforded due to being the great Coach Collins. There was no way I could have pulled off what he did, and I never would have thought to try.