"Whoa."
Jade and André were facing each other, staring. They were rehearsing the new spring play, "Shattered Dreams", a Beck Oliver original. Sikowitz had been put in charge of casting once the script came to him, and much to everyone's surprise, he had cast Jade and Andre as the lead roles, a husband and wife broken by the loss of their child, being taunted by the happiness of their neighbors, played by Tori and Beck. Today was the first day they were actually blocking out the scenes, practicing the movements and getting comfortable. They were working on the opening scene, where Jade would be sitting on a bed, Andre next to her, and the doctor, played by Robbie, would bring in a baby. Upon seeing her face, both parents discuss her beauty and end the scene in a kiss.
They'd just finished practicing, and there they stood, Jade dangling the plastic child from her hand, staring at the man in front of her, him looking back.
In that moment of their rehearsal, inside that kiss, something clicked for both of them. There was nothing else, no one else except for them. In that moment everything changed. They knew it. Jade had never thought of André that way. And André certainly never thought of Jade like that. But the second their lips touched, a spark was ignited, and it was going to big enough to either light up the whole world or bring down everything in flames. It was too much for them to bare, so both just stood their staring at each other, trying to make sense of it all.
They went through the rest of the blocking, saying the words scripted to them blandly, monotonously. They had both been knocked off their game and were just going through the motions, waiting until they could be alone to talk to each other. After the two hour rehearsal slot was up, they got their chance.
"Hey Jade, wait up!" André shouted out to her as she was trying to walk out of the black box theatre. "We need to talk."
"There's nothing to talk about!" Jade's shrilly shouted back at him, not even bothering to turn around as she walked. Andre ran up behind her and wrapped his hand around her wrist, lightly pulling her back to him. She turned and stumbled into him as her knees weakened. Just his touch turned her to jelly, a feeling she never felt with Beck. But Beck was comfortable, familiar, and she knew she could count on him never to break her heart. She could feel herself tearing inside already.
"Jade, you know there is. Before. That kiss. I felt something and I know that you did too." André held her close to him, staring into her radiant blue eyes, waiting for her to respond.
"But, Beck…" Jade started, but André pressed a finger to her lips.
"Beck would understand. We're growing up. This is the time for us to explore our options. Open new doors. I think this is our time. He'd understand. Or, at the very least, get over it. Talk to him. I mean, you don't have to, but that feeling, that spark. I think we owe it to ourselves to see where this could go. Please Jade," he said, all this time, he was staring down at her, a tear catching in his eye, and her body trembled. Why did he have to be so charming, so attractive, so right?
"I'll talk to him." That was all Jade could muster to say. André smiled, making the butterflies in Jade's stomach flutter around. He leaned down to her and placed his lips on top of hers. Jade could have sworn her heart stopped beating then and there.
But soon, she snapped back to reality. And in reality, she needed to figure out what to say to Beck. This wasn't going to be easy.