It all felt like a dream to Chase. He was sifting through his old papers and found his old script from the 8th grade a year ago. He revised it, including various songs and dance numbers, and now it would be preformed in front of his very eyes. Sure, it was a practice, but still he was excited.
He sat down next to the director, full of nerves about how this play would turn out. Lola was cast as the lead role: Zorka, the weird alien who crash landed on Earth.
It would be weird to sit there and Lola playing Zorka instead of Zoey, and he hoped that he could make it through the whole run-through without having to scream in frustration. Why did she do this to him?
The play started with weird sci-fi music, and Lola getting out of banged-up spaceship, looking lost and confused, "Where am I?" she said softly, and he heard the intro of the first song starting out. She belted out the song, singing her heart out. The director's eyes were intently glued on her, and he couldn't blame him…she was incredible, and it was only the first five minutes.
The musical progressed, and he couldn't take his eyes off of her. She looked so beautiful, so graceful, so in-character.
Then came the last scene. Zorka was about to leave Hawaii, and go back home. The lifeguard, Trent, had given her a beautiful pearl necklace, "Will you do me a favor?"
"What's that?" Lola asked, a grin on her face.
"Don't forget me," he said. She nodded, and they kissed. That's the only part where Chase had to look away. It felt weird to see one of his best and oldest friends kissing a fellow actor in front of him and the director, the other characters witnessing, too.
The last song came on, and the whole cast started singing the last song, "A Beautiful, Strange World."
The evil hula girl apologizing for trying to steal Trent away from her, and Zorka accepted the apology.
She gave Trent once last smile before she went back into her beautiful, fixed up spaceship, and the play ended.
Chase sat there in awe. Her voice was smooth and angelic the whole way through. She flitted about gracefully, looking out to the audience of two, with a bubbly smile. He couldn't look at anyone else but her. No, he shook his head, you just broke up with your girlfriend, and you're thinking of Lola?
A few minutes later, the director was congratulating the whole cast about how great the first run-through was, "Tell, them how you liked it, Chase," he said, and everyone's eyes were upon him, awaiting his answer.
"It was fantastic. I never thought it would be as good as this. Thank you," and they all clapped with excitement, high-fiving each other. Through all the applause, he caught Lola's eye, and saw her brown eyes shining back at him, giggling with excitement.
It was about a half hour before they got out of the building, and were walking home together, "You were brilliant!" Chase said.
"I wouldn't say that."
"Don't be so modest! You were excellent!"
She said nothing, and he haled down a taxi, "After you, madam," he said holding his hands out, gesturing for her to climb in.
"Thank you," she said simply.
They had a nice, quiet ride home. She thought it would feel awkward, because when they were together, they always had something to talk about. But it was surprisingly peaceful, and kind of nice. When it was over, Chase gave the driver his money, and they walked up to Lola's apartment building.
She opened the door, "Almost dinner time. Want to come in and have something?" she offered.
He didn't know what to say. He badly wanted to stay for dinner, but after this afternoon, he felt like he was betraying Zoey in some way. She had dumped him, but he still felt guilty about seeing her on that stage, and having more-than-just-friends feelings about her.
"Erm…sorry. I have a few things I need to do. So…see you later," he said awkwardly.
He saw her smile disappear, "Oh…uh…that's okay. I have a few things I need to…do too," she was looking down and fidgeting with her hands, "Yeah, later. Bye."
He walked down the hall, and she shut the door, and sunk down to the floor. If only he knew…
She jumped, startled by her ringtone. She fumbled around in her purse, and found it. The caller ID read Vince, and she picked it up on the last ring, "Hey,babe," he said happily.
"Hi," she said, not wanting to talk to him at the moment.
"Are you okay?" he said, picking up on the fact that she sounded unhappy.
"Fine, fine. Just, you know, frazzled. I just got back from doing my first practice," she burst into a fake coughing fit, "I don't feel like talking…throat's –cough- too –cough- sore."
"Oh, well in that case, I'll talk to you later. I hope you feel better," he said, and she hung up.
Why was it that whenever she started thinking about Chase, Vince in some way, pulled her back down to Earth. She was starting to hate how he kept her grounded.
