(Two)
We looked out on to the stage. It's extremely large, but also so comforting... you really start to call it home after a while. Klaus grabbed my shoulders and spun me toward him.
"Isadora, don't tell me I was good if I wasn't."
"Klaus! If you'd stop doubting yourself, maybe you'd be really good." I took both his hands in an attempt to comfort him. "Now what does Violet always say?"
"There's always something," Klaus said, smiling. (I looked at his smile and realized how cute that was too... was I starting to like him?) "There's always something," he repeated, a little softer this time, and looked back at the stage, his eyes shining. I looked at his eyes too.
Yeah, I liked him.
"Opens in five!" shouted Miss Littleton.
"Oh! We'd better get onstage," I said, pulling him to the other side of the stage and taking my place next to two other girls who were playing Anne's best friends. I breathed in, the curtains opened, and the show began.
We made it through to the first scene where Anne meets Peter very seamlessly. Then our first scene came, and we got started.
I bumped into Klaus. "Hey, whatch where you're- oh, hello," I said, looking up at him.
"Hello," he said. "I'm Peter van Daan. What's your name?"
"Anne."
"Anne... what?"
"Frank. Anne Frank," I said. "Pleasure to meet you, Peter."
We talked it up for a while, and then were on our merry ways. Then the call came, and the annexe scenes began. We all helped change the set quickly, and then went about our acting.
And before we knew it- the fated kissing scene arrived.
"Anne..."
"Peter..."
And then he did it. He kissed me. And suddenly Broadway slipped away... and reality set in. It seemed almost unreal, that it was acting. It felt like he meant it. When we pulled away, we looked at each other for longer than we were supposed to. Soon I found my lines, and we went on with the show.
Soon the show was over, and we went back to our dressing rooms to change back into our clothes. I was pulling on my jeans (my favorite ones with the holes in the knees and the chain belt) and Klaus talked through the wall.
"Soooo... how'd I do?" he asked, sounding thoughtful again.
"Klaus, what did I tell you about self-doubt? You did great," I said, putting on my shirt that was emblazoned with an image of one of Willy Wonka's golden tickets. I stepped out of my room and leaned on the doorpost. "I swore I'd tell you if you didn't, and you know I wouldn't break a promise like that, especially to my best friend."
"Really? You rock, Isadora," he said, coming out of his dressing room, once again shirtless, and gave me a light kiss on the cheek. He went back in to finish dressing.
I stood there for quite a few moments, a bit shocked and a little satisfied, but all in love. A smile slowly spread over my face. I touched the place where Klaus had kissed me, exactly in the middle of my left cheek. He was definitley a sweet guy, I had always known it, but now, I felt it more.
I went back into my dressing room to finish gathering my things for the night, and suddenly, I heard a crash from the room next to mine.
"Klaus?"
"Isadora!"
"Klaus, what's happened?" I said, going into his room and seeing nothing but shattered glass all about the floor. In the midst of it, I saw a rock. And to the side of it was Klaus, crumpled on the floor with a crude bleeding gash in his arm.
"Klaus! Oh my goodness, somebody call 911! Quickly!" I said, knowing that we had no proper doctoring on the set. I fell to the floor beside him, taking him into my arms.
"Klaus, hold on, don't leave me. You're going to be alright. Please don't slip away... not now... not when I need you... please..."