Author's Note: Hello! I haven't played with this story in years, and I apologize – apparently I had some pretty loyal readers! Thanks for checking back with me, and I hope you enjoy this!

Benefits

Chapter Six: Hold Me Up

I blew on my hands as I dashed into the theatre building. It was a frosty January evening, and in my typical fashion, I had forgotten my gloves. Or lost them. Or wait – did I own gloves? What color were they? When had I last seen them?

"HEY!" a loud, shrill voice snapped at me. Apparently I had run into someone. And that someone happened to be our violet-eyed costume director, Raye Hino. She whirled around to face me, her black hair swishing. She rolled her eyes upon the discovery of me, and all I could do was offer her a sheepish smile. "Oh! Hey Raaaaaye," I said feebly. Her moods were real hit-or-miss, and I was hoping I had caught her in a good one. My odds were unlikely though, seeing how it was opening night and she had only finished my costume yesterday. "You're late," she growled, and hauled me by the arm into the costume room.

Our costume-slash-dressing room was temporarily divided into two halves by some makeshift curtains for modesty purposes. Raye deposited me into the girls' side and barked some orders at Mina to get me dressed and ready and then stomped off to go check on other apparently important things. I looked up at Mina, wide-eyed. "What's her deal?" I asked. Mina shrugged, and indicated for me to strip out of my day clothes. "No clue," my friend said. "She's been like this all week, and I haven't been able to say two words to her without her biting my head off." I sat down and unzipped my black leather boots, and began to wriggle out of my skinny jeans while Mina simultaneously undid my buns and pigtails.

She then let out a huge sigh. "Serena," she said. Uh oh. Real name. This means business. "Yes?" I inquired, looking up at her in what was my best innocent look. She raised her eyebrows at me, and pointed at my chest. "What?" I exclaimed. "Okay, so they're not as big as yours, but hey! They've got character!" "No, no no!" she huffed. "Not that!" "…oh…what?" My platinum blonde friend snapped my bra strap. "You're wearing a black bra," she explained, "under a white dress. Even a slip's not gonna cover that." I bit the inside of my lips. "Oh," I said. "Um…well…"

Mina unhooked it. "Take it off, kid," she said (rather rudely, I might add, as Mina is only eight months older than me). I know I turned about ten shades of red in a row, and I hurriedly grabbed for the nude colored slip and pulled it over my uncomfortably bare body. She then handed me my main costume, and I have to admit – Raye had done a stunning job on it. She'd taken a white, halter maxi dress and added a gold satin sash and something kind of resembling a half-cape to it. There was a gold-and-silver beaded trim on the straps and on the bottom of the skirt that made the dress glimmer when I walked. I felt uncharacteristically pretty and ethereal in it, which definitely helped channel my character.

After getting dressed, I sat down at the big dressing room mirrors to do hair and makeup. With the help of a curling iron and a small army of bobby pins, Mina wound and wrestled my long hair into a Grecian updo while I applied my makeup. I was just sealing my makeup with setting spray as Mina put on my circlet. "There," she said, spraying me with a gallon of hairspray. "From a bunny rabbit to a Moon Goddess." I looked into the mirror, and even I was a little taken aback. The circlet really pulled the whole costume together – someone had bought it at a Wiccan specialty shop years ago, and it was gorgeous. It was thin gold set with evenly spaced beads, and right at the center of my forehead was a crescent moon with the points facing up. With my long skirts, unusual hair, I felt so much less like the awkward teenage girl I was and more like – well, maybe something resembling a young woman.

I stepped out in the hallway to catch my breath and calm my nerves before warm-ups. I was pretty nervous – this was opening night to my first big show, to my first leading role. This could either set me up for a huge success for the rest of high school, or (more likely) make me known as the girl who sort of kind of maybe ruined Moonstory. I was running a couple of the more difficult lines when I heard someone come into the hallway, and I looked up.

Standing in front of me was my off-again friend with benefits, and the male lead of the show. Darien wore a simple brown toga-looking thing that draped over one shoulder and was fastened with a leather belt. So really, he was like half-naked. And tall. And blue-eyed. And gorgeous. And, due to my ridiculous ideas of morals taking precedence over my teenage hormones, completely off limits to touch, kiss, or any other naughty thing.

Darien blinked a couple times when he saw me, his lips slightly parted. "Wow…" he said, trailing off. I bit my lower lip, smearing my lipstick slightly. "Um," I said, unsure of what to say. Break a leg? You still look good with almost no clothes on? Take me back? How much taking back can happen if there was never a real relationship? He took a few steps towards me, also seeming unsure. Physical contact was weird between us at that time – we'd had a few slip-ups here and there, but agreed to stay mostly chaste.

I turned my face up towards him, all of a sudden aching for him to touch me - and not in that feverish dash of secrecy. Casually, gently, in front of everyone. I wanted this boy for keeps so bad that it made my chest hurt. Miracle of miracles, he took another step towards me and placed each of his hands on me – one on my hip, one on my back – and pulled me close. "You look absolutely stunning," he said huskily. I felt a warm jolt go through my core as I wrapped my own arms around him. "Oh, Darien," was all I managed to say.

He tipped my face up towards his, and in a heart-pounding moment I thought we were going to get all makey-outey right here in the hallway on opening night. But instead, he kissed me tenderly, sweetly on the cheek. "Break a leg," he murmured in my ear, keeping with the old theatre tradition. Then he let go and headed down the hallway. I didn't realize I was shaking until I put one hand up to touch the cheek he had just kissed. My entire body burned all over, more so than if he had just kissed me on the lips like we had done so many times before. I'd bet my hairbuns that things were going to be different now.

"Hey," I called after him. He turned around and raised an eyebrow. I grinned. "Break a leg."

Chapter Six – End.