Chapter l415

Chapter 0415

she

At the next rehearsal, Susie still hadn’t left her room. When I had visited her, hadn’t even left the bed. She remained inconsolable, always crying and lost in thought. I had held her tightly, told her she was my dear friend and I would be her for there no matter what, and then left the room.

Now, I walked straight up to Bridget. I didn’t care that she was flanked by Olivia and Lilliana and in deep conversation. I walked to her and I interrupted their conversation, and I said, “Susie and I are switching parts.”

Bridget frowned at me for a moment. “I’m not thrilled about this, I want you to know that. Susie’s part was perfect for her, just as your part was perfect for you.”

Yes, the maid who had to watch the biggest kiss in the show from a distance. That was my destiny.

“We’ll live,” I said, only barely hiding my annoyance.

Bridget shrugged in reluctant acceptance. “If Susie’s stage fright is as severe as it appears to be, then we truly have no choice. Fine. You can have Susie’s part, though…” Her eyes brightened like she thought of something. “Your eagerness makes me wonder if you have properly researched Susie’s part?”

Admittedly, I had not. I had been too busy being annoyed at my own nameless part, and worried about Susie’s anxiety that I hadn’t done so much as glance through the rest of the script.

“I can see on your face that you haven’t,” Bridget said. “Maybe you should read it before you decide.”

“Whatever it is, it will be fine,” I said with complete confidence. “I’ll do it.”

Bridget smiled kindly. Olivia and Lilliana, meanwhile, smiled much-less-kindly. “Susie’s part is that of Nicholas’s spurned lover,” Bridget said. Softly, she added, “Perhaps that is the best part for you, after all.”

I blinked, startled by her words. “What?”

“Nicholas’s spurned lover,” she said.

“No. What did you say after that?”

She tilted her head with total innocence. “I didn’t say anything after that.”

I knew I had heard something, but her innocent expression was so convincing that I began to doubt myself. Had I imagined her saying it? Was my jealous wolf

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acting up again? I thought I had been doing such a good job containing my distrust of Bridget. Maybe I let my guard down too much.

I needed to keep a handle on myself or I’d do something embarrassing. Like snap at Bridget when she didn’t actually say anything.

This time, I decided to take the high road, and exited myself from the conversation.

I was still going to do the part.

I didn’t need to fight over nothing.

Even if the thought of being Nicholas’s spurned lover, even in the context of a play, hurt my soul a little bit.

Maybe more than a little bit.

Maybe so much that later, when the kitchen was empty and most of the hallways clear, I sneaked down into the kitchens and opened the freezer. I had only grabbed the ice cream when a voice spoke up from behind me.

“Get me a pint, too.”

I glanced behind me at Julian. His hands were shoved in his pockets and he seemed as dejected as me.

“What kind?” I asked.

Julian and I sat on the floor in the kitchen, our pints of ice cream in one of our hands, a spoon in the others. Mostly we ate from our own pint, but occasionally, we would steal from each other. I had rocky road. He had chocolate mint.

“So,” he said. “We know why I’m here. Why are you here?”

“I switched parts with Susie,” I said. “Bridget thought she needed to tell me what exactly that part is.”

“What is the part?” Julian asked. Of course, he didn’t read the script either. Though, unlike me, Julian didn’t need to bother reading it all to still do a good job. If he hadn’t been born a royal, he would have been an actor.

“Nicholas’s spurned lover,” I said.

Julian burst out laughing. “You’re kidding?”

“I wish,” I said, mostly with false irritation now. Julian’s laughter did make the whole thing seem funnier.

“Do you know what my part is?” he asked.

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“The villain,” I said.

“I chase after Bridget the whole time, just to get beat up by Nicholas in the end.” He was still laughing, so I knew it was safe to laugh now too.

Julian held out his ice cream to me like he meant to click it against mine in a toast. I immediately knocked my own pint against his in solidarity.

“We have the worst luck in the universe, don’t we?” he asked.

“It’s not great,” I admitted. “I wouldn’t say the worst ever.”

“It’s up there.”

We laughed together a little longer, finding connection in our shared love life hardships. Then, eventually, even that laughter ceased and we went back to eating our ice cream in relative quiet.

I wondered once more about the past, that lead Julian to be like this around this one particular woman. Since I’d known him, he’d had plenty of dates, but nothing had ever left him as bereft as this. In fact, none of those relationships had even seemed to faze him at all.

In this quiet moment with just the two of us and our ice cream, I felt a little bold.

So I opened my mouth and asked the question I had wanted to ask for months now, ever since first hearing about Bridget’s existence.

“Julian,” I said.

He hummed in response, letting me know he was listening.

“What exactly happened with Bridget?”

He stared into his ice cream. He’d eaten most of his by now and was scrapping the bottom with his spoon. “You want the whole story?”

“Just the parts you are willing to tell me,” I said. Curious as I was, I didn’t want to pressure him. He would tell me when he was ready.

“I’ll give you the very abridged version,” Julian said.

“Alright.”

He dropped his spoon in the pint and then set it aside on the floor. He still didn’t look at me though. Instead, he found a spot on the wall to focus on and kept his gaze there.

His eyes went hazy, like he was traveling to a time long ago. A memory of a distant past.

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“The three of us grew up together. Nicholas, Bridget, and me. When we got older, my feelings became deeper. She was my first love. My only love. When we were young teens, I confessed my love to her, and she accepted it. I was so happy. She was my first kiss. We stayed up kissing all night, that night.”

That all seemed good. Positive. A first kiss was special, I knew that. Nicholas had been my first.

“But…” he said, and his lips quirked downwards. “I only went to get a shower. I smelled like grass stains and sweat and I wanted to be fresh for her. I came downstairs and saw her holding hands with Nicholas.”

He paused a moment, and I could plainly see the hurt cross his face.

“Julian…” I began. He didn’t have to continue if it was too painful.

But he continued anyway. “She caught me before I could confront them. She pulled me aside and told me straight to my lovesick face that she was in love with Nicholas, and she was going to be with him instead.”

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