The Curtain Call
Chapter Eight: Dance Lessons
“Wake up, Jay!”
James was awake, but his eyes were not open. He knew what would happen the moment he opened his eyes. The sun would blind him, and he would realize that he and Lily were no longer in their own world together. The stars from the night before would have disappeared completely, and James would have to return to his normal, everyday life.
And, most importantly, James would not have a good excuse to hold Lily close to him any longer.
“Jay!” the voice shrieked again, closer to James’ ear. He felt multiple pokes in the arm. When James did not show any sign of feeling the fingers digging into his arm, the hand moved up to his face and started to poke his cheek continuously. Once the finger missed his cheek and went for his eye, James let out a very soft groan, cringing upon impact. Reluctantly, James resigned to his fate and slowly opened one eye, peeking out at the intruder.
The youngest of the Belmanns, Cindy, was hovering over James with a toothy grin. The second she noticed James’ eye looking up at her inquisitively, she let out a high giggle and knelt on the ground beside him.
“Horsie!” Cindy screeched in a loud voice that James would have sworn belonged to a mermaid at the bottom of the Hogwarts lake. She waved a small, plastic, toy horse in front of James’ line of vision.
“That’s nice, Cindy,” James murmured, unwilling to remove the hand that was wrapped comfortably around Lily’s waist to shoo Cindy away. He tried to smile, but was too tired to register whether or not he had actually done so. “I’m sleepy “ go back to bed.”
“Play, Jay?” the girl asked. She did not wait for a response. Instead, she pulled an identical toy horse up from the dirt and held it inches from James’ nose. She, however, did not notice that, along with the horse, she had also brought up a cloud of dirt that drifted into James’ face.
“No,” he spluttered, spitting out the dirt while trying to keep his voice to a minimum. Lily was still “ thankfully “ lying sound asleep in his arms and he didn’t want to wake her. “Play later, Cindy,” James attempted to explain to the girl. “Go back to bed!”
“Play horsie now, Jay!” the girl said in another high-pitched scream. Her cheeks started to turn red and her nose scrunched up; the second James saw her jaw quiver, he knew that she was seconds from crying.
“No, no,” James hurriedly tried to hush the girl. “I mean “ I’ll play. Just “ shh,” he tried to communicate to her quickly and quietly. He reluctantly removed one of his hands from Lily’s waist and grumpily snatched the horse from Cindy’s small fingers, somehow managing to kick up even more dirt into his face.
James cringed. He was unable to hold it in any longer! Trying to face his head away from both of the girls, James braced himself.
He sneezed.
Lily had heard it. She started to move her head and yawn.
No! James pleaded silently with her. Don’t wake up!
He did not move. He even willed his heart to stop beating if it meant that Lily would fall asleep again.
For a moment, she lay unmoving on his chest, looking like she had fallen back asleep. But James knew better.
Slowly, Lily cracked open her eyes just enough to squint into the sun. She opened them even further to take in the woodland surroundings, memories slowly drifting back to her. Her eyes wandered further around the campsite and she found Cindy, giggling with toys in her hands.
Then she remembered James.
Lily had leapt up and was standing a safe distance away from their comfortable spot on the ground before either had a chance to process what she had done. Cindy stared with her mouth hanging open. She tilted her head a fraction of an inch to the side, curiously waiting for Lily’s next move.
“Er “ ” Lily stammered, her eyes darting to every location around the campsite. She took in the Belmanns’ tent, the doused campfire, and, finally, James’ soft form underneath the large blanket.
Her face heated up in record time. “Morning, James…”
“Good morning, Lily,” James replied rather cheerily, trying not to look as if he were embarrassed at all. He merely sat up and stretched his arms above his head as if everything was perfectly normal. He then laid his elbow across his pillow and propped his head up on his hand so that he was lying on his side, facing Cindy and acting as if nothing strange had happened whatsoever.
“Horsie, Jay,” the girl cried, sticking the plastic toy underneath James’ nose for the third time in five minutes. She put her own horse on the ground and started to make horse sounds until James joined in.
“Neigh,” he muttered under his breath, unenthusiastically. He was too busy worrying about Lily’s reaction to him after she had woken up.
Cindy started to move her horse back and forth in the dirt. While running around, she accidentally hit James’ horse, knocking it out of his hands and bringing him back to the present.
“Hey!” James protested in an energetic voice. He made a face at Cindy and narrowed his eyes at her as if he were upset. “I can’t believe you just knocked my horse over! Oh, that’s it…” He began to run his horse across the ground and up one of Cindy’s arms. She giggled, batting at his horse.
*
What happened?
Lily was standing over the warm fire pit once again, rubbing her hands together. She was trying to find things to do so that she could keep her distance from James for as long as possible. Finally, she decided to hold a stick in the small flame and caught the end on fire. She watched miserably as the flame ate away at the twig.
One day I hate him with a passion, Lily thought with a sigh, and less than two months later, I’m camping with the guy!
She tossed the stub of the stick carelessly back into the flame. She discreetly looked over her shoulder at James and Cindy, laughing together. James had now taken a hold of Cindy’s waist and was tickling her until she fell over and started to roll in the dirt.
How did I miss it? Lily asked herself. There’s so much I didn’t know about him “ after six years, how did I miss it all? Lily continued the job that she had started the night before, packing up the rest of the items into their duffle bag. It’s not like I haven’t had the chance to find out anything about him! We see each other every month out of the year “ so why is it that I find everything out now that I should have known six years ago?
Mrs. Belmann started to walk quickly over to Lily and James’ campsite once she heard Cindy’s giggles.
“I’m so sorry,” she hurriedly apologized, just like she had the night before, running straight for her youngest daughter. “I hope she didn’t wake you…”
“Oh “ no,” James lied with a pleasant smile. He stood, meeting her gaze. “We were just “ playing.”
“Jay!” the curly-haired girl screamed. James looked down at his feet to see Cindy holding her arms straight up in the air, clearly waiting for James to pick her up.
James shook his head, amused, and hoisted the girl up into the air, holding her on his hip.
“Oh…” Mrs. Belmann sighed, hiding a smile with her hand. “James, you’re fantastic with her.” She reached out to run her hand through her daughter’s curly locks. “Frank and I have tried almost every babysitter in the book, and no one has connected with Cindy as well as you have.”
James smiled modestly, unsure of how to respond to this statement.
Mrs. Belmann held her hand to her mouth once more. Her eyes, then, flicked back and forth between her daughter and James. Slowly, she lowered her hand and opened her mouth, as if debating whether or not she should speak. And in a rush, worried that she might lose her nerve, Mrs. Belmann let the words fall off her tongue.
“James, where do you live?”
“Uh…” James looked down at the short woman, squinting in confusion. Cindy started to tug on James’ hair and he winced slightly, but quickly recovered. “About twenty minutes south of here.” He raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
The woman could not suppress her giggles. “Oh, that’s just wonderful!”
James looked back at Lily, worried about Mrs. Belmann’s sanity. Lily’s face seemed to show the same expression as she stepped forward. She hovered just behind James in curiosity, but still kept a significant distance from him.
“James “ ” Mrs. Belmann controlled her laughter “ “ how would you like to baby-sit for us for the rest of this summer?”
“Baby-sit?” James struggled to get the words out. His sleepy mind had now fully woken up and was working at twice its normal speed. “I’m “ surprised,” he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. He looked down at his feet, over at Lily’s blank look, and back to Mrs. Belmann’s anxious face. “I’m honored,” James quickly added, trying to assure the woman that he didn’t think it was a bad idea. “I just don’t “ know,” he finished lamely, adding an apologetic smile.
“Well, if you’re worried about the money,” Mrs. Belmann interrupted before James had a chance to look away, “don’t be! Frank and I “ we’ll pay you whatever you want. We’ll pay more than what you want,” she tried to persuade James, clasping her hands together below her chin in a pleading attempt.
“Well, I, uh…” James started to tear Cindy away from him and hand her back to her mother. “I “ can’t.”
“What’s the problem?” Mrs. Belmann spoke faster now, alarmed. She took Cindy into her arms. “We’ll do anything to have a babysitter like you, James. Name the condition, and we’ll do it. Please.”
“I have other “ obligations,” James said with a shrug. Cindy was now bending over backwards in an attempt to reach James, holding her small hands out to him. She was inches from toppling out of her mother’s arms and looked like she was about to start crying.
“Another job?” Mrs. Belmann asked. She set her daughter down on the ground, allowing the small girl to run back towards James and wrap her short arms around one of his legs. “We’ll pay more than the price they offer you right now! How about that “ will that work?” she asked eagerly.
“Actually “ it’s not a job,” James tried to explain. He put a hand on his waist to hold his pants up from the four-year-old girl at his knees trying to pull them down. “Lily and I “ we belong to a theater group,” James told her. “We work most of the day “ Monday through Friday.”
Mrs. Belmann sighed, clearly disappointed. She could find no way around James’ previous engagements. “What a shame.” She smiled sadly, giving up her attempt to recruit James as their summer babysitter. “You would have done very well with the girls.”
“Yeah…” James smiled back. He reached up to run a hand through his hair, but immediately put both hands back to his waistline as a particularly strong tug from Cindy brought his pants down several inches, revealing a pair of checkered boxers. James blushed, wishing that Lily had missed what had just happened. Ignoring the fears building in his mind, he quickly picked Cindy back up from the ground and held her once again, refusing to look at Lily.
“So,” Mrs. Belmann tried to make conversation with them after Lily tentatively stepped up on James’ left, “you both belong to a theater group?”
“Yeah, we do,” James said with a nod. “I work on the set,” he said offhandedly, “and Lily,” he announced in a much louder voice, “is the lead actress.”
“Really?” Mrs. Belmann’s hand went to her chest and her jaw dropped open in surprise. “The lead?” she gasped.
Lily’s face matched her hair. “Yeah,” she muttered, throwing James a look.
“When is it?” the short woman asked eagerly, her eyes wide with excitement.
Lily started to shake her head and protest against the Belmann’s showing up at the play. “It’s not going to be very “ ”
“A few weeks,” James cut in, grinning. He listed off the date, time, and address, providing as many details as he could remember off of the top of his head.
“Oh, it’s at Bennett Theater!” Mrs. Belmann spoke enthusiastically with a grin. “Frank and I used to love going to the shows at Bennett Theater “ before we had our girls, of course.”
“Bring them along,” James told her without missing a beat. “It’s a wonderful play “ I’m sure they would be thoroughly entertained.” James looked over at Cindy, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. “You would like going to a play, wouldn’t you, Cindy? There will be a pretty princess, and swords, and a ball!”
Cindy nodded at everything James said and then yawned, dropping her head onto his shoulder.
Mrs. Belmann looked at Lily curiously. “Princess?” she asked with a smile.
“Yep,” Lily said with a nod, continuing to stare at her feet like she had been doing for the past few minutes. “I’m the princess.”
“Have you gotten your costume yet?” Mrs. Belmann asked with a hint of excitement in her voice.
“Monday,” Lily answered with a smile.
Mrs. Belmann drummed her fingers together, looking very excited. “I can’t wait to see it!”
“So “ you’re coming?” James asked with a hint of a grin playing at his lips.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” she exclaimed in delight. “Oh, I can’t wait “ ”
“Nancy,” Mr. Belmann shouted in a deep grumble on the opposite end of the campsite. “Everything’s packed “ it’s time to go!”
“I’ll be right there, Frank!” she bellowed back. Mrs. Belmann faced Lily and James, beaming. “It’s been such a pleasure getting to know you both,” she hugged Lily, planting a swift kiss on her cheek. She turned to James.
“You, too,” James responded, rocking the sleepy child back and forth. “We can’t wait to see you at the show.”
“Absolutely, dear,” the woman cooed. She reached up to take Cindy from James’ grip, only to find that her daughter had fallen asleep in James’ arms. With one last smile, the woman gestured for James to lean down to her level. “Come here,” Mrs. Belmann said with a chuckle, and she, too, gave him a hug and kiss on the cheek.
“Best of luck “ both of you.” She waved her one free hand while carrying Cindy back to their packed away tent.
James stood with his arms folded over his chest as he watched the Belmanns carry everything back through the woods in the direction that they had come. He stayed in his spot, refusing to look back at Lily. Surely she was still thinking about what had happened when she had woken up. Surely she would say nothing until their next rehearsal, acting as if this trip had never happened. But, the minute the Belmanns disappeared, James felt a sharp sting on his shoulder.
“Ow “ Lily!” James turned to the redhead. “What was that for?”
“Why do you keep telling everyone that I’m in a play?” Lily asked, walking back to their fire. She shot water out of the end of her wand, drowning out the fire with a soft hiss. A thin line of smoke emitted from the pile of sticks, curling up into the air and out of sight.
“Why shouldn’t I?” James retorted, raising an eyebrow. He started to smile. “You should be proud of it, Lily!”
Lily shrugged, mumbling something under her breath. With a great swish of her wand, the remains of their campsite were neatly stuffed back into James’ duffle bag, erasing any evidence that they had ever been there. She knelt down and zipped it closed.
“You’re not nervous about the play “ are you, Lily?”
Lily rolled her eyes. “No, James,” she muttered, shaking her head. She started to pick up the duffle bag, but James grabbed it before her and slung it over his own shoulder. With a hesitant smile, Lily followed him out of the clearing.
“Don’t you want to see the Belmanns again?” James asked over his shoulder, trying to make conversation in order to fill the awkward silence between them.
“I guess,” Lily answered softly. She looked up to the sky as she felt a raindrop land on her head. “But I think Cindy wants to see you more than anything.”
James chuckled, unable to refute the statement.
They approached the familiar, silver car, small drops of rain smattered across the front windshield. Lily climbed wordlessly into the passenger seat, avoiding the building rain, while James walked to the back of the car and unlocked the trunk.
Here we go, he thought nervously to himself, roughly dropping the bag into the open trunk space. It’s going to be awkward as hell for the next twenty minutes.
James had been dreading the car ride home; he knew it would be bad. The second that Lily had jumped away from James after waking up that morning, he knew that she wouldn’t be able to act the same around him for a very long time.
It’s now or never.
James slammed the trunk closed and walked slowly to his car door, wishing he could stand in the rain just a bit longer.
He opened the door and slid into his seat with a great sigh, feeling his wet clothes stick to him as he leaned back against the seat. He reached up to his hair and ran his hand through it, trying to brush the water out of it as best as he could.
James rifled through his pockets for the car key and held it up in front of his face once he found it. Before he had been able to lean forward and touch the ignition, Lily gently tapped his bare forearm with a nervous finger and quickly pulled her hand away as if she had touched something hot.
James froze. He was not sure what to expect. Gently tilting his head to the side, he saw Lily sitting with both of her hands squeezed nervously together, resting in her lap. She was not looking at James.
“I just “ ” Lily started, stumbling through her words. The soft patter of raindrops steadily grew stronger, hitting the roof of the car. The noise echoed, somehow making it more evident to Lily and James that they were both sitting alone, inside of a small, enclosed space.
She took in a deep breath and swallowed, this time looking up into James’ eyes.
The longer Lily looked into his eyes, the more comfortable she felt. And with another deep breath, Lily spoke again. “I just “ wanted to tell you that I had fun.”
James smiled warmly, relieved to hear her say this. “I did, too, Lily.”
Lily nodded, smiling in return. “Thanks for bringing me out here.”
James no longer felt that he had to say anything more. He quickly inserted the key into the ignition and started the car, pulling smoothly away from their parking spot and back onto the gravel road. And then he did something that he would have never dreamed that he would.
James took Lily’s hand and held it the whole way home.
*
“Lily,” Mr. Evans called up the stairs, “we’ve got to go!”
“Two minutes!” Lily shouted back, pulling a clean shirt on in a hurry.
She had woken up rather late that morning “ something very out of character for her to do. The day before, Lily had spent a long day at Bennett Theater running through their show with the entire cast. However, instead of rehearsing their lines, as Lily and James normally did after rehearsals, James suggested that they take a break and return to his house to grab a quick bite to eat.
After James made two sandwiches to take with them, he led Lily out to his backyard. They spent the evening at the pond that Lily had found James at many weeks earlier, but, interestingly enough, neither of them found any time to rehearse any of their lines that night. James merely lit his wand as it grew dark and let it rest against the trunk of a tree so that they could continue their conversation well into the night.
It wasn’t until the early morning that Lily caught the time and insisted that she return home.
At ten forty-five the following morning, there was a sharp knock on her bedroom door from her father, reminding Lily of the eleven o’clock play practice that day.
Lily quickly gathered everything she needed for the practice that afternoon, stuffing her belongings into her beat-up, green bag. She had her hand resting on the doorknob of her door when a light tap at her bedroom window broke her focus.
She spun. Quickly, Lily strode to the window and opened it, letting a small owl swoop inside. She snatched the letter from the leg of the owl, and it flew right back out of the window as fast as it had entered.
Lily analyzed the envelope, managing to deduce exactly who the writer of the letter was by the handwriting.
It was Anna.
Instantly, Lily felt her insides squeeze together uncomfortably, feeling guilty. It was hard for her to breathe properly.
Lily had never, in the past few weeks, been able to bring herself to inform her two good friends about her friendship with James. Several times, she had come very close; she had written many different letters, describing how much her opinion of James had changed, but every time, Lily would feel uncomfortable with her words and throw the message at the trash can on the opposite end of her room, always insisting that she would write about James in her next letter.
I can’t put this off any longer. Lily swallowed, staring at the loopy, blue ink on the front of the letter. They need to know that I don’t hate him. I have to tell them before school starts.
Lily stuck a fingernail beneath the flap of the envelope, about to rip it open, when her father shouted from the bottom of the stairs.
“Lily “ we’re going to be late!”
Lily stopped the process of opening the letter, spinning her head to look in the direction of the door where her father’s voice was calling.
“Coming!” she called back.
Lily took one last look at the unopened envelope, weighing it heavily in her hand. And, making her decision final, Lily left it on the corner of her desk, ready for her to read once she returned home.
Tonight, Lily commanded herself. I’ll tell them tonight.
*
“Remember,” James repeated for possibly the fiftieth time, “your frame is the most important thing when you are dancing!”
Several of the kids onstage groaned, growing tired of this constant reminder. James had easily been able to teach everyone the basics of the waltz, but none had even come close to mastering it besides James himself.
“Elbows up!” James shouted at a young couple that had just crossed the front of the stage. “And “ back there “ don’t slouch just because you think I can’t see!”
One of the particularly short boys accidentally took a step to his left when he should have gone to the right and ran smack into another couple. The boy, his partner, and the other couple were all sent flying backwards in opposite directions, causing many others to trip and fall, halting the run through of the final scene in the play.
James sighed softly to himself, staring open-eyed at the catastrophe onstage. With one hand at his waist and the other constantly running through his hair, James finally spoke up.
“Alright, alright “ stop!” James hollered, waving his hand around in the air. He had to think quickly of another plan of action.
“I’m going to break you all down into smaller groups “ hopefully that’ll help,” James muttered the last bit to himself. “Now,” he thought aloud, trying to figure out how long it would take to make the dance look relatively decent, “I want anyone who plays a member of the royal family to stay onstage. All others, please wait in the audience.”
Through the hustle and bustle of the young actors trying to run off of the stage, James managed to jump up onto the stage from the floor and walked towards the remaining actors.
“We have the princess, prince, king, and queen,” James listed off, looking at the four people in turn. “Alright,” he said with a slow nod, lowering his voice so that the only people that could hear him were those still on stage. “I just want to see how you look right now and I’ll try to fix it from there. But the most important thing for you all to remember is that you’re the main characters. Everyone in the audience “ ” James pointed behind him to the empty chairs slowly filling with the other actors and actresses in the play “ “ will be focusing on the characters that they know “ you. You four need to be the best of all.”
Lily nodded, paying close attention to what James was saying. So far, she had been thoroughly enjoying learning how to dance. It was much better than she had thought it would be. And James had proved to be a rather talented dancer, as well as a good teacher “ much to everyone’s surprise “ but no one was more shocked than Lily.
Mr. Evans, standing in the sound booth at the back of the theater, waited for James’ hand signal. Once he got it, he pushed a button and the familiar waltz began to play, filling the theater.
“One, two, three,” James counted in time with the music, unable to stand still. He started to sway along to the melody as if he, too, were dancing. Once he saw a mistake, however, James would quickly jump in to fix it, but continued to let the music play on.
“And spin,” James directed under his breath, as the two girls twisted gracefully beneath their partner’s arms. The girl playing the queen was safely returned to the king’s arms, much to James’ satisfaction.
He looked to his right to watch Lily’s spin. Peter moved in the familiar pattern while Lily twirled. He smiled at Lily’s excited face, but his happiness soon turned to disappointment.
Peter had stepped forward a bit too far. And, just as James had anticipated, Lily could not have been able to see this obstacle and tripped over Peter’s misplaced foot. Before James could get to her, Lily had already fallen face first onto the stage, sliding several feet across the surface before she slowed to a stop, groaning.
“Lily.” James was the first to her side. He ran and dropped to his knees before reaching her, causing him to slide across the stage, stopping just beside her. “Are you alright?” he asked frantically, leaning over her with deep concern. “Did you hurt anything?” He lowered his voice and spoke quickly before anyone else could join them. “Are you going to need a Healer?”
Lily quickly shook her head, wincing as she felt multiple bruises forming. “I’ll be fine,” she muttered in a soft voice, hearing her father shut the music off.
She tried to stand on her own, but James did not let her. Instead, he held out a hand and helped her rise carefully onto her feet. “Are you still going to be able to dance?” he asked, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders.
“Er “ yeah,” Lily muttered, rubbing her elbow. She checked for open wounds and was immensely relieved when she found none. “I mean “ I can still move and all.”
“Good.” James took in a deep breath and turned back to Peter, instantly returning to his professional manner. He forced himself to hold both of his hands to his side, resisting the urge to rub his temple. “Alright, Peter,” James spoke in a low, firm voice, sounding very tired, “we can’t have this happening during the show.”
“Yeah,” Peter muttered, throwing his hair back with a shake of his head. “I know…”
“Let’s look at this in smaller pieces,” James said calmly, trying his best to explain to Peter what he had done wrong without accusing him of making a mistake. “All you have to do is simply move your feet the exact same way that you’ve been moving them before.” James pointed back at Lily. “She is the only one that changes the footing. Here “ let me show you. Lily?”
Lily snapped back to attention the minute she heard her name. She stopped analyzing her bruises and looked curiously at James. “Yeah?”
“Are you ready to dance?”
Lily’s mouth hung open, looking back and forth between Peter and James. “Now “ oh, uh… Yeah, sure.” She started to walk towards Peter, but was taken by surprise when James held out his own hands and pulled her towards him.
“We’re going to do a box step, and then move into a spin, alright?” James explained what was happening.
“Right,” Lily nodded, memorizing the pattern. She carefully placed her right hand in his and her left hand on his shoulder. And holding back a gasp, Lily was pleasantly surprised when James put his hand just below her shoulder blade and pulled her closer than Peter ever had.
“Mr. Evans?” James shouted over his shoulder to the man in the back. The music flipped on again and the familiar tune played through the speakers set up in all corners of the theater.
“Ready?” James asked, looking down at the girl in his arms with a hint of a smile.
Lily nodded, almost nervous.
Soon, James and Lily were waltzing around on the stage as if it came naturally to them. Within seconds, Lily moved away from James and spun, making her hair fly out several inches off of the back of her neck and spin with her. She soon returned to James’ warm embrace with a grin spread across her face. She hadn’t realized how much fun it was to just dance when you weren’t constantly thinking about which move came next.
“Good,” James whispered softly, almost inaudible to the human ear, but Lily heard him. She was about to thank him for the compliment, but he, instead, abruptly pulled away and turned back to face Peter. “Does everything make sense, now?”
Peter nodded his head in affirmation. He paired back up with Lily and continued to practice the dance steps he had memorized. After a few more stumbles “ but no falls “ the four actors had finished weeding out the problems within their dance routine, and James called up another small group of people.
Lily walked down the stairs and into the audience as several other cast members left their seats to join James onstage. Lily had just collapsed, exhausted, into a chair when she heard a soft hiss in her ear.
“Nice fall, Evans.”
Lily spun in the direction that the noise had come from, but all she saw was the back of Jess Marzoli’s perfectly straight, brown hair, moving away from Lily.
Lily fumed. It hadn’t even been her fault that she had fallen! Lily tripped over Peter’s feet “ but everyone must have thought that it was Lily’s doing!
She sunk into her seat, turning bright red. Apparently, James had not addressed the conflict loud enough for the cast members sitting in the audience to overhear what exactly had happened. And now, with every look Lily received, she slid down further and further into her chair.
The rest of the rehearsal passed in a blur as Lily tried to avoid curious eyes. The only moment she felt at ease was when James criticized nearly every dance move that Jess made onstage. “Tighter frame, Marzoli!” he shouted over the music at her in frustration for what must have been the fifth time that afternoon. “Remember that!”
Lily was more than happy to have finished early that Friday. She quickly gathered up her green bag and started out for the set room where she knew James would be waiting for her. She desperately needed someone to talk to after her miserable rehearsal.
She weaved through the mass of younger children and approached the room off to the side of the stage. Lily poked her head inside, expecting to see James waiting for her at the door.
But James was not at the door of the room.
In fact, James was nowhere to be seen.
That’s odd, Lily thought, frowning as she stepped into the room. She felt her stomach start to flip-flop and wondered if James had forgotten about their meeting after the rehearsal to run lines.
But that’s not like him, Lily thought, almost worried, now. James wouldn’t forget something that we’ve been doing daily for several weeks “ especially when it involves the play. I mean, Lily reasoned trying to calm her nerves, he was just here two minutes ago! I saw him!
“Hey, Jimmy,” Lily said once she noticed the dark, curly hair of the eleven-year-old boy sitting on the ground. He was carefully repairing a broken set piece “ a large chair decorated to look like a royal throne. He looked up at Lily with a wide grin and stared at her intently with his steel-blue eyes.
“Hey there, Lily,” the boy responded, gently setting down the hammer that he was holding onto the floor.
“Have you, by any chance,” Lily asked as casually as she could muster, leaning against the door frame behind her, “seen James around?” She flicked her eyes to the corner of the room where James normally kept his backpack full of materials for the play. It was not there. “Did he leave, already?”
“Uh…” Jimmy mumbled mindlessly, thinking about something entirely different than the conversation that Lily was trying to have with him. He picked at some chipping paint on the leg of the chair with a dirty fingernail, frowning as it easily peeled off. He reached behind him to grab a small can of gold paint to cover the spot, but the paint can was not there. Puzzled, Jimmy finally looked back up at Lily, forgetting the original question. “Sorry?”
Lily could not help but look amused at his absentmindedness. Jimmy was so similar to James when it came to putting all of his time and effort into building a set that it was almost scary. “Did you see James leave?” she repeated herself.
Jimmy nodded, vaguely remembering her asking the question once before. “Yeah, yeah, he did,” he answered after a minute of silence. “He went home,” he muttered, searching high and low for the missing paint can. “I could’ve sworn I put it right here…”
“He did?” Lily choked out, finding it difficult to believe that James would have just left her without explaining where he had gone. Of course, Lily could not find James or any of his belongings “ but she hadn’t actually believed that he had left without so much as a goodbye!
Lily stopped her thoughts, surprised by her reaction. What did it matter if James wanted to leave early? She nearly had every single line perfect, anyway; tons of people were still relying on their script with only one week before the play! It wasn’t like Lily really needed to practice every day anymore… Surely it wouldn’t hurt to take a break for one day. She and James would just practice less than usual. No harm done…
“He told me to tell you,” Jimmy calmly interrupted Lily’s frenzied thoughts with his thick Irish accent after he found the gold can of paint in its proper spot on the shelf, “that you’re supposed to meet him at his house.”
Instant relief flooded over Lily. If she were any happier, she could have sworn that she would have melted directly into the wall behind her. James hadn’t forgotten about her! He wasn’t trying to ditch her!
“His house?” Lily repeated in a wispy voice.
“That’s what he said.” Jimmy shrugged. He finished patching up the paint and started to stand and drag the chair out of the doors and onto the stage with a great deal of effort. By the time he had reached the dark and empty stage, Lily was close on his heels, firing off questions, one directly after the other.
“Why am I supposed to go to his house?” she asked, rather confused.
“Dunno,” Jimmy shrugged. He stepped away from the set piece, analyzing its location onstage compared to the other props. He shook his head and stepped forward, pushing the set piece further towards the back. “I already told you everything that he told me.”
“Didn’t he tell you anything else you might have just “ forgotten?” Lily tried to pry more information from the boy nearly a foot shorter than her. “Maybe he had certain facial expressions!” she suddenly exclaimed. “Did you notice anything out of the ordinary?”
“Besides the fact that he actually left rehearsal on time as opposed to three hours later?” Jimmy asked Lily with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. “No.”
Lily rolled her eyes. She noticed the boy starting to return to the set room. She followed him.
“Well, did he at least say when I was supposed to leave?” Lily asked, stomping her foot in frustration.
Jimmy stopped just before he reached the double doors. Lily watched as he sighed and took in a deep breath before turning around to face her with a smug smile. He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms, looking more like James’ twin than ever.
“I’d assume he wanted to see you now,” Jimmy said with a shrug. “Besides “ you clearly want to see him.”
Lily froze for an instant, trying to process the Jimmy’s words. “Excuse me?” she asked, squinting curiously at the boy.
“You heard me,” the boy grinned, knowing full well that he was right. “If you love the guy so much, I don’t understand why you don’t just go.” He shook his head and pushed off of the door frame, starting to re-enter the room full of spare set pieces. “Why are you standing around here, asking me stupid questions, when you could already be at James’ house?”
I don’t love James! Lily mentally shouted back. We’re hardly even friends! Besides, I was just curious to figure out what James was doing. And I needed to know when he wanted to see me, of course. Why would I want to show up at James’ house when I didn’t have to?
But Lily didn’t say any of these things. She just shook her head and walked away.
Jimmy Dunne grinned.