“Yes,” I nodded, giving him a smile. “I thought…Liam, I thought I could stay. Another year. With you.” I looked up to meet his eyes, taking his hand. “If that’s ok.”
“Amy…” He breathed, turning fully to face me. He was quiet for a few moments. “Amy, you are so beautiful…and you are so talented…you are miles ahead of everyone here, and you are ready for this.”
“No,” I shook my head. “And I know it. If I stay out there with Shannon, it’ll break me. I’ll finish touring Gatsby, but then I want another year here. I…I need you.” I said. He bit his lip, and I was surprised to see tears building in his eyes.
“I need you too, Amy,” he said, and he kissed me. I wrapped my arms around him, standing on my tiptoes to not have him strain so much. There was nothing holding us back any longer. I let go of everything I was feeling, giving myself completely over to him. I had never felt so sure of anything in my life. Everything felt right.
“And if I stayed…” I said, breaking apart from him. “Got a second chance…perhaps you and I could also have a second chance?”
He smiled, nodding.
“I’d like that.”
“Good,” I said, giving him another little nip on the lips. His smile turned devilish, and he leaned down, about to return it when a stage hand approached.
“Curtain in one minute, guys.”
“Right,” Liam straightened up. “Here we go.”
I closed my eyes, turning to face the stage. I saw the lights dim and the opening number started to play.
“No going back now,” I muttered, and Liam laid a light kiss on my head.
“Go on, Beauty. It’s your time to shine,” he said. I took a deep breath, looking up at his face. And then, knowing that he was behind me, I stepped forward. It was time.
As soon as I stepped out onto the stage, I didn’t feel like me anymore. All of these fears had run through my head. I had worried about the silliest things; from forgetting my lines to tripping or puking on the stage. But from the second Beauty`s first lines came out of my mouth, I was a different person. I was her, from head to toe. And when Liam entered the stage for the first time, I didn`t see Liam, the love of my life, the vampire, my headmaster. I saw the Prince; the Beast; the hated man in the castle who intrigued and interested me like no other.
The townspeople were transformed from my classmates to people I had grown up with all my life. Ryan, who played one of my potential suitors and was actually one the nicest boys in senior year, made bile rise in my throat the second he approached me on stage. I was so distracted by Beauty`s feelings and thoughts that I felt shell-shocked when intermission came and the curtain came down.
I was still in a daze when I made it off the stage. Everyone was rushing about, trying to reset the stage for the bigger scenes, which took place in the second half.
I was standing by the call sheet, trying to remember how much time I had to get changed, when someone grabbed my arm. I turned around, and Porsche nearly stumbled into me.
“What’s the matter?” I asked, alarmed. She was pale as a sheet, and her jaw was clenched in a familiar way, trying to ward off nausea. “Porsche?”
“It’s her,” she whispered, urgently. “She’s here. She’s in the audience. And she obviously knows there’s a shield here, because she looks damned confused why she hasn’t transformed yet.”
“Oh God,” I groaned, looking around as if I expected Selene to just appear.
“Where’s Liam?” Porsche asked.
“He uh…he’ll be getting his makeup retouched. I’ll find him, alright? You just…” I looked around for a chair but she shook her head.
“I’m going back out. It’ll be more effective the closer I am to her. Find Liam and tell him she’s here. But she hasn’t tried anything yet, so I doubt she’s going to. Just…be careful out there, Amy.”
“Right,” I nodded, my frantic heart beat returning. “Be careful too, Porsche.”
She swayed alarmingly, gripping the wall and I was hesitant to let her go.
“And Amy…” she blurted out, right before she shooed me off. “Tell Liam that it’ll be tonight. For him and I.”
I stood, open mouthed, but nodded, watching as she stumbled off. Tonight. Everything came down to tonight.
CHAPTER 23: AMY
When the second act started, I felt like my heart was in my throat. Everything was happening at once and it was out of my control. The media had practically attempted to break in during intermission, all too desperate to get shots of Liam again. Luckily, our security was good and held them back. However, it reconfirmed that I had made the right choice. I wasn’t ready for the world out there, not yet. If anything, I wanted to spend eternity curled up in my dorm room, going to the safety of classes and snuggling with Liam in the afternoons.
“I haven’t experienced night as a human like this in three years,” Liam said to me, as we waited in the wings for our final cue. His arms were around my waist, and he was warm, his chest rising and falling.
“Are shields common?” I asked, and he shook his head.
“No. After Porsche…I’ll be lucky if I ever meet another one again. They really don’t make themselves known, and half of them aren’t ever aware of their powers. Anyway, what do you want to do next year?”
“Next year?” I turned to him and gaped.
“For a show?”
“Liam?” I asked, confused. “Why are you not concerned about everything that’s happening?”
He laughed, squeezing me tight.
“Because. Selene is just here to make sure I’m doing my part, which I am. After tonight, my best friend will be immortal and I no longer have to spend every spare moment wondering if she’s dead. And you’re staying with me. You aren’t going to leave and I don’t have to mourn what would have been.”
I supposed that did all sound good. I arched up to kiss him before breaking away.
“See you on stage,” I breathed, and he blew me one more kiss.
For everything that was happening around us, the show went off reasonably flawlessly. Of course, in such a big production, with such a huge cast, there would always be hitches. And I was glad that Liam was on stage with me, most of the time, showing me how to react in the moment when things went wrong.
Twice, I forgot my line and he scooped up the words into his own, as if it were natural, so none of the plot got missed. One of the actresses who played a servant tripped over the table cloth while setting the table and Liam caught her with a beast-like growl and scolding that made the crowd roar with laughter. He even managed to put out a fire when a candle stick burned too low, snuffing it so fast that I didn’t even notice anything had happened.