Chapter 0418


    “Piper!” Nichs called after me.


    I continued walking, not slowing down until I was in the hallway, with the stage and all of the other


    candidates safely out of view. Then, I turned toward the wall and truly let the tears


    fall.


    I knew Nichs wouldn’t give up his chase, even though I hoped he would. So I wasn’t, terribly


    surprised when he burst into the hallway like a bat out of hell. He looked up and down the hallway


    before spotting me, then, much slower, came to stand at my side.


    “Piper,” he says softly.


    I shied away from him, not wanting him to see the evidence of my heartbreak. I know the scene we


    yed wasn’t real, but I couldn’t stop the wave of emotions running through me. The addition of my


    wolf wasn’t helping, as I now felt everything so keenly.


    “Piper, I’m sorry,” Nichs said. His voice was pitched low. The apology was for me only. He and I


    were the only ones who would know exactly why that scene we just performed would hurt me. “I’m so


    sorry. Believe me, I was only reading the script.”


    “I know that,” I said through my sniffling.


    He stepped closer to me. He pressed his hand to the small of my back. It felt so good there, I backed


    up into it a little.


    “Then why are you crying?” he asked.


    “It still hurt to hear those things,” I admitted. “But don’t worry. I’ll be fine by the final performance.” I


    would have to be, or risk my cement in the event’s rankings. If I wanted to stay in thepetition for


    as long as possible, then I couldn’t just run away after every


    scene.


    “I don’t want you to have to be fine, Piper. I just want –


    “Nichs? Oh, there you are. You are needed on stage.” Bridget’s high heels click–cked on the


    floorboards as she came closer to us. “Piper? Are you upset?”


    “She just needs a little space,” Nichs said. He turned, cing himself firmly between Bridget and


    me, likely to hide my crying.


    “There’s nothing to be ashamed of,” Bridget said. “I see it all the time. Actors get so into character that


    it’s hard toe back out of it. Why, I even once cried in a bathroom for a full


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    hour after a difficult scene.”


    She pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and, sneaking past Nichs, who let her by, handed the


    handkerchief to me. I looked at it for a moment, and then epted it.


    I supposed it was a good thing that she had this misunderstanding. I wouldn’t want her to know my


    heart was actually breaking a little.


    “You have a few minutes before your next scene, Piper,” Bridget said. “Clean yourself up, and then


    meet us back in the ballroom, okay? Let’s go, Nichs.”


    Bridget started to walk away, but Nichs didn’t move. Bridget stopped a few feet away.


    “Nichs?” she called back to him.


    He turned to me. “Piper…”


    “It’s okay,” I told him. “I just need a moment.”


    He stubbornly stayed. I nced at him. My tears were drying up some now, I wanted him to


    see that.


    He stared hard at me. His expression did not shift as he nced at the tear tracks on my


    cheeks.


    I knew he wouldn’t leave unless I actually demanded it, so I lied and said, “I kind of want to be alone,


    okay?”


    His lips twitched downward ever–so–slightly like he didn’t quite believe me. But he couldn’t argue in


    front of Bridget, not without giving too much away. So he said, “Okay. But I’ll be looking for you in the


    ballroom.”


    “I’ll be there,” I said. “Just give me a few minutes.”


    “Ten and I start looking,” he said.


    “Fifteen.”


    “Ten,” he said, more firmly.


    I sighed. “Ten.”


    He nodded. His gaze stared hard on me for a moment more, but then he turned and went to Bridget.


    Bridget waved at me, before they both turned and disappeared back into the


    ballroom.


    The minute they were out of sight, I turned and booked it toward one of the bathrooms


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    nearby. It had a powder room attached, with a small little sofa tucked against the wall. I immediately


    flopped down there.


    Bridget’s handkerchief was soft and smelled likevender. It had her initials embroidered on the corner.


    I hated how much I liked it. It was soft on my cheeks as I wiped my tears away.


    I was maybe in the bathroom for all of two minutes before the door burst open without a knock. Thank


    God I was sitting on the sofa in the powder room and not actually in the bathroom itself, although it had


    a door separating.


    I could have sworn I locked the door.


    When Julian sauntered in, I realized yeah, I probably had locked the door. Julian just picked it.


    “What if I’d been in the actual bathroom?” I asked as he plopped down into the narrow


    space beside me on the sofa. It was a smallish sofa, our hips were smashed together for us both to fit.


    “We both know you only came here to hide,” Julian said.


    “I’m not hiding.


    ))


    “Oh no? What would you call this then?”


    “Catching my breath.” I dabbed at my eyes. Fortunately, at least, the tears had stopped for


    now.


    Julian hummed. He was letting me get away with that. I was a bit surprised. I must have looked like hell


    to affect Julian that way.


    “It was a good scene,” Julian said. “It looked good, anyway. I imagine it must have felt like hell.”


    “Worse,” I grumbled. With my face dry, I crumpled up the handkerchief in my hand. “It’s like I was


    looking into my inevitable future.”


    It was funny how I could talk to Julian about this, when it was so much harder to tell Nichs. Maybe


    because Julian and I were friends. Maybe because I knew he could rte to my heartbreak.


    He’d shared things with me. I could share this with him.


    Published by N?v''elD/rama.Org.


    “You really think Nichs would say any of that to you?” Julian asked. “Outside of the scene, I mean.”


    +15 B?NUS


    I lift one shoulder and let it drop. “We’ll go our separate ways eventually. We have to. It would be an


    easier break for him if he found someone else before then.‘ ))


    “Bullshit,” Julian huffed. “You are just feeling sorry for yourself, Piper. We both know Nichs would


    never treat you in real life the way he has to for the y, even if you do have to go your own ways at


    some point in the future.”


    I turned my head to look closer at him. He seemed… indignant. It surprised me. “I would have thought


    you’d enjoy the chance to tarnish Nichs’s character, since you still hold such anger toward him.”


    Julian snorted. “Please. Nichs being so earnest is one of the reasons we don’t get along. If he was


    more like me, maybe we’d have a chance.”


    was


    “A charmer?” I asked.


    “A devil,” he replied.


    Now it was my turn to shake my head. “Julian, you are not nearly as bad as you want everyone to


    believe.”


    “Yeah…” Julian said begrudgingly, like he resented it. “If only Bridget could see that too…”