Method Acting: An opposites attract, found family romance (Center Stage Book 2) by Adele Buck (web based ebook reader txt) 📕

“Do you really have no college degree?” Colin asked.

Alicia tensed. She didn’t usually open up about her education—or lack thereof—at all. It was too much of a window on her past, her family, all the things she normally didn’t talk about to anyone. But she had gone and given the show away. Again. He was here because she had mentioned she performed here, and on what night she did it. What was it about him that caused her to blurt out any old thing?

Well, nothing to do but brazen it out. If she couldn’t run, she fell back on bravado.

“Yes. I didn’t finish at eighteen, but I got my GED.” Eventually.

“That’s very impressive,” he said.

Don’t patronize me, asshole. A bolt of energetic fury shot through her, but she maintained her cool veneer as best she could. “Oh, yes. Very impressive to someone with a fancy Georgetown degree.”

He looked puzzled. “You seem to mistake a degree for something it’s not. I merely meant that most people find Shakespeare difficult. You not only understand it, you play it. And with, I assume, very little of the formal training that everyone else seems to find so necessary. So, yes. I do find that impressive.”

Cut off at the knees, Alicia floundered. She had been prepared for condescension. She hadn’t expected a compliment. She glanced at Russell to see if he could give her a clue to the real situation. Was she being mocked and she was just too stupid to know it? No. His eyes were sincere and he nodded in agreement with his friend.

“I agree. Impressive,” Russell said, cocking a thumb at Colin. “This guy is always trying to get me to go with him to the Folger for productions, and I always find something else to do. I just don’t get it.”

“You haven’t tried it.” Colin’s response was almost a growl. This was obviously an old argument between the two.

“Wait, you have all this education, and you haven’t tried Shakespeare?” Alicia asked.

Russell shrugged. “I mean, I did what I had to do in high school. I read Hamlet. I didn’t get it, but I read it.”

“Such a well-rounded man, you are, Russ. A cultural paragon,” Colin said.

“Oh, for shame, Russell,” Alicia said, her equilibrium returning. “You really should try at least one show.”

“I’m getting ganged up on now, aren’t I?” Russell grumbled. “I liked it better when you two were annoyed with each other.”

Alicia darted a surprised look at Colin, realizing that they were allies. At least for the moment. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that, but she pushed that aside. She had been off-balance enough for one evening. It was time to reclaim her usual control.

“Well,” she said to Russell. “I only have a small part, but you’ve met me now and you’re just going to have to come see the play before it closes. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised as to how much you enjoy it.”

Russell looked wide-eyed from Alicia to Colin and back again.

“Don’t worry,” Colin said. “I’ll go with you to translate if you need it. And I’ll buy you the Cliff’s Notes.”

Chapter 4

“She really took the drug?” Russell whispered in Colin’s ear.

Colin held a finger to his lips. Russell had seen Juliet open the bottle and drink the potion. How much did he need spelled out to him?

“But Romeo’s going to figure it out, right?” Russell’s whisper rasped.

Colin turned with wide eyes on his friend. “You’re serious?”

“Well, I thought maybe they changed it for this production. Like…a reboot or something.” Russell’s face looked truly anxious. Colin was aghast—then remembered his own belief that the production might spin in an entirely new direction based on Alicia’s performance. His skin prickled with anticipation.

A woman in the row in front of them turned and glared at them. Colin mouthed a silent Sorry, and she returned her eyes to the stage.

“Just be quiet and watch,” Colin commanded in the barest murmur, pointing at the stage.

Alicia bustled in, rebuked the sleeping girl, shook her, discovered the girl’s supposed death. Followed by the entrance of Juliet’s mother, the sorrow.

And then, there it was. The rage. The unshielded fury directed at Juliet’s father. It was plainly visible even from their back-row seats in the little theater. Colin found it both unnerving and riveting. Stealing a glance at Russell, he saw that his friend was also captivated.

The all-too-brief scene was over, and the play moved on. Colin found himself restless for the curtain call, the opportunity to see her after. She had grudgingly given him her e-mail address before they left the jazz club, and his message that they would be there that evening and would love to see her afterwards had received a brief reply:

Wait for me in the Great Hall after. I’ll come out when I’ve had a chance to clean up and change.

When the curtain call began, Russell leaped to his feet, pounding his hands together and cheering as Alicia took her bows with the actor who played the Friar. Clearly hearing his holler, she peered out into the house and pointed a finger at Russell, winking as she moved off for the next group to claim their share of the applause. Russell whooped in triumph.

“She saw me, did you see that? She saw me!” Russell smacked his hands together even harder.

“Russell, you’ve met the woman.” Colin watched as the cast took their final bows together. How did he ever not recognize her? In or out of the makeup that aged her and the costume that attempted to transform her into a lumpen, anonymous servant, he should have known her.

“I know, but it’s different now somehow,” Russell said as the applause died down and he gathered up his program.

“How?” Colin was amused, almost in spite of himself.

“I don’t know.” Russell waved his program at the stage. “I guess, just seeing what she can do…it’s kind of amazing. Even more than the singing. I…I don’t know how to explain it,” he trailed