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You turned to see Benedict standing there and you physically jumped, a headphone catching on the hand that steadied you as you fell to the side, falling to the pavement.
“Hi, I’m sorry I scared you. They said they’re ready for us now.” He was nervous. You could tell by the smile on his face and the way he scratched his head, fingers moving to his lips. It only fueled your anxiety for the next scene. You’d never tell him most of the jump was out of embarrassment and the fact that it was him instead of just being startled.
You hope the warm afternoon sun could pin the blame on the red color in your cheeks which you knew for a fact was there.
“Great! Thanks for letting me know!”
You stood up, rolling your headphones up and putting them back into the case, seeing Ben hold the door open for you, his long arm stretching the width of the door. You smiled warmly and thanked him. He flashed a big smile and nodded his head. You made your way to your position on the stage, standing out of sight of the auditorium, your friend Karrie coming up behind you.
“You okay. love? You look awfully pasty.”
Blowing out a large breath, you looked towards her. “As okay as I could be I guess. I am about to kiss Benedict Cumberbatch.”
She fanned herself and looked to the opposite side of the stage where Ben stood, reading over his lines. “Oh, the lips on that man. Like velvet pillows that are just begging to be plumped.”
Your eyes went wide as you stared at her, incredulously. “That’s not helping, Kare.”
She clicked her tongue. “Lucky dog. Milk it for all its worth, honey. Make it count. Make it real.” She turned you towards her, a hand on each shoulder and stared directly into your eyes. “Make. Me. Believe. It.”
You swallowed thickly. “I’ll do my best.” You offered with a smile.
“Let us live vicariously through you, Y/N. No pressure.” She said with a sweet smile, winking at you.
The director called for places and your heart hammered so hard in your chest you thought it would burst out like an Alien. Taking the few precious seconds of your sanity that you had left, you glanced over your lines again. You glanced back to Karrie, your throat suddenly parched, eyes pleading. She gave you two thumbs up with a wide smile on her face.
The scene went as expected, both you and Ben nailing your lines. The scene was fast approaching and you struggled to retain your composure, focusing on the script details in your head as Ben did his part. Your turned away to grab something and when you turned back, Ben was lip locked with you. Your eyes shot open as was in the script for the character’s reaction, but that’s not what made your eyes fly open in reality. His timing was impeccable. He had executed it flawlessly as his character was said to do in the script.
‘Oh my God, his lips are like velvet.’ You thought to yourself as the kiss shook you to your very core. You locked eyes with Ben and saw his eyes reflected something similar to yours. Your mouths parted for a moment, Ben lifting his head up slightly. His eyes were still closed as he swallowed thickly, seemingly trying to control his breath, labored breaths escaping his open mouth.
He slowly opened his eyes, looking down to focus on yours. In a split second, Ben’s hands came up to cradle your face as he went in for another deeper, more passionate kiss.
“This isn’t in the scr— Oh, fuck it. Who am I kidding?!” You scolded yourself as you met his passion back with your own, bringing your hand up to the back of his neck to grasp some of his hair. Everything around you faded into pure white. All that had existed, presently existed and would ever exist was you and Ben. On the fringes of the utopia, you heard a collective gasp. Finally, a voice drifted into the oasis.
“C-Cut!” The director called out.
Your lips pursued together before Ben broke the kiss slowly, a hand coming up to rest on your cheek, your foreheads touching.
You brought your heads up at the same time, eyes searching the other’s. Suddenly, you remembered there were other people present. Everyone had gathered in front of the stage where they stood frozen. You looked out at your castmates, breathing uneasily, cheeks on fire. Most of them had open mouths and a few others had their hand over their mouths, tears ghosting their eyes. You saw Karrie and she had her fingers over her mouth, a smile starting to form. Applause rang out in the empty auditorium, others joining her. The director fanned herself, calling for everyone to “take 5 to recoup” as she had put it. You glanced at Ben who gave you a brilliant smile. The director called you over to her. You returned Ben’s smile, letting go of his hand which you don’t remember holding onto and walked over to the director, albeit a little resistance from Ben to let you go.
“Yes, Director Wellesley?” She looked down, appearing to have difficulty forming the words.
“That… was the most… convincing, amazing, most beautiful kiss I’ve ever seen any of my actors share. If you two don’t win a Tony just for that… I don’t even have words. Well done! Do it just like that at the performance.”
You fought the urge to laugh nervously, rubbing one foot against the other while saying, ‘Acting…right.’ Instead, you gave her a confident smile. “We will certainly do our best.”
Her eyes twinkled as she smiled widely, turning from you to run to a stagehand to discuss another scene. You went straight for the side stage door, pulling out a pack of cigarettes on your way. The second you stepped out the door, you lit the cigarette and after taking a deep inhale, leaned back against the building and slid to the ground for the duration you were blowing the smoke out, eventually coming to settle in a squat. It was then that you fell apart. You held your head in your hand, breath coming out in deep, shallow gulps of air. The door next to you slammed open and you again jumped, the action causing you to drop your cigarette. This time you jumped for the sake of being startled.
It was Karrie. You stood on shaky legs as she took two short strides to stand in front of you.
“That…” She said, her pointer finger in the air, “is what I’m talking about!” She grabbed you in a hug, pulling you down to her as you laughed. “Holy crap that was hot!”
“I have a confession to make.”
Karrie let you go and stared at you. “What?”
“That…was my first kiss.”
Karrie’s eyebrows shot up, her mouth falling open. When she was capable of clear speech, she slapped you on the back and said, “Goddamn you sure know how to pick ‘em, don’t you?”
Laughing nervously, you said, “It was luck.”
She looped her arm into yours, facing the side stage door. “No…” she said as she stared down the sidewalk before looking back at you. “It is fate.”