Play Dirty (16 page)

“If we have flubs, we have flubs. Every production has hiccups on opening night, no matter how many times we rehearse. Don’t let these stop you from delivering the performance of your lives. You, here, now, are professionals. Professionals never quit—”

“Goonies never say die!” Someone piped up from the back. Everyone laughed. During a ‘bonding experience,’ he had them all watch
The Goonies
together, appalled that most of them had never seen it. It turned into a great inside joke.

“Exactly.” Matthew pointed towards the voice. “Exactly. Everyone, kick ass tonight. You have it in you, and more than that, I know you want to. Am I right?”

Cheers erupted around them. He laughed and used his hands to gesture them to quiet down.

“Bring it in, guys. I want the biggest group hug you can give me.”

They all huddled together, nervous bodies pressed together. In that moment, Lynn didn’t even mind putting an arm around Aria. This was theater, this was her life, this was everything they worked for.

“Okay, guys. Places!”

The crowd of black and embellished costumes scattered as everyone prepared for the show. Aria caught Lynn’s hand, causing her to jump slightly.

“I just wanted to say…” Aria paused to chew on her lip and took a deep breath. “Look, our rivalry goes back for years, and whatever. We will never be BFFs, and that’s fine. But… break a leg tonight.”

Lynn smiled, and before she could change her mind, hugged her. “You, too, Levens. You’re a great Nurse.”

“Yeah, well.” Aria pulled away awkwardly, but smiled. “It takes someone with divine talent to make a full body cast of fabric look this goddamn sexy.”

Lynn nodded. “I’ll see you out there.”

Aria smiled back, a little tight, but it still wasn’t the usual hate she usually spewed, which was a huge step forward. Lynn took a deep breath and leaned against a wall, running through her lines in her head. She imagined the audience was empty save for one person, sitting dead center in the front row, with a giant smile on his face.

The whole experience became pure magic. Everyone was on point: every joke was perfectly executed, every fight was immaculate, and the audience responded exactly as they planned. As soon as Lynn took the stage, the theater erupted in applause, like everyone did when she saw
Wicked
and Ephalba finally graced the stage.

She felt like the real deal, like a legitimate, professional actress who had arrived. Once those stage lights hit her, all the fear melted away. All her training kicked in, the countless hours of rehearsal and the endless notes from Matthew, and she felt herself no longer as Lynn, but as Juliet. She believed in her words, believed in her truth, and instead of seeing a stage covered in gaff tape, saw Verona and its bloodshed.

The death scene came entirely too soon, as though someone put the clock on double speed and suddenly threw it on stop. Curtain call felt impossible, there was no way they were already finished, already done telling this magnificent story of two horny teens whose absurd and melodramatic actions united two families, putting to rest a feud that had spanned generations. It was surreal.

Aidan grasped her hand tightly backstage as they waited their turn to bow. “You were amazing.”

“Thanks.” She blushed. “So were you!”

“I’m surprised I didn’t forget any of my lines tonight.” He smiled shyly at her. “I was too busy watching you. That performance was just… wow.”

Lynn flushed. She squeezed his hand and they walked out together for their turn. The applause was thunderous. She even spied her parents, near the front row, clapping. After putting on what felt like the performance of a lifetime, Lynn no longer had the energy to fight back tears of gratitude, relief, and the overwhelming sense of pride and joy.

It stayed with her long past the time when the theater cleared out, and the cast met everyone in the lobby to sign programs for the younger kids and hug family members. Lynn was given so many bouquets of flowers she couldn’t hold them all. Her parents hugged her. Her friends told her how they
died
that she got to kiss Aidan and how she was going to destroy Broadway.

It stayed with her as the stage itself cleared out, everyone changing back into their regular clothes and making plans for the celebratory dinner out. She felt it as she sat on the edge of the stage, and stared out at the darkened theater, eyes closed, savoring the feeling of total contentment.

Matthew sat down by her side in the darkened quiet. She knew it was him because she could smell his cologne, and because her body could sense his presence without trying, without seeing. She always knew when he was there.

“Everyone left. Why are you still here?” He nudged her slightly with his shoulder.

She smiled at him, eyes still closed. “I just wanted to remember what this felt like for as long as I could.”

“Ah.” His voice was warm with understanding. “And you should. You deserve to soak up every last second, Lynn. Incredible doesn’t even cover it. You blew your dress rehearsal performances out of the water. I don’t know what you tapped into tonight, but you were a force of pure talent. New York should be terrified of you.”

She blushed. “I thought of you.”

She heard him shake his head. “No. I can fuck you until you see the heavens open up, but I had no hand in what I saw on stage tonight, Lynn. That was all you.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you, though. You are such an incredible director, and how strongly you believe in me really helped me… I don’t know, channel what I needed to. You gave me the confidence I needed to be confident in myself, I guess.”

“I am honored, but you are mistaken. Since the day I met you, I knew you were a force to be reckoned with. And I am so, so proud of how you’ve grown.”

Lynn looked over her shoulder. “Are we alone?”

“Completely. We’re the last two left in Verona.” He covered her hand with his. “You were fucking gorgeous up there tonight, Lynn. Like an Italian goddess.”

She felt like exploding from happiness. It wasn’t the same sensation as when she and Matthew were pleasuring one another, the way he made her feel like bursting from arousal. But she felt just as fulfilled. She stood and lowered herself into Matthew’s lap, straddling him and hanging slightly off the stage. It made her almost feel like she was flying, tethered only by his grip.

She ran her hands through his hair, those gorgeous dark curls she could never get enough of. He left a trail of kisses down her neck and whispered against her skin, telling her how proud her was of her, how amazing she was, how incredible she felt. Lynn pulled his head back by his hair and kissed him tenderly.

“You know, in the Baz Luhrmann version, Romeo and Juliet have incredibly hot sex,” she whispered against his lips. “I noticed you didn’t have us do the same.”

He ran his hands under her shirt and up her back. “I was not going to have Aidan Nelson touch you intimately, stage or otherwise. Him or anyone else.” He kissed her jaw. “This is reserved for me, no one else.”

“That’s very territorial of you,” she teased.

He unhooked her bra and she helped him slip it through her tank top. His warm mouth took her nipples in his mouth and sucked gently. Lynn rocked against his hips, moaning as she felt his hardness under her.

“If it’s really that important to you, perhaps I can help you reenact the scene. You know, for closure.”

She crossed her arms and pulled her shirt over her head, cool fingers of thrill caressing her as she sat exposed in her high school theater. “You’re such a good director.”

Matthew gently turned them sideways, so she lay across the stage, and kissed his way down her stomach. He grasped the band of her yoga pants between his teeth and pulled them down past her pussy. A guttural moan escaped him when he found her bare instead of hidden in panties. Leaving her half-dressed, he spread her lips and dipped down to kiss her, his tongue parting her folds and tasting her center.

“Oh, my sweet Romeo,” she purred, immediately on fire.

“My sweet Juliet.” His voice was low and husky, making her immediately wet. He licked her once more and pulled her pants off entirely. Matthew threw them over his shoulder, helped her stand, and led her backstage to the small bed crammed in a corner, waiting for the next performance to serve as Romeo and Juliet’s wedding bed.

Lynn pulled off his dark shirt and pressed her bare skin to his. He swept his hands under her legs and laid her out on the bed.

“You are fucking gorgeous.” He dipped down to claim her breasts in his mouth as he unbuttoned his jeans and sent them to the floor with his boxers. He lay down beside her, caressing her as they kissed, with such tenderness it almost made Lynn cry.

She rolled over top of him and grabbed hold of his cock, rubbing it against her wetness. He held her to him by the back of her head, their mouths agape in delight, barely able to kiss from the sheer ecstasy of pleasure. And then he thrust against her, slipping deep inside, and they cried out together.

Matthew held tight to her, pushing himself upward, guiding her hips as she rode him. They said nothing, bodies speaking for them. Lynn dug her nails into his back, wanting to anchor herself to the moment and not lose herself completely to the ecstasy shooting through her. He bit her collarbone in response.

He grabbed her hair and tilted her head back, exposing her neck, and sucked, pausing to leave a gentle nibble under his lips. Lynn leaned back so her breasts were in his face. He obliged her desires by taking one in his mouth and sucking it as he had her neck. Rocking against his cock on her clit and feeling her nipples in his mouth surrounded in her ecstasy. She felt herself quickly slipping from reality and towards a spiraling orgasm.

“God, Matthew.” She whispered. “I just… I…”

He left her breasts, grabbed her hair again, and forced her to look at him, their noses pressed together as she rubbed her cunt across his cock. He thrust upwards in such a way that she gasped loudly. “I love you, Lynn.”

Chills doubled back across her skin and her head went light. “Matthew…”

He stilled her mouth with his own. “No, I love you. I love you more than any man should love a woman.” He stared into her eyes with intensity. Lynn felt the orgasm creep up her chest, seconds from sweeping her away. “Tell me you love me.”

“OH, god.” Lynn gasped again as the orgasm started, slow at first, and then ripping through her. “Oh, god, I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you.”

“Forever.” He promised.

Lynn nodded, unable to speak. She wrapped her arms around his neck as the orgasm crested through her, and he immediately followed, crying out her name, and she knew. She knew right then, from that moment on, it was forever.

PART TWO

“You’re here!” Dana shrieked, clutching a wine cooler. She threw her arms around Lynn’s neck. “Our fair Juliet has finally graced us with her presence!”

Lynn hugged her back and accepted a red plastic cup from Aidan. “Sorry I’m late! You know how parents are. Well, my parents.”

“I’m so glad they were there to witness your killer performance!” Dana clinked glasses with her. “Now, Daddy Warbucks can never deny your talent ever again. If he tries to interfere with your inevitable takeover of Broadway, we’ll all have to kill him.”

“It’s a deal.” Lynn smiled. She hated lying to Dana, but there was no way she was going to tell everyone she was late to the after party because she was busy fucking their director stupid on virtually every set piece on stage.

Because they did. And god, it was so, so good.

At the same time, she was exploding with the need to tell Dana what happened. Not just the sex, but… their confessions. His continued professions of love as he grunted and thrust into her. The way she felt like she would burst into a billion pieces every time he said those words, every time she repeated them.

It was the most amazing night of her life, and she couldn’t share it. Not really.

So, she accepted the compliments from everyone with a smile, drank her beer, and tried to remember the feeling over completeness during the production. She laughed at the inside jokes they’d all developed from spending entirely too much time together, and posed for a million selfies. She even joined Aidan in a ridiculous toast, thanking everyone for being so kickass and not trashing their dressing rooms while they were making out on stage.

“I know you are all insanely jealous I get to make out with this hottie.” Aidan pointed to Lynn with his beer and threw an arm around her shoulders. “I mean, I’m insanely jealous of me. She’s hot, she’s talented, she makes you feel shit when you don’t want to.”

Dana cheered from the kitchen and everyone laughed.

“So, thanks for not slipping bleach into my water during tech week so you could take my spot.” Aidan raised his glass towards Matt Lewis. “And he’s not here, because of student-teacher relations or whatever, but a toast to Mr. Flint, who abused us in class with terrible acting exercises and still somehow made us put on the best fall production our school has seen in years.”

“Hear hear!” Aria called out, lifting her wine bottle. “To the hottest theater teacher in the state!”

A few of the ensemble girls cheered loudly, and everyone laughed again. Even Lynn. They all raised their glasses. “To Mr. Flint!”

“Now let’s get wasted!” Brad Smith yelled. More cheers.

Lynn joined in, feeling happy and full. She followed Dana out to the back deck to join in a game of Theatrical Beer Pong. If a ball landed in a cup, the other team had to recite an obscure monologue from
Our Town
. It was an old favorite among the department.

It was almost Lynn’s turn when her phone buzzed in her pocket. She slid it out and tried to keep her face straight. KIRK scrolled across the top, along with a very sexy picture of Chris Pine. Matthew had programmed his number during their weekend at his apartment, but she had altered it.

“Kirk?” Aria looked over her shoulder and cocked an eyebrow. “Who’s that?”

Lynn swallowed down her excitement and shrugged it off. “Old friend from theater camp. I’ll be right back.”

“Mm
hmm
.” Aria rolled her eyes. Thankfully, Dana jumped in and pretended to fawn all over her performance as the nurse.