The last few hours have been a whirlwind of events, with more unexpected twists and turns than a Shakespearean tragedy.
The play must’ve been in big trouble because, before I knew it, I was plonked in front of the director with the promise that I could save the play. With literally no other option – and after a brief audition – he agreed to let me fill in as Lady Macbeth for tonight’s show, and I have to admit, I’ve enjoyed every second of it.
After my dramatic exit scene, I dashed back to my dressing room to slip on my red dress, ready to step out on stage and take a bow.
The opening night was a triumph, if I do say so myself, with the audience loving it. I have to admit, it’s really reignited my love for acting. Proper acting. Not lying to the librarian about why my books were returned late, not convincing bad Matcher dates that I had weird nipples so they’d give up on trying to see me naked, and not messing with girls in the street, telling them tall stories, simply because I was bored.
Finally back in my dressing room, I sit back in my chair and exhale deeply.
There’s a knock on my door.
‘Come in,’ I call out.
‘Hey you,’ Millsy says cautiously. ‘You’re not going to give me a concussion like you did those two other people, are you?’ he teases.
‘Don’t,’ I insist. ‘I feel bad enough as it is. Are they OK?’
‘They’re both going to be fine,’ he assures me. ‘But Emma has quit the play. Just a heads up, the director is looking for a replacement as soon as possible. I suggested he might want to keep you on in the meantime – if not for the whole run. Nothing to do with you being my best friend, or newly unemployed – you earned it, Rubes. You were phenomenal out there. This is what you were born to do.’
‘Thank you,’ I tell him, climbing to my feet. ‘I know it’s going to seem sudden, but it’s just reminded me that acting is my passion, and that this is something I want to pursue. I don’t know why I was convincing myself otherwise.’ I offer him my fist to bump. He hesitates for a second before doing it, but then he grabs me and he hugs me so tightly.
‘Let’s never fall out again,’ he insists.
‘Never,’ I tell him. ‘Unless it’s over what to watch on Netflix or what topping to have on a pizza.’
‘No chance of that,’ he laughs. ‘House of Cards and pepperoni. That’s the way it’s always been, that’s the way it’s always going to be.’
‘Amen to that,’ I tell him.
‘Right, well, I need to go outside and check out the groupie situation, so I’ll see you in the bar later?’
‘You will,’ I reply. ‘Enjoy your groupies.’
Millsy has no sooner left when there’s a knock at my door again.
‘What’s the matter?’ I ask. ‘You need lube or something?’
I open the door expecting to see Millsy. Instead it’s Nick.
‘Lube?’ he asks, stifling a laugh.
‘Don’t ask. Just come in,’ I insist. ‘What’s up?’
‘I called your phone looking for you, Millsy answered it, said you’d left it here. He also told me you were about to go on stage and perform. I was already back in Leeds, so he hooked me up with a seat.’
‘So your dad is OK?’ I ask.
‘Now how did you know about my dad?’ he asks with a smile.
‘I…you mentioned it?’
‘Give it up, Ruby,’ he says. ‘I know it was you at the hospital. First of all, because when my mum described Heather to me, it sounded nothing like her in any way. Not looks, not personality – and when she said good with kids, well I definitely knew it wasn’t her. Her class hate her because she makes them eat vegan cookies and she tells them that sausages are evil.’
I laugh.
‘I also knew that it wasn’t her because when my mum finally got through to me and told me that “Heather” had stepped up to look after the kids, I was actually already with Heather, talking about our future.’
‘Oh, well that’s good,’ I tell him, my heart breaking. ‘Good to have a plan.’
‘It is,’ he replies, slowly making his way towards me. ‘Because we realised that we weren’t right for each other. I don’t love her and, anyway, she’s met someone who she reckons she’s crazy about – who am I to stand in the way of that?’
‘Yeah, I reckon she deserves him,’ I reply, safe in the knowledge Heather is finally going to get her comeuppance now that she’s saddled with dumb Deano the womaniser.
‘Look, I can’t really explain it,’ Nick starts, seemingly wracking his brain for the right words. ‘You’ve always annoyed the shit out of me.’
‘Oh, thanks,’ I say sarcastically.
‘I mean, you’re messy – so messy, you don’t have a wardrobe, you have a mountain. You eat nothing but junk food, somehow managing to leave Coco Pops everywhere, even when you haven’t eaten them. You swear even more than I do, you need a dating app intervention, but, more than anything else, you need to realise just how amazing you are. Without the scary tights. Without the hair colour that just isn’t you. Without pretending to be whatever you think you need to be to impress people. Whether you’re eating cake with your hands or setting our bathroom on fire, what I’m trying to say…it’s not that something has changed, I think I’ve just finally realised what I knew all along. That when we met that first day and we hung out and we had a blast – that was us, and that was real. There is something between us. Other than piles of washing and Coco Pops,’ he adds, diffusing a little of the awkwardness.
I can’t believe it. Ever since I had that first dream, I’ve tried so hard and been through so much just to try and get Nick to like me, and yet everything I did just pushed him further and further away. As soon as I stopped trying to force the issue, things have just fallen into place. It’s just like that couple on the train who finally got together after all those years – what will be, will be.
I place my arms around his neck as he wraps his around my waist.
‘Well, seeing as though we’re assassinating each other’s character,’ I start. ‘Sometimes it seems like all you care about is the gym, and protein, and how the tea towels are folded before they’re draped over the oven handle. You go to bed way too early, you get up way too early, you don’t know what you’ve been missing these past few months because there are so many cool new bars and restaurants with things like steaks and burgers that you’ve been avoiding…but when I was upset, you took care of me, and when I need you, you’re there. And when you got engaged to Heather, it broke my heart,’ I confess.
‘I just panicked,’ he tells me. ‘I didn’t want to hurt her. Silly really, considering how easy she found it telling me she’d got off with some guy in a club. When I said I couldn’t believe it, she offered to show me a picture. Can you believe that?’
‘Shocking,’ I reply. ‘So what now?’
Nick runs his hands up and down my back before releasing me. The second he breaks contact with me, all I want is for him to touch me again.
‘Now this,’ he tells me, taking my face gently in his hands, kissing me. It’s a long, lingering kiss and it makes the ones in my dream seem like the kind of peck you’d give your elderly auntie on the cheek.
‘Then what?’ I ask cheekily.
‘Well, as much as I want to pick you up and lay you down on that sofa, I’ve heard you’ve got a three-date rule,’ he teases. ‘So I guess I’d better take you out on a date.’
I giggle.
‘You heard right,’ I tell him. ‘Just let me get this Lady Macbeth dress off, and we’ll head out.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ he assures me. ‘You look good in red.’