𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐘 • Neil Perry

Chapter 10

NEIL was already at the lake by Welton. He had been for some time reading over A Midsummer Night's Dream. And as Evelyn unmounted from her bike, she tried to do so as quietly as she could and lean it against the tree. He was wearing a plaid shirt and the nearer she got, the more noticeable round glasses framing his face became.

But she maintained her gentle footing against the grass and crisp autumn leaves until she was leant over his shoulder. 

"I didn't know you wore glasses," she said softly, causing him to jump out of his skin.

He took a deep breath. "And I didn't know you were behind me."

She smiled cheekily, "That was the idea." But as she sat down she eyed the glasses more. They were certainly big around his face, but they complimented him well. She would even go as far as to say they were extremely attractive. "I like them."

"Well, don't get too excited. They're reading glasses, so I only really use them in class or when I'm studying," he gestured towards the script in his hands.

"Ah, so to you they're the equivalent of stripping down to your underwear."

His lips drew up into a slanted smile. "How'd you figure that?"

"You have be comfortable enough around someone to expose yourself like that," Evelyn shrugged.

Neil feigned understanding. "Is that what I'm doing? Exposing myself as blind."

"Mhm," she hummed gently, smiling. "Do you have to take them off in order to kiss someone or can you keep them on?"

"Let's find out, shall we?"

Neil leaned over and brushed his lips against hers, before she teased him by backing away slightly, which only drew him forward. But with both of their amused smiles twisting on their faces, she let up and connected their lips.

And once their rhythm had steadied and they smiled against one another's smile, Neil said, "I was thinking we should try something a little different today."

"Like what?" she responded.

"Why don't I read as Hermia and you read as Lysander?"

Her eyebrows pushed together as she chuckled bemusedly. "Why?"

"You never gave yourself that shot. You wanted to be Lysander, so this your chance. Even if it's just for a day." Neil could see she wasn't entirely on board. "Let's just try it. What's the harm in that?"

She searched his eyes for a moment, before she decided to give in. "All right." Then she pulled out the rolled up script from her coat pocket.

"Let's start from the first scene between them," Neil suggested, and Evelyn complied by reading the first line.

"'How now, my love! Why is your cheek so pale?/How chance the roses there do fade so fast?'"

"'Belike for want of rain, which I could well/Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes,'" Evelyn fluently recited her line as Hermia on the stage of the Everett Theatre. She was stood across Eric Sherman, a senior from Ridgeway that was playing Lysander, and Mrs Woolworth who was some feet away and keeping track of their performance with the script in her hand.

The rest of the cast sat in the stalls, Neil included, whilst student crew members set up the stage around Evelyn and Eric.

"'Ay me! for aught that I could ever read,/Could ever hear by tale or history,/The course of true love never did run smooth;/But either it was different in blood—'"

"'O cross! too high to be enthrall'd to low,'" Evelyn recited back hysterically.

"'Or else misgraffed in respect of years—'"

"'O spite! too old to be engag'd to young.'"

"'Or else it stood upon the choice of friends—'"

"'O hell! to choose love by another's eyes.'"

"'Or, if there were a sympathy in choice,/ War, death, or...'" Eric's lines fell short, clearly forgetting the rest of it. "'Or...'"

"'Sickness,'" Evelyn reminded lowly.

"'Or sickness!'" Eric picked up quickly, but lost the rest of the line just as fast.

"'—did lay siege to it,/Making it momentary as a sound,'" Evelyn recited the rest low enough that only he could catch it.

"'Swift as a shadow, short as any dream,'" Eric spilled out the rest himself. "I know, I know, I'm sorry," he facepalmed embarrassedly. "I'm just struggling with the monologues."

"The play is cripplingly soon," Mrs Woolworth said disappointedly. "Have you been practicing?"

"Of course I have, and I will get it," Eric assured. But given the fact this wasn't his first slip up, Mrs Woolworth along with everyone else found his promise rather empty.

"All right, just for today we'll try something different," Mrs Woolworth decided and stepped forward. "Ginny, could you come up here for a moment please."

Ginny stepped up from the stalls and made her way over to the stage without slipping a glance at Evelyn once. She was cast as the understudy for Hermia, but that wasn't the reason she was being so aloof towards Evelyn. They hadn't been on speaking terms ever since the party. She was just as much Chris' friend as she was Evelyn's, and whilst she was deeply despaired for Chris, she was deeply disappointed in Evelyn too.

The tension that lingered between Ginny and Evelyn was something that existed strictly in their heads. Everyone else had remained completely oblivious to it, Mrs Woolworth especially.

"Eric, you can sit down for now," she said. "Take a strong five to read over your lines alone. Just for now." So, he did, and left the stage with his head hung low. "Ginny, I'll need you to fill in as Hermia today. Evelyn, you know the lines for Lysander?"

Evelyn couldn't hide her surprise. "Yeah, I do."

"Perfect, you'll fill in for the time being. We'll take it from the top. Everyone has exited but the both of you. 'How now, my love!'"

Mrs Woolworth backed away to where she had been watching from the right side of the stage, whilst Evelyn glanced over at Neil who had been smiling from ear to ear.

Reading her like a book, he nodded reassuringly. They practiced for this moment unknowingly and he knew she had this part in the palm of her hands. She just needed to learn to believe in herself the way he believed in her.

So, she tried by reading the first line.

"'How now, my love! Why is your cheek so pale?/How chance the roses there do fade so fast?'"