psst, Janet: Can you put this and more of CL at OA?
yep will do... i was gonna yesterday but then i got distracted with something and forgot
Chapter 11
The next morning, Michael awoke with his chin resting atop Sydney’s hair and her face buried into his neck. He lay there for a moment, breathing in the scent of her shampoo. He couldn’t have identified the scent if his life depended on it, but whatever it was, it smelled good. After reveling there in his comfy spot in Sydney’s bed for a few minutes, he realized that doing that wasn’t something he should be doing. For starters, he and Sydney weren’t dating and quite far from it as a matter of fact. Second, he was there to make her feel better when she was sick and felt slightly guilty enjoying holding her because of that.
When Sydney awoke to the feeling of Michael slinking out of her bed, she grumbled. “Sorry, I gotta get home to change before rehearsal,” he whispered to her. She grumbled in acknowledgement of this. Then, he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead before saying, “Feel better.”
The second she heard her apartment door shut, Sydney’s eyes snapped open. She sat up slowly, her eyes staring down at the crumpled mess of sheets Michael had previously been occupying. She lifted her fingers to her forehead and brushed against the spot where his lips had touched a moment earlier. Shaking her head and rubbing her face she wondered what, exactly, she had gotten herself into by asking him to stay.
“I hate him, I hate him, I hate him…,” she repeated to herself as she slid out of bed and walked towards her kitchen. The thing was, though, she didn’t believe it anymore.
~*~
“Sydney! You made it!” Cooper smiled at her when she walked into rehearsal later that day. He pulled her into a warm hug asking, “How are you?”
“Better. Not great, but better,” she sighed.
“I’m glad. Did you have a nice visit with Michael Vaughn last night?” Cooper asked casually. Sydney’s jaw dropped as she smacked him on the arm. “HEY!”
“You sneaky bastard,” she shook her head at him. “You sent him to my apartment!”
“I most certainly did not!” Cooper defended. “He asked me if I was going over and I said no and then he told me he was going to stop over. All I did was give him your apartment number. I am one hundred percent innocent.”
“I don’t believe you,” Sydney told him.
“Believe what you want, but that’s the truth. So what did you two do anyway?” he asked with a sly grin.
“Coop, I was sick. He rubbed my back and…”
“…And?!” Cooper lead with a grin.
“And he… stayed the night,” she mumbled so that the words meshed together while she turned away from him.
“Well no wonder you’re feeling better,” Cooper smiled. Sydney shot him a look before walking towards the women’s dressing room. Before she could get inside, though, Michael intercepted her.
“Syd-Sydney hi. You’re here. I didn’t think you’d be here,” he said.
“Well I couldn’t miss dress rehearsal. I’m fine. As it turns out, if you don’t take those pills you don’t get sick – go figure,” she laughed slightly.
Michael rolled his eyes at this. “Well I’m glad you’re feeling better.”
“Thanks… and thanks for… you know, last night,” she said, looking away from him shyly.
“Of course; anytime,” he assured her. Then, he let her go so she could change.
After everyone was changed and ready, they began the first official run through of
On Pointe. All the sets were ready, all the lights were set and ready to shine when necessary, and all the actors were in their costumes. Right off the bat, the run though hit a snag when someone missed their singing cue on the first song being performed. However, they persevered and pushed forward with the show. By the end of the first act, things were actually going smoothly. Their good pattern continued in the second act. That was until it was time for Sydney and Michael’s duet.
Their song started perfectly. They were singing on key and dancing together. Everything went smoothly until the kiss. Like she always did, Sydney grabbed Michael’s face with her two hands and pressed her lips up against his. Every other time they had performed that scene, she’d held herself there for a count of five seconds and then let go. While she did this, Michael was supposed to have no reaction whatsoever; he was supposed to stand statuesque. That time, however, Michael kissed her back. Instead of standing there, unmoving, he placed his right hand at her waist ever so softy and pressed back against her lips with his.
When Sydney felt his lips pressing against hers, she was stunned. Too stunned to move, in fact. Finally, when she did break away from him, she just stared at him, staring back at her, completely forgetting that they were right smack dab in the middle of a dress rehearsal with about forty people watching them. With each moment of passing silence, the tension in the theater grew, fearing
On Pointe’s two main stars had cracked under the pressure. Finally, after a full few minutes of nothing, Michael sang his next line and the theater breathed a sigh of relief.
Sydney managed to hold it together for the rest of the show, but the moment her final singing line was over, she stalked up to Michael backstage and shouted, “What the hell was that?!”
“What was what?” he asked innocently. He tried to turn away from her but she grabbed his arm and held him firmly.
“You kissed me back!”
“No I didn’t,” he said quickly in an evasive tone.
“YES YOU DID!” she practically shouted. “You kissed me back – you’re not supposed to kiss me back!”
“Okay, okay
chill,” Michael hissed to her. “Why are you freaking out over this?”
“Because you kissed me BACK!”
“Yes, you mentioned that….,” he said dryly.
“You can’t kiss me back Michael; it’s not in the script. It’s not in the script and therefore you can’t kiss me back,” she rationalized in a slightly frazzled manner.
“Oh? Can’t I? Well what if I kissed you right now – that’s not in a script!” he told her.
Her eyes narrowed and she shook her head. “You wouldn’t dare.” With a determined look on his face, he grabbed her shoulders to hold her still as he planted a kiss on her lips. It wasn’t very long or romantic in the least, but it was still a kiss. Sydney let out a growl when he pulled back from her. “YOU CANNOT JUST GO AROUND KISSING PEOPLE!!!!!!”
“Watch me,” he smirked. Then, he walked away.
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