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“Thank you all for coming to Fletcher University’s production of Guys and Dolls. We are thrilled to have you here celebrating our opening night in the great Olson Theatre.” Leo’s practiced speech continued as he signed and explained the safety protocol, directing everyone’s attention to the glowing exit signs in case of emergency. Once he finished explaining that refreshments and treats would be sold during intermission, he had fully regained his confidence. “Flash photography is strictly prohibited, and we ask that you stay seated during the performance except in the case of an emergency. And I regret to inform you that if you’re tired of me already, you’re in luck, because I’ll be your sign language interpreter for the evening, so you’re stuck with me.” The crowd laughed at his joke, and his plan to lighten them up from the boring announcements worked. “With that,” he paused for dramatic effect, “welcome to nineteen-fifties Manhattan.”
The lights dimmed on stage as another round of applause sounded in the theatre. Leo made his way down the side steps to the floor seats at the very corner of the stage, where a dimmed spotlight shone on his music stand with a printed copy of the script for his ASL interpretation. Mouth pursed, he took a big swig from his bottled water and a deep breath as the introduction song, “Runyonland,” started up in the orchestra pit.
Leo kept his eyes on the crowd as he signed the lyrics when the music transitioned into “Fugue for Tinhorns,” his heart beating out of his chest. From what he could hear, everyone was executing their roles to perfection. The hard thing about being the interpreter was that he couldn’t see what was happening on stage, but Moreno promised to take notes, and Leo’s desire to make his show accessible was more important than seeing the performances he had seen a thousand times already. Watching the audience was almost more fun because he could clock their reactions when the show got to his favorite scenes.
When the Mission Band entered from stage right, Leo broke his unspoken rule to not look back and watched as Piper took the stage and stepped onto a small box for her stump speech song. The song was a berating of sorts, a holier-than-thou tune about telling drunkards to lay down their bottles and to “Follow the Fold” by resisting the devil and coming to Jesus.
Before, Leo had never gotten to just enjoy the sound of Piper’s voice. He always had his ears tuned in to any detail that needed altering. Now, he listened intently to how her voice blended with the air in a soft yet demanding way. It was fitting that the song called for people to come to church and lay down their sins because hearing her voice felt that way. Like he was in a house of worship where all he wanted to do was drop to his knees and praise the ground she walked on. She sounded confident. The way she did when she was with him, in the bedroom or otherwise. Tonight would be the night he would tell her how much he loved her, because she had to feel it, too. The pull of his heart to hers. It didn’t feel like a game anymore. It hadn’t been casual for him in a long time, and he didn’t think it ever would feel that way.
It took Leo a second to realize he had gotten distracted and failed at his sign language duties before his hands jumped into action, and he positioned his back to the stage and followed the lyrics, heart full and dizzy from nerves.
Fifty-Four
LEO
The post-show chatter made Leo’s pride soar. He could hear bits and pieces of conversations as he made his way through the packed lobby.
“The fight scene was hilarious, and…”
“Who wouldn’t want to marry Adelaide?”
“The club scene with the neon lights and cigar smoke…”
“Do we know if the guy playing Sky is single? Because…”
Leo didn’t have the heart to stop and tell the group of girls wondering about Sam’s relationship status that Sam was much more interested in the man playing Nathan Detroit than in any of them, but he pocketed the information to tease Sam with later. Sam’s performance was flawless from his vocals alone, and he was well on his way to becoming an elusive heartthrob just like he had planned.
When Leo’s eyes landed on his family corralled in the corner, they were all gesticulating ecstatically with their hands as they talked. His mother led the pack in a discussion with Piper’s aunt and uncle. He smiled to himself as he watched his father sidestep one of her flailing arms while she elaborated on whatever she was talking about. His father was so used to the way his mother moved that he could spot one of her accidental backhands from a mile away. Leo’s eyes skipped over to Piper’s aunt and uncle. Walker’s hand was pressed into Talia’s back, and he was looking more at her than he was paying attention to the conversation. And, God, Leo wanted all of that and more with Piper.
Beside Walker and Talia, Leo’s siblings and their significant others all stood chatting with Piper’s siblings, their families already so woven together that it felt like a natural progression to make everything official. Pearl and Cooper, the two youngest of Piper’s siblings, were practically bouncing with excitement as they carried on a conversation with Mariana. Carter was in an animated discussion with Alvaro, and Leo made a mental note to check on that duo later. The two of them doing anything together sounded like a nightmare of practical jokes and included the possibility of burning down buildings. Colin stood like an awkward gargoyle, avoiding Harper and Saanvi’s pointed glares as they whispered to one another.
“There he is!” Antonio called out from the wings. “The big director man!” Leo crossed the distance between them and stuck out his hand to shake his brother’s. “Don’t be an idiot.” Antonio latched onto him and yanked Leo into a bear hug instead of returning his handshake. “You know I’m shit when it comes to theatre, but I thought it was fantastic,” Antonio said.
“Phenomenal,” Saanvi chirped from beside them, her hand resting on her stomach.
“Except for that time in the beginning when you forgot to do the interpretation,” Alvaro called out. Leo should have known he could always count on one of his brothers to point out his mistake.
“A little distracted?” Carter chimed in with a coy smile. Yeah, Leo was absolutely going to have to separate Alvaro and Carter before they became thick as thieves.
Leo rolled his eyes. “Funny.” He had barely gotten the words out before his mom was mauling him from the side and practically weeping on his shoulder about the performance, his dad giving him a fatherly pat on the back that said “bien hecho, mijo” without having to say anything at all.
All of the commotion and praise, however, failed to keep Leo’s attention when Piper walked out into the lobby, free of her stage makeup and costume. The long-sleeve green satin dress she was wearing had a deep V in the front that he wanted to bury his face into and a slit he followed with his eyes that stopped high up on her thigh. Her closed-toe black heels ribboned around her ankles and tied in bows. Best of all, she was wearing a real fucking smile. He had to hold himself back from murmuring something entirely indecent under his breath in present company. She was walking sex, and it felt like her wavy hair was moving in slow motion as she swayed around a few guests and stopped to hug Emma, who was, to no one’s surprise, wearing all black.
A loud clearing of a throat made Leo jump back to reality from the place in his head where he had been stripping Piper naked. He jerked his head to the sound and found Piper’s disgruntled uncle glaring at him. Leo wasn’t afraid of Walker in the least, but the entire sleeve of tattoos and menacing stare was enough to get him to stop undressing Piper in his mind.
“I’m gonna go meet with the cast,” Leo decided, already angling his body toward Piper. “Thank you all for coming.”
“I see how it is.” Marcos chortled if that was explanation enough and tucked Harper into his side, kissing the side of her head. And it was. Leo gave him a quick nod before he escaped through a crack between his parents and beelined for Piper.
When Leo came up behind her, he pressed his front gently against Piper’s backside and dropped his mouth to her ear, his voice low so no one else could hear, but he suspected by Emma’s amused facial expression that she knew exactly what Piper’s dress was doing to him. “You’re trying to torture me.”
A knowing smile pulled on Piper’s red-painted lips. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her tone was sultry and lacking any innocence at all. He moved around her side, his fingertips brushing the slit at her thigh in what might have looked like an accident to anyone else but was far from it. Piper let out a choppy breath, and Leo snuck a glance at her backside, quickly admiring it before he noticed the ribbon on one of her heels had unraveled.
“Your shoe,” he muttered before dropping down on one knee and patting his thigh. Piper’s eyes went wide in alarm, and so did Leo’s when he realized how ridiculous it must look for him to be on his knees in the middle of the lobby. Half of the conversations around them quieted, and Leo could feel the entire cast searing holes into his head as whispers started. He and Piper weren’t in the bedroom, and he wasn’t supposed to be on his knees at all. He wondered if the heat creeping up his face was showing. Besides the select few, they had kept their relationship—if that was even what he could call it—a secret from the cast, and this was one hell of a way to out them. He cleared his throat and attempted to sound as confident and nonchalant as possible. “Your shoe is untied.”
“Right,” Piper squeaked, lifting her heel to press it into his thigh. He looked up at her and couldn’t help but remember all the times that he had tasted her from this exact position as he slowly tied a bow at her ankle. Then, he gripped her calf and slowly guided her leg to the floor, another maneuver that was not at all necessary, before he rose to his feet. “Thanks.” Piper had left all of her acting on the stage. The crimson stain splashed across her cheeks was so revealing it had him breaking eye contact.
Unfortunately, the eyes Leo met first were Moreno’s, trained on him with his eyebrows lifted in a way that Leo could only assume was some sort of a reprimand.
