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She shoved his hand away from her cheek and rolled her eyes. “Help me up, asshole.”
Leo obliged, gripping her hand and hauling her to her feet with so much force that she had to stop herself from toppling forward by planting her hand against the center of his chest. He caught her by the waist with his free hand, and that was when her body decided that breathing wasn’t something she was capable of doing.
“Piper?” Leo’s voice was all gravel.
“Yeah?” Piper squeaked.
“You’re bleeding.”
“Oh, shit!” Sure enough, when she looked down, blood was dripping down her shins, leaving a trail of red behind.
“We’ve got a first aid kit in the back.” The older man was suddenly at her side, with Sam’s boyfriend, Wes, in tow.
Leo took a large step back from Piper, dropping his hand away from her waist. With an unreadable expression on his face, he whipped his hand out from his side and shoved Wes forward. “He’s pre-med, and both his parents are doctors. He can fix you up.” Then Leo left, leaving her bleeding and staring after him, wondering what had suddenly gotten him spooked.
Thirteen
LEO
“No.” Leo held up his hand in a stop position when Sam barreled toward him across the stage.
“You don’t even know what I’m going to say,” Sam whined.
“I know you, and I know exactly what you’re going to say,” Leo said. He’d bet a hundred bucks he didn’t have that Sam was going to say something about all the touching, and Piper was quite literally the last thing he wanted to talk about. The hand at Leo’s side flexed and unflexed, trying to rid the feeling of her cheek against his palm. He opted for curling it into a proper fist, one he wished he could take out on his punching bag back at his apartment.
“You flipped out when she fell.” Sam gave him a wry smile.
“Cool, so we’re ignoring my consent to have this conversation,” Leo muttered. “I would have done that for anybody. I don’t need a reason to help someone who fell down the stairs. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Leo shooed Sam away and made his way over to Moreno, who was scanning his clipboard. Piper’s fall felt like it reflected more on Leo than it did on her, and he was a bit worried his mentor would judge his casting capabilities solely off one accident. Moreno looked up when Leo cleared his throat. “So, I know that was a rough start, but I’m sure she’s just a bit nervous, and—”
“Do you know how many times I’ve tripped on theatre steps?” Moreno asked. The question seemed rhetorical, so Leo waited. “A lot. No one tells you how many steps you’ll have to climb up and down on the way to success. You’re bound to trip up occasionally.”
“That sounds like a metaphor.” Leo tipped his head to the side.
“Does it?” Moreno waggled his eyebrows in a way that said he was trying to sound like a fortune cookie on purpose.
Leo grinned back. “I promise you’ll love her. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s perfect for the role.”
“I’m sure I will.” Moreno took a glance at his notes and then, with eyebrows raised, held the clipboard out to Leo. Confused, Leo peered down at the script, searching for anything that could give him a hint of what Moreno wanted. “I’d like you to take the reins today with rehearsal.”
“The entire time?” Leo’s eyes practically bugged out of his head.
“Yep. I’m going to observe.” Moreno wiggled the clipboard in the air a bit, goading him.
Leo grabbed the clipboard and pulled it to his chest for safekeeping. “Thank you, sir.”
“Show me what you’re capable of, and we’ll discuss what the rest of the rehearsals will look like.” Moreno clapped Leo on the back with a firm hand as Leo warred with his face to appear calm, collected, and professional. The corners of his mouth tugged up anyway as the excitement roiled in his chest. He had directed his fair share of smaller productions, but never something this large or beside someone as prominent and respected as Moreno. This was his shot, and he’d put every morsel of his talent into it.
“We’re all bandaged up!” Wes announced from the wing as he and Piper stepped into view.
The cast erupted with applause and whoops of joy. Theatre kids cheered for anything remotely exciting, and finally getting a leading lady was emphatically one of those things. Leo balanced the clipboard in the crook of his arm and clapped along with everyone. A blush dusted Piper’s cheeks with an adorable shade of pink that made him want to brush his thumb over her skin and see if it felt as warm as it had earlier, even after being exposed to the chill of the room. The thought vanished just as quickly as it had arrived when he saw Piper’s false smile. A glance around the room confirmed that no one else noticed the lie written on her face. Even Moreno, with his trained eyes, couldn’t tell that Piper’s enthusiasm was fake. She was already acting.
“Okay!” Leo clapped his hands together and shouted over the dying commotion. When the room fell silent and all eyes were on him, he set his shoulders back and lifted his chin. “Professor Moreno is giving me the opportunity to lead today’s rehearsal. For our first order of business…” Leo locked eyes with Sam and cleared his throat, hoping Sam would take to his idea quickly. Leo pointed over to the audience area. “Raise your hand if you’ve ever tripped on those steps.”
Sam’s hand shot into the air, and Leo grinned as every other cast and crew member, including Moreno, raised their hand. Leo shifted to lock his gaze with Piper’s as he slowly raised his clipboard into the air. The dust that seemed to constantly coat the black theatre steps was a travesty to the wrong kind of footwear, and even Leo wasn’t exempt from his fair share of mishaps. A real smile tipped up the corner of Piper’s full lips as she raised her own hand. Eliciting a true smile from Piper felt oddly powerful. Leo slid his eyes over to the rest of the cast.
“Great! Good to know that this musical is being put on by the most accident-prone people in the world.” The cast all laughed at his joke, and Leo could feel the camaraderie in the room solidify as Emma stepped into Piper’s side and squeezed her arm in excitement. “Sam, Piper, let’s start from the top of Act One, Scene Eight.”
“I don’t get it,” Piper sighed. She plopped down onto a chair they had set up as a temporary placeholder for the real set. “Sarah Brown goes from buttoned-up to punching a dancer in a bar brawl in the span of a day?”
