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“Why am I so confused by this entire conversation?” He looked back and forth between them with his eyes narrowed into slits. “I can’t tell if you’re insulting each other or complimenting each other right now.”
“Complimenting,” Leo said. “We’re on the same page. Sometimes we do things that are unplanned, and people end up really enjoying it.” He gave Piper his best lopsided smile to really piss her off. Sam’s eyes continued to dart back and forth between Leo and Piper, and before he had time to figure out what was really happening under his nose, Leo turned back to Emma with a commanding confidence. “So, Adelaide’s song, then.”
Nineteen
PIPER
By Piper’s standards, Emma’s song barely needed any touch-up. She sang it flawlessly, so Piper attributed the fact that Leo had made Emma redo the song an unnecessary amount of times to his clear desire to avoid the kissing scene. The same thing happened when they moved on to the club brawl until Moreno declared that it was near-perfect. Next, Leo had her and Sam performing their duet only to cut them off just before the kiss an infuriating number of times. He practically jumped onto the stage, the ending note of the song not even complete before he’d yell, “Good. From the top!”
It was all under the guise of directing, and, sure, Leo gave them constant suggestions—Sam forgot one of his hand motions once, and Piper was sharp on one of her notes—but, for the most part, there didn’t seem to be a valid reason to cut off the kiss each time. It felt deliberate. If Leo was trying to piss her off and make her nervous on purpose, it was working. During one of their practice rounds, she had fumbled over the name Obediah, the name coming out as “Obed-uh-what?” which sent Sam into an unhinged laughing fit. It took her a hot minute to get her bearings again, and when Leo again cut off the kiss and she was about to let him have it, Sam jumped in instead.
“Are we going to practice the kiss sometime today? Why do we keep restarting?”
“Just wanted to fine-tune some things,” Leo mumbled.
“Okay, well, it feels like we’re putting it off for some reason,” Sam argued.
“Is there a reason we can’t move on and finish the scene?” Moreno chimed in. Apparently, Piper wasn’t the only one who noticed the delay.
“No reason other than I want to get it right.” Leo flicked his eyes between Sam and Moreno with confidence, but Piper noticed his hand flex at his side.
“You want to show me how it’s done?” Sam grinned and waved his hand toward Piper, who did her best to act like nothing at all would prevent her from practicing the kiss with Leo, with Sam, with a brick wall, but she could feel the heat creep up her neck anyway.
“No.” Leo’s voice came out calm and reserved, but his fingers quickly ran through his hair. “We’ll do the kiss now since you’re so eager.” He turned his back to them and hopped off stage, crossing his arms and signaling for the pianist to start the song with a jerk of his hand.
The piano chords started, and Sam’s deep vibrato rang out. He looked deep into Piper’s eyes, and if she didn’t know better, she’d almost believe that he was in love with her. Sam was good. So good that Piper would be shocked if he didn’t end up an A-lister someday. Her own voice came out a bit shaky now that she knew the kiss was happening, but it solidified as she sang and blended her voice with Sam’s. When they reached the end, she was clutching onto Sam’s forearms the way they had blocked it out, and their voices meshed together with the final notes. Sam jerked forward and crushed his mouth to hers like he was dying to kiss her. Piper’s body, on the other hand, went rigid as she attempted to press back. When they pulled away, Sam scrunched his eyes shut with a grimace.
Okay, so, that was bad, then. Her thoughts were confirmed a second later when Leo stood at the edge of the stage gawking at them.
“What the fuck was that, Piper?” Leo asked. Whatever hesitation he had exhibited earlier about the kiss was gone. “You looked like you were kissing a dead fish.”
“Am I the dead fish in this scenario?” Sam raised his hand diplomatically.
“You’re the dead fish,” Leo confirmed, pacing over to Piper. Moreno had his hand pressed over his mouth like he was trying not to laugh at just how horrendous it was, which only made Piper wish they could go back to avoiding the scene entirely. “What happened?”
The blush Piper had mostly been able to hold back earlier sprouted across her cheeks. “I… uh, I don’t know.”
“You can do better than that. I know you can.” Despite the fact that he was scolding her, Leo looked more amused than anything else. An ache of longing replaced the embarrassment in Piper’s stomach. If he thought she could do better, then he must agree with her on some level that their kiss had felt like an oasis after nearly dying in a desolate place.
“How exactly do you know?” Sam asked, the implication heavy in his voice.
“Intuition,” Leo stated. “We’re going to try this again. Piper, tilt your head this time. Move like you need more, and you’re desperately trying to get the right angle to achieve that.”
“Okay.” Piper nodded, but her nerves got the better of her when Sam stepped in front of her. It wasn’t even Sam that was the problem, other than her obvious lack of attraction to him; she just couldn’t handle Leo staring at her or the fact that what he had just directed her to do was exactly what she’d done when he had her pressed up against the bookshelves.
“Sam, put your hands on Piper’s waist.” Sam gave her a reassuring smile and followed Leo’s direction. “Piper, when you kiss him, throw your arms around his neck, but make sure your right hand is low enough to not block your faces.”
“You got it.” Sam nodded. Piper clutched harder onto Sam’s biceps and found he was surprisingly toned. Yet another thing that would get him further in the entertainment industry.
“We’ll sing the last line to lead into it, and then I need you to really go for it. You’re desperately in love. Piper, you’re rethinking all your life choices and letting him pull you under his spell.”
All Piper could do was nod. Leo’s tips felt prophetic, and not in any way she wanted them to. It was like she had gotten carried away by a rip current when she had kissed him and was, for some inexplicable reason, still drowning.
The song started up, and Piper elongated the last note like they had practiced. She tossed her arms around Sam’s neck as he crouched down to kiss her. She pressed harder against his lips this time and tilted her head, hoping that it looked somewhat okay. It was blatantly apparent that it did not when they broke their liplock.
“Is it me?” Sam asked, looking at her with pity. “Am I not bending down enough? Because you are stiff as a board, and I’d have more chemistry with the board.”
“Ugh!” Piper covered her face with her hands. “I’m sorry. I’m really in my head.”
