But It's Better If You Do

"Brendon! I've been to 17 productions with you, but now that I'm actually in one, you won't come?! What kind of twisted logic is that?" I said, raising my voice. I was getting frustrated with the teenager sitting next to me.

"It's just- they're not as enjoyable unless you're sitting next to me, laughing at the actor's expressions or doing other silly stuff like that!", he replied while getting out of his beat up car. I followed his lead and got out.

"So, you won't come because I'm actually living my dream? You won't come because I'm up there acting?" By now, I could tell he was getting really impatient with me. "Brendon, I just really want you to come!"

"I can't!" Brendon snapped at me.

"Well, why the hell not?!" I said, storming up the driveway to my house, which was right across the street from Brendon's.

Brendon started walking up his driveway, creating even more distance between us. Through my anger, I barely heard Brendon yell back, "Because Ryan said he had a surprise or something for me."

I stopped dead in my tracks and soon after, I heard Brendon's door close. You see, Brendon had been stubbornly avoiding coming to the play I was in for the past few weeks, and I had turned to Ryan, Brent and Spencer for help. When I first asked them, they refused. But now Ryan was actually gonna help me with this? I think...

Well that's something you don't see every day.

***

"What do you mean he can't go on!" I argued with the director of the play.

"The suit is much too big for him. We'll have to find someone taller than Nick. I'll call the high school drama class, see if they have any pe-"

"NO!" I yelled, interrupting him. He glared at my outburst, and I attempted to continued on with my reasoning. "Uh..."

"Autumn!" I heard from behind me. I swiveled around to face Ryan with Brendon in tow. My eyes widened. How'd they get backstage? How'd he get Brendon to even come here? I took a step towards them when I heard someone clear their throat from behind me. I turned around and was reminded that we needed a Romeo for our play.

CUE THE LIGHTBULB.

"Brendon, how tall are you?!" I asked.

"Wait, how'd I get here? Ryan! You said we were going to the movies!" Brendon screeched.

"Dude, this is a live movie that just so happens to have your best friend of 5 years in it."

"BRENDON!" I snapped, getting impatient.

He groaned in exasperation and replied with a "What?"

I smiled sweetly at him and asked him once again. "How tall are you?"

"5 feet 8 inches... why?" I smirked, grabbed his hand, and shoved him into my director's view.

"How's he for the lead?" I asked the director, giving Brendon no time to react to anything that was going on. Mr. Raz, the director, grinned.

"Perfect! Now go get dressed, I'll show him the way."

***

5 minutes 'til stage time.

Brendon refused to come out of the dressing room. Ryan went to take his seat out in the audience. I sighed and leaned against the dressing room door, with my back to it.

"I changed Nick's measurements on the costume sheet. It didn't magically go from 6 inches to 8 you know..." I admitted. It was a few minutes before he replied with,

"Well, why'd you do it?" I closed my eyes and turned around, preparing myself to press my forehead against the harsh wood which was the door. Instead, I felt my head land softly against a plush layer of velvet. I opened my eyes in surprise and looked up to see Brendon with a blank look on his face.

"I don't like Nick. He's mean." I answered nonchalantly. Brendon's eyes widened in surprise and he muttered, "You're kidding me!"

"What? Can't I not like someone?" I asked, stepping away from Brendon. This is when I really took in what he was wearing. A purple velvet vest over a poufed white shirt and black pinstiped trousers. The overcoat, which was accented by two long coattails at the back, was a dark maroon color. The funny thing is, this look suited him.

"Why wouldn't you like him though? I mean, look at him!" Brendon whispered harshly, nodding towards the blonde jock flirting with two of the stage directors. "He could play the part perfectly without screwing anything up!"

"Yeah, because he's a cocky arrogant person! He just recites the words, he wouldn't put ANY feeling at all into them like you would! Plus, I don't want his infested lips touching mine at the end of this play!"

At this time, the two flirtatious stage directors were pulling us towards the stage. Right before it was our turn to enter on stage, Brendon asked, "So, you have a problem with Nick kissing you at the end, but you wouldn't mind me kissing you? Why is that?"

...oh snap. I looked over at Brendon and he wore a smirk that was bigger than China.

"Cause it's better if you do." I replied, before stepping onto stage.

It wasn't until after I recited my first line that I realized... What had I just done?

***

My hands were sweating and I continued to press my fingernails into my palm, and all this was in efforts to calm me down.

I was lying on a stone table, and it was one of the final scenes.
You know, the one where Romeo kisses the "dead" body of Juliet?

So, naturally, I was freaking out... you can't blame me though!

"O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die." Brendon recited, and I prepared myself. I was surprised, to say the least, when I felt a pair of warm lips graze mine. For me, it was heaven. I felt something that I knew I shouldn't have felt. But then it was over as soon as it had started, and the play ended after another kiss was shared.

The play was a success. Standing Ovation success. And when something is that successful, you can't just leave it. There's almost always a celebratory party.

***

"Heeeeeyyyyyy Baaaaaaabe." Nick slurred as I passed him in the crowded, small, one-story lakeside home. I simply rolled my eyes, slid open the porch door, and escaped to the side of the lake.

What had I felt during those two kisses I had shared with Brendon? I sat down by the lake side, and leaned back on my forearms. Surely I wasn't developing any deeper feelings for Brendon...

"Hey."

I turned around and faced Ryan with Brendon in tow. I smiled and responded. "Hey."

"So..." Ryan started, after an awkward silence had taken its place between us all.

"Well... you did a good job tonight, Brendon." I complimented.

"As did you. I don't think I could have held my breath for as long as you did. What was it? 2 minutes?" Brendon replied as he sat down next to me.

I laughed. "Yeah. Wait- Where's Ryan going?"

"Probably back into the house." Brendon replied as he picked up a flat stone and chucked it into the water. Both of us sat in silence as we watched it skip over the water and then sink 5 yards into the lake. "What's on your mind?" He asked, as he laid back on his forearms, as I was doing.

"The last scene of the play." I replied truthfully. I bit my lip. It still tingled from when I had last kissed Brendon. I looked over at Brendon and he was looking straight back at me. I nodded my head, indicating for him to tell me what he was thinking of. Instead, he stood up and offered me his hand. I grabbed it, he pulled me up, and led me back to the house.

***

That's it! I can't stand it anymore.

"Brendon... last scene. first kiss. I coul- AH. nevermind." I started, but stopped as we reached the porch steps.

"No, go on!" He encouraged.

"Maybe it was just some static on our clothing, or my nerves, but I thought I felt something during that kiss that we shared before you 'died'. But it's silly now, cause we'll never know what it was- so, let's just forget about it and have fun at the party, eh?" I started to walk back into the house, attempting to get away from the beyond awkward situation I was in.

But I was held back. "There is a way we could figure it out."

Slowly, I was being backed up against the side of the house.

"Brendon, what are you doin-"

"Shh! Are you nervous now?"

*I'm confused.*

"Confused, more-like."

My back hit the stucco wall and Brendon's body, not to mention lips, were only a few centimeters away from my own.

"What about now? Nervous?"

I nodded slightly and Brendon smirked.

"Are you still confused?"

I nodded once again.

"You told me it was your nerves that made you feel something more in the kiss. So, I've gotten you to the point where you're nervous, and I could kiss you now... but I don't think I will."

Brendon backed off from me ever so slightly, and before I knew what I was doing, I muttered, "But it's better if you do."

And as if that was what he was waiting for, our lips met in a sweet yet passionate kiss, and that tingly feeling? Yeah. I felt that run through my whole body.