I put my instrument under my chair and stepped into the hallway. We were only an hour into the three-hour rehearsal, and I was already falling asleep between runs.
I walked down the hall to the stairs and climbed them slowly as I hummed the show music to myself. I was cresting the stairs when I heard footsteps behind me, just as slow and tired sounding as mine. I saw the mess of blond hair out of the corner of my eye and smiled.
"Are you as tired as I am?" I asked, grinning, as I watched him climb the last few steps. He smiled back and we started down the upstairs hall.
"Yeah, I think so," he responded, and I couldn't help but notice the dimples that stood out as he grinned. You have a boyfriend, I reminded myself as we came to a stop at the windows. Yes, I had a boyfriend, but only for a few weeks, and we hadn't talked yet about being exclusive. Fuck it, I thought. He's too beautiful to pass up. We kept walking until we came to the row of huge windows. Both of us hopped up onto the wide marble windowsill, looking out at the dark campus. Snow had just started to flurry around the buildings.
He broke the silence, which was unusual for him. "What time is it?"
I leaned over the windowsill and caught a glimpse of the clock. "Just past eight."
"These late rehearsals kill me. And I'm usually a night person."
"Me too," I said, nodding, as we made eye contact. Those blue eyes. I managed to look away first and drew in a long breath, letting it out slowly. We'd been sneaking glances at each other all week, and I especially liked to watch him during breaks. His neck arched as he drank from his water bottle, and his lips parted as he took deep breaths. He must've saw my eyes glaze over because he interrupted my daydream.
"Got plans after this?"
Instead of answering, I just stared at him. The grin snuck back onto his face as if he knew what I was going to say. I said it anyway. "I was actually going to ask you the same thing." He chuckled and looked away. I thought I actually saw the hint of a blush on his cheeks. It gave me confidence, knowing I could throw him off his game. "We could get food, or take a drive, or just walk around." My voice trailed off, not wanting to sound pushy.
"Let's take a walk," he said, nodding. "My legs are going to be stiff after this."
I smiled. My confidence was still surging, so I spit out what I wanted to say before I could lose my nerve. "You know I'm flirting with you, right?"
That made him laugh, and his laugh made me wet. I could focus on him and nothing else. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realized the other musicians were probably wondering where we were. I couldn't bring myself to care. He looked at me and said, "Yeah, I know you're flirting."
I'd heard men like bold, confident women. Fuck it. "So, you want to keep flirting, or do something about it?"
"Well, yeah, I want to do something about it. But you have a boyfriend, and I have roommates, so it's not like we can just do whatever we want."
