The Rehearsal

Just as I predicted, I was bombarded with questions from the girls after I grabbed my lunch and sat at their table. They asked why Pax called me (I said he wanted to talk about the play), why was Clay there (I don’t know, they were just sitting together), and what was Clayton saying to me (Nothing, he just said hi and see you later).

Huff, I think Pax and Clay were right. It’s better for me and Clay to act like strangers in public, or at least just a friend that’s not too close, so I won’t get this kind of question every single day, over and over again.

Then it’s finally time for the awaited rehearsal. I walked into the hall cheerfully. When I arrived, Clayton was sitting beside Pax on the first row, reading his script. He already took his jacket and shoes off, preparing to do the warm-up session. When I said hi, he finally tilted his face up and looked at me. He greeted me and tapped a seat beside him. When I sat down beside him, he closed his script and smiled at me.

“How was the class, Anita?”, he asked me, smiling.

“As usual. Writing, asking, listening, discussing, boring. I mainly aimed for this rehearsal when I woke up this morning.” I said.

“Can’t wait to see Clayton, eh?” said Pax teasingly.

Clay was just smiling and making faces like he was so proud of himself.

“Don’t be too cocky, Mr. Celebrity. I can’t wait to start acting as Lucy. Well, I wanted to see you, but Lucy comes first.” I tease him back. I call him Mr. Celebrity ‘cause I know he would probably hate that, just like he called me ‘pretty lady’ over and over again just to tease me.

“Gosh, so the two of you are like this all the time, teasing each other endlessly? You’re both literally two peas in a pod”, Pax commented.

And we started rehearsing from Count Dracula’s monologue parts. I admit Clay's acting is exceptionally good. It really showed that he’s an A-class actor from the way he discusses the acting details with the director, unlike the rest of us, the small stage actors. His willfulness and persistence to make perfection on every scene also showed. He’s not only extremely good-looking but literally has an aura that pulls everyone's attention into him or listening to his voice the moment he reads his line or even just moves. He looks freakingly good as Count Dracula, his deep-set, cold, dark blue eyes make his character sharper, and he can show a devilish, spooky grin that even made me feel the chill down my spine when I saw it.

At first, when Trey and Pax decided to put Clayton in the leading role, I heard some of the club members felt a bit on edge about it. They think Pax and Trey shouldn’t give a leading role in the play for some "celebrity" that we don’t really know how good his on-stage acting would be.

Well, I also thought they got a point there. They’re not only being blindly jealous or feeling like they have been treated unfairly, but truthfully, stage acting is rather different than movie acting, so not every movie actor could perform well on stage.

For example, there’s no such thing as a camera close-up in stage acting, so every gesture, every mimic, and emotion that you make throughout the play should be visible by every audience, even the one who’s sitting in the last row. And low-budget theater clubs like us don’t use wireless microphones like Broadway musicals, and that means the nearest wired mic is hanging approximately 12 feet above the stage, so everything we said, even our whispers, should be loud enough to reach the condenser microphones up there to be heard by the audience. And none of us except Pax, Trey, and the section heads probably know how good his theater voice will be. Turns out, he already has it all.

And then it’s my turn to start acting as Lucy. The setting of this scene will be around her house. Lucy Westenra is a rich, charming, rather naive, but witty lady who has three gentlemen who proposed to her and love her equally. She’s cheerful, full of life, and very spontaneous. She’s looking like a perfect lady in front of anyone, but she actually has a secret that only her closest people know. She has a habit of sleepwalking when there is something bothering her mind.

One day her bad habit occurs after Mina, her best friend, told her about his fiancee, Jonathan, and the eerie-looking castle of the Count he’s been attending to in Transylvania, Romania. She also has been thinking about the three gentlemen that had proposed to her and waiting for her answer to choose one of them to give her hand in marriage. She was sleepwalking until she reached the cemetery on the cliff behind her house.

Lucy sat on the bench beneath the dead tree, and that time Count Dracula walked out from behind the tree, bit her, and sucked her blood. If someone gets bitten by a Dracula and doesn't die instantly because of the bite, then that person will become a vampire. Count Dracula had an interest in her because of her vitality and life, so he decided to keep her as his prey and came every few days to suck her blood.

The sleepwalking scene would be a musical scene. Lucy sang a song that at first sounds like a lullaby, beautiful and sweet, but as Dracula approaches her, it will become a sadder, creepier song. This would be Lucy’s turning point, from a very lucky lady who has almost everything, to her downfall where she would lose everything, one by one, even her life at the end.

The bench at the cliff was set on the side of the stage, along with the dead tree, a few tombs, and tombstones. Dracula would show up and approach Lucy from behind, biting her while pushing her down, until she laid on her back.

Okaaaaaay, the scene run-through would be really hard for me. First, I was really nervous to think that I would act with Clayton, also being held in his arms, bitten in the neck, and pushed until I lay down, even though we already did two of the three things mentioned.. Second, my neck is one of my sensitive spots. Yes, as in s.e.x.u.a.l context. I bet it would be difficult to stay in control since it would be the first time that Clayton’s soft, sensual, warm, gentle lips that kissed me in the most incredible way a few days ago would touch my neck (See?? Even thinking about it almost makes me lose control!!).

Well, I think it would be better if the last time we kissed (and also the first) on the Climber’s Hills, we also had practiced the neck biting scene, or any other variations of it, IYKWIM, lol.

The run-through of the scene began. I sang softly while getting out from the right-wing, walking slowly to the bench on the other side of the stage. I sat and sang while Clayton came out from his hiding place and approached me from behind, sniffing on my open neck without touching it, but I definitely could feel his warm breath blowing softly across my skin and lightly blowing my baby hairs near there.

It surely made me shiver a bit.

Then he suddenly grabs my shoulders and bit me in the neck. I thought he was gonna just pretend, but he LITERALLY did!!

“Ouch! That hurts, Clay”, I covered the biting area with my hand and turned my face to look at him, complaining.

He just showed his usual teasing grin and said “Sorry”.

“CUUUUUT!!” Trey shouted and stood up from his seat.

“Anita, you're supposed to be screaming, not ouch-ing. And Clay, I know you meant to make her really scream because of the biting, but you should let her know beforehand if you’re really gonna bite her neck, okay? Let’s start again!”

I stood up from the bench and looked at his face then asked him.

“Are you planning to bite me again? If so, please do it a little bit more gently, will you?” and smirked at him.

I think I flirted a bit that time because it made him do the next biting very gently, almost like a kiss. It also felt wrong for me, because I suddenly blushed and frankly, it kinda raised my temperature.

“CUUUUT!!”, said Trey, again. “Clayton, you should bite her, not seduce her. It’s too gentle, and made her blush, see?”