Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2) (18 page)

Unfortunately, each step of
cute high heel on wood step gave a resounding
thunk
. A few hipster-types looked up
from their phones at the wannabe fashionista making her entrance.
She couldn’t have been more out of place if she’d tried. This was
not going well.

She hadn’t even made it up to the third row
when she heard her name.

Crap!

She looked up from under her lashes and saw
Ray and Mary in the middle of the theater in the cluster she meant
to hide behind. She couldn’t help but groan.

Playing her part, she gave
a confused wave and a surprised smile. Still making progress up the
rows with a
thunk, thunk.
they waved back, and then beckoned her in large
sweeps of arms, trying to get her to land next to them as if she
was a plane and they a runway. Since there were no actual chairs,
and no assigned seating, Krista had no choice but to
obey.

Silver lining: Sean was nowhere in sight and
neither was an unidentified woman. Great news. Although, getting
caught stalking while dressing like she was on a night on the town
would seem a little Single White Female. Probably not the best
thing.

When she reached Ray and Mary she feigned
confused happiness at seeing friendly faces.

“Hey guys!” she said vaguely.

“Hi Krista. Sit with us!” Ray said, still
motioning for her to sit down. Mary had basically climbed on his
lap to repeat the gesture. Everyone in the theatre was
watching.

To stop the vaudeville act, Krista sat
demurely, albeit with a face to match her red dress.

“Krista, you remember my wife Mary?” Ray
leaned back so Mary could lean farther over him in order shake
hands.

“Of course,” Krista said with a smile.

“Good to see you again, Krista! I bet Sean
is so excited for you to see him in action! He really is very
good!” Mary exclaimed.

These two people were quite possibly the
friendliest, most positive people on the planet.

Before Krista could answer that she was a
creepy, stalking a-hole, or something to that effect, Ray looked up
with high eyebrows and started motioning again. Mary followed his
gaze a second later, waving animatedly for the next plane to
land.

With a shock of fear, Krista took the
cowardly way out and looked at her clasped hands, her knuckles
white with the force to staying still.

“Cassie! Hi! Join us!” Mary exclaimed for
the whole theatre to hear.

The space next to Krista filled in with a
butt and a pleasant perfume. Krista glanced up to face the music,
right into the beautiful vivid blue eyes of Sean’s sister Cassie. A
gorgeous guy was sitting down next to her, looking around the tiny
theatre hall with a glum expression. Tall drink of water about
summed it up with that guy. He was a panty dropper for sure. Aloof,
though.

Cassie gave a radiant smile
from her lovely face, which was apparently a family heirloom, and
said, “Krista,
right?
” Thank God she was related to Sean because Krista would
never be able to compete with the woman.

“Yes, it is. Sorry about the first time we
met. I wasn’t really...myself.”

“I’ve been there, believe me. This is
Keith,” she pointed to the man next to her.

Keith turned his face to Krista with a bored
expression, flicked his eyes at Ray and Mary, and turned back to
the empty stage. He might’ve been super-hot, but he was a Debbie
Downer. Not worth the drama.

Krista couldn’t help but add up the score.
Now it was invited friends and family sandwiching Krista, the
uninvited stalker. She immediately began to think of a story as to
why she was there, and no sooner did she come up with something
believable that Cassie asked, “Is this the first time you’ve seen
Sean act?”

“It is, yes. I didn’t actually know that
Sean was in it until after you walked in. I thought it was just a
coincidence with Ray and Mary.”

“You didn’t?” Ray asked, disbelieving.

“Uh, no, actually. He didn’t mention
it.”

Ray and Mary’s eyebrows raised in surprise.
Krista continued quickly so they didn’t start peppering her with
questions. “I knew he acted, I just didn’t realize he was currently
doing something.”

“You think he would’ve told you so you could
come to watch.” Mary shook her head as if to say it was purely
illogical.

Krista shrugged. Had she not had that
mini-freak-out—one of the many, actually—then he might have. Or
maybe not, since he wasn’t telling people they talked outside of
work. It was still something they needed to talk about. Krista just
hoped they got that chance.

Cassie asked, “So how did you end up
here?”

Krista was ready for this one. “I was in the
Mission to meet my friends for drinks before they went off to their
dates. Since I’m single and seriously need to find more friends, I
needed something to do. Here I am. I figured I would get caught
going solo to a movie by someone I knew, so I chose a small,
out–of-the-way theatre I didn’t think anyone knew about. And got
caught by someone I knew. So now I look a little desperate...”

Mary threw up her objections as Ray laughed
and patted her on the back. Keith seemed deaf, and Cassie was
looking at her in that intense way her brother sometimes did.
Krista pointed out that fact.

Cassie smiled serenely and shrugged, “I
thought you had a man, though?”

“Me?
No. Why? Who told you that?” Krista looked at Ray and
received a head shake and a shrug.

Cassie shook her head confusedly. “Sean
mentioned it. Maybe he was mistaken?”

“Maybe he was thinking about a man named
Paul?”

“He didn’t give a name. Just said you found
someone.”

“I don’t know about
found
someone. Maybe he
was exaggerating. Paul wasn’t really...uh, that kind of thing. I
haven’t seen him for a while, though...”

“Oh. Huh. He just said something earlier
tonight, so that must not be your friend Paul.” She said friend as
though she knew exactly what type of “friend” Krista was talking
about.

“No, that wouldn’t be Paul.
I have no idea, then. I haven’t had
time
to meet anyone. Your brother
keeps me incredibly busy! I wanted to get out there tonight but my
wingmen haven’t been doing the hours I have and are ahead of
me.”

“Well, this can count as ‘out there’ then,”
Cassie said sweetly. She was such a nice girl. You would think
someone as pretty as her would be a snobby bitch. But then, you
would think someone as attractive as Sean would be an egotistical,
womanizing pig.

Which he was… not that long ago. Or maybe
still. Verdict was still out.

“There is a shocking lack of single guys
here, but it’ll do in a pinch,” Krista said jokingly, looking
around the audience.

Cassie’s expression was lost as the lights
went down.

Right away Krista knew the play would be
weird. One raggedy dude was carrying a giant, seven-foot cross on
his shoulder. He walked in next to some crazy broad who was tearing
apart roses. There were swear words and screaming and Krista was
lost immediately.

It wasn’t until the second scene that Sean
made his entrance. He wore tattered clothes and had smears of dirt
on his face. The second he made his appearance, though, Krista
couldn’t keep her eyes off of him. It was like he glowed. Even when
he didn’t speak she was looking to him for cues and expressions.
When he did speak she was in rapture. He was probably not the most
experienced, and if she was honest, not the best of the group on
pure talent, but he had something that no one else could touch, and
that was star power. He mattered. What he said mattered. His
charisma filled the whole place and sucked everyone in.

Of course, Krista was
a
wee
bit
biased.

It was towards the end that she had a moment
of déjà vu. Sean was facing the audience with a faraway look on his
face, talking about reaching a utopia in the dream-world of a
distant life, when he turned around at a woman’s voice behind him,
showed how happy he was to see her again, and kissed her. She was
the heroine of the story, he the hero. Actually, she was a
crack-whore and he was a love-besotted addict, but hero and heroine
sounded a lot better.

It was the scene Krista saw from his street.
It was his supposed girlfriend. It was rehearsal. Rehearsals took
place in his house. She was an idiot.

The relief she felt was all consuming. She
actually teared up. No, it didn’t mean anything as far as Sean and
her were concerned, but now at least he hadn’t found someone else.
He didn’t reject her for someone else.

Funny how that was easier to bear.

The play ended not long after, the addict
dying of an overdose, the whore still turning tricks, and the dude
with the giant cross making some speech about God knows what. It
really wasn’t Krista’s cup of tea, but she was grateful she came
because she really enjoyed watching Sean act. He was good. Better
than good. If he wasn’t such a successful salesman, she would say
he missed his calling. But then, he could probably do anything and
be good at it.

She felt herself flush in the darkness
thinking on that point.

Chapter Twelve

When the lights came up for curtain call,
the actors filed out with smile, bowing to the crowd. The theatre
was so small that the actors could see faces looking down at them.
Sean scanned the onlookers, finding his sister. He smiled shyly
before his eyes slid and found Ray. His face lit up in pure joy.
His people were there for him and he felt loved and supported. It
touched Krista’s heart that a man like Sean would still need it;
that he was happy to get it.

His eyes flickered to those around his
family and friends; smiling at Mary and losing a fraction of his
smile for Keith. As an afterthought he glanced at the person
sitting between the two groups, probably thinking it was a loser
that got stuck in the middle—which was actually correct—and came to
a screeching halt when his eyes met Krista’s. Shock smacked into
his features before he let his smile for the audience quickly
return. His eyes locked with hers.

Krista felt a stir, like something soft was
infusing her midsection, chasing away all the uncertainty, blowing
her up like a helium-filled balloon. Before he turned away with the
other actors, he gave her that secret smile that said there was a
joke, and she was a part of it. Or possibly the butt of it.

Then he was walking behind the curtain.

Krista blinked into the sudden light shift
and half stood. She was never one for dallying. The show’s over,
what’s the point of hanging around?

She was the only one from this small
collection of Sean’s admirers to do so.

“
Well, uh...I guess I’ll
see you all some other time...” Krista did a weird little wave and
continued her stand, unsure where to turn so her butt wasn’t in Ray
or Cassie’s face. She couldn’t be more lame if she
tried.

“
Aren’t you going back to
Sean’s?” Mary asked in confusion.

“Oh, uh...” Even Keith was looking at her,
waiting in unpardonable boredom for her response.

“
Sean didn’t really mention
it, so I’ll probably just head out,” Krista muttered, worried about
ungraciously stepping over Cassie and Keith’s legs and probably
rolling down the stairs shortly thereafter.

“I thought you were flying solo tonight? Are
you meeting up with your friends later?” Mary persisted.

“Oh no, they’re out for the night I think.
I’ll probably just head home. Thanks, though. Tell Sean he did
really great!”

“But don’t you live in that neighborhood
anyway?” Cassie asked.

Damn her and her sober memory!

“Yeah, you do. A couple blocks away, right?”
Ray asked, obviously remembering picking her up in the limo for the
wine event.

The escape of the stalker was not going
well.

“Um, yeah,” Krista admitted, desperately
reaching for another excuse. She’d spent so much effort on her
reason for being there in the first place; getting away again was
proving difficult.

“And you don’t have a car, right?” Cassie
asked.

Krista was starting to wonder what the hell
was so interesting about the empty stage that kept Keith’s
undivided attention! He should be distracting his girlfriend!

“Right. Yeah. I was just going to catch the
bus, probably.”

“Nonsense!” Mary gushed. “From this
neighborhood? It’s not safe. We’re going that way anyway. We’ll
drive you. That way you can tell Sean yourself how well he
did!”

“Oh, great. Sure,” Krista said with a smile
that closely resembled a grimace.

“Oh, look, Ray, there he is!” Mary yelled
excitedly, standing up as though the president was entering the
building.

Sure enough, Sean was
making his way onto the stage
sans
make-up. His eyes were bright and the smile on
his face lit up the room. He scanned the group, and only lingered
on Krista a fraction of a second longer than anyone
else.

Krista stood, star struck, as everyone told
him how great he did and patted him on the back. She couldn’t form
words. He was radiant, so supremely happy and relaxed, and
mouth-dryingly gorgeous because of it. He had her so captivated
that when they started telling him how great the play was, she
didn’t have the presence of mind to cover the facial rebuttal.

He honed in on her immediately, giving
another secret smile. He always could tell when she was telling him
a bunch of bull. And seriously, that play was freaking weird.