He's Behind You! by Clare London

Author:Clare London
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romantic comedy, gay romance, mm romance, british romance, christmas romance, pantomime, costume drama, amateur drama
Publisher: Clare London

Chapter 7

“Why on earth are you the fairy godmother?” I asked. Duncan and I sat on the edge of the stage at the end of the rehearsal. He’d brought in a few bottled beers and offered to share with me. Mum had texted to say she was out that evening, and I had a strong suspicion she was avoiding me. Everyone else had declared the rehearsal a job well done, and pottered off to their respective homes.

To be honest, I didn’t want anyone else around, and not just because I’d nearly wet myself when the explosion went off. It was because all I wanted was Duncan’s company.

“You don’t think I can play the role?” he asked, eyebrows raised.

“For god’s sake.” I laughed. “Of course I don’t think that.” I hadn’t seen Duncan act before, but I was pretty sure he could do anything he set his mind to.

“I discussed this with Rose, right at the start of casting. We wanted this year’s show to offer everyone their free and preferred choice of part.”

“I gathered that.” I sighed. My darling, inclusive, generous, often infuriatingly naive mother.

“I don’t care how I look,” Duncan said quietly, the lilting chuckle lifting his words. He was back in his casual shirt and jeans, though there was glitter on his cheek and plenty in his hair. “But it feels really good. The costume’s like a walking meringue dessert, but Amy and Elena are working on letting it out to fit my shoulders.”

I laughed again. “You looked magnificent, even with that off-the-shoulder Bardot style. I suppose I just never imagined you in the pantomime, let alone what character you’d be.”

“So you don’t mind?” He was slightly hesitant.

“Why would I? It’s nothing to do with me.”

“No, of course not.”

There was a lull in the conversation, a stillness in the quiet, airy hall around us. But it was comforting rather than awkward. I’d promised the vicar we’d sweep up before we left, but I was in no rush. When Duncan reached down to the box at his feet for another beer, his thigh pressed against mine.

Oh god.

His body was steady and warm beside me. He moved carefully but with a grace of his own. He had owned that stage when he breezed on, to magically send Cinders to the ball. A well-built man in a cheap fake tiara had never looked so regal. So awesome. It wasn’t anything like filming on a TV set, where an actor’s impact was so small, so fleeting.

I wondered if I could hold an audience’s attention in such a role, and suspected I couldn’t.

And Duncan’s smile of pleasure had been dazzling.

It was as if something shifted in my chest at that moment: fallen open, spread wide, burst its moorings. Something set free, and I think it was my stupid, selfish, previously-dumbstruck pride.

“But why the fairy godmother?” I was still curious and the beer was giving me courage.

Duncan shrugged. When he leaned back, supporting himself on his hands, stretching out his long legs in front of him, his hand brushed mine.

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