Chapter Seventeen

Ryan

I can’t get that kiss out of my head all evening. Not the kiss up on stage after William and Elouise get married for what feels like the hundredth time, the one before it, the stolen kiss in the shadows of the corridor between the backstage entrance and the auditorium, where it felt far too real for either of us to be acting.

Our performance is a success. Not only do we receive a long standing ovation at the end of the play, we also succeed in spreading the news about our now no longer secret relationship, or at least Tracy does, who spends every possible moment when she’s not required on stage telling every single cast and crew member as though she were the one who discovered us in the first place.

As if that weren’t enough, at the very end of the performance and after several bows to the applauding audience, Marshall takes to the microphone.

“First of all, thank you all for coming”, Marshall says, “A big round of applause please to our lead actors, Sophia and Ryan, the rest of our cast and everyone else behind the scenes.”

This is not something he usually does, and this is not a special performance. We’ve got five performances left before the end of this show, so there is no reason for him to be addressing the audience like he’s won an award, unless he’s got something embarrassing he wants to say. His eyes come to Sophia and me and I just know he’s about to expose us.

“We have some news”, Marshall says like a gossiping aunt and I feel like Sophia and I couldn’t have written this better ourselves. “Our William and Elouise, fantastically portrayed by Ryan Speed and Sophia Moreaux—.”

Here it comes. “Is he really doing this?” Sophia whispers to me.

“He’s really doing this.”

“Well”, Marshall adlibs. “There’s a reason they are so convincing.”

I feel the heat of about two hundred eyeballs on me while the audience hum and crackle with a series of gasps and hushed whispers. This is the kind of thing that a normal director might do if Sophia and I were about to get married, and I know we are, but Marshall doesn’t know that.

“As the director and writer of this play, I can’t help but feel somewhat responsible for helping these two beautiful young things get together in the first place, so I want to be the first to congratulate Sophia and Ryan on their recent engagement.”

What the absolute fuck? I almost choke on my own saliva when he says that. How could he possibly know?

“Marshall?” I say, while Sophia looks at me with an expression of confusion that must completely match my own.

Marshall puts his hand into the air like a traffic cop does to stop a line of cars when the lights aren’t working.

“These two have been so good at keeping secrets”, Marshall says.

I decide it’s time to step forward and take a stand. Announcing our relationship is one thing, announcing our engagement is something else entirely. “I’m sorry to disappoint you guys”, I say, shouting now to be heard over the thunderous din of the audience applause. I hold my hands out for quiet before I continue. “It’s true that Sophia and I are in a relationship—.”

“I present, evidence A”, Marshall says theatrically, enjoying his time up on the stage way more than he should be. “A marriage license certificate.”

I watch him take the license out of his inside pocket and hold it up to show the crowd. My eyes go to Sophia’s and then back to Marshall’s. There is every chance that this totally works in our favor, but I’m pissed he’s actually got the balls to stand here and spread our news out to the world like a town crier.

That certificate was in my backpack, in the dressing room, not pinned up on the notice board in the office for everyone to see.

“How the fuck?” Sophia whispers to me.

“As if getting married on stage every night isn’t enough”, Marshall says, to a rattle of laughter from the audience. “I guess it must have given them ideas.”

“Speech”, the audience begin chanting. “Speech.”

I sidle up to Marshall to reluctantly take the microphone from him. “Where the fuck did you find this?” I whisper to him, taking the marriage certificate back.

“On the floor of the dressing room”, Marshall says, not entirely convincingly. “You should be careful with your secrets, you never know what will become of them in the wrong hands.”

I can’t believe this is happening. I thought Marshall was going to tell everyone we were an item, not that we planned to get married. This part of the night wasn’t anywhere in our plan to convince the world we are really a couple.

“Speech”, the audience call again, before standing up to rattle their applause at me.

“Okay, okay”, I say, and eventually the crowd begin to simmer down. “Wow, okay, I have to say this is a bit of a surprise. Firstly, thank you to Marshall for finding our marriage license, I hadn’t even realized we’d lost it, so that’s quite something.” A ripple of laughter filters through the audience. “Sophia and I wanted to keep this a secret because we are both quite private people, so, thank you again Marshall for exposing us.” Marshall takes a little bow, more pleased with himself than I think I’ve ever seen him. “We made a decision not so long ago to make this official”, I continue, “because it felt like the right time. Listen, not even our parents know about this, so if I can ask everyone in here to keep our secret just a little bit longer, Sophia and I will be extremely appreciative.”

The audience laugh, even though I’m being serious. “Okay, I guess that’s it”, I say, “thank you for the support, it means a lot to us.”

I hand the microphone back to Marshall by slapping it against his chest. “That was not cool”, I say and take my position again next to Sophia.

“That’s it”, Marshall says, and then before the curtain comes down for the final time: “See you all at the bar.”

“What the fuck, Marshall? How long have you been rifling through my things?” I say, pretending to be way more pissed than I actually am. I’m pissed because I didn’t see it coming, but this totally helps our cause, especially if there were any small level journalists present tonight.

“Sorry”, Marshall says theatrically, “I thought you’d brought it because you wanted everyone to know.”

“I brought it”, I point out, “because we’d just got it done.”

“You guys are so romantic”, Tracy says. “So when’s the wedding?”

“We haven’t decided yet”, Sophia says.

“So when were you going to tell us?” Tracy adds, feigning hurt.

“When we needed to”, I say, making my way to the dressing room. “None of you were meant to know. Our parents don’t even know.”

Tracy and Marshall follow Sophia and I back to the dressing room, and the first thing I notice is that my bag is unzipped and on the floor. There is every chance the license could have fallen out but it’s unlikely. I pick it up, put the certificate back in and zip it up.

“Have you sorted out the dress yet?” Tracy says.

“We haven’t sorted anything out yet but the license”, I say. “We haven’t even decided on a date, so thanks for announcing our plans with such certainty Marshall.”

“It’s good for the play”, Marshall says without any hint of irony. “It’ll boost ratings and get some critical attention. Even if you weren’t doing this for real, I wish I’d thought of it before we started. I’m just pissed that you didn’t tell me before.”

“You’re pissed?” I say. “You remember we didn’t even tell you now.”

“I swear to God Ryan that certificate was on the floor in here when I came to look for my book of scripts, and you two were sucking face right outside the doors here, not to mention nearly fucking each other in the corridor before the performance began.”

“You saw that”, Sophia says, her cheeks going a little red. “How did you see that?”

“I’m the director of this play”, Marshall says arrogantly. “You can’t hide the truth from me. Anyway, you were going to tell us all at some point, I’m sure, I’ve just saved you a job. Shame you couldn’t have proposed, that would have been a showstopper, but you can’t have everything I suppose. Now, who’s coming to the bar for a drink to celebrate?”

Marshall disappears before I get a chance to tell him we’re not actually married yet, Tracy gets changed in a flash and suddenly Sophia and I are alone again.

“Can you believe that?” I say, settling back into the couch. “Of all the things that could have happened.”

“You weren’t wrong about these two spreading news like wildfire”, Sophia says, already halfway through getting changed. “Thank God my parents don’t follow my career.”

“Mine don’t either”, I confess. “I don’t know whether my dad would be proud I’ve found someone to marry me, or pissed because I’ve found a way to get the inheritance. Dead aunt Caroline didn’t leave him anything.”

“Oh”, Sophia says. “What a shame. Perhaps we can buy him a season ticket to the Lyceum to make up for it.”

“Did you know Marshall was watching when you kissed me in the corridor?”

Sophia gives me a mischievous look and shakes her head. “That was because you owed me”, she says with a smile on her face.

I regard her carefully just to see if what I’m hoping is true about how I think she might feel about me. As much as I look, though, I can’t seem to convince myself either way. I need more evidence to understand what’s going on in her head with any degree of certainty, but the last thing I want to do is step over the line. Real boyfriends and girlfriends have a lot more flexibility than their counterfeit equivalents and even though I’m confused right now about our status, I know exactly what it was we agreed on. This is a fake relationship, first and foremost. Until I know that’s changed, I can’t really do anything I wouldn’t do normally to strengthen our position.

“You’re looking at me like you want to tell me something”, Sophia says slowly as she approaches me like a lap dancer about to perform a routine on her favorite client.

She hitches her skirt, not high enough for me to see her panties, but high enough to give her the flexibility to do so, and climbs onto my lap. With a knee either side of my thighs she’s straddling me.

“You know that I can’t be held responsible for what you do to me?” I say, the sexual tension in here about to blow the walls out.

“Does this turn you on?” Sophia says, grinding down into my crotch.

If this is acting it’s not fair, if it’s not, I don’t know what to think. I put my hand on her thigh and pretend to push her skirt even further up. I stop, just before I see her panties, keen not to push the performance too far. I have no idea why she’s doing this right now when nobody is watching, but maybe it’s because Marshall’s got the whole place wiretapped, or Sophia just thinks it’s better to stay in role constantly, or maybe, just maybe it’s because she really wants to.

“Sophia?” I begin, not entirely sure how to continue, my dick stiffening so rapidly she’s bound to already be able to feel it.

“Shoot”, Sophia says, the French tinge to the all American word enough to make my heart skip a beat.

“This”, I say, my fingers dancing uner the rucked up hem of her skirt, “what we are doing—.”

“Mmmhmm”, Sophia says, folding herself into my chest in such a way that finding her panties with my fingertips is impossible to avoid.

“I just—”, I say, my lips millimeters from the soft skin of her neck, “I think I really want this.” “For real?” Sophia says, whispering the words softly into my ear.

“For real”, I confess, my heart in my mouth, refusing to beat.

Sophia pauses to pull away slightly and regard me. This is it, I think. I could have waited until we were actually married but no, I’m exactly the kind of person that has to put his cards on the table right away.

Sophia giggles, looks at me awkwardly, screws up her nose and smiles. “For real?” she says again, almost as though she can’t believe it, and for a moment I wonder if I’ve totally fucked up. Is she acting right now? Does she think I have been?

“Seriously”, I say, taking control. “I think I really want this. You and me, I mean. This. A relationship, for real. Fuck, this is so confusing, and really surreal on so many levels, and it’s hard for me to know exactly what you want because I know we’re supposed to be acting and you’re really good at that, but somewhere within all of that I’ve totally lost sight of what’s real and what’s not, except the only thing I know is true is how I feel about you. When we kiss, I’m not acting Sophia, I never have been. Up there on the stage, what we’re doing now, it’s me for real, and I just can’t pretend any more because it’s wrecking my head. I know we’ve only been together properly for a few days but that kiss in the corridor, how you look at me, this, what we’re doing right now. I don’t care if you don’t feel the same way, I just need to know now. If this means you don’t want to get married because it’s way too awkward for you, I totally understand. I’m sorry. I just, you’re sitting on my dick and I really want to slide it inside you.”

I realize that Sophia is looking at me with an expression I can’t quite understand. “Have you finished?”

I nod. “I’ve finished.”

“Do you know how wet I am right now?”

I shake my head slowly.

“I’ll give you a clue”, Sophia says, taking my hand and repositioning it so my fingers are separated from her pussy by a single millimeter of sopping wet fabric. “That’s about as wet as I’ve been for the entire history of this production.

Sophia grinds herself down onto my fingers and kisses me passionately. “You want to slide your dick inside me?” she says.

“More than anything in the world”, I say, the words practically tumbling out of my mouth.

“Pull my panties to the side”, she says naughtily, while she begins to unzip my pants.

“What if?—” I begin to say, but her hand on the shaft of my dick to pull it out through my fly stems my question. If someone catches us in here fucking, so what? I pull Sophia’s soaking wet panties to the side, and then I feel her meaty pussy with the fingers of my other hand while she gasps excitedly and squirms to sink as much of me into her as she can. My middle finger diappears inside her so easily I’m tempted to put in a second, before she lifts herself off me and guides my cock to her tender hole.

“Shouldn’t we?” I say, perhaps the only person of my age in this situation who would ever consider putting on a condom right now a relevant step.

“Just a taste”, Sophia says, the swell of my crown already at her entrance. “Just to see what we feel like.”

What she feels like is incredible. Warm and wet and tight enough to squeeze my dick so perfectly that it makes my entire body scream in silent delight but not tight enough to make it awkward. The moment of penetration makes us both gasp excitedly, before she lets gravity take over, rolls her hips forward and swallows my entire length up inside her. Sophia wraps her arms around my neck and rocks forward to press her forehead against mine.

“Feel good?” I ask, in staggered breaths.

“Mmmhmmm”, Sophia says, barely moving her hips at all, but somehow exciting every single erogenous zone on my entire body. “The best.”

“Just a taste”, I say, my hands wandering to take in the perfection of her body, finally free now to explore her in the way I’ve always wanted. Sophia’s smile turns into a giggle as my hands come to a rest on her thighs, pushing them apart in coordination with her gentle thrusts and then onto her perfectly pert little bum to do the same.

“You don’t know how long”, I say, the shortness of my breath clipping the sentence in half. “I’ve wanted to do this to you.”

“About as long”, she begins, her thighs starting to tremble a little, “as I’ve wanted to do this to you.”

I move my hands again, this time back to her thighs to lift her skirt up further so I can see myself penetrating her.

“If someone comes in—”, Sophia says, while the look in her eyes tells me there is nothing about the potential danger of that situation that doesn’t turn her on.

Her panties have gathered back around my dick so I push them to the side again so I can get to her clitoris. Sophia leans back a little to make it easier for me, resting the palms of her hands on my knees and raising her legs.

I begin with gentle circles around her swollen nub, while Sophia rocks her weight back and forward and together we watch the thickness of my shaft disappear in and out of the pinkness of her pussy.

“That’s likely to make me come”, Sophia admits, trying desperately to control her moaning. While I dance my fingers gently around her clitoris, no intention to stop turning her on until she comes hard against my dick, I begin to open the buttons on her top, keen to reveal her incredible tits.

“You’re not the only one”, I say, feeling it too. I’ve been in an almost constant semi erect state for the last month and a half, dreaming of what I’d like to do this girl, and now that it’s finally happening, I feel like she could blow on me lightly and I might explode. It’s only because I’m terrified this might not repeat itself that I’m going to make sure I make the most of it.

I loosen her top, feed my hand inside her bra and gather her already erect nipple between my fingers. I would love to disrobe her completely, but that might not be the best idea considering anyone could walk back in here at any moment. I settle for massaging the tender skin of her breast underneath her bra, stopping every once in a while to pinch her nipple and make her gasp with pleasure.

Sophia grinds down on my dick, and seeing her pussy spread at my girth, the moistness of her pussy juices oozing out around my crotch and clinging to my pubic hairs like early morning dew, nearly makes me lose it completely.

I can feel Sophia’s rapidly increasing heart beat against the hand I have on her chest, and while she’s just about able to control the moans each breath that leaves her trembling lips turns into, I know from the tightness against her belly and the way her hands are grabbing tightly onto my knees it won’t be long before she erupts in orgasm.

“Sophia”, I say, just to hear myself say her name, just to check she’s still with me.

“I want us to come together”, she says, her eyes sparkling dangerously, her hips thrusting forwards more energetically now. She takes my hand away from her clit and places it on her hip. The other she folds into hers so our fingers are interlocking before she leans into me, her forehead pressed against mine again, her lips poised to kiss me.

“If I come”, I say, “you know where that’s going, right?”

Sophia nods between feverish kisses, lip biting and tongue sucking that makes my toes point towards the far wall. “It’s cool, I’m on the pill”, she says, the magic words like morphine to me, as my body relaxes even more and my dick slides an inch deeper inside her.

“Oh”, I say, the word swallowed by a moan so deep it’s impossible to differentiate between them.

“Mmmhmmm”, Sophia nods, her feet up on the sofa beside me now, as she screws my already throbbing cock deeper and deeper into her, and I know I’m not going to be able to take much more of this before Sophia pushes me past the point of no return and I explode my stickiness inside her.

Everything about this is turning me on: the way her skirt rides up every so often so I get a fleeting view of our connected bodies, the way our rutting makes Sophia moan like an animal in heat, the way she bites my lip, the fact we’re doing this here, the smell of sex and the vanilla of her shampoo, the raw realness of this spontaneous union, the sound of my balls slapping against her ass, the look of dangerous desire that sparkles like compacting stars in her perfect, chocolate brown eyes, the sensation that I know I’m about to come inside her and nothing can stop me.

“Oh fuck”, Sophia moans, one hand around the back of my neck now, the other grabbing hold of my shirt so tightly it’s beginning to rip. “Oh fuck”, she screams again, way louder than she intends to. “I’m going to come.”

“Fuck”, I say, unable to hold back any longer. “Oh fuck, me too.”

I feel Sophia’s tummy tighten and her pussy muscles clamp down on my cock, while she folds herself into me to moan loudly against my chest. I hold her against me as her entire body appears to convulse repeatedly and intensely against mine, before I stumble past the point of no return, feel my balls tighten against her skin, my cock head swell and a loud groan escape my lips before I have a chance to stop it.

Holding her tightly against me, I come what feels like multiple times, before my body finally decides I’ve got nothing left to give her and together, trembling, we collapse into the couch.

My heart is beating so quickly it takes a long time to get words from my brain to my mouth. I want to say something, but I’m not entirely sure what that something should be. That was the best sex of my life, better than I even thought sex possible to be, and apart from still feeling incredibly turned on, I feel overwhelmingly happy and extremely relieved. I have to pinch myself to see if I’m dreaming because I still can’t believe that’s actually just happened.

I’m still trying to figure out what to say when Sophia solves the problem for me.

“Thank God we’re getting married tomorrow, Ryan Carter Speed”, she says, about as seriously as she’s ever said anything to me before, “because that was fucking incredible.”