This is the ninth part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, and Part VIII before continuing.
“So, where are you headed?” Blaine said once they were out of the student union.
Sarah wracked her brain trying to come up with something plausible. “The conservatory,” she said, finally. “I wanted to see if any practice rooms are available so I can practice a song my vocal coach has me working on.”
“Which one?”
“So in Love, from Kiss Me, Kate.”
“That’s a tough one, isn’t it?”
“It’s not too hard, but I don’t want to phone it in.”
“Does your coach make you memorize all your songs?”
“I memorize them anyway.”
“Really? All of them?”
“Yeah. One time she asked how much of a song I thought I could memorize by our next session, and I told her I already had the whole thing memorized. She didn’t believe me, so I went to the other end of the piano so I couldn’t see the sheet music and sang the whole thing straight through.”
“Wow. And you do that for all your songs?”
“Yeah. I just have a good memory for songs, I guess.”
“That’s definitely going to come in handy in your acting career. By the way, how’s your play in verse coming along?”
Sarah blushed. Why had she told him she was working on a project that had actually been her friend’s idea? “Honestly, I’m struggling with it at the moment. Turns out, writing a play in verse is a lot harder than it sounds.”
“I can’t say it ever sounded easy to me. That’s why I really respect you for tackling this project in the first place.”
“Well, there’s no point in not trying, right? The worst that can happen is that it’s terrible and I move onto something else.”
“Absolutely,” Blaine said as they reached the doors of the theater department. “I guess this is where we part ways.”
Sarah was mute for a moment before she remembered she had told him she was going to the conservatory. “Right,” she said finally. “Yep. Well, I’ll see you later.”
“Definitely.” He nodded in a way that made Sarah’s heart flutter, and then he disappeared into the building.
Sarah kept walking towards the conservatory, at first just to complete the charade, but then she figured she might as well get some practice in, even if she had just polished off half a pint of ice cream.
To be continued…