... not in love with Kale Eddison (20 page)

Izzie rolled
her eyes and hit him on the arm, “Yeah, you’re just one step above
it … you’d need to be to let Maddie trick you into kissing
her!”

Kale looked
shameful, “I know, I got too into character and got carried away.
Ah the curse of being an ‘above mediocre’ actor, eh?” he winked at
Izzie and she sniggered.

“Yeah yeah,
just watch that head of yours when you’re walking through the door;
it might not fit.”

It was Kale’s
turn to roll his eyes, “Come on, let’s get out of here before any
other females try and seduce me.”

Izzie smirked,
“Yeah, well you’re in safe company with me bucko … if you can
resist my allure!”

Kale suddenly
turned serious again, “Do you know how difficult it is for me to
not give into the temptation you offer to me… do you do it on
purpose just to torture me?”

“Wow,” Izzie
was a little taken aback, “lighten up buddy, I was messing. Why do
you always have to turn it into something more? Why can’t you
accept that we are friends and nothing more, huh? Way to kill my
good mood Kale, jeez … you are such a jerk.”

Kale felt anger
flare up inside him; he was sick of it … sick of the way Izzie made
him feel, even if it was through no fault of her own. “Yeah Izzie,
really … you think that
I’m
the jerk? You blow hot and cold
more times than I change my clothes … and that’s every day! So
don’t you call
me
a jerk when you are the one who is all
flirty and then the next minute you’re avoiding me like the plague.
You
are the jerk! You can’t play around with people’s
feelings like that … it’s not a game Izzie! Just because I’m an
actor doesn’t mean I don’t get hurt … if anything, I feel things
more intensely
because
of my job.”

Izzie was
furious, “How dare you … after me
defending
you earlier? How
the
hell
do you have the nerve to call
me
a jerk and
accuse me of playing with people’s feelings? I have been nothing
but honest about my feelings for you …
you
are the one who
keeps messing it up by wanting more. It’s not my fault you ‘
feel
things more intensely’
... it’s not my fault you confuse my
behaviour for flirting! So, don’t you stand there and accuse me of
being hot and cold when
you
are the one who is reading
everything wrong!”

Izzie breathed
heavily while Kale looked shocked but he recovered quite quickly
since he strode across the room – closing the short distance
between them – grabbed Izzie’s face and kissed her. When Izzie
tried to protest, Kale ignored her and kissed her more passionately
until Izzie was tingling all over and feeling rather faint; boy, he
could really kiss when he was mad! Izzie then found her senses and
pushed him back.

“Ok Kale,” she
began calmly, “that really wasn’t the best way to end
that
argument.”

Kale shifted
nervously and tried to avoid Izzie’s eyes as she continued, “Look
Kale, I understand that you can’t help your feelings for me but you
really need to stop doing that.”

Kale looked
directly into her eyes, “I know and I’m sorry but you can’t deny
that you had some sort of reaction to it. Can you honestly say that
you didn’t enjoy it? I know you want us to be friends but isn’t
there the tiniest possibility that it could be something more?”

It was Izzie’s
turn to avoid eye contact, “Look Kale, you aren’t making this any
easier for me. Ok, I confess … I did have a reaction and I did
enjoy it but I still just want us to be friends.”

“But,” Kale
protested, “what is so difficult about us being something more; you
like me and I like you … it sounds pretty simple, right?”

Izzie shook her
head, “I’m just not interested Kale. I’m tired telling you; I can
be your friend but nothing more and if you can’t accept that then
I’m afraid we’ll not even have friendship.”

Kale sighed,
“Fine but somewhere along the line you’re going to have to admit
that you have feelings for me. I know you do … it just seems like
you don’t know it yet.”

Izzie rolled
her eyes, “Ok, can we just forget all this and be friends? I don’t
want this messing up the play … please Kale?”

Kale nodded,
“Ok but I know I’m right … and sooner or later you’ll prove
it.”

Izzie smirked,
“You really do have a big ego about yourself, don’t you?”

Kale smiled,
“And now you’re back to your normal, charming self.”

Izzie grinned,
“Shut up Mr Big-Head. Now, I’m going home to get some rest before
the big night tomorrow night. I think you should do the same.”

Kale sighed,
“Guess you’re right, see you tomorrow … ‘Beatrice’.”

Izzie chuckled,
“Save it for the play … ‘Benedick’.”

Kale laughed as
they made their way to their cars and then headed home.

Chapter
Fifteen

Opening night
had arrived and Izzie was feeling extremely nervous. Earlier that
day, Izzie had acted like nothing had happened the day before and
Kale had followed suit which suited her just fine. Now, however,
she was very worried about the play; she kept thinking she was
going to mess up her lines and screw up the entire play. She sucked
in a breath to try and steady her nerves as she put the final
touches to her make-up. Suddenly, she saw someone watching her in
the mirror, she turned to find Kale standing by the doorway; he was
smiling at her in a smug, knowing way.

“What do you
want?” she sighed.

“Oh, do you
have to be so nice?” Kale chuckled, “You feeling the old pre-play
jitters then?”

“No!” Izzie
replied, much too quickly, “no,” she said again, more calmly, “I
was
trying to relax before you interrupted me!” She smirked
at him and he grinned back.

“Fair enough,
I’ll leave you in peace.” He turned to leave but turned back before
he was fully out the door, “Hey, break a leg, ok?”

Izzie smiled,
“You too.” and she watched disappear out the door. She took another
deep breath; everything was going to be fine – if she just refused
to think about everything Kale-related – then she’d be fine. She
sighed and then heard Ms Belson call her name … ‘here goes nothing’
Izzie thought as she made her way onto the stage …

The play,
thankfully, went off without a hitch and when the last scene had
finally came to an end; Izzie had been relieved it was over. Nobody
had messed up any lines so Ms Belson was very happy, as was Izzie,
although, the only thing that she felt had went wrong was the kiss
between her and Kale; it had went on just a tad too long and Izzie
felt Kale had been taking advantage of the situation but she never
called him on it. Now, Izzie was glad to change into some normal
clothes and wipe off her make-up. She had just finished pulling on
her sneakers when she heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” she
commanded and looked up as the door opened.

“Hey, you were
great out there tonight.” Kale told her as he leant against the
doorway, looking even more handsome now he was back in his usual
dark jeans and black shirt combo.

Izzie tried not
to stare too much, “Thanks, you too.” She finished tying her
shoelace and stood up. “So, what’s everybody else up to?”

Kale shrugged,
“I think they’ve all left. So, can I walk you to your car? Just
incase you get mobbed for being such a good actress?” he smiled
crookedly at her.

Izzie rolled
her eyes, “Hilarious! But hey, why not … I’ve just got to grab my
bag.”

Izzie found her
bag and fell into step with Kale as they both made their way to the
car park.

“So,” Kale
began, “you ready to do this all again for the next two
nights?”

Izzie smiled,
“Yeah, I think so. It wasn’t so bad.”

Kale grinned
but then turned serious, “No it wasn’t but I have to apologise for
the last scene.”

Izzie held up a
hand to stop him, “Don’t Kale, it was ok. Let’s forget about it,
ok?”

Kale nodded and
they stopped when they got to Izzie’s car. “Guess I’ll see you
tomorrow then?”

Izzie gave him
a half smile, “Sure and … you didn’t suck too bad.” She winked at
him and then gave him a peck on the cheek before she got into her
car.

Kale was
momentarily stunned but as soon as Izzie drove off, he made way to
his own car but he couldn’t help but think about Izzie the whole
way back to his house.

The following
week, after the play had finished, Izzie was nervously waiting for
the review in the local paper to come out. It was rumoured to be
written by the reporter who was responsible for the previous
articles about Kale and Izzie which was why Izzie was dreading what
the woman, Tess Drudger, was going to write.

A week later,
on Monday morning, Izzie stopped at the local newsagents on her way
to school to pick up the paper; she decided not to look at it until
she had reached school. She pulled into an empty parking space and
took a deep breath. She flipped to the appropriate page as her
stomach churned with nerves.

‘‘
Much Ado
About Something!’

Ok Kale
Eddison fans … I am sure many of you fought tooth and nail to get
tickets to attend the local Hartside play ‘Much Ado About Nothing.’
Those of you who did manage to get tickets will know exactly what
went on … those of you who failed to score some tickets will just
have to make do with my review. But, never fear, I promise I have
provided as much juicy details as I can.

As I sat down
last Friday night, I will admit, I was expecting the usual awful
High School production – even if it did star our Hollywood Golden
Boy. However, what I did not expect was a flawless adaption of
Shakespeare’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’. Every actor was suited to
his or her role and if there were any mistakes … well, I failed to
spot any. From the opening scene, I was drawn into the world of
‘Beatrice’, ‘Benedick’, ‘Hero’ and ‘Claudio’. When a scene required
tension … you could cut it with a knife … when a scene required
humour … I laughed until I nearly cracked a rib.

All in all,
what I’m trying to say is that the play was perfect. Although, the
one thing that I would dispute, would be the title; ‘Much Ado About
Something’ would have been more appropriate. Now, I guess I have
you all intrigued by now … I will not keep you in suspense much
longer.

Throughout the
whole play, I’ll admit, I was rooting for Ms Isobel Frank –
‘Beatrice’ in the production – to fail miserably. I am sure most
people wouldn’t be able to cope with sharing the stage for nearly
three hours with the two men that Ms Frank is rumoured to be
involved in a love triangle with! However, I must confess surprise
at Ms Frank’s strong stage presence and ability to cope well with
being in such close proximity to her two boy toys.

There was no
visible awkwardness between any of the characters – other than when
scripted – and I found myself enjoying the play. Our Kale was, of
course, flawless as ever and suited the role of ‘Benedick’
perfectly. I also found the banter between his character and Ms
Frank’s didn’t feel forced and was actually quite delightful to
watch.

Now, to get to
the good stuff … the final scene was one heck of a show; high
drama, romance and humour. All to be expected, I hear you cry, to
all of you who know of Shakespeare’s light-hearted play. However,
as much as I want to say that Ms Frank and Mr Eddison did a fine
job of making the whole ordeal believable … I am not the only one
in belief that there is some genuine chemistry between Izzie Frank
and Kale Eddison.

Throughout the
entire play, I noticed that the other male involved in the supposed
love triangle – Jake Greenberg – has no chemistry with Ms Frank
whatsoever. It appears we may have misjudged the whole situation
since Ms Frank did not appear one bit interested in Jake. It was
pretty obvious that Ms Frank shares a connection of some sort with
our Kale but she tries her best to hide it. Maybe we have been
wrong to assume that she is playing with the two boys … maybe Ms
Frank’s little speech a few weeks ago was indeed the truth. I
personally now believe that there is nothing going on between her
and Jake Greenberg – they lack any sort of chemistry at all!
However, that said, even though Ms Frank was adamant that her and
our Kale were “just friends” … I have seen for myself – with my own
eyes – that our Kale is smitten with her and the feeling does
appear to be mutual. But … I can say with total confidence that Ms
Isobel Frank does not realise it herself; she was certainly very
realistic when portraying the playful banter between her character
and Kale’s. Our Golden Boy does appear to irritate Ms Frank but
there is also a spark of attraction there too but it is just a
question of whether Izzie Frank realises it or whether she is
confusing it with something else.

Whatever the
outcome, the question now, on everybody’s lips is, “How long before
Kale Eddison is called to do a major movie that will change his
career forever?” My guess … not very long!’

‘Great!’
thought Izzie, ‘Yet one more person who is making me even more
confused about whether there is something between me and Kale.’
Izzie sighed to herself; this was bound to stir up some trouble for
sure. Izzie stowed the paper away, shook herself to clear her head,
grabbed her bag and got out of the car. She was making her way to
the entrance when she heard a shout behind her.

“Hey! Hold the
door please.”

Izzie turned
and couldn’t help the smile that formed on her face when she looked
at Kale making his way towards her.

“You’re funny!”
she told him as she rolled her eyes and smirked.

“What?” he
asked innocently.

Izzie laughed,
“Come on, re-enacting when we first met?”

Kale looked
puzzled, “Huh?”