THE LUNA CHOOSING GAME - Season 5 Episode 16

The next day at rehearsal, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of Julian, Nick, and Bridget, watching their interactions. I tried to see them in a new way, now with some more of their past acting like a lens.

If Bridget had kissed Julian all night after his love confession, only to break up with him the next morning to be with Nicholas, surely some of those lingering feelings would remain and shine through in their actions with each other.

So far, what I was seeing was what I had been seeing since the start.

Across the room, Bridget showed Nicholas something in the script. She leaned very far into him, making certain that her chest touched his arm. Nicholas didn’t seem to notice. He

pointed at the script where Bridget must have been referring to.

I wished I was closer, to hear the words, but I wasn’t sure how to move over there with any kind of subtly. Veronica and Tiffany were standing beside me as part of our own little group. People would notice if I suddenly broke off to go stand on my own.

Instead, I continued to keep watch.

Julian was on the other side of Bridget. Though he wasn’t a part of the conversation between Bridget and Nicholas, he clearly wanted to be, as he followed along in his own script.

Once, he tried nudging Bridget, to get her to pay attention to him, as if to ask her a question. She held up a finger, asking him to give her a minute, and then otherwise ignored him.

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For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why Julian continued to hold onto her. She clearly wasn’t interested. Was this simply a case of Julian needing to learn how to take no for an answer, no matter

how abrupt? I was starting to suspect.

But then I saw it.

Bridget placed her hand on Julian’s arm and squeezed. While she was talking to Nicholas, she turned to Julian and winked.

It was subtle, barely–there flirting, but now that I was looking for it, I could see it plain as

day.

While Nicholas received most of Bridget’s attention, Julian was not ignored. It almost seemed like Julian was her little secret.

Or like she was doing just enough to keep him on the hook while she primarily pursued

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Nicholas.

Maybe I was looking too hard. Maybe it was innocent. But it sure as heck seemed like she was stringing Julian along. I wondered if that was how it had been in the past too.

Watching it happen, seeing the hope in Julian’s eyes, made something uncomfortable churn in my gut. I also hated how openly Bridget was flirting with Nicholas, laughing at whatever he said and looking up at him through her eyelashes.

“Piper?” Tiffany said, dragging my attention away.

“Hm?”

“They’re calling you on stage,” Tiffany said.

“Oh!”

I hurried toward the stage. Admittedly, I hadn’t been paying attention at all, so I had no idea even what scene we were supposed to be doing. I still hadn’t even finished reading the script. When I thought I had only one line, I didn’t bother. Now that I was doing Susie’s part, I really need to go back. I just hadn’t yet.

As I took the stairs to reach the stage, I was surprised to find Nicholas right behind me. Were we doing a scene together?

My stomach sank. My new part was that of Nicholas’s spurned lover. Any scene we shared together was unlikely to be a pleasant one.

As we stepped onto the stage, Nicholas touched the small of my back, guiding me toward the center where we would perform. I looked at him.

“Which scene is this?” I whispered.

He gave me a small, fond smile. “Scene 14.” Nodding, I flipped open the script to the correct scene.