After Wednesdays talk with Carrie, Yesterdays stupefying realization over my feelings with Zach, I was all too ready for Friday's rehearsal to come and go so I could wallow by myself at home until I came to a solid conclusion about what was going on with my life.

Yet, as I would soon discover, Friday would be the most astounding day of them all.

I had just finished up Alice's scene in the strip club where she performs for Larry, Jacksons character. As I strutted off stage, sex appeal oozing from my pores thanks to the help of the overtly confident attitude of Alice, I noticed Kaleb perched against a set piece, ankles and arms crossed as he waited for me.

He shook his head as I approached, his eyes shimmering with a combination of irritation and hunger wrapped into one, his lips dipping into a frown as he spoke.

"I don't think I'll ever be able to watch that scene without wanting to rip Jackson's eyes out."

I stifled a laugh as I too perched myself against the set piece with Kaleb.

"You know you don't have to watch the scene."

"You're skimping around stage in very little clothing, Peaches. I'd have to be brain dead to not want to watch you," he stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Every guy in this theaters gonna be watching you once we open the show," Kaleb grumbled out, his eyes drifting down to the spandex shorts and skin tight tank top I was wearing while my actual costume was still in the works.

"If I'm not mistaken, I would say that you're a tad bit jealous, Mr. Young."

Kaleb's head reared back some with my use of his last name, his gaze sprouting with glee and his pink lips tilting into a playful, lopsided smile as he responded.

"And if I'm not mistaken, I think you're still a tad bit into character, Ms. Johnson," he replied back, his tone just as flirtatious as mine.

I shrugged my one shoulder teasingly and peered up and him through my thick lashes, a sly smile playing at my lips.

"Maybe."

Kaleb's eye's darkened, a heated warning look overtaking his chiseled features.

"Careful with that look, Peaches. After watching you on stage and now with that sexy look you've got going, I'm highly inclined to pick up exactly where we left off in the lobby a couple weeks ago." Kaleb's words dripped with sensuality and a pleasurable promise. His stare was dominating over mine and his simple, yet erotic words had caused a pulse to begin to simmer with my core.

If you could have any man in the world...

Carries question flitted through my mind as I held Kaleb's heated gaze, an extreme urge to voice my own question that had been migrating through my mind the last couple days became almost impossible to resist.

So I didn't.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Kaleb eyes dissipated of all hunger as he turned himself into me until he was standing in front of me, almost sandwiching me between the set piece and his body.

His brows dipped in concern, his voice soft and gentle as he spoke.

"What is it?"

A burst of anxiety and fear of rejection rolled through my body; my chest constricting preemptively for his denial.

"Um... what would happen or what would you do if, uh..." I spared a look at Kaleb, immediately dropping my eyes back down from his intense stare.

Just spit it out, Lee.

"If Zach and I... weren't together anymore?"

More nerves stormed through my poor stomach as the question hung in the air, my heart and vulnerability hanging on by a transparent thread.

Then, two arms appeared on either side of me, trapping me against the set piece. My eyes snapped up to meet Kaleb's and I almost audibly gasped at the overwhelming hope and pride brimming beneath his river blue eyes.

"Leah, are you telling me that you left him?" he asked, his voice so low and full of an abundance of optimism.

Reluctantly so, seriously not wanting to stomp on his abrupt bout of hope but not wanting to lie either, I shook my head.

"No," I said solemnly and watched as the hope died in his stare.

"But I am thinking about it."

Kaleb's brows shot up, a newfound pride and joy swelling in his eyes. His lips rose up into the most breathtakingly handsome smile.

"Really?"

I nodded, fighting to keep a smile of my own at bay.

"Why? Why now? What's changed? Was it Carrie?"

A short laugh fell from my lips at Kaleb's insistent questions.

"A lot is because of her and what she said. Her story was... tragic and she asked me some hard questions that really brought a lot into light for me about what I wanted...." I flicked my stare to his, a profound underlying meaning coating through my next words. "Who I wanted."

I witnessed as Kaleb tried to keep his face blank of emotion but it was all but impossible to miss the slight hint of excitement swimming in his eyes.

"And who would that be?"

I felt a bolt of playful joy seep through my bones as my answer appeared in my mind.

"Wouldn't you like to know."

Kaleb's head cocked to the side, something carnal and yet still playful passing through his stare.

I couldn't tear my gaze from his as he spoke, his voice as commanding as his presence.

"I would... very much."

"You never answered my question," I managed to say in wisp of a voice, diverting him back to what I originally started this conversation up for.

Kaleb let out a deep breath, his eyes lifting to his hand as he raised it and I felt his gentle fingers brush a strand of hair from my forehead and tuck it behind my ear tenderly.

"I thought I made it pretty clear that if you weren't with him... I'd want you, all of you."

I pulled my bottom lip in between my teeth as a large grin tried to overtake my features, bursts of joy blossoming through my stomach. Even as the elation coursed through my veins, I knew that conversation couldn't end there.

"Um, but what about what you said about relationships? I thought you didn't do relationships?" I asked, my smile faltering as I witnessed a hint of fear creep into Kaleb's stare.

"I did say that. I don't do relationships. I haven't for a while."

I felt my heart plummet violently into the pit of my stomach, despair and rejection clouding my emotions.

But then he continued.

"I've been thinking about that a lot though lately and I keep thinking back to this one thing that this girl told me once about how if it was for the right girl, it would be worth it." He smiled his signature, breathtaking smile down at me, his eyes shining into mine lovingly.

"I think she might have been right."

My heart surged in my chest as he recalled back to the night of Zach's business party and the words I had spoken to him. I released my bottom lip from my teeth's grasp and let my lips spread into a full blown grin that only matched Kaleb's.

"So if I became single and if you still were interested... you'd want that? The dates, the commitment, the love, the-"

"Love?" Kaleb cut me off to say, his brows shooting up and a severe hesitation entering his gaze.

"I didn't say anything about love. I- I haven't even thought about that... have you?" he inquired cautiously, his eyes swirling with a past pain.

"No, I wasn't saying I had I was just saying that it would come eventually... wouldn't it?" My stare was intent on his as I saw an anxious, genuine fear pass through his eyes as he spoke.

"I honestly haven't thought about that, Peaches," he revealed in a soft voice. "It just hurt so fucking much the first time I never thought I would feel that way again..."

"Oh," I cast my stare from his dejectedly, trying to conceal the raging hurt and devastation swimming through my quickly welling eyes.

"It's scary shit, putting yourself out there like that. I mean, what if you fall in love with someone only to have them leave or fall out of love with you, things you have no control over? What if they just break your heart into a million fucking pieces...?"

I lifted my stare to his, letting a singular tear slide down the valley of my cheeks as I pinned my eyes on his.

"What if I don't?"

Kaleb parted his lips to retort, confusion and uncertainly storming through his stare. No words fell from his lips though. He was at a loss; that much was evident. Eventually, he blew out a deep sigh and shook his head.

"I just haven't thought about that..."

"Well think about it," I said somewhat forcefully, an unusual strength pushing forward my words. "Because I'm in a one sided relationship now... and I'm not going to get out of one just to jump right into another."

Kaleb's brows twitched and furrowed together, an almost desperate vulnerability mixed with curiosity swirling through his stare.

"Have you thought about it? Have you thought about the possibility of loving me and all that would come with it?" His azure gaze bored into mine intensely.

"Could you fall in love with me, Leah?"

Before I could answer, Kaleb was called on stage for his scene with Meg.

I watched from the wings as Kaleb strolled up to Meg. Meg faced away from me but I could see Kaleb perfectly from where I was, his handsome face right in my view.

Meg was the first to speak in the scene.

"How do you know if you're not there?" she asked, referring to Kaleb's character Dan knowing what her character Anna had been up to.

"Because I am there, lurking from a distance," Kaleb replied coyly. Then, something happened that never occurred before during this scene as many times as I had watched it from afar.

Kaleb looked at me. His bright stare connected to mine and shocked my insides. It was no longer Dan looking at Anna; it was Kaleb staring at me, his eyes digging into my soul as he said his next line, purpose pushing forward his out of character eye contact.

"Look at me and tell me you're in love with me."

My breath stuck in my throat, my heart leaped and writhed inside my chest, and my mind spun with a thousand thoughts... all leading to one conclusion.

Holy shit.

It all made sense now. Why Kaleb could touch me, calm me, arouse me like no one else could. Why every time he was in my proximity my entire body and mind were on high alert and drawn to every single thing about him. Why he was the only thing I could think of, the only person I wanted to be with, talk to and everything about him seemed to consume me whole. Kaleb was always around me and I wanted him there and when he wasn't, I was thinking of him, dreaming of him. My heart sang with every word from Kaleb's sweet mouth, my body tingled with touch of Kaleb's skilled and loving hands.

Kaleb. Kaleb. Kaleb.

Oh my god...

My shaking fingers rose to cover over the gape of my slightly ajar mouth as my sudden and terrifying realization consumed my every thought.

I had fallen completely and helplessly in love with Kaleb.

As the rehearsal lingered on, my mind altering discovery was never tucked too far away in my thoughts, always drifting forward whenever the man surrounding the realization popped into my view.

I felt almost stupid for not realizing it sooner. I was curious as to when exactly I had fallen out of love with Zach and in love with Kaleb. Was it a simultaneous occurrence? Had I not loved Zach as deeply as I had thought for longer than assumed?

So many thoughts bombarded my mind, making it increasingly more and more difficult to focus on the show and staying in character was all but an impossible task. Yet, the one question that kept making its way into my mind, pushing past every other question was one that stirred a sickening amount of dread within me and caused my heart to writhe viciously inside of my chest.

Would he love me back?

Kaleb had just made it very clear that he hadn't thought he would ever put himself in the position to love again but said he wanted me... so where did he draw the line?

I was confused, preemptively heartbroken, and entirely reluctant when Kaleb and I's final scene together in the play came along. The scene began off happy, flirty, and in love. Yet, as the scene continued on and Alice's character prepared to leave Dan's, things got overly tense and far too personal.

"Why did he tell you?" I asked Kaleb's character as I sat criss-cross on the bed on stage, referring to why Jackson's character had told Kaleb's that he and I had slept together.

"Because he's a bastard," Kaleb spit out, standing on the opposite side of the bed.

"But why test me?"

"Because I'm an idiot," Kaleb said as he made is way over to me on the bed, a desperate look embedded within his eyes and his warm, large hands grasped both sides of my face.

"Yes, you are." My features, which were all but deadpanned as of now, morphed with sincerity as the next line fell from my lips, ringing true through the theater as my own emotions seeped into the words. "And I would have loved you... forever."

I saw the switch in Kaleb's gaze that was trained so intently on mine. Somehow, he knew those words were no longer merely a line in the show but something of far greater importance.

"Please go," I told Kaleb's character as I scooted my way off of the bed.

"Don't do this, Alice. Please talk to me."

"I am talking. Now fuck off."

"I love you!" Kaleb cried out in character as a last ditch effort to keep my character there.

How gravely I wished it was Kaleb saying those words to Leah and not Dan saying them to Alice.

"Where?" I inquired, my voice rising as anger began to accumulate inside of me, threatening to break through the seams of my emotions.

"What?" Kaleb asked in pure confusion.

I spun around of my heel, my eyes deadly daggers digging into Kaleb's as I spoke and with each word from my mouth, less and less of Alice made her way through as my own vulnerability shone through pathetically.

"Show me! Where is this love? I... I can't see it. I can't touch it. I can't feel it. I can hear it. I can hear some words but I can't do anything with your easy words!"

Something of powerful intensity flitted through Kaleb's eyes and was gone before either of us had a chance to decode it as he continued on with the scene.

"Why did you fuck him?"

"I wanted to."

"Why?"

"You weren't there!"

"Why him!?"

"He asked me nicely," I replied causally as Kaleb became more and more enraged within the scene, his face beat red and his eyes, deep pits of scorching fire.

"You're a liar!" he accused as he strode closer to me, bringing his livid face right up in front of mine, his massive body looming over mine as I held my ground with presumed ease.

"So?"

"Who are you, Alice?!"

"I'm no one!" I screamed back at him as my character was thrown over the top of her sanity as I placed my hands flat against Kaleb's solid chest and pushed as hard as I could.

This scene was intense; far more intense that I had ever recalled it being before. My emotions were running high and raw as I slammed my hands in tight fists against Kaleb's chest, letting out every ounce of Alice's fury, despair, and loneliness.

In that moment, Alice and I were one.

I threw myself into Kaleb, trying to knock him off balance as a cracked whimper slipped past my lips. Of course, as Kaleb and I had been instructed, Kaleb didn't budge an inch and soon enough I felt his strong hands wrap around both of my wrists, stunting any further assault on him.

My head snapped up to meet his storming eyes.

"Hit me," I told him, my voice breaking as every overwhelming emotion of the past week ripped past my fragile seams.

"It's what you want," I continued on, knowing that I was fully out of character and now completely myself. It was now Leah telling Kaleb to hit her... and it struck too close to home for both of us.

I watched as the hard exterior of Dan's character washed from Kaleb's features entirely. His brows dipped together, his river blue stare radiating in excruciating grief into my own as he took in the woeful tears sitting in my honey stare, the slight quiver of my lips, and painful memories of that one night that were forever scarred into my mind as they played out through my eyes.

And while he was doing so... something happened.

Something in Kaleb's eyes changed. An overpowering, fierce emotion poured through and invaded his stare that was set so firmly on mine. Kaleb's soft lips dropped open as his deeply overwhelming stare scoured over every section of my face, stirring up an a severe bout of anxiety and desperation with my heart.

"Hit me!" I screamed, shaking myself in Kaleb's grasp, trying to ignite some sort of reaction from him as a mindless tear slipped down my flushed cheek. The falling petal of water caught Kaleb's attention as he watched it with great intensity as it dripped down my face and hung off of my chin.

Slowly, I felt the tight grip of Kaleb's fingers around one of my wrist peal itself from my arm. Confusion wracked through my brain as to what he was doing and my breathing had intensified into deep pants filled with such raw, unfiltered emotion.

My breath hitched audibly as I felt the gentle caress of Kaleb's warm fingers across the bottom of my chin as he wiped my tear away.

This wasn't in the scene.

Then, that same hand came up and tenderly cupped my cheek, Kaleb's thumb brushing out and softly grazing across my face.

And then his eyes met mine.

My heart instantly lurched in my chest, trying to escape seemingly as I took in the profound emotion swirling freely through Kaleb's stare; an emotion that I had never quite seen before.

Softly and carefully, he spoke.

"I would never."

A loud breath escaped past my lips, sounding almost like a dry sob as I took in his earnest words that held so much more meaning to me than anybody would ever be able to understand.

Without hesitation, my hand came up and clamped over Kaleb's that was settled on my face, lacing our fingers together. Wordlessly, I tried to tell him with the deep-seated devotion embedded within my eyes how much I cared for him and how impossibly and madly I had fallen in love with him even more so in that very moment.

The world around us had disappeared. No one else existed in that moment other than us.

Two bodies, two souls, one heart.

Abruptly, terror invaded my mind as I saw Kaleb's own fear creep in and consume the beauty of his once warm stare. His entire face creased with sudden trepidation and the warm comfort of his hand dropped from my face, leaving me cold and confused.

"Fuck," Kaleb cursed out under his breath, shaking his head slightly as he became lost and hounded by his own thoughts and feelings. His full lips parted, his eyes reaching back up to bleed into mine with their alarming fright.

"I have to go."

What?

Then his body was gone from in front of mine. I spun on my heel, my eyes finding Kaleb's retreating figure as he stalked off in long strides off towards the dressing room, leaving me cold, unsure, and alone.

What just happened?