"Professor assigned it specifically because it's intense." He stands, grabs his script. "Said we need to explore power dynamics and desire. Apparently I'm 'too nice' in my choices."
"You are too nice."
"Thanks?" He grins. "So will you help me be less nice?"
This is a bad idea. Stanley and Blanche. All that violence and desire and complicated power exchange. But I nod.
"Okay. Which scene?"
"Scene three. The poker night. Where he—" He pauses. "Where it gets physical."
Of course. The scene where Stanley asserts dominance. Where Blanche responds despite knowing she shouldn't. Where everything simmers under the surface until it explodes.
"Let's start from the top," I say, opening my script.
We run through it once. Mechanically. Hitting marks, saying lines, going through the motions. Ben's holding back—being too careful, too controlled.
"Stop," I say after his third failed attempt at Stanley's aggression. "You're in your head."
"I don't want to hurt you."
"It's acting, Ben. You're not going to hurt me."
"The scene calls for me to grab you. To get in your space. To—"
"So do it." I toss my script aside. "Forget the script. Just... react. Let yourself be aggressive. Possessive. Whatever the scene needs."
"Vespera—"
"Do you trust me?"
He nods slowly.
"Then trust that I'll stop you if it's too much." I move closer. "Show me Stanley. Show me that desire and rage and need to dominate. Make me believe it."
Something shifts in his expression. The nice-guy mask slipping slightly.
"From the top?" His voice is different. Lower.
"From the top."
We start again.
This time, it's better. He's looser. More present. When the blocking calls for him to grab my wrist, he does it—firm enough to ground the moment without hurting.
"You're mine," he says, improvising dialogue. "Say it."
"I'm not anyone's," I shoot back, also improvising.
"Liar." He pulls me closer. "I can see it in your eyes. The way you look at me."
We're not doing the scene anymore. We're somewhere else. Something else.
His hand slides from my wrist to my hip. Still gentle. Still asking permission.
I should stop this. Should step back. Should remember that this is practice, not real, that I'm bonded and claimed and definitely not available for whatever this is becoming.
But I don't stop.
