The Shrewing of the Tame {{Oh So OPEN!}}

It had taken Jay almost three whole days to figure out what character in the world she could use to fulfill Mr. Butler's requirements for the first Actors and Their Characters assignment. Normally, choosing a character was as easy as closing her eyes and picking a book from her shelf at random. There was always at least one character in any book that she could either connect with or be so interested in that she could easily take the part. Perhaps it came from her natural friendliness, but there were very few characters that Jay had absolutely no connection with. Even the ones she disliked drew her to them in some strange way. But Mr. Butler had demanded that they choose a character that they had no love for, and Jay had quite a hard time with that.

Finally though she had settled on a character. Darling Katharina from Taming of the Shrew. Jay wasn't entirely sure what it was about Kate that made her detest her as a character, but she figured that it had something to do with the violent way Kate reacted to her surroundings. That and the way Kate couldn't freaking calm down until she'd been 'tamed' by some guy. Jay huffed into the empty costume closet, fumbling for the switch in the dark. The lights came on and she was delighted (as she always was) at the racks of costumes of all shapes and sizes. Oh man, how she would have loved to have picked Puck or something, somebody with a really interesting wardrobe. Well, she could always modernize Kate a bit. Make her a punk rebel or something. "Now, let's see. If I were a shrew, what would I wear?" she asked herself, unaware that she had been recently joined in the room.

Micah had been having a confusing time since homecoming. He'd kissed Jay, that was his own fault, whatever. But the confusing part was; it hadn't been confusing. It wasn't even like, leading up to the kiss, his thoughts were a muddy hormone-crazed jumble that he couldn't understand. Since the very moment she'd come down to meet them that night, he'd wanted it. He couldn't explain it, but there was nothing more sure or clear in his mind.

That was more confusing than having been confused in the heat of the moment. But no- kissing her had been a very planned and calculated move. When everything had fallen into place, the romantic music, the lights, them dancing, then he'd gladly taken his opportunity. And it had happened, and he hadn't regretted it a bit, though he wasn't particularly enjoying the awkwardness between him and his best friend.

But nonetheless, Micah was completely unable to force any guilt whatsoever about the incident. He'd enjoyed the kiss. He'd probably like to have one again. If he actually had to listen to Jane chastise him, he might feel a little guilty- he wasn't some soulless asshole like Will, after all. Genuinely, he liked Jay. It was clear as a bell. He wanted to try being with her again. But both Micah and Jane had had a bad rap on the relationship side of things, and she WAS his best friend. That was where the confounding variables came in...

So was it that fatefully, as he was walking from the cafeteria after getting a popsicle, his path should cross with the exact blonde bombshell that had been dominating his thoughts since homecoming. Immediately changing his own way to match hers, Micah followed her through the unfamiliar theater wing, being an addict to the Gershwin wing himself. As silently as he could he traced her path through the unknown rooms, his brown eyes taking in the lights and sights around him, sketches of sets, costume designs, as he nibbled on his popsicle.

As they entered a massive workspace-type room, Micah looked around in awe. Those theater kids had a pretty righteous set up, there... Nodding his head in approval, he let Jane slip far ahead of him, and then followed as quietly as he could into the small room she'd ducked into him. Once inside, he leaned against the wall for a while, finishing off his popsicle and throwing the stick in a waste bin as he watched her peruse the costumes. Vaguely he wondered what she was looking for, but he was more focused on the way her hands moved over the fabric of the costumes, and how pretty her hair looked the way she was wearing it.

With purpose and vigor Micah moved forward, closing most of the space between them. Cocky, lopsided grin in place, he gently took hold of her wrist and spun her around to face him. Well, if it was so obvious what he wanted again today, why not act the same way? If she protested, he'd stop... it was pretty simple. Pushing her back against the wall and pulling her against him by her wrist so that her arm was slung over his shoulder, Micah slid his other hand onto her waist and looked in Jane's eyes for just a moment before moving his face down to hers and kissing her.

It felt just as nice as it had at homecoming, if not better due to the lack of people surrounding them. For what felt like a long time Micah stood there kissing his best friend, glowing triumphantly inside and hoping he didn't seem like too much of a creeper for having followed her there, and hoping that maybe it was as clear to her what she wanted as it was to him, though knowing Jane, he doubted that was true.

Jay was just passing her hand over the intricate velvet dress that she had only just worn when Kaye was sketching her when that wrist was suddenly seized from her control by some unknown force. Well, it was unknown at first anyway. She was spun around deftly and it turned out that the hand was attached to Micah, though Jay couldn't figure out why this was surprising. It's not like he had any reservations about catching Jane alone in small rooms, and he seemed to have some strange knack for being able to find her wherever she happened to be. The grin on his face was absolutely adorable and made Jay's face melt into a smile of its own. She was about to ask what he was looking for in the Costume Closet when she suddenly found her back being pressed against a wall and her hand being pulled up to rest over his shoulder. It was unexpected and made every nerve in her body start tingling. It wasn't an altogether unpleasant feeling (in fact it wasn't unpleasant at all) but it was one that Jay wasn't at all used to.

Her free hand found its way to the crook of Micah's elbow and she met his gaze, her lips trembling slightly in anticipation of what she was now completely expecting from him. Why wasn't she pulling away? It was Micah for goodness sake, they'd tried this before! But. But they were older now. Wiser? Probably not, but something was different. Her eyes fluttered closed as his face drew closer to hers. Their lips met finally, and Jay felt the same compulsion to pull back and run away that she had felt at Homecoming. She ignored it, though. She had to stop being such a scaredy cat at some point in her life; it might as well be now. She returned his kiss, pressing her lips confidently (mostly) against his, parting ever so slightly. She wasn't so thrilled at the whole idea of tongue, but she didn't want Micah to think he was kissing a rock or something.

The kiss lingered for a while in the clothes-smelling room, and Jay found herself pulling closer to Micah as it went on. Hey, this wasn't so bad. And this time there weren't a billion eyes staring at them. At last she pulled back, feeling her cheeks practically bursting with color, and looked up tentatively into his eyes. "Hey." she said, once again feeling her lips begin to tremble. What was supposed to happen now? She felt warm, comfortable. And happy. The kiss had definitely been different from the ones they had shared before, in their youth and at homecoming, and now she found she didn't know what to do next. She decided on small talk. "So..." she lost her words for a moment, her brain floundering around for its lost train of thought, "So what brings you to this fair closet?" She kicked herself mentally for being such a dork.