Nicholas Phillips. It rolled off the tongue like a smooth cognac.

The lights dimmed, and the audience erupted in an enthusiastic applause. It made sense that they did: half of them were women. And not just that, they were all dressed like Tori. We were officially at the Oscars. All for Nicholas, like the guy at the ticket window had said earlier this week. What a sad bunch. I bet he was gay. He wasn't dating Ophelia; I bet he was dating Horatio.

I wore blue jeans and a sleeveless white blouse from Forever21. I didn't have any makeup on and my hair was up in a ponytail. I was here to work, not find a husband... or so I kept telling myself. This was the prettiest blouse I owned.

Act I scene i was a drag, but it left Tori speechless, which was nice.

King Hamlet was highly reminiscent of James Earl Jones... if he were Darth Vader playing Mufasa.

As soon as the first scene ended, the girls in front of me pulled out their lip-gloss and mirrors to check their hair. It would be a miracle if Nicholas were able to see anyone in the audience; the lights on stage were too bright for him to see us. When he appeared in the second scene, though, I understood their foolishness completely.

Without uttering a word, even though all of the commotion surrounded King Claudius, my full attention went to Nicholas. Suspicion and tempered disgust radiated from his face and tense arms and fists. When he started his soliloquy, I stopped breathing.

I was transfixed by him, just like I felt when I first stepped into this theater a couple of days ago. No one else existed. In fact, I felt like I didn't exist.

His eyes shone like beacons, and his rich baritone echoed across the seats. He had a British accent like the other actors but believable. Was he British, really? There was nothing sexier than a British accent.

He moved so comfortably around the stage as if it were his home or even a temple. And the black period costume fit him perfectly, like a condom... er, a glove.

He stood a little left of center near the end of the soliloquy, looking into the audience as if he were speaking to everyone in the front row. I began to feel like sitting in the fourth row was hell in comparison. Thinking of the audience pulled me out of the shock from his presence. As Horatio, Marcellus and Bernardo entered stage left, I exhaled... and heard the two girls in front of me exhale as well.

Whoa, what was that? What in the world was that? What was going on with me?

I shook my head, barely paying attention to the rest of the scene. I hardly remembered any of his soliloquy. I was lost through the rest of Act I and grateful for the two minute break before Act II. The last thing that I could remember was how well his tights fit him.

The lights came on and the chatter of the audience rolled through the theater.

"Wow, this guy sucks. I can't wait to see him die at the end." Billy yawned, glancing at Tori before looking at me with this silly grin on his face.

"Very mature, Billy," I heard Tori say. "He's good. You're just jealous."

None of their statements registered with me. I couldn't help but feel dazed since Nicholas left the stage. I needed to see him again, and I was pissed there would be such a long wait. Act II scene i was all about Ophelia. I wanted to see Nicholas in his insanity, not Ophelia whine about it. Yes, Ophelia. He's crazy. Now get on with your life.

"Hey Kat," Billy asked, bending over toward the floor. "You dropped your book."

"What?" I hadn't even noticed. He handed it to me. "Thanks."

"Hey, are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"She has," Tori piped in.

I rubbed my forehead, nodding. "I guess I didn't expect the show to be this good."

The lights flickered and the chatter of the audience died down to a hushed whisper.

I peeked over the shoulder of the two girls seated in front of me. They were sending texts on their phones and giggling about something. Did they know Nicholas? Maybe he was sleeping with them, Ophelia, and Horatio.

"What do you think of him, Kat?" Billy asked.

"Huh?" I thought I saw the words, "See you later, lover" on the phone's screen when they put it away. I have no chance with this guy, whatsoever. Who was I fooling? He was surrounded by girls who looked like supermodels. I needed to crawl under a rock and die... or at least attempt to concentrate on the play again.

"What do you think of the guy playing Hamlet?" Billy asked again.

"Umm, I don't know. I... I'll have to see more of him."

Ophelia was perfectly whiny and worried. The actor playing Polonius -- who looked all of fifteen and so silly wearing a gray beard -- was adding a comedic edge to his delivery that was actually quite brilliant. He had great chemistry with Ophelia, too. In fact, the whole cast had great chemistry, especially with Nicholas.

I was fidgeting in my seat before the second scene, anxious for those green eyes again when I heard Billy groan.

"Dude, don't even start," I said.

"What? I'm not starting anything."

"I know how you are when you don't see enough blood in anything. It's coming, alright? Patience."

"No, it's not that," he said. "I feel weird."

"What? What's wrong?"

"It's...nothing. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" Tori asked him, rubbing his shoulder.

"Yeah, I am not missing the rest of the play just because I feel a little off. I'm fine."

The second scene began, and I couldn't concentrate. I stared at the side stage the entire time, waiting for Nicholas to reenter with a book in hand, fall over himself, and look like a half-wit on cocaine. All this talking the others did of him was frustrating beyond anything I had ever experienced.

"Come on, Nicholas," I whispered without meaning to. Oh great, Kat. Thankfully, no one heard me. I held my breath until finally, he reappeared.

His hair disheveled, his shirt unbuttoned at the top, and his stocking ripped, he was oddly hot and unconventional. His pale face shone under the white light from sweat and his eyes had that mania I remembered from the e-newsletter.

POLONIUS: O, give me leave.

HAMLET: Well, God-a-mercy.

POLONIUS: Do you know me, my lord?

HAMLET: Excellent well; you are a fishmonger.

The audience erupted in hysterical laughter. And the great thing was, as he played to the audience in previous scenes, he played to us here as if he were doing stand up. Was he funny in real life, too?

A ponytail? Really Kat? I cursed myself. A red lip wouldn't've hurt.

The rest of the scene was phenomenal. It was better than any production I had ever seen. I wished there was a bit of this in The Lion King, too, when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern joined them on stage.

Near the middle of that interchange, Nicholas reached a line and stopped. He shook his head, starting again from the beginning... then stopped again.

Billy snickered.

The entire theater was silent. I was too stunned to realize this was real. For a long time, I thought it was a part of the insanity act: sudden memory loss. But when he started the third time, my brain went into overdrive, and I knew the exact line he had trouble with: it was what I had read this morning on the train, about human beings being the quintessence of dust.

So, he went into the line again:

HAMLET: I will tell you why; so shall my anticipation prevent
Your discovery, and your secrecy to the king and
Queen moult no feather. I have of late- but wherefore
I know not-lost all my mirth...

And he stopped again, turning and facing Rosencrantz, I think silently begging him to go on to the next line. But I knew Hamlet's next line. And before a thought, I stood up:

"...forgone all custom of exercises; and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory..."

I said it quickly, like a stream of consciousness. And around "disposition," he joined in, looking me right in the eye, and completed the entire line.

I stood until he was done, unable to move, his eyes never leaving mine. So many emotions ran through them as he walked to the edge of the stage, grateful, relieved, and yet still in character, still despondent.

When Rosencrantz continued with the scene, Nicholas turned to him. I remained standing in a daze, waiting for our eyes to reconnect, but there was too much going on in this scene for that to happen. Suddenly, I heard a few claps from the people around me and someone grab and pull me down roughly onto my seat.

"Kat, sit down!" It was Billy.

I shook my head vigorously, feeling my face get hot. Everyone, from the two supermodels in front of me to the people across the aisle, leered at me. Then, the last five minutes flooded my mind as if I were watching myself in a movie. I dropped my head in between my knees.

"Oh no!" Quite possibly, that was the geekiest thing I had ever done. And in this sartorial travesty? I shared a moment with that beautiful talented man in the worst possible way. I bet the connection was all in my head. He must think I'm a loser. I know it.

"Kat, they have people to feed him lines if he forgets. You didn't have to do that," Billy groaned, bending over to pick up my notebook again. I sat up, taking it from him and tossing it behind me. Then, I dropped my face into my hands and sighed.

"I know. I know. I just... I had to do it..."

I could not look up at the stage again, even when he went into the final soliloquy of the scene, his voice pounding in my ears and flooding my brain. He was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. I had no idea who this man was, except that he was incredible. I did not understand the connection I had to him at all and a part of me was afraid of it.

None of this is real, Katherine. Pull yourself together. Nicholas isn't this deep, caring, funny, thoughtful person you have concocted. He's married to Horatio, dammit.

When the lights came on for another two-minute break, I could not take another second of everyone's stares and ran out of there.

I needed some fresh air... and a Xanax... or ten.

I ran down the stairs and outside the building, the hot air like fire in my lungs. I bent forward, squeezing my knees.

God, his eyes! I couldn't run away from them. A smoker up-wind from me filled my lungs with rank ash. I suffocated on the smoke and my memories of Nicholas. I could not catch my breath.

"Aren't you that chick that stood up in the auditorium? That was so weird!" The smoker said before taking another drag. He laughed then his phone rang before I could respond.

How could I return to the theater? How could I when the entire audience probably thought I was "weird"? I couldn't face Nicholas, Billy, Tori, and them. I would go home and watch the Kenneth Branagh version for the tenth time, instead. I could write a stellar paper from that production, piece of cake. I got Dana her interview with Sato. Catching this play was more of a treat for Billy than anything. I didn't have to stay. He and Tori wouldn't miss me anyway.

I stood up again, my mind spinning from getting up too quickly. I walked to the street, about to hail a cab, when I heard the front door of the theater behind me slam against the brick wall.

"Wait!" From a voice to make all hearts cease beating... "Don't leave."

I turned around slowly, the cigarette smoke clouding my vision of him... of his brilliant eyes. I squinted through it, trying to make sure. Then, the wind picked up, clearing it all away.

I gaped.

Nicholas Phillips. He stood at the doorway, out of breath, still in costume, hesitantly taking a couple of steps toward me.

His eyes were more brilliant now than they had been on stage. They were brighter than beacons, beaming directly into my soul.

"Stay. Please?"

A/N: Chills, right? Chills! Kat certainly embarrassed herself, there. Although it was for good reason. (Talk about clutch!)

And yeah, see? There was a reason I threw those Shakespeare quotes at ya in Chapter 4. It wasn't just cause they were pretty. 😄😄

Now what will the beautiful man with the hypnotic gaze and the posh British accent say to the girl?

Comment for - "Marry me."

Vote for - "You saved me back there. Thanks."

Or comment and vote and stay with Nicholas.