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Married Before Midnight - Married Before Midnight by Sienna Quinn - Chapter 53
Author: Novels Audio
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Married Before Midnight
Chapter 53
The Coffee, the Costume, and the Catastrophe
Charlotte Carter had never met anyone as infuriatingly persistent as Jameson Blackwell. It had been two weeks since their disastrous first rehearsal, and somehow, despite her best efforts to freeze him out, Jamie kept finding ways to burrow under her skin. Today’s attempt? A coffee. Not just any coffee—an oat milk lavender latte, no sugar. The exact order she always got from the café near campus.
Charlotte eyed the cup he held out with deep suspicion. "How did you even know what I drink?" Jamie grinned, that stupid, confident grin that made her want to throw something at him. "I have my ways." She took the cup, hesitantly lifting it to her lips—only for the lid to pop off mid-sip, sending scalding liquid splashing down the front of her cream-colored blouse. Silence. Then— "You idiot," she hissed, grabbing the nearest script and smacking him square in the chest. "Was this some kind of sabotage?" Jamie’s eyes widened in genuine horror. "No! I—I was trying to be nice!" "Try less," she snapped, storming off toward the bathroom while the rest of the cast watched in stunned amusement.
The next disaster came in the form of Juliet’s costume. Charlotte had been fitted for the delicate, vintage-style gown—the only one not yet altered—and Professor Langley had explicitly warned everyone not to touch it.
Naturally, Jamie managed to spill an entire bottle of red Gatorade across the bodice while "helping" carry props. "I thought it was cranberry juice!" he protested as Charlotte gaped at the ruined fabric. She blinked slowly. "You thought what kind of medieval Italian noblewoman drinks cranberry juice on stage?" Jamie ran a hand through his hair, looking genuinely guilty. "I panicked, okay?" "You panicked your way into a laundry bill," she muttered, already mentally calculating how much this would cost her.
Then came the cat. It wasn’t even their cat. During an outdoor rehearsal in the quad, a sleek black-and-white tuxedo cat sauntered onto the bench between them mid-scene, curled up in Jamie’s lap, and refused to move. Jamie smirked. "Looks like someone appreciates my charm." Charlotte arched a brow. "Finally, someone with fur and four legs who’s dumb enough to fall for you." He grinned. "Jealous?" "Of the cat? Only if it gets to scratch you." The cat purred, nuzzling against Jamie’s hand, and Charlotte fought the ridiculous urge to laugh. --- Despite the disasters, the spats, the daily eye-rolls—Jamie kept showing up. Persistent. Annoyingly charming. And, occasionally, disarmingly sincere.
One evening, after a surprisingly smooth rehearsal, they walked off stage together, the late sun casting long shadows across the campus. Jamie glanced at her sideways. "You know," he said casually, "if this were a romantic comedy, this is the part where you’d start falling for me." Charlotte didn’t miss a beat. "Good thing it’s a Greek tragedy then." He laughed, loud and unguarded, and for the first time, she almost smiled back. Almost.