"Great rehearsal guys, there's about four hours until the show starts so go and do as you please. Obviously don't strain your voices or use too much of your energy." Julia explains cautiously to the group and then leaves them alone in the rehearsal room.
It's the next day and the group is currently at the venue in Atlanta; they've just finished running through the show and it went very well. They've done it so many times at this point Lauren could do it with her eyes closed.
"What do you guys wanna do?" Dylan leans against the wall and folds his arms. Everyone suggests stuff that everyone else shuts down, which is usually how deciding something goes.
"I say we play hide or seek!" Joe grins and no one objects. "Big scary theatre that we don't know our way around, a lot of time on our hands..it will be fun!" He pleads and there are a few murmurs of agreement in response.
"Yeah okay," Lauren stands up and smooths down her clothes. "but you're counting, Walker." She smirks at him and he rolls his eyes, while everyone else laughs.
"Okay, piss off and i'll count to 30." He calls as the six of them scatter from the room. Lauren is the last to leave as she was tying up her shoe lace and didn't realise they were starting. She runs down the corridor of this unfamiliar theatre, cursing to herself as everyone else is gone and she can't find anywhere to hide. She can hear Joe is almost finished counting which is just making her panic more.
Suddenly a door next to where she's standing quickly opens to reveal darkness inside. "Lauren, get in here!" A voice hisses and even though she doesn't know who it is, the girl has no other option and so jumps into the cupboard.
The mystery person closes the door behind her so it's pitch black and Lauren cannot see anything. She tries to squint as her eyes adjust to the darkness but it doesn't work. "Brian?" She whispers, and is met with a laugh in response.
"Nope." They whisper back.
Lauren's eyes suddenly widen and her heart feels like it's stopped as she realises who it is.
"Joey?"
He laughs again, but it's a deep, quiet sound at the back of his throat. "Well done genius." He says, and she can tell he's smiling.
Lauren exhales slowly and feels her hands get sweaty. She's in a tiny, dark cupboard with the guy she likes, who she is supposed to be staying away from. What could go wrong?
She clears her throat and tucks her hair behind her ears. "This is a dark cupboard.." She says quietly and then silently curses to herself; why did she say that? That's not interesting, or funny - that's just a fact that has nothing to do with anything.
Joey chuckles. "Well spotted."
She rolls her eyes and swings her hand across the air, attempting to hit his arm but clearly missing as she doesn't touch anything. Sensing what she was trying to do, Joey laughs again. "You missed." He states and Lauren can't help but smile.
"Yeah no shit." She giggles, and then they're both just quietly laughing together. It's nice, like how it used to be.
Once the laughter dies down, Joey falls silent again and Lauren starts to get scared; the dark has always been a fear of hers and she has no idea where he's standing. "Uh, Joey?" She asks hesitantly, feeling the embarrassment slowly rise inside of her.
"Hm?" He sounds close, but she still can't feel him anywhere near her.
"Can you come here? I'm kind of..scared.." She says quietly.
Joey sniggers and takes a step towards her. Lauren has her hands stretched out in front of her, ready to feel anything that comes close. Suddenly her hands make contact with Joey's chest and she yelps in fright and jumps back, but trips over a bucket that's on the floor, resulting in her tumbling towards the ground. Joey obviously realises what's going on and catches her, but Lauren has no idea how because they're literally in complete darkness. His hands grab her waist and pull her back to her feet like she weighs nothing. Lauren's heart is beating so fast as the shock from the fall plays in her mind. She laughs nervously and holds Joey's arms, as he's still holding her waist.
