𝐁𝐈𝐓𝐂𝐇 • Miguel Cazarez Mora

X: REUNION

The two months of filming went by slowly. Tatum stuck to what she said and texted her friended everyday, and they were on group calls as often as possible.

The hate that she was receiving had simmered down, but not before causing her multiple breakdowns, where she'd been consoled by Noah, or over FaceTime by Tristan or Miguel.

She'd only threw up at the sight of blood once, which was surprising considering how much there was in the film.

Finally, it was the final week of filing. There were only a few scenes left. They were likely going to be the most draining ones, the fights scenes, the running away, all of the sfx.

Tatum was as excited as she was nervous. She was only a side character in The Black Phone. None of her scenes were strenuous, and they certainly didn't involve fighting.

Today was particularly hard. Tatum's character was the final girl, Blake, the one who was meant to kill the killer. Noah's character was the killer, Alex, who'd already killed every single other character.

It was a scene where he chased her around the house, and then they broke out into a fight. Tatum kept getting her lines wrong, so they had to film over and over.

"I'm so sorry," she said to Noah when she messed them up again.

"Don't worry about it. When I had my first big acting role, I was terrible with my lines. You're doing great," Noah reassured her. If Tatum was being honest, the casts reassurance is what kept her from quitting. They all reassured her that they were nervous when they had their first main role.

After what felt like hours of filming, they finally got the chasing scene over, deciding to do the fight scene tomorrow considering how tired Tatum and Noah were.

Tatum went to her trailer and looked on the group chat. No notifications. Tatum found it weird that no one had spoken all day, so she decided to text first.

the best cast📞

TATUM🪷
hey guys
we're almost done with filming
one week left
me and noah are filming the big
fight scene tomorrow
(seen by all)

"What the hell?" Tatum said aloud upon being ignored by the group chat. She was about to text someone privately, before she heard a knock on the door. She opened it to find Sydney.

"Don't be mad," Sydney said.

"Why would I be mad, Syd?" Tatum asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"They need us to refilm the scene where I get killed. Noah messed up his lines. It'll be quick."

Tatum didn't mind. It was an easy scene to film, she was just glad they weren't making her film the fight scene yet.

When Tatum made it back to set, the lights were out. "What's going on?" She asked Sydney.

"I don't know," Sydney replied. Tatum suddenly felt scared. She couldn't see a thing on set, and she stayed still in case she tripped over something. "Is anyone there?" Sydney called out. Tatum began to feel like the film was becoming true.

Before Tatum could say anything, the lights turned on. "Surprise!" She heard a few voices. So that's why they'd ignored her.

"Oh my God!" She screamed, running to her friends. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Noah told us you'd been feeling stressed lately, so we're gonna spend your last week here with you," Becca said.

"Wait, really? Oh my God," Tatum ran to Noah and embraced him, "Thank you!"

Tristan looked at Miguel. He could tell he was happy, but there was something in his eyes watching Tatum hug Noah, especially considering what Tristan had mentioned multiple times about Noah being her celebrity crush.

"What about the sleeping situation?" Tatum asked as she made her way back over to her friends.

"We'll figure something out," Tristan said, "Your trailers not that small."

"You've been in there already?"

"Where do you think we've been hiding all day?" Miguel asked. "We got out just before you finished up with filming."

"Well, let's go back there now. You guys need to catch me up on everything," Tatum said, leading her friends back to her trailer.

They caught each other up on what had been happening, although there wasn't much to say considering they'd been talking everyday.

Tatum was happy to have her friends back, and she knew she wouldn't be flying back alone now. "How's filming been going?" Miguel asked.

"It's been pretty nice, actually. I've messed up a lot of my lines, but the rest of the cast is really reassuring. This last week is gonna be pretty strenuous, though. I have this big fight scene tomorrow with Noah. We were meant to do it today, but there was one scene we have to keep redoing because I was fucking up, so we decided to do it tomorrow since we were both too tired today."

"Maybe you need to get a nap," Maddy suggested.

"Would it be rude if I did?" Tatum asked.

"Not at all," Mason said, "We could really use some time to look around the city, anyway." Everyone agreed. Tatum went off for a nap, and everyone else left the trailer to look around.

Tristan and Miguel wandered off together, and Miguel found a florist. He stopped to look at the flowers, Tristan standing behind him. "You thinking about buying her some flowers?" He asked Miguel, who nodded. "Okay, well she likes-"

"Pink tulips," Miguel finished for him, "I know."

"You remembered that? You must really like her."

"I do. I just don't know if she likes me back. She's so closed off, it's hard to tell."

"You're right," Tristan said, "She doesn't even talk to me about this kind of stuff."

"Is it worth trying?" Miguel asked.

"Totally. You guys would be cute. I mean, everyone ships it. Just take it slow, don't rush to ask her out. It's the little things that count. They'll make her open up more."

"You're right," Miguel said, picking up some pink tulips, "The little things."