Wake Up | E. Caswell [SLOW UPDATES]

ninteen | tech week pt. 2

"I tried to warn you. Those were for Miss Jenn's eyes only," Carlos added desperately.

"Not a problem," Ej retorted, rising to his feet. "Cause apparently I don't have emotions."

"Sometimes you do have a way of performing that doesn't exactly feel authentic," Carlos admitted gently.

"Then what was I just doing on stage?" Ej asked pointedly.

"Making me vastly uncomfortable," Lucy shot back.

"It felt a little more like an allergic reaction," Carlos added, nodding slowly.

"Then whats authentic to you, Carlos? A forest full of human beings?" Ej asked annoyedly. Lucy frowned at him, not liking how clearly upset he was.

"That concept may need a little bit of time," Carlos defended himself.

"And so do I," Ej said lowly, shoving the box of popcorn in Carlos's hands. Lucy sighed and looked at Carlos reassuringly.

"Your concept was wonderful... I'll go talk to him," Lucy patted Carlos's shoulder gently, running off after Ej right after.

"At least someone appreciates my vision," Carlos grumbled to himself, taking a handful of popcorn and shoving it in his mouth. He spit it back into the box. "This popcorn is stale."

"Ej, Ej, wait!" Lucy called, finally skidding to a stop in front of him and grabbing his arms.

"Lucy, I just want to be left alone," Ej groaned.

"Stop, stop! Just... stop and listen to me," she pleaded, grabbing his arms and looking up at him. His eyes softened and he sighed looking down at her. "Ej, you need to get out of that pretty head of yours for a second and think about what Carlos and Miss Jenn are saying when they say you don't emote authentically on stage. They're not saying you don't emote, they're saying you aren't conveying it realistically. It's not a bad thing, they're not trying to be mean. It's a genuine note."

"Then what was I just doing in there?" Ej repeated.

"Ej, crying doesn't equal emoting," Lucy laughed lightly. "Emoting means taking the words of the scene and conveying them in a way that sets the tone. It draws you in and makes the characters more real."

"Well then how do you do it? How did you do the scene so perfectly?" Ej asked pointedly.

"Okay, we'll I wasn't perfect, maybe nearly that but not fully," Lucy rolled her eyes at him playfully. Ej looked at her blankly and Lucy giggled, shaking her head and grabbing his arms. She shook them gently as she told him, "Loosen up, Ej. Just act natural! I did the scene so well because I just..."

Lucy sighed and looked away, dropping his arms and folding her hands together. Ej looked at her expectantly, furrowing his eyebrows, "You just what?"

"I looked at you," she admitted finally. "I just pretended like we were having a conversation just you and me."

"You did?" Ej asked, a small smile forming on his face.

"Yeah," Lucy laughed lightly. "I don't know if you've noticed, but whenever we've had one of our weird... moments together, it's always to a Troy and Gabriella duet. We kinda embody those characters... minus the toxicity, I hope, so it's easy to play them with you."