Procrastinators on Stage (Chris Kendall/crabstickz fanfic) *unedited*

Part 41- I Don't Like These Imperfections

I fixed the collar of my jacket and looked back over my shoulder towards the kitchen. I could hear little clinking sounds mixed with equally small hiccupping sounds. My heart softened as I edged back to the kitchen doorway to watch my friend as she peered into the rubbish bin.

"Hey," I whispered as I stood just inside the doorway.

Carrie started and lifted her hand away from her eyes in a tell-tale sign. "I'm fine," she sniffed firmly.

"Whatever you say," I replied. "I'll buy you a new one, I promise." I knew she couldn't just be upset about the mug, even if she did love Stitch unendurably. I hoped that there wasn't some momentous story behind how she came to own this mug or something.

"Okay," she said. She wiped her eyes and forced a smile at me, her dark eyes bright. "Break a leg."

I nodded solemnly before making my exit from the flat once more. I was such a horrible person. I was a walking apology. Maybe I should start wearing a sandwich board with 'I'm really sorry, okay?' written on it. It would save me so much damn time.

*

My being began to fade before my eyes. My features became lost, concealed against my own skin. My eyes seemed to grow as they were slowly rimmed in black. The same happened to my lips when they were layered with delicate pink. A brow pencil danced through the hairs on my brow bone and darkened them against the contrast of my sickly skin tone. I couldn't stop looking at my reflection in the extended mirror before me. I looked proud now, even powerful, which challenged how pathetic I'd been over the past month. Maybe tonight would be the night when I truly smiled.

It was now quarter to seven in the evening and the show was due to start within the next forty-five minutes. It was only now, when I was surrounded by the hubbub and gossip of the waiting theatre, that it was finally dawning on me that tonight was the night.

Helen, one of the hair and makeup artists for the theatre company, was currently talking me through how I should go about applying all of the green makeup I'd need for each show, as well as how I should style my hair at different points in the performance. We were both alone in my dressing room at this point. The room was very much like the room I'd previously done set design work in. There were mirrors against all of the walls, windows to the back of the room, and glitter embedded in the floor, but instead of crafts littering the place, personal possessions belonging to either myself or three of my other co-actresses were scattered over any available surface.

My space in the room was directly to the left of room when you entered and I'd already claimed it as my own. I had a half-eaten pack of Jaffa Cakes crumpled next to an old makeup bag of mine I'd brought in next to the mirror. There was also a stack of John Green books next to a pen pot, my iPod was discarded atop my script, and even the remnants of a Starbucks meal lay across the whole desk. After Carrie had suggested it, I'd started to write which show number it was on the mirror in green whiteboard marker. I'd even drawn myself a little green and black witch next to it.

Helen toyed with my hair a bit more whilst she hummed along to the Imagine Dragons song that was playing from my iPod. She even occasionally sung the lyrics perfectly under her breath. I was starting to like these people at the theatre more and more. Apparently I had to be in a positive mind set to truly get along with them all here. I was grateful for my happiness now. Tonight, when I was on stage, I'd banish any note of my real life from my mind and just focus on Elphaba. This was my night. Mine. I couldn't let anyone spoil that. I wouldn't.

Now that I was officially part of the theatre and wasn't working with the set and stage, I was permitted to use the stage door towards the back of the theatre which led onto the alley behind the building. Right now, there were various laughing and giggling sounds coming from the hallway which led to the stage door. The sound echoed down the hall and invaded the dressing room to such a loud volume that it made Helen and I start.