one of them - j.flatters

xii. meditating stress

MAY 2018 - LOS ANGELES
Eliana paced by the craft table while waiting for her coffee to finish brewing, the script reduction in her hands as she repeated her lines under her breath. The girl's hands moistened by the stress of needing to perform her scenes perfectly as she repeatedly wiped them on her sweats. She had had yet another sleepless night, facetiming with her mother as Annie helped her daughter with delivering her lines the most authentic way possible. Today was the moment Eliana needed to flabbergast her peers with her acting, especially Jim, since they were shooting emotional and difficult scenes for her character. Today wasn't the day for Eliana to succumb to the pressure, she needed to be the best version of herself and that started with getting her head to stop spinning. Eliana paused her recital to put way too many sugars in her coffee and a splash of milk to sweetened it even more which provoked a snort from the boy who stood by the door's frame. Jamie walked in the craft room and made himself a coffee.

"Let me guess, you prefer yours black." Eliana playfully commented while crossing her arms, her full attention quickly shifting to the boy who seemed to brought her calm.

"I do." Jamie chuckled as he watched Eliana's eyes quickly flickering on the script pages in her hands, a smirk creeping on his lips.

"You pretentious skawng." Eliana joked before returning her whole focus to the words before her eyes and her feet to move in circle around the room, in an almost hypnotizing way. As Jamie sipped on the hot coffee, his throat warming up by the liquid and his back leaning against the table, he scrutinized the girl's tensed face. Jamie recognizing the stiffness in her body caused by the anxiousness of having to perform as he had lived it a few times before. The girl must had sensed his stare as she was now turned around to him before saying, "Don't you have to get suited up or something?" She coldly expressed, insinuating for Jamie to leave her, the pressure creeping on her and eating parts of her usual kindness away. The boy's body straightened up, leaving the table as his cheeks flustered to the sudden mood shift in the room, embarrassed to have caused Eliana's discomfort.

"S-Sure..." He stuttered, frowning at the girl who coldly met his eyes, immediately regretting her tone and wishing she could take the words back but Jamie's quick departure making it impossible for her to do as such. Eliana sighed to herself, disappointed by her reaction toward Jamie, her closest friend, the boy who only wanted to light up her mood. As her eyes red the lines on the pages, her mind wandered somewhere else, the interaction with Jamie replaying like a video looping over and over, until she eventually figured the only way for her to resume her rehearsal was to talk to the boy and apologize. They, all of the kids, were all under so much pressure and it was unfair of her to unleash her stress on him as he already had his own to deal with. The seventeen year old walked to the break room where most of the kids would hang out in between scenes, searching for the brunette but instead was greeted by her younger costars and friends.

"Lili!" Trinity excitedly exclaimed as soon as she spotted the girl enter the room, running up to her hand and pulling her by the coffee table where drawings and crayons were piled everywhere. "Come draw with me." Eliana kneeled beside the young girl who almost immediately resumed to her activity, a pink marker in her hand sketching flowers. Lilies.

"Sorry, Trin. I have to rehearse lines," Eliana reluctantly said, sorry to disappoint the young girl. "but I'll draw with you during lunch time, mhm?" Trinity nodded to Eliana, accepting her offer before refocusing on the flowers before her. Eliana looked over at Bailey who sat on the other side of the table, her legs crossed on the floor and an untouched, blank white sheet in front of her. She was chatting with Duane who's half body laid in the couch in between Britain, Filip and Jack, all playing some video games on the television. Bailey's smile couldn't get any wider, her cheeks tinted by a slight shade of pink and her dimples on full display. Eliana smiled at the thought of her friend having a crush, probably her first as the girl faintly remembered hers. Gregory Trembley, they were in the same seventh grade class. She never even had the courage to speak to him but her heartbeat always seemed to picked up whenever he was close by. Probably like Bailey's was in that moment. As Eliana didn't want to bother her curly haired friend, she moved her gaze to one of the unoccupied boys on the couch, maybe they would know where Jamie was.