Rehearsals had been going for the Silver Brick play for a while now. Every week, but all the "big" ones were on Thursdays. It was no surprise if the cast would end up at the theater until two or three in the morning on Thursday nights. (Well, I guess you could call them Friday mornings).
This Thursday was a dress rehearsal, and it was looking to be a very late night. The show (Now with the title of Sweetheart) was looking nowhere near where it needed to be. Espeically considering they had one more rehearsal after this until they take the stage for their midterm grade. It would be an understatement to say that the tension between the cast was high.
"Alright, top to bottom, full out, let's go!" Jasmine called and clapped her hands. The whole thing was going fine, until the first fight scene.
"You're mine." Anthony snarled towards Pippa, it was all acting. His hand falsely hit her rib, as it had in many rehearsals earlier. But this time was different; it started feeling too real. She froze on the fake bed and her mind started racing. "Pip, that's your line. Your line is next." Anthony mumbled, trying to save them both from Jasmine yelling.
"Pippa!" Jasmine called from the audience, where she was sitting. "That is your line!" She slammed her binder down.
Anthony looked down at Pippa, soon realizing what was happening here. "Pippa, breathe. What's happening?" His eyes scanned over her whole body, solely noticing the dangerously rapid rise and fall of Pippa's chest.
"Why aren't you speaking?!" Jasmine shouted; the pressure was really building on her.
Anthony kept his grip on Pippa's hand, but turned to face Jasmine. "Jazzy, she's not breathing right, she's panicking." Jasmine froze. She didn't even consider the fact that this could've happened. "Jasmine, get up here, I'm going to call Lin."
"Oh, okay, okay." Jasmine threw off her headset and jumped on stage. A few other cast members circled around Pippa, but Jasmine pushed them away.
"Pip, breathe. Deep breaths, I'm going to call Lin, alright?" Anthony coaxed, reaching over Pippa's ribcage to grab his phone from the wings.
"Stop! Don't hurt me!" Pippa shrieked, making Anthony halt.
"No, no, Pippa, I'm not going to hurt you, I swear, I'm going to call Lin. Here's Jazzy, please breathe, Pippa." Anthony prayed that he did something right. He'd never helped anyone through something like that. "Hey, listen, Lin." Anthony began as he disappeared into the wing to talk to Lin.
"Phillipa, listen, please. Nobody is going to hurt you. It's just acting. We have to get this show up, we have to rehearse, please relax so we can get this done." Pippa just squeezed her eyes shut as tears continued to pour down her cheeks.
"Where is she?!" Lin yelled, running into the theater.
"Stage." Anthony called.
"No, I mean Jasmine." Lin was furious.
"Oh, right there." Anthony pointed.
"Jasmine freaking Cephas Jones, come here!" Lin shouted, calling her into the wings. "Anth, promise me that you have Pippa for five minutes?"
"Got it." Anthony said, going back to Pippa. He took the girl into his arms, gently rocking her back and forth. He kept telling her that he wasn't going to hurt her, because he wasn't. Pippa soon got her breathing back to a somewhat steady pattern.
"This is your fault!" They all heard Lin scream. This only made Pippa start crying again.
"Shh, no, you're alright." Anthony whispered. "It's okay."
"I'm going to take her home, okay?" Lin whispered to Anthony. He nodded, knowing Jasmine would still be so mad about it, but it was what's best. "Come here, Pip." Lin picked her up bridal style. "Thank you." Lin called to get no other response than from Anthony.
"Beth!" Jasmine called. "Finish, okay?" She called in Pippa's understudy.
"Got it." The shorter girl nodded, and took her mark.
~~~~~
"Don't hurt me, please don't hurt me." Pippa pleaded, as Lin closed the door to the dorm.
"No, no, Pip, I won't hurt you, I promise you that I won't." Lin said, but still, Pippa kept backing up from him. She shrieked once again when she backed up far enough to where she hit the table. "Pip!" Lin jumped and went to hold her hand.
"No!" Pippa shouted.
Tears started to roll, one by one, down Lin's cheeks. "I'm not going to hurt you, Pippa, I promise."
The room fell silent. The only noise was the sound of their breaths, more specifically Pippa's slowly more steadying breaths. "I'm so sorry." Pippa whispered.
"Do not be sorry." Lin told her. "It isn't your fault."
"But I made you cry." Pippa's voice broke.
"No, no it was just scary for a moment. We lost you for a minute." Lin stepped a bit closer to her. "You're okay, now." Pippa immediately fell into Lin's arms. Lin's eyes shut tightly as a few more tears slipped down his face. Pippa buried her head into Lin's chest as Lin ran his fingers through her hair. Pippa looked up at the sound of Lin sniffling. She started drying his tears like he'd always do for her.
"I am so, so sorry." Pippa whispered and shook her head.
Lin grabbed her hand from her face and kissed every fingertip on her left hand. "Nothing about this is your fault, Love. I swear it isn't. It's Jasmine's, she didn't even consider your health, and that's her being a trashy friend."
Pippa's eyes widened at this. "Oh my gosh, Lin. Lin, Lin, Lin, I have to perform this in two weeks."
"No, you can't do that, Pippa. You can't, that's immensely unhealthy. Pippa, no."
"Lin, I can't lose my scholarship." Pippa's voice broke. He had forgotten all about that. "I can't!" She started to cry once again. This whole thing was just a downhill slope from the start.
"Phillipa," Lin sniffled a few times. "You will not lose this. I swear, I will do everything. You will not lose your scholarship."
"But Lin--" Pippa began, but Lin stopped her.
"No, please. We've got to stop this. You're making yourself sick. I mean, you're paler now than you were when I picked you up." Lin's hands were shaking. "Please, we need to get you some food and get you to bed. We both need it." Pippa just nodded.
"I'm sorry, I'm not hungry, I just...I don't know."
"You just want to go to bed?" Lin asked.
"Please."
"Okay." Lin agreed and walked with Pippa to their now shared room. They both changed into more comfortable clothes and laid down, finally. "Pip?" Lin asked once more. "Please look at me." He gently asked her, seeing that she was distancing herself from him.
"Hmm?" She hummed in a whisper, just wanting to go to sleep.
"What can I do to make this up to you? This whole thing? Like from the first time Matt laid a finger on you to right now. I know that I can't make your scars disappear, I know that I can't get the images out of your mind, but I want to do something to fix this for you."
Pippa teared up even more. She just shook her head. "I-I love you beyond words for that, but you...you just being here. Right here. Is more than enough. Like, you've showed me so much love to the point that I can lay here with you. And I can let you touch my waist and hold my hand. Even when it's dark in this room, and I know that nothing is going to happen to me. I know I am going to wake up safe and untouched, and that is more than enough." Lin just slowly nodded. "You, Lin-Manuel Miranda, you are more than enough."
