Lauren was running late to the next rehearsal, so she didn't get a chance to talk to Joey before they started running scenes. She kept glancing across the room at him, hoping to catch his eye and let him know she wanted to talk to him, but he was always looking determinedly away from her.
David called a twenty minute break, and Joey started asking people their requests for his coffee run. He'd gone round the entire room and Lauren was beginning to think he'd deliberately miss her out when he turned to her with a neutral expression.
"Lauren?"
"An iced coffee. Please. Almond milk, not regular." She was expecting him to roll his eyes at that, but he simply nodded and headed out the door.
Fifteen minutes later he returned, handing round drinks. Lauren waited expectantly, hoping this would give her the opportunity to talk to him for a few moments and clear the air. But it soon became apparent that her order wasn't going to arrive.
"Nice one, Joey," she said bitterly.
He glanced round at the sound of her voice, confused for a second until he took in the empty drinks carrier and Lauren's empty hands.
"Oh, fuck," he said vehemently.
"It's fine, I get it," she said, rolling her eyes.
"I got your drink, I swear, it must have accidentally got left on the counter or something," he said, running a hand through his hair.
"Sure you did."
He narrowed his eyes at her, shoved his hand into his pocket and thrust a receipt at her. She uncrumpled it, her eyes hitting on her coffee - the first item on there.
"Joey," she said sadly, but he'd already moved out of earshot. She crushed the receipt in her fist in frustration at herself. No matter how much effort Joey put into their friendship, she always managed to find a way to knock him back.
When they went back to rehearsing, the tension cut through every scene they had together. Lauren wondered how she was going to make it through the cast dinner everyone was going out for tonight. She was beginning to consider ditching, but Isaac pulled her aside as if he could read her mind.
"You can't start isolating yourself just because you don't get on with Joey."
"I'm not!" she protested. But she knew it wasn't true. She was avoiding Joey at all costs and, because Joey was friends with everyone, it meant she wasn't spending much time with any of the rest of the cast either.
"You don't have to be friends with him. You just have to be civil."
She sighed, leaning back against the wall. She hated that word. She knew it wasn't fair on everyone else for her and Joey to be fighting all the time, but arguments between them just seemed to be inevitable.
"Two months and then you never have to see him again." Isaac said. "You can put up with him for that long."
Reluctantly, she had to admit he was right, although as she pulled up to the restaurant that evening and saw Joey heading inside, feigning illness was looking very tempting.
Thankfully, the two ended up sat at opposite ends of the table. Lauren was beside Elise, engaging in conversation about Elise's two dogs - or at least, she was trying to. It was a struggle to hear the other girl over the sound of Joey's voice carrying down the table, and he didn't seem to stop talking. She huffed and rolled her eyes, wishing she could just tune him out. Isaac caught her eye, though, shaking his head minutely at her, and she realised she was going to have to try harder to tolerate Joey if this was ever going to work.
"Well, at least he's got a nice face," she mused under her breath, trying to find the positive in the situation. Elise grinned at her and Lauren, not realising she'd spoken aloud, laughed in spite of herself.
"What? He's attractive, I'll give him that."
Elise shrugged. "I'll take your word for it."
Lauren was about to divert the conversation back to safer territory when she overheard her name. Looking up the table, her eyes first darted to Joey, who's cheeks were flushed red, then to Isaac, who smirked at her.
"We were just talking about yours and Joey's very heated relationship."
Lauren flipped him off, clueless as to what he was up to. She'd thought he was trying to get them to build their friendship, and couldn't see how this was helping.
"You could probably make good use of your chemistry," Isaac continued in the same obnoxious tone.
"Lay off it," Joey said, his cheeks still red.
"I'm just saying it might make your portrayal of the characters more accurate. I have the show's best interest at heart."
Lauren was on the edge of making a smart retort, but Joey beat her to it. "That won't be necessary, because we're good actors. Right Lauren?"
Her eyes widened in surprise before she smiled. "That's right."
Isaac seemed just as taken aback by them siding with each other. He raised a questioning eyebrow at Lauren, who shrugged. It wasn't like she had any better idea what was going on.
"Besides, I don't see anyone getting at Jason and Megan," she said irritably about the pair cast as Claudio and Hero.
"Yeah, you guys have great chemistry," one of the other girls, Brianna, said, nudging Megan who was sat beside her.
Megan simply laughed. "You think?"
There was a chorus of teasing remarks, and Lauren could only be grateful she had managed to take the attention off of herself. Megan took a casual sip of her drink, swirling the glass before putting it back down on the table.
"Well, I'm flattered," she said, glancing at Jason. "But he's not really my type."
"Well if tall dark and handsome isn't your type, then what is?" Brianna joked.
"For a start, female," replied Megan.
Jason laughed as Elise was sent into a coughing fit. Lauren turned to her in concern, but she pushed her chair back and mumbled something about finding the bathroom.
Lauren didn't have the chance to worry about her too much, though, because she was trying to covertly watch Joey and figure out where they were at. He was back to his smiling self, talking animatedly with his hands as people laughed, and Lauren thought bitterly about how he didn't have to be popular on top of everything else. Then she pushed the thought aside. It seemed as though they might finally be making some progress, what with Joey taking her side against Isaac, and she wasn't about to ruin it like she had every other time.
She had hoped she'd get an opportunity to talk to him before they left the restaurant, but he had already disappeared out the door by the time she finished putting on her jacket. The uncertain nature of their relationship was beginning to put her on edge, and on her drive home she resolved not to let this drag out any longer. The next time she saw Joey she was going to set things right.
She made sure to get to the next rehearsal in plenty of time. A quick scan of the room told her Joey wasn't there yet, so she took a seat to wait for him, trying to stifle her inexplicable nerves.
She wasn't waiting long before he showed up. His eyes met hers briefly but he looked away and moved across the room away from her. Taking a deep breath, she picked up the two coffees she'd bought that morning and made her way over to him.
His face gave away nothing as she smiled tentatively at him, holding out his coffee.
"Hi," she said quietly. "I'm Lauren."
He stared at her for a few uncomfortable seconds as she wished the ground would just swallow her up. Then he took the coffee. "Joey," he said, moving his bag from the seat beside him onto the floor. Lauren took that as an invitation to sit down, and she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.
A sip. A smile. The early beginning of a friendship.
