You get up earlier than usual, having spent the night at Henry's. You awaken to the smell of coffee, basically because you took the time to set the timer. He finds this a pleasant surprise, having never thought to do it, and takes a minute to serve you coffee, smiling about not having to wait to get to the filming site to have some. You fill water bottles and hit the door, Kal being the only one who had breakfast. You decide that you really should stay at your own place on Sundays from now on so as not to interfere with his work rhythm or your own. You are at the gym really early, so early, you steal a nap in the car. Even Kal naps in the car. But Henry? Superman, yes, though a bit of a sleepy one, but after a few swallows of coffee he's ready to go.
"How are you holding up?" he asks, having finished a set. You take a ten minute walk on the treadmill, which you usually don't do, but you have time. The coffee and adrenaline have brought the electricity to his eyes and the glisten to his skin, highlighting curves of toned muscle. You pause. He looks something like this after sex, but honestly, more intense.
"Hanging in there, honey," you say. Your breath catches. Wait, you call Stella honey from time to time, especially when smarting off, but saying it to him now seems...you smile widely. "Elliptical, here I come."
He gives you a wink, and you both move on with your workouts.
You are halfway through when Archer, Stuart and Stella arrive. Relieved that Hannah isn't with them, you greet them brightly. "Hey, guys!"
Stella greets you with a warm hug. "You look like you survived!" She smiles and glances at Henry, who is working out. Her voice lowers to a whisper. "You stayed with him?"
It was a good thing you could read lips, becauseshe barely got the words out. You give a small smile.
"Ohmigosh!" Stella covers her mouth, her eyes going as wide as saucers. She takes you by the arm and leads you further away. "So...what happened?"
"He was worried about me, and picked me up so I stayed with him," you say simply. "Good thing, too, we barely made it before the storm broke and—"
"Oh. My. Gosh."
"What?"
"He's the lookalike, isn't he?" She shakes her head at me. "There never was one?"
You lock elbows with her. "I need you to just not say anything especially to Hannah."
She gasps, eyes going wide again. "I can understand that." She crosses her heart. "I won't tell a soul."
You feel yourself relax. "Thanks—"
"We workin' out or what?" Archer asks with a frown.
Henry turns and looks at him.
"Just a second, I've got one for you!" you call nervously, and look in the mirror to see Henry's jaw clench.
"What is going on?" Stella asks. "I've never seen Henry look like that. He's usually upbeat."
"I need to know something," you tell her. "You guys didn't know you left me behind. right?"
"No!" Stella's eyes went wide again. My, but she was an owl today. "Hannah said that someone told her."
"Someone?" you frown. "No specific name?"
Stella exhales heavily. "No." She loses eye contact with you. "That doesn't seem right, does it?" She looks up hopefully. "Maybe it was Colin or Cindy?"
You remember that Cindy was also checking people out. You didn't work with her as much as Hannah so maybe Cindy mixed you up with someone else. You were willing to settle for that. You didn't want to think someone wanted something bad to happen to you. "Makes sense."
"Either way, it ended well, right?" Stella asks hopefully. She uses the mirror to glance at Henry. "Is that why he looks so...unhappy?"
"He's concerned, is all," you say. "He is the main in this production, so he takes safety and production seriously."
"You sound like public relations," she teased.
"Ha, ha, ha, the money would be good," you shrug. "I might need a ride, though."
"There's room for sure—"
"It's Archer's car," you point out. "How did the weekend go?"
"We went to their place in town, and Hannah and I took Stuart's room," she shrugged simply. "But honestly, we mostly all slept around the telly in the living room."
"Sounds like you guys had fun," you smile.
"But it was just you and Henry—"
"And Kal," you add quickly.
"Not kissing and telling?"
You shake you head, and Stella squeals.
"Archer got room in the car for my friend?" Stella asks.
"Always," he nods, but doesn't look at you.
You feel a loss, but manage a smile. "Thanks."
"Sure." He looks at Henry and you check the mirror. His cap is lower than usual as he works out, his eyes somewhat shaded from view, but his jaw is set and he looks serious as he curls.
You work out with Stella, and Archer works out with Stuart. You challenge them to do three circuits of eight machines, a minute on each. You catch Henry trying not to laugh as you all do it, some doing well, some not as much. You know the guys are using too much weight, and only suggest they lower it once, but they don't listen. You and Stella don't do more than fifty pounds on each of the machines, but the guys were trying to go twice to triple that.
"I can't believe we did all that in thirty minutes!" Stella smiled, her face bright.
"Gotta have a short intense workout in case you can't do an hour," you pant. "I actually prefer them. We are about to be on our feet all day, anyway."
"Yeah, all day workout!"
"I got like twenty-thousand steps one day—" You are stopped when Archer steps in front of you and inhales deeply.
"You smell different," he says in a low voice.
You shake your head. "How would you even know?" You step past him and head to the showers. You shower and dress quickly, a few minutes behind Stella. Henry pulls you aside as you get ready to leave.
"Everything okay?" Henry asks.
"Yeah," you nod.
"What did he say to you?"
You scoff, "That I smell different."
"You probably do," Henry smirked. "You showered with me."
You feel your cheeks heat.
"No worries, darling," he grins. "you just used your own stuff, right?"
"Right."
He kisses your cheek. "Have a good day. Talk to you soon."
You stretch up and kiss him back shyly.
"Talk to you later," he whispers.
"Later," you say and turn to go, only to see Stella waiting for you by the door.
She smiles widely and waves good bye and you walk out. "He looks into you!" she says excitedly.
"Stella."
"Okay, okay!" Stella bumps you and makes you giggle. "Come on, this is thrilling!"
"He's actually...not what you think, Stel."
She gives a low whistle and shakes her head. "If you say so."
You get in the car, and there is an awkward silence.
"Well, heigh-ho, heigh-ho!" Stella says with forced brightness. "or, how is you say?"
You laugh, "I owe, I owe."
Stuart laughs at that, and Archer smiles and shakes his head. "Off to work, Arch!"
"Here we go." Archer starts the engine and speeds off.
The morning goes well enough. You try to keep your head down and work, but you find yourself looking for Henry when you can. You chastise yourself for it, but after the weekend you had with him, it's normal to want him so soon, right?
You are startled by a hand on your shoulder and look up to see Colin.
"Hey," he greets.
"Hey," you smile, grateful he can't tell that you were thinking about Henry and not fully concentrating on your work.
"Glad you're okay," Colin nodded.
"Thanks," you smile, but slightly frown. He didn't call you back that day, did he? "Any idea about how the mixup happened?"
Colin shook his head. "Actually, no. I talked to Cindy and she isn't sure either, and we are so, so sorry about that." He paused. "But you caught up with Stella after all, right?"
"My ride came, yes," you say evasively.
"Great," Colin grinned. "No harm, no foul."
"Yeah."
"Talk to you later," he says and leaves.
That didn't give you much information at all. From the sound of things, he didn't know what happened either. Resolved and a bit happy to think of it has a mix up, you continue on with your work, part of you reliving the events of the weekend.
Your phone chimes and you look at it.
DAL: Thinking of you.
YOU: Thinking of you.
Now you can't do anything but smile.