They didn't even bothered to knock or open the door. They just yelled from the outside.
"Alright. That's it. Take a break! 45 minutes!" The director yelled.
"Noted!" I said loud enough for them to hear.
I stood in the middle of the room and looked around. I can't believe it hasn't even been a week sense I was in this room. My things were still here, some of them at least. The stereo Trevino gave me was still intact. He only gave it to me because he bought one better. The few group pictures I've taken over these times were still sticked to the dressing table's mirror that was added shortly after I arrived. I walked over to it and stroked the cast's laughing faces on the prints. Remembering all those good times made me chuckle. I heard the sound of the door opening followed by two knocks.
"I got it!" I said a bit louder. Three stomps on the floor later, a pair of arms wrapped around me from behind, making me jump until I saw Ian's figure with me on the mirror. I immediately allowed my muscles to relax while he chuckled. He kissed my shoulder as I snuggled into him. "Got my note?" I asked.
"Hard to miss." He said before turning me around and resting his hands on my lower back. "That and Julie called. I had to film some stuff too." He informed. We both chuckled and he brought his face down to mine and pecked my lips.
He pulled away, but I could feel the intensity of his eyes piercing me. I've only seen it once, but I recognized that look from when we were last together. I assumed there was some more 'showing' he wanted to do. Without me knowing, my hands went to his face and that gave him the green light to connect our lips again. This kiss was full of passion. His hands quickly picked me up and settled me on the dressing table. His hands now held my face in place while mine went down to his waist along with my legs to push him closer to me and keep him there.
As much as I knew it shouldn't go further, I couldn't bring myself to stop him. But Paul did it for me. The door flew open and Paul barged in without giving Ian and I a chance to split up, but we did our best to play it off. Ian took three steps back restraining any contact he had from me and I almost fell off the dressing table. I manage to land on my feet and held onto the dressing table with my elbow for dear life, I played it off resting that same elbow to the table as unnoticeably as possible and failing miserably. Paul stood frozen in shock of what he had just seen.
"Look." Started to say Ian as if he were trying to make a deal with some burglar. He even had his hands out as if Paul were pointing a gun at him. "I...can explain."
Paul stood still and my anxiety knew no limits. It soon transformed into confusion when Paul started laughing and I looked at Ian to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. Surprisingly, Ian turned his head towards me at the same time with the same confused look on his face. We both looked at Paul as his laughter died down.
"Alright," he said with his voice spiked with a bit of laughter. "I just wanna know one thing......for how long has this been going on?" He asked motioning his hands between Ian and I.
Ian immediately looked at me. I know he has been waiting for too long to say it out loud. So I just shrugged my shoulders as if saying 'Go right ahead'.
"For like...three episodes?..." He said, not even sure himself. But yeah....can't deny I'd have said the same. Paul analyzed what Ian just said and chuckled before speaking.
"You little rascals..." He said while a grin grew on his face. My god. How much time has he been spending with Alex? "So, all this time, you were lying." He said. I couldn't help but to feel bad Ian had to lie to his best friend.
"We had to." Ian responded. "I mean, just imagine what would the press have done. They would've crushed her." Ian said taking a step closer to me. I took the remaining two steps between us and gladly letted him cover me in his arms protectively. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Paul smile.
"Well, wether the world knows or not, I'm happy for you two." Said Paul. Ian chuckled and I stared at him. We made eye contact and he perked my lips while squeezing me gently. "Alright you two!" Said Paul. "Let's get lunch."
-x-
When Ian parked his car behind one of the buildings, we got out and walked around the building to meet with Paul. He was talking on the phone and, by the time he was at hearing range, he was saying his goodbyes.
"Alright." He said to the phone. "We'll meet you here. See ya' later, babe." He hung up after the small smile disappeared from his face.
We started walking, Ian was beside me and Paul was close behind us in the side walk. We were on our way to this cafeteria/coffee shop Paul recommended. I looked to my left and Ian was looking right ahead and the sunlight was hitting him perfectly. I couldn't help but to take a picture of him with the professional camera I brought with me. When he noticed, he looked at me and smiled once he realized what I was doing. I turned the camera to take a picture of us three after I saw Ian's picture. Paul came closer to us and rested his arms on our shoulders before I took the picture. Just then, we came across the cafeteria and I opened the door for the guys, receiving a wink from Ian as he was passing by me.
-x-
"So they told you guys about the convention in Cali?" Said Paul during our chat when we sat down at the table. Ian was sitting beside me and Paul was in front of us. Even though we were gonna eat, we decided to chat for a while.
"Cali as in California?" I asked. Do I get to go home? Well...I'll go home anyways but just the thought of bringing my now closest friends with me seems great. Ian answered me with a 'Yeah' which led me into asking my next question. "Will I be going...?"
"Of course! Why wouldn't you?" Said Paul. "After all, your episode it's gonna air right before the convention so..... you pretty much have to be there."
"Who has to be where?" Said Alex from behind Paul. She wrapped her arms around the top of Paul's shoulders from behind. Paul reacted immediately holding Alex's hands and turning his face to the left to peck her lips. Ian and I looked everywhere but at them to give them some privacy. After they were done, Alex walked towards me and I stood up to hug her. She was wearing a big loose white shirt with ripped jeans like mine and a denim jacket wrapped low around her waist.
"Well we have to be ordering our food. 'Cause I'm starving." I said. The three of them laughed as Alex and I took our seats. We ordered our food and Alex and Paul's hands locked immediately after. I noticed the gesture and smiled at Alex making her blush while Paul looked at her in amusement. Part of me wanted to be able to hold Ian's hand so openly. I didn't realized the thought made me sigh with the smile still on my face.
As if he read my thoughts, Ian's hand came in contact with my thigh underneath the table, unnoticed by everyone except me, and I laid mine on top of it, intertwining out fingers while his palm was still on my thigh. I dared to look at him and, to my surprise, he was looking at me too. His eyes told me everything I needed to hear at the moment. I'm sorry. But don't worry. We'll figure it out.
Paul cleared his throat to call for our attention and, when we looked at him, he opened his eyes wide and then motioned them towards Alex as if saying 'should you really be doing that now?' when he was about to take a sip out of his recently arrived drink. Of course, Alex noticed this.
"Was that because of the fact that they're holding hands underneath the table? Because, if it is, I already knew." Alex said. Poor Paul almost shocked on his own drink.
"You knew too?!" He asked and she just nodded and shrugged her shoulders. Paul looked at us asking for an explanation and both Ian and I just shrugged our shoulders. He looked immediately offended... on a funny way. "We gave to talk about this...." He said threatening. "And we will." He added. He picked up his drink again and said one more thing. "In Cali."