[A/N: It's Saturday, I got nothing to do, and yesterday's chapter was kinda short, so here comes another one...👋]
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She sighed when she saw the remains of the mess from last night displayed in front of her on the dresser of her entrance area after she had closed the door again back home. Two of her framed pictures had fallen off the wall, one glass broken, the other one with a massive crack straight across, so she would have to replace them, and the fruit bowl that was sitting on the dresser now had a very obvious dent in it after falling down... or rather... being pushed off.
She always hated when couples in movies started wrecking entire apartments while making out, too horny for each other to pay attention to anything other than how to get to the bedroom and out of their clothes as fast as humanly possible, because it was just so annoyingly unrealistic. Who ever really did that?? And yet... here she was.
Evidently, she had been a little too excited at the prospect of getting to spend the night with him. It was no secret – at least to her – that she had found the Irishman attractive since the first time she had laid eyes on him, and she had always been just a teeny tiny bit jealous of Jen that she got to be his on-screen wife. Most certainly, she loved Sean to bits and wouldn't have wanted to work with anybody else, but with him at least she would have never even dreamed of taking it any further off-camera. Colin, on the other hand...
She took her dogs for a last walk around the block for the night, then decided to make herself a cup of tea since it had gotten pretty chilly all of a sudden after this relatively warm autumn day.
Carefully, she set her mug down onto her living room table, then lay down on the couch with a sigh. Mindlessly, she flipped through the different offerings of the different streaming platforms vying for her favor, but she was unable to focus and choose anything to watch tonight.
Apparently he hadn't told Sean about her, which she was thankful for because the last thing they needed was their friends sticking their noses right in the middle of their mess with their opinions. Why would he just run off though when he learned that she was coming over? Oh well... she knew very well why. But, was he really that terrified of looking her in the eyes again after last night? Had they already poured their friendship down the drain just like that? No... she wouldn't have it!
She reached for her phone, and for a few moments she was pondering her next move... what should she say? Should she keep it casual, not even mentioning it, maybe... or should she tell him how she felt about last night?
She shook her head, annoyed at herself, again and again deleting what she had just started to write, seriously struggling to come up with the right words, when all of a sudden her phone rang into the silence of her living room and she almost dropped it in shock. It was him.
Like an idiot, she let it ring a few times, just enough to seem busy but still not miss his call, even though he might literally have seen her type just now.
She took a deep breath and tried to steady her hand as she accepted his call. Geez, why was she so f*ing nervous all of a sudden?!
„Hello?"
For a second, there was silence at the other end of the line, as if he was seriously considering just hanging up on her like a 13-year old with his first ever crush.
Then, she could hear him clear his throat. „Hey Lana, it's... it's Colin."
Automatically, she had to smile. „Hey! I'm surprised you're calling? I always thought you hated phone calls."
„Oh, I do!", she could hear him chuckle, „I absolutely do. But... I thought... well, this might be worth it."
„Thank you! I appreciate it, really, I do! I, uhm... I was actually just texting you, but I didn't really know what to say, so... thank you for calling! I wouldn't have dared."
„I just... I don't know, even though every fiber of my being is refusing this right now, I still feel that... we need to talk."
„Yes... I think you're very right. We do need to talk. Like I said, I wanted to reach out... I felt horrible when Sean told me how you just took off today to avoid me."
„He told you?"
„Of course! And... I hated even more that... that I was relieved that you were gone. Had I known that you'd be there, I probably would have made up some excuse or something... I wouldn't have come."
„I see."
„But that's terrible, isn't it?! We're friends! And... next month in Paris, we'll have to be able to be together all day long, for an entire weekend, along with everybody else. And I was sooo looking forward to it, I still am!."
„Me too, trust me! I really don't want it to be awkward between us."
„Right?! So why don't we just, you know, each of us take a few minutes to say whatever we want to say to each other, about last night, and then we move on to pretending that it never happened? I really don't want to be afraid of meeting you or feel uncomfortable around you all the time. Especially because there's really no reason at all to be ashamed of anything! I mean... we're both adults, we're both kinda hot... right? We're both single... so what, we had some fun together, that's not a crime!"
„You're absolutely right! And who cares if the sex sucked, right?"
„Right, uhm... why... why do you say that, did it suck?!"
„What? No! No, I mean", he sighed, „to be honest, I have no idea. I barely remember anything. Actually, I think for me it was probably pretty amazing, but I can only imagine... it must have been quite bad for you though, I was so drunk..."
„Oh... well", she blushed, slightly, which he couldn't see, „I don't remember a lot either, for sure, but I can tell you for a fact, that it must have been a pretty amazing night."
„Really? How do you know?"
„Well, I didn't exactly count them or touch them in any way, but... I definitely found more than one used condom in the garbage bin in my bathroom."
„Wow... really?"
„So, unless we used them for something other than what they're meant to be used for... we had quite a night. Also, I might have discovered a few hickies on me here and there, some of them in quite... delicate places."
„Gosh, I... I'm sorry..."
„Oh no no, don't be! I can deal with those, don't worry!"
„That's... wow! I'd never have thought. I thought I was terrible and I made a complete fool of myself!"
She chuckled. „Alright then, if your fragile male ego really needs to hear this to make you feel better, I have no problem saying that you were amazing last night. And, uhm... I don't regret anything."
Her words instantly sent a shiver down his spine as he replied, his voice almost a whisper. „I don't either."
„Still though, we", she swallowed, „probably shouldn't repeat this."
„No no, you're right! Definitely not, I think... I think we're not made for this... you know, together."
„No, we're most definitely not."
„But hey, at least we used protection, so that's good news!"
„Right?", she had to laugh, „Yay us, responsible adults in tune with their own sexual freedom!"
„Right, uhm... okay, then", he took a deep breath, „Is this the part now where we move on to pretending that this never happened?"
„Yes, it is! So... what else can we talk about... something super trivial. Like... what was your favorite breakfast cereal growing up?"
„Are you waiting for me to say ‚Lucky Charms'?"
„No! Oh... well", she laughed, „maybe, actually. Were they?"
„No, of course not! How cliché do you think I am!"
„So?"
„Cheerios, actually."
„What?! Oh my God, mine too! Still love 'em today."
„Sometimes I steal them from the kids and then I blame them when the box is empty again."
„Wow... that's dark!"
„What can I say, they didn't make me the villain for my charming sense of humor..."
In the end, what they had initially intended to be just a short phone call to clear the air between them, turned into a conversation that went on for multiple hours and well into the night. And they only agreed to hang up eventually when Colin was called to chase away the monsters under his daughter's bed.
Instead, they continued the next evening, and the evening after that, until it had become a comforting little ritual for them to get to hear each other's voices and talk about what they had been up to at the end of the day. And they never even knew that there was still so much more to discover about each other that they had never known even after seven years of spending nearly endless days on set together! They were texting too, of course, whenever they had a funny or curious thought they wanted to share or if they felt that the other needed a little pick me up during a stressful day.
Something that Rebecca Mader, however, when one fine day she was using her child-free morning to meet her TV sister for brunch, apparently wasn't a big fan of...
„Lana... LANA!"
„Oh!", she looked up, as if she had just been caught in the act doing something naughty, and let her phone disappear back in her bag, „I'm sorry... you were saying...?"
„Who the hell are you texting all the time?"
„I, uhm... oh, nobody."
She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms in front of her chest. „Really... well, that ‚nobody' seems to be way more entertaining than me, at least. The way you're constantly smiling at your phone."
„Fine", Lana rolled her eyes, „It's a guy."
Her friend's eyes lit up. „Oh my God, you have a new guy?? Who is he, is he cute? Do I know him?"
„Relax, it's nothing sexual", she replied, raising her hands to calm down the excitement.
„Really?", Bex cocked her head, „You and some funny guy... and it's nothing sexual?"
„No! Well..."
„Aha!"
„We did spend a night together. But, just one! And we were both completely drunk, so..."
„... Aren't those the best nights?"
Lana frowned. „Uhm... I don't know... not really? Anyway, eventually we agreed that we were better off as friends and since then, it's been really fun and really, really nice!"
„Okay, cool, whatever you say, you do you, but who is he? If he's such a good friend of yours, I should meet him?"
„Is that so? And why would that be?"
„Because I have veto rights, obviously, as your sister?"
„Again, he's just a friend! Not getting married or anything like that."
„That's what you think... anyway. Whoever he is, you seem happy with whatever this is, so... fine. Anyway, Sean and I were planning to meet up with the kids once more before we're all headed for Europe and we thought about inviting a few more folks from our Paris group, whoever is in town right now, so you, Colin and his kids as well... We would make it the last barbecue of the year. What do you think?"
By now, the thought of seeing him again didn't scare her anymore, on the contrary, it filled her with fuzzy anticipation after all the amazing conversations they had had over the past few weeks.
So she just smiled. „I think that's a great idea! I'll be there!"