For Levviosa147 I wasn't going to do this way later but you always comment and I wanted some way to say thanks. So I wrote it ASAP. ❤️
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When we got to the studio they were at, Thomas and I were acting like best friends. We'd told a lot about each other and cracked so many jokes. There were now inside jokes for miles. "And then he flew away when I got home," I finished.
Alight with humor and energy, Thomas laughed. "Wow!" he gushed, highly amused. We got out of the car and he took me in. I looked around, trying to take it all in. "Whadya think?" He asked.
The joking around slipped away as a quiet awe settled inside of me. "Woah," I whispered almost reverently.
He chuckled softly. "Come on. Everyone is with Wes. Let's go!"
We jogged to a big room which seemed to be a conference center of some sort. There was a long table taking up the room and a projector ready to show images on a blank white board. There were markers all along the lip at the bottom of the board and chairs tucked together to fit a bunch of people at the long table.
The one and only Wes Ball sat at the head of the table, the projector just to the side of him, and the rest of the cast sat scattered in chairs scattered in the mass at the long table. Wes leaned forward onto his elbows when we came in, looking me over. "Hello there," he greeting, intrigued at the new face.
Suddenly overy self aware, I blushed. "Uh. Hi."
Thomas stepped forward. "Wes, meet Y/n. Y/n, Wes Ball," he introduced.
The director nodded to me, his smile warm and soft and welcoming. "Nice to meet you Y/n."
His friendliness put me at ease and I calmed. "Like wise."
"Might I ask why you're here?" He asked.
Thomas jumped in. "I want you to see her act! She's amazing!" He explained excitedly.
Wes laughed. "Okay." He looked at the clock behind us. "I have a few minutes..."
Nodding first, Thomas continued his bright, wide, contagious smile as he looked over at me. "Ready?"
My eyes widened, nerves jumping around and butterflies erupting to life in my stomach. I gulped. "Here?" I asked, biting my lip.
He nodded. "Yeah." His head tilted, adding ha unspoken, where else?
"N-now?" I asked again, realizing I was stalling.
Thomas laughed, realizing same time I did of my attempts and shaking his head, not anywhere near about to let me wimp out now. "Go," he instructed kindly. Thomas saw my discomfort and realized the situation he'd put me in. I was star struck and flustered and nervous. This wasn't something I'd ever done before. I'd tried out, but never for a real, main stream director. Thomas shot a look at Wes before he jumped in and started, reciting something from Hamlet. I caught on, having memorized a lot of scenes in Shakespeare stories.
We went back and forth, and eventually, I forgot about anyone else. I fell into my role and the words and Thomas, forgetting that Kaya, Dylan, and everyone was who had walked in at some point during the performance was watching along with their very important, influential director.
The bit ended and Thomas bowed, finishing the scene. He motioned to me and I curtsied. He looked up at me, a smile on his face, then looked at Wes. The fantasy broke and I froze, blushing again as I stiffly turned to Wes. "That was really good! I could tell you were nervous at first but you jumped right in and went along. I dare say you're almost as good as Thomas there with diction and delivery. You could use a little work with becoming your character perfectly, but you're still amazing. I'm genuinely impressed," Wes assessed, clapping a little.
I beamed. "It means a lot that you think so," I almost whispered.
Wes nodded to me. Then he paused. "Are you in school?"
My light warm ness dropped and I deadpanned. "No," I responded shortly. "I graduated."
Thomas chuckled, covering his face. We'd also see,ed more amused than irritated with my attitude. I was grateful for that much. The man must be used to Thomas being irritated with his young appearance. "I see." He paused again. "Do you have a job?"
Irritation gave way to sheepishness. "Uh... Sorta. I work at a restaurant as a waitress." I shrugged, a grimace on my face.
Wes's smirk grew, an eyebrow arching. "Do you like that job?" He asked.
Being honest, I slumped my shoulders and shook my head miserably. "No."
Leaning forward, the older man's gaze narrowed as he looked at me very intently. "What would you do right now if you could do anything?" He asked.
"Acting," I answered immediately.
He nodded, seeming to decide on something. "You should hang out here more often. We need a new coffee girl. I can't give you a part because it's the third movie, but if we need extras, would you like to do that for us? You'd be payed and you could hang out with the cast every day...?"
Astonished, I gawked at him. "I... I would love that," I answered earnestly, my voice calm while my hands shook violently.
The older man smiled warmly again, leaning back. "When can you start?" He asked.
My shoulder fell back and I was reenergized again. "As soon as you need me," I responded firmly.
He laughed, wagging a finger at me. "I like you." He paused, thinking a second as he tilted his head back and forth. "How does tomorrow sound?" He asked.
Grin growing as I went on my tiptoes, I was overwhelmed with how my heart swelled. "Great!" I squeaked.
Shaking his head, Wes shot Thomas a pointed look. "Go take her for coffee, Thomas. She's going to have a heart attack," he teased, laughing.
Thomas took me out. "That- that happened?" I whispered as he led me to the car and drove us somewhere.
He looked at me, smiling. He was glad Id gotten the job but far more amused by my reaction to it. "Yup. I hoped he'd give you some kind of job once he saw you."
Breaking out of my daze, I looked over. "Why would you hope that?"
His tongue jutted out to wet his lips and he shrugged. "Now I get to see you everyday. It doesn't end here. You're a great actress and getting experience while practicing with us and getting tips from Wes and everyone should make you amazing. Then maybe you'll be in movies with me one day." He sounded giddy.
I sat back hard into my chair, looking forward as the future he painted played out before me as a genuine possibility now. "Oh my gosh..." I covered my mouth, my knees pulled to my chest. "It's happening. You have no idea how long I've waited to get discovered. And it's all happening so fast."
"You don't really have anything yet. Just a better chance to get known and a way to get experience. But your chances of becoming an actress are WAY better now," he added as I deflated a little.
Still stuck in that daze again, I sighed. "Oh my gosh." I looked at him, my hand touching my heart. This boy... "Thank you Thomas. You have no idea what this means to me."
He smiled. "It's no problem. It makes me sad that so many amazing actors and actresses are never going anywhere when far too many movies these days are instead filled by such crappy actors. If I can help in any way, just ask. Sometimes they ask for references. I'd be willing to be one of those. Me, Dylan, the whole crew. And Wes. A director would be dumb not to take you." He wiggled his eyebrows. "It's easy to think your life is about to get really good," he finished.
Thinking on that, I smiled out the window, thinking about my future. Stuck in my head. I stayed silent the rest of the time.
-Two years later-
I walked down the long corridor and knocked on the door. "Come in," a voice said. I did.
My eyes landed on a woman and I moved to her, taking a deep breath to steady my nerves. "Hello. I'm Y/n Y/l/n. I was told that I got the part in The Last Days and to come here for shooting?" I tried timidly.
The woman grinned. "Yes! Great! Today isn't official shooting. It's more of a meet and greet. An official script read. Today, and all month, we'll practice and memorize lines, perfect things and such. THEN we'll shoot. Sound good?"
Relaxing as I found success in my leap of faith, I returned her warm smile. "Sounds great!"
She nodded to another door, standing. "Come in here. I'm the director, Shayla."
When she offered me her hand, walking backwards, I shook it. She was quirky and adorable. I loved her already. "Nice to meet you," I responded.
Another smile was gifted to me. "Like wise." She was warm and homey. Like the feeling of an old, well worn home wrapped up with skin and bones and with a laugh that sounded like home. She was wonderful.
Shayla spoke again, pulling me out of my thoughts and back to reality. "Well, this is the cast. Feel free to chat and leave if you need. The bathroom is just down that hall. Some food over there. Just keep in mind we start in thirty minutes. Don't be late." She shrugged and went off to talk.
I looked around for any familiar faces. Before I could really look, a woman came up to me. "Hey!" She greeted, bouncing on her toes briefly.
She looked about eighteen. She also resembled me a bit... but younger. I bet She'd play my sister. In the show I was a junior in college struggling to deal with her newest break up and her mom dying while tackling school. Then she finds love. Speaking of... Who played Tristan?
Pushing away the overwhelming thoughts and excitements and questions, I focused on the girl. "I know you from somewhere...." I realized, snapping my fingers.
She sighed and nodded. "Olivia Holt, nice to meet you. I'm a... Disney kid." Her shoulders shook I'm a bit of humor.
Her facial expression triggered a memory. "Oh!" I exclaimed as it clicked finally.
Olivia's easy friendliness returned. "Yeah. I'm playing Sara, your little sister."
"I figured. I can see where people would believe we were related."
Her eyes shot wide. "Me? And you? Oh my gosh! I'm honored! You're literally my hero."
My hand moved to my chest as warmth spread through my body. "I'm the honored one! It makes my heart glow when people say that..." We both gushed, smiling wide.
Our little moment was interrupted. "Well well well," a familiar voice oozed.
No. Way. I turned slowly. "Thomas. Brodie. Sangster," I announced breathily, smiling wide. He opened his arms and I walked up to him and engulfed him in a hug. "How has it been?" I asked, slightly breathless from the tight hug.
"Good! Good. It's been forever!"
We separated. "It has!" I agreed.
His hand rose to rub the back of his neck. "Seems once my acting career took off that second year we totally fell away," He recalled, a bit sadly.
And it really had been that long, hadn't it? "Busy busy busy," I added, nodding and laughing though a mood of tinged sadness settled to dampen the joy of reuniting.
Both of us looked over as Olivia exploded. "Oh my gosh! You two... I loved you guys together in Swan Lovers. AMAZING!" She cooed excitedly.
My cheeks warmed in the light of her praise. "Thanks! Back then we were best friends. Been a while," I repeated, rubbing the back of my neck as Thomas had before. I was noticing that was still had a lot of those habits we shared, even aster all this time.
"Who're you playing?" Thomas suddenly asked me as silence started to stretch.
This seemed to wildly amused Olivia. "Wait. You guys don't know? Of course not! That's why. I thought the chemistry was in prep for your parts! Aw! You guys are so cute!" She giggled and gushed.
Thomas and I blushed and chuckled softly. "What do you mean, Olivia?" I asked.
Olivia motioned to my blonde friend. "Thomas is playing Tristan!" She said like 'duh!'
He turned to me but my heart had stopped in my chest. "Yeah," Thomas confirmed, completely at ease if even a little hyped about it. "Cool, yeah?" My face went white. "You okay?" Thomas asked.
"Uh, yeah," I began kind of awkwardly. I paused a second before I just - "I play Rachel," I admitted carefully.
His face seemed to go blank for a full second before the information processed. "Oh."
We were love interests in the show...
-Time skip to rehearsals-
Shayla clapped, drawing over all of our attention. "Okay! Now it's time for the kiss scene! We've been through all the other stuff. Mind it, Y/n? Thomas?" She asked, looking at us in turn. We shook our head.
Thomas and I had kissed many times. We'd dated very briefly when we first met but then it totally fell apart when we realized that we were just too busy. After, we'd had the whole 'I'm busy all the time now' thing and fell completely away by accident. In Swan Lovers we kissed so many times for takes because our characters were sex-crazed teens that literally only sucked face.
Looking back, it was weird to remember.
Anyway, the point. We had experience, but we hadn't kissed in a long time.
"Okay. Go!" Shayla called.
Thomas and I looked at each other, slipping into character and away from reality. "I guess it's been since, what, freshman year?" I asked him quietly. Our characters were in the same situation we were in, ironically.
He nodded. "And now we're juniors in college," Thomas answered as Tristan.
Softly, I smiled. "Last time we saw each other... Where did we leave off?"
The idea was that they'd loved each other but then she'd moved away and been pulled away right before they'd kissed. He moved to me slowly, wrapping his arms around my waist. His eyes locked on to mine and he slowly put his forehead to mine. "I believe..." He began swaying as if to imaginary music. I giggled a little. "Rach...." He whispered.
My throat clogged at the intensity burning in his eyes. "Yes, Tristan?"
His voice dropped. "I... I think I'm still in love with you." I KNEW the line was coming, but he seemed to genuine that my heart actually sputtered and skipped wildly in my chest before coming to a full stop for a solid second before revving awkwardly back to life again.
Trying to force out my line, I wet my lips and tried to bring moisture to my dry mouth. "I - I think I am too..." It came out as a croak, my eyes wide and my heart slamming against my ribs.
He paused, leaning closer to meet his lips to my in a slow, deep kiss. A kiss that crinkled his eyebrows and made my brain burst with sparks.
"And... We're good!"
Thomas kept kissing me. I leaned back and we locked eyes. "We're good guys! Get a room!" One of my coworkers called, teasing. Thomas and I blushed and faced away, walking else where.
-After rehearsal-
"Y/n!"
I turned to the source of the call. "Yeah?"
Thomas jogged up to me, stopping as he got close enough. "I... I want to ask you something." His eyes searched mine, nervousness apparent in his features.
Hope and excitement raced through my blood and I involuntarily scooting the tiniest bit closer, my eyes locking on his as my heart picked up again. Stupid thing. "Yeah?"
He searched for a second before he leaned close "Did you feel it too?"
The question seemed ridiculous. "...Yeah," I choked out, the memory hitting me hard. I yearned to kiss him again. So badly it was actually painful. I yearned to run my hands through his hair and feel my lips on his. Had a I really never truly moved on? How pathetic.
As he asked the next question, he stepped closer, desperation making his face a little wild. It was new but still incredibly attractive. "Do you still love me?" He'd barely whispered it, terrified I would totally shut him down.
I bit my lip. "Yes, Thomas."
The second I confirmed it, he pulled me hard to him for another kiss and I smiled into it. "I'm glad we did this together," he whispered against my mouth.
Everything was warm and shiny and I knew that now that we'd matured and our lives had evened out and we'd tried to live lives apart, this was going to end up differently. My heart soared and my skin burned as he touched me. It felt wonderful. "Me too,"I cooed. And in two words, I'd never put in more emotion than I did those two. He kissed me again, even harder and more insistent and passionate. Wanting. Needing. Searching. I'd missed this. I'd missed him.
Thank whatever heavenly being had contributed to this that I wouldn't have to miss him anymore.