The new dynamic with Jessa was weird, Lana had to admit. Especially since they were rooming together. It made it slightly awkward, now that they were dating. She wasn't quite sure why, but at the same time it made sense that it would be strange between them.
The morning of their first 'date', Daveed decided to make the returning ensemblists rehearse by themselves, for some reason.
One thing was for sure- when Daveed finally handed over the reigns of leadership, Lana wouldn't make rehearsals insane like Daveed did. The times, and what was required, were so excessive. The second tour wouldn't be like that.
Jessa had told Lana to go ahead to the cafe and order without her. It was probably in an attempt to make their interactions in their room less awkward. It always surprised Lana how much Jessa thought through things. Including their relationship.
Lana found a booth near the window and ordered a mint chocolate latte. She wasn't sure what Jessa would order- she was lactose intolerant, so most of the things Lana usually liked on the menu probably wouldn't be good.
About twenty painfully awkward minutes passed before Jessa walked in the door. She was still in her rehearsal clothes- a pair of leggings, a tank top, and sneakers- but it didn't really matter that much to Lana, who wasn't dressed all that more fancily.
"Hey," Jessa said, sliding into the seat across from Lana. "Sorry, that took longer than I thought it would. I wouldn't have told you go over here if I had known."
"It's not a big deal. Um, I didn't order you anything because of the lactose thing..."
"That's alright," Jessa said. "In the future, normal coffee or tea is fine, as long as there's no cream or milk in it. That's usually what I get, or stuff with almond milk."
"I'll make sure to remember that," Lana promised. "Um, how was rehearsal?"
"It was weird, because the people who are leaving weren't there. We just did some numbers with the empty tracks. It didn't seem productive to me, but whatever Daveed wants, we do," Jessa said, shrugging. "How was your morning?"
"It was, you know, the usual," Lana said. "I practiced 'Satisfied' a little bit before coming over here, fixing some phrasing stuff."
"That's good," Jessa said. The waitress brought Jessa's coffee over. There was a solid thirty seconds where no one spoke, which seemed to last a lot longer than that to Lana.
"So-"
"What-"
"Go ahead," Lana said quickly.
"Okay," Jessa laughed. "I was wondering what your family was like."
"Oh, well. My mom is pretty chill with letting me do what I want, like dance and stuff. She was the one that drove me everywhere when I had performances. And then Olivia's my little sister, she's in high school. She's a pretty great little sister," Lana said. "And my father... he's a complicated man."
"I can understand complicated," Jessa said sympathetically. "Most of my family is like that. Complicated."
"That sucks."
"Yeah, it does. You'll meet my brother soon," Jessa said wryly. "You'll see."
They were quiet for a little longer. "If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?" Lana asked.
"I really want to go to Berlin and Paris," Jessa answered. "They're so iconic. I was kind of disappointed that they weren't on the tour list."
"Speaking of, do you know what stops we're doing for the second round?"
"No, if you don't know, I definitely wouldn't know," Jessa laughed. "I'm praying for Berlin and Paris, though. What about you?"
"I don't know... Rome or something," Lana said. "Somewhere with a lot of history, and ancient buildings. That stuff has always interested me."
"Here's another question for you," Jessa mused. "If you weren't an actor, but still did something in theatre, what would you be?"
"What do you mean?"
"Would you be team tech or team pit?"
"Team pit," Lana said instantly. "I used to play the flute, but I gave it up after high school so I could focus on the Musical Theatre major."
"Dance will always be my first love. I started when I was three, did you know that?" Jessa told Lana. "I would honestly be team tech. I feel like lights would be such a cool thing to do, you know?"
"Tech is underappreciated."
"Honestly, true," Jessa laughed.
"I'm trying to come up with another question," Lana said. "If you were to make a soundtrack to your life, using only musical theatre songs, what would be on it?"
"That's so hard, though," Jessa complained. "Probably 'Yorktown' just because of Hamilton. 'Waving Through a Window', 'Journey to the Past', 'Stepsister's Lament,' 'Sound of Music'... there's so many to choose from. 'Defying Gravity', 'Circle of Life'... 'Step in Time' for sure. What would you put on?"
"I don't know, I haven't really thought about it. But definitely 'One Day More', and 'Do You Hear the People Sing'. That's all I know for sure."
"I didn't think you were a Les Miserables geek," Jessa said in surprise.
"Well, what can I say? It's a classic," Lana laughed.
They stayed at the cafe for about an hour and a half, before they both decided to head back to the hotel. Jessa wanted to change out of her dance clothes, and Lana had to get ready to pick up her family.
"Hey, we should get a picture to commemorate," Jessa suggested.
"No one uses the word 'commemorate' in daily life," Lana teased.
"Well, I do," Jessa said, sticking out her tongue.
They got an older woman to take their picture in front of the cafe.
"I'm going to post this," Lana said. She glanced over at Jessa. "Only if you're okay with it."
"No, go ahead. I would never ask you to hide this, Lana."
@lanacarnell: 'commemorating' date #1 @jessa.bradley