A few days after I told Alex everything, he has really become protective of me and always checking in on me, making sure I have somewhere to go each night, which isn't a problem since I basically live at Presley's house. During those few days Prez got better and was back at rehearsal's, which I'm glad she's back, it wasn't the same without her. Ever since I've opened up to Alex, my personality has started to shine through, and I'm being more like myself around the others like I am with Prez. Everyone has also noticed a change in my behavior and they have been super ecstatic to see me come out of my shell, and they are all for it.
Whenever I arrived at rehearsal's for the day, I beat Prez to rehearsal's today since I didn't stay at her house last night and had to at the orphanage. So when I got there I noticed that Alex was with the other adult leads, and normally I would go to the dressing rooms and hide out there until Prez came in, but for some reason today was different and I decided to go sit with them. Whenever I walk over there they all see me coming and I could see a confused look in their eyes as I went to go sit next to Alex, who had a big grin on his face.
"Is it alright if I sit here with you guys before rehearsal's start?" I say quietly, and even though I'm starting to come out of my shell, I still tend to be pretty shy and quiet when talking to the others.
"Of course you can hon! We would love to have you sit with us." Kerry tells me with a warm smile on her face. Part of me wonders if I should tell them about why I am the way I am, Dana and Alex took it really well and have made sure to check in on me, though Alex has started to make sure he knows where I am and tells me to call him if anything happens to me. Deep in my thoughts I feel a shoulder nudge me causing me to jump a little out of my seat, earning a chuckle from everyone around me.
"Rob was trying get your attention kid," Alex says with a playful tone, "He wanted to know if you are excited to making your broadway debut when we open."
"Oh.. sorry Rob, and yes I am, I wouldn't have it any other way, and the cast that I'm working with makes it more special to me." I say with a small smile, and thinking that they don't understand honestly how much this means to me. Part of me starts to think about my mom and if she were still alive what she would think, would she be proud of me? Would she support me? Would I even be doing Broadway? I often get deep into a spider-web of thoughts and get tangled in them, which is what causes me to overthink a lot. Here I am just staring blankly at my hands with all the possible what ifs running through my head, that it's not until a hand grabs onto mine that I'm pulled out of my spider-web. Looking up to see who has my hands, I'm met with a concern look from Alex, and when we meet eyes, I get the "we're going to talk later look" and I can only nod my head at this.
"Alright guys lets go ahead and start rehearsal's from today" Alex Timbers announces, and I was at this moment that I notice everyone had arrived. So I start to look around for Presley and when I do find her, I see her sitting with Dana and she's looking at me, waving me over. I go to grab my stuff when I notice Alex's hand is still on top of mine, and when I go to move my, he looks at me and nods his head, knowing that I'm would feel bad for leaving, but he's telling me its ok. Going over to Prez and Dana, I flung myself at Prez because it's been so long since I've seen her, when in reality I saw her the other day.
"I've missed you so much, it wasn't the same without you." I say to my best friend.
"Yeah, Lily over her had to actually get out of shell and talk to others, which I must say I'm glad you did talk to me." Dana says in a teasing voice.
"Wait, Lils you told Dana? Is that why you haven't stayed at my house in a few days?" Prez says in a cheerful tone, at the part about me opening up to Dana.
"Yes and no. I did stay the night at her house one night and I did open up to her about everything, but there was something that happened on our day off." I say in a bashful tone, and then go on to explain what happen on our day off and how I told Alex everything and have been with him and at the orphanage.
"Wait, so you mean to tell me that you opened up to Alex all by yourself? That makes a lot of sense as why you where sitting by him and the others." Prez says in a happy tone, which I know she's proud of me because she's been telling me to open up to others about my past.
"I know you were right about everything Prez, I felt a lot of weight lifted off of me." I tell her, as we all continue to talk about how the play was coming along nicely and in a few weeks we would be opening up to the whole world, Alex Timbers calls rehearsal's.
After a few hours of non-stop rehearsing we were released on break, a lot of people where going out to lunch, but I had gotten my lunch before I came in, so I went to the dressing rooms to eat. As I sit there eating my food strolling through my Instagram, I get a little tired so after I finished my food, I lay down on the couch and start to fall asleep. After a little bit goes by, I hear knocking and someone coming in, but it doesn't cause me to open my eyes, it's not until someone is shaking me and calling my name. As I wake up and see who it is, I start to get nervous, standing there waking me up was Alex Timbers,
"Hey Lily, can we talk in the office, Eddie and Rachel will be there as well." Timbers tells me. So I get up and follow him to the offices, it was then that I noticed that no one was back yet, and that makes me wonder if they extend lunch for this meeting. When we get to the offices, Eddie and Rachel are already there with a website pulled up, not being to make out what it is, I go on sit on the couches, immediately looking at my hands.
"Hey hon, we just wanted to clear some things up after reading this article, is that ok?" Rachel asks me in a gentle tone, not looking up or saying anything, I nod my head.
"Alright, well since we released who all was in the show and your name release, a news outlet decided to do some background information about everyone in the show. So when they got to you, they find some interesting stuff about your past, you don't need to say anything, but could you read the article and just tell us if it's true?" She tells me gently, and already I can tell what the article is going to be about, but I still read the article to see if they lied about anything, which they didn't which surprised me. When I got done reading the article, I had started crying, this news outlet just outed my whole life to the world and it wasn't on my own terms. I guess my crying told them my answer and I'm brought into a warm embrace, I can't tell who it is, but I know it's not Rachel.
"Oh hon, why didn't tell any of us? We would've understood and helped to keep this in our control. You've been through so much and you're not even an adult yet, I can understand why there is so much emotion when you sing "Dead Mom". Now we need to know are you staying at an orphanage or do you live somewhere else?" Eddie says softly, and it was then I knew it was him who was hugging me.
"I mainly stay with Presley, that's why her and I are attached at the hip, and her parents are listed for my contacts. I do also live at an orphanage, but they don't care about the older kids and they are overrun by the littler ones, so as long as we check in once a week we are fine to live off of the orphanage. Since the article is out can I tell everyone in the company after lunch break is over?" I explain in a broken voice, and tears still coming down my face. All of them nod their head and ask me if anyone else knows, which I tell them only Dana and Alex.
As I sit on the stage waiting for everyone to get back, the tears have somewhat stopped and aren't coming down like a waterfall. The first person to get back was Alex and he immediately saw me and the tears, that he ran right to me and pulled me into a hug and asked me what was wrong. All I could do was cling to him and try not to cry, which he comforted me and let me take my time to tell him, that I needed to wait for everyone to get back. As we waited for everyone to get back, Alex still held me and wouldn't let me go, even when everyone was back and Timbers told everyone I had something to share, it was after this that Alex let me go so I could everyone.
"I'm sure you guys are wondering why Timbers called for a meeting and why I'm the one talking, I just want to let you guys know, I was going to tell everyone, but on my own time. Now I have to tell everyone so you guys will hear it from me and not from anyone else, but recently an article was written about me and my past. So kind of a long story shortened, I'm an orphan, and growing up my dad was a drunk and used to abuse me, emotionally, mentally, and physically. My mom was never around for most of my life because she was a full time nurse and always working so we would have an income, she was able to send me to a performing school which is where I met Presley. As years went by of constant abuse and always hiding each bruise, my mom finally saw he was abusing me when I was 15 years old, and she sent me to go to Prez's house so she could confront him. It wouldn't be my mom knocking on the door, it would be the police. It turned out that my dad had kill my mom and then killed himself, after that they forced me to go to the orphanage. This is why I'm different around Presley because she knows everything that I've been through, she helped me get through it. I was wanting to tell you guys on my own, but since that article kinda told everything about me, and I wanted you guys to hear it from me. I'm sorry that you guys found out this way, and I'm sorry that I didn't say anything earlier." I say, with tears streaming down my face, I see Alex come up to me and hug me again, then next thing I know the whole company is in the biggest group hug I've ever been in. That just makes the tears come down faster and I feel a ton of emotions come crashing down on me, that when everyone lets go, I start to fall straight down only to be caught by Alex, who picks me up and tells Timbers that he's going to take me to his dressing room and calm me down a little. When we get to his dressing room, he sets his stuff down and then sits down on the couch cradling me, not saying anything he just holds me close letting me cry my eyes out. It was in this moment that I knew that Alex was making himself a father figure in my life that I always had yearned for, but part of me wonders if this will just be for the show or if this was just an act.
"Stop thinking, whatever you're thinking it's not true, don't listen to those thoughts." He tells me as if he has read my mind, this causes me to stop thinking and just curl up more into him, and we stayed there for a while before we went back to rehearsal's. When we went back I got a lot of encouraging smiles and a lot of we will always be there for, any time, you just need to come to us and we will be there for you. Once rehearsal's were done, Alex told me I was going to stay with him that night, so he can keep an eye on me and we could talk some more, which I was more than fine with. Slowly he was tearing down my walls and making himself a consistent figure in my life that would continue to prove to me that he cares for me and isn't going anywhere.
A/N: So many rant, I was taking a final tonight and my dad decided that he was going to work on the Wifi in the middle of me taking my final. I was about to riot and then it was fixed, so everything was fine haha. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!! :)