For the first few days, Ellie had just been on one-one-one training with their dance instructor as she has to learn all the steps for the acts.
Good thing El was actually a member of a dance troupe way back in her college years and it was not that hard for her to learn and to catch up with all the dance steps.
For a whole good week, she is only to be solo trained by all the instructors to make sure she'll be focused on in catching up and be prepared when group rehearsals start.
With this setup, it was a bit difficult for Renan Ferrer to approach her now-leading lady as he doesn't want to interrupt her training and circumstances does not let him do so. Bobbi has been strict when it comes to polishing each and everyone's role to make sure that the production in whole would be able to provide a good performance for the audience.
Lea feels satisfied knowing that the man would not be able to easily get to her Ellie. During breaks and lunch, the young woman spends her time reading the script so she could easily memorize her lines, making others feel shy to approach,
as not to disturb her. Only the Broadway star is exempted from this as she knows her protege won't mind mingling with her while she reads on her material.
"Aren't you tired?" Lea asks the young woman as she hands her a bottle of Gatorade.
Ellie reaches out for it thanking her coach for the thoughtfulness. "Well, I think my body feels sore. But other than that, everything's good." She gulps down the contents of the energy drink she was given of.
"Good. Do you have time later on?"
The young woman looks at her with a bit of a puzzled look. "By later, you mean after 6:00 pm?"
The Broadway star nods at El as she explains what's about to happen later after work.
"Since it's Friday, the team wanted to go out and have some fun. Wanna join?"
Ellie got the idea that the group will be having a drink night as what usually happens whenever they go out during Friday nights. Personally, El would just prefer to go straight home after work, but she knew Lea would definitely be there so she decided to just come by along. After all, she needs to make sure Lea will be taken care of once the latter gets drunk.
"Okay. I'll come along so I can drive you home. I'll just ask kuya Jonny to pick up my car."
"Why? Do you think I'm gonna get real drunk?"
"Totally." The two women laughed with each other on the corner where they are both sitting.
This takes notice for some who have been trying to watch Ellie from afar.
"You won't get anything if you just watch her from here." Mikki comments as she could see Renan staring at the young woman.
The man smiles at his friend. It has been days since El had started working with them, but up until now he only got to greet the young woman with Hi's and Hellos, and no proper conversation yet.
"I don't know. Somehow whenever I try to approach her, I feel so shy.."
"That's very unlike you. But well, I could totally understand. She's just too good to be true noh? I mean, El's all pretty and talented. She also seems intelligent. Just knowing her background is already kind of intimidating to try and get close to her. But hey, she's already part of this project's family so that makes her one of us. Maybe, later on you'll get your chance.."
Renan just smiles at his friend. "Yeah, I hope so."
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After their rehearsals, El was greeted by kuya Jonny on the parking lot as he was called to pick up her car. She told the old man to go on ahead as they'll be using Lea's car to go home.
As per majority, the Inkheart cast went to Revel at the Palace to end the week with a blast. Lea drove herself and her protege to the bar while the others also managed to get there by themselves.
They reserved two adjacent couches for the whole cast present. While most of the guys were on the first couch; Lea, Bobbi, Ellie, Nyoy and Mikki were altogether on the second couch. Bobbi asked Renan to sit beside El for them to be more comfortable with each other as they'll be practicing hand-in-hand starting next week. This makes Mikki tease the young man.
Though being seated beside Renan, El tends to make a gap between them and faced towards Lea who's on the other side, as she watches her. She doesn't want to look impolite to the man but El would do anything for her coach not to be jealous, especially that Renan is sitting beside her.
The Broadway star, on the other hand seems not to notice how her protege is trying to keep her distance from the man. As soon as Bobbi had asked Renan to join their table, her mood became sour and resigned herself into drinking. She tried to keep her jealousy in check and tried to speak more with Bobbi so she could not see the sight of the young man.
Even without having to say anything, Ellie could feel that there's tension around her coach. She could only gulp down all the contents of her glass as she took her whiskey in one shot. She filled her glass with Jack Daniels as she took another shot of the alcohol.
"Are you sure you're gonna down that fast?"
She looked where that comment came from. She looks at the person beside him as the man smiles at her.
"I mean you're the one who's driving Ms. Lea home right?"
"Oh, yeah. Don't worry, I'm actually good at drinking."
By this time, Lea had notice El and Renan speaking with each other which made her feel irritated. Not wanting to give away her emotions, she invited their director to the dance floor to kill off some steam. Bobbi had thought that the Broadway star might have already been under the influence of alcohol. He did not bother much, as he knows that Ellie would be liable for her coach tonight.
As she was not invited, El just stayed at their couch watching the duo left for the dance floor. Her eyes kept on following her coach, making sure she's okay.
This was now an opportunity opened for Renan Ferrer to get closer to their writer. Mikki gave him an elbow bump, motioning for the man to make his move. The woman then pulled her husband Nyoy to the dance floor to give privacy for their clumsy friend.
"Don't you want to go to the dance floor like the others?" He nervously asks Ellie whose gaze kept on staring on Bobbi and Lea.
El turned to face the man to show courtesy as he speaks with her.
"Oh boy, no. I guess I'm good with all the dancing back in the studio." She smiled while Renan laughed at her commentary.
"You must really idolize her so much noh?" Renan said as he sees El giving another glance at her coach. The young woman keeps on smiling with the mention of the Broadway star's name.
"Who wouldn't? She's such a goddess full of wonder." The man can just only agree on what she had said.
Fortunately, Renan had chosen a good topic to open up a conversation as El seems to respond well with things on Lea that they've been talking about. The man thought of thanking the Broadway star on the back of his mind as he found a common ground for him and for Ellie to bond over for tonight.
Meanwhile on the dance floor, Bobbi noticed that the only people left on their couch was Renan and their writer-turned-actor Ellie who seems to be enjoying each other's company.
"It seems El and Renan are starting off in good terms." The bearded man nonchalantly commented.
This made the world class singer freeze for a moment as she turns her gaze towards the two. Indeed, she could see full smiles from the man as Ellie converse with him. Lea could feel her blood boil with the sight of them. Her companion could see how her mood had changed, not knowing it was because of jealousy from the young actor.
"Lei, are you okay?" asked Bobbi.
"Uhh.. I think I might have to sit down for a moment. Would you excuse me Bob?"
Bobbi Garcia can't help but feel a bit worried for the star.
"Su-sure. Let me bring you back at our table."
"No, it's okay. I can manage to go down there myself."
With that, Lea took the steps tracing back to their own couch where her protege and its admirer are sitting down by themselves.