I Had Something To Believe In...

-Chapter 8-

"B-Ben?..." A small voice said, pulling both of the boys out of their thoughts, and the kiss.

Ben turned and saw Nico looking at the two of them, his eyes wide as saucers. 

"Y-You? Josh?... S-Sky?" He turned around and started walking quickly.

Ben rushed after him, grabbing onto his hand "Nico please!" He tried to reason with him. "Please don't tell Sky... He can't find out. H-He's gonna hate me" He teared up, trying not to think of life where his own boyfriend hated him. Ben looked Nico in the eyes, trying to make him see how desperate he was. 

"Fine..." Nico sighed, feeling really guilty for not only catching them, but having to keep this from Sky.

Ben sighed of relief quietly and let go of his hand, "Thank you, thank you... he can't find out" He said, voice shaking slightly. 

Nico turned and walked back towards the stage slowly, getting ready for his next entrance. 

Ben turned back towards Josh, shaking his head a little. He bit his lip slightly and then headed to the stage slowly, knowing he had a little bit of time to process what had just happened. He paced around slowly, getting ready for Brooklyn's Here. He always hated the reprise before it; it reminded him of his relationship with Josh a little. He loved him, but he couldn't help but feel like he was being controlled by him. 

***

The rest of the show went about as smoothly as it could. Ben tried to avoid Josh, which was quite difficult in a choreographed show, and Josh refused to look at Ben or Nico. In the dressing room Ben stayed quiet and to himself, mentally preparing for stagedoor tonight, while the majority of the boys were their usual rowdy selves. He got changed and then headed out to stagedoor. Dan was also making his way out there "Ben, wait up!".

Ben turned back around and looked at him as he stopped walking "Oh, hi Dan" he smiled slightly. He started walking out with him "You did well today".

"Thanks, you weren't too shabby yourself" Dan joked. "So, what was all of that about in King of New York with Josh?".

"I don't wanna talk about it..." He shrugged slightly and then left through stagedoor. 

Stephanie was already out there, along with a few other cast members, and it was packed; it always was when they performed in LA. It was one of the rare performances where the show was at full capacity, and the amount of hyperactive teenage girls was kind of overwhelming. But still, Ben smiled and signed Playbill's as if nothing was wrong, knowing that if he showed any type of bad emotion that the fans would pick up on it. He moved around to a group of girls who looked like they were in their late teens and started small talk. 

"So, did you guys enjoy the show?" He smiled.

"Oh my God, Ben Cook is actually talking to us!" One girl squealed and shoved her Playbill in his face for him to sign. He smiled awkwardly and signed it, before handing it back to her.

"The show was amazing! You were amazing, like always" Another smiled. They all seemed way too excited about meeting another teenager. 

"We've come to see every show that you've done here in Cali. We all go to UCLA and study musical theatre. We practically worship you and Josh. You're like the best performers on the tour".

"Yeah, you two should definitely play Jack and Crutchie" One of the girls nudged his shoulder lightly.

"No, you're the best Race that Newises has ever had! Or maybe Giuseppe was better" She giggled. All of the other girls disagreed, arguing that Ben was the superior actor, singer and dancer.

Ben smiled awkwardly and then handed back their Playbill's. "Well, thanks for coming to see the show. I'll, uh, see you guys around" He moved on to a different group of people. 

He spent about an hour at stagedoor before finally getting through almost everyone. A couple of the UCLA girls had stayed back, waiting for another chance to speak to Ben. He approached them after everyone else "Did I forget something or?..."

"No, we just really wanted to speak to you again and give you a present!" She smiled and handed over a small gift bag.

"Thank you" He smiled. 

"You might want to wait until you get back to where you're staying until you open it" The other girl smiled.

"Okay, I will do. See you later" He turned back and left back into the theater. He grabbed his dance bag from the dressing room and put the gift bag inside of it. He got his other things together and then headed out of the theatre and back to the hotel. He decided to get an Uber because he was drained and then walked up to his room. 

He set his bag down on the floor and then got out his phone to text Sky.

Skybelle 💛💫

<<< hi baby. i hope youre okay. i wont be able to come and visit you tomorrow because we have two shows, but if you need anything then just call me. I love you <3 >>>

There was no reply and he decided that he should just get the 'Social Media' part of stagedoor and opened up Instagram. It was full of DM's and tagged posts from people who had seen the show and gotten selfies with him. He scrolled through them, commenting things like 'So glad you came to the show :)' and 'Thanks for coming!'. He noticed that none of the UCLA girls had posted anything, and he would've expected them to have been the first to rave about it on social media, but they hadn't. 

He got up and then got his stuff ready for a shower. He went in the bathroom and then got into the shower, washing away all the bad things that had happened today. He was about ten minutes into showering when he heard someone knocking at his door. He got out and called "Be there in a second!", wrapping a towel around his waist. He opened the door, expecting it to be Josh or Dan, but it wasn't. 

"What are you doing here?..." He asked, looking really confused.

Okay, okay, I know this is like 1000 words shorter than my other chapters but I've had this draft for months and I really just wanted to end it there and get it out. Hope you enjoy x