𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐒𝐀𝐃𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒 - 𝐡𝐬𝐦𝐭𝐦𝐭𝐬 (𝐢𝐢𝐢) | ✔

fifteen

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fifteen: acting
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     "Hey, if you're not comfortable with this we can always tell them to..." Ricky whispered to her, his hand coming to rest on her upper arm as she turned to look at him, unaware of the little distance between them.

     "No, Ricky, it's okay," she assured, looking directly into his eyes. "We have to do this."

     "Let's just... it's just acting, yeah?"

     "Yeah, sure," she gulped, her words getting caught in her throat. "Just acting. We can do that. We can act. We're actors."

     While some of them were practising fake slaps, however, Juliette was called to the backstage to try on the Anna dress they had made for her, seeing that Gina was fairly taller than her. As much as she knew she was not going to need it, she could not help but smile at her reflection in the mirror. The green and golden details of the dress complimented her and, for the first time in forever, she thought she look amazing. Like a real princess.

     "Hey, Channing is..." Ricky appeared, his words dying when she saw the girl. "Wow."

     "I know, right? This dress is beautiful."

     "And you look beautiful in it," the boy smiled, taking a few steps towards her and putting a strand of her behind her ear. "I wish I could take a photo of you."

     Juliette's face grew hotter, but soon remembered that this was their role for today. They had to pretend to like each other, to pretend they were getting back together.

     "Channing's here!" E.J. interrupted them, rushing them to get to the main room.

     "Can you, um.. help me? There's a zipper in the back."

     "Yeah, sure," Ricky agreed and got closer to her. Cautiously, he put her hair to one side, his fingers grazing her neck in the process, and pulled down the zipper, revealing the back strap of her bra. Ricky simply coughed, not trusting himself to say anything. When he was finished, he looked up, their eyes briefly connecting through the mirror. He opened his mouth, as if he were to speak, but he simply gave her a tight-lipped smile and walked out of the there, leaving her privacy to change.

     Juliette, on her side, simply looked at herself on the mirror in front of her, dreading the moment she had to take the dress off. But it was performance time, and she was an actress. She had to get through the day. Once she was back in her normal attire, she stepped out of the dressing room and into the stage, only to see everyone with their scripts on hand. As soon as she laid eyes on Ricky, she approached him, trying her best to put on a smile. She could do this. It was just acting.

     Carlos, however, shot them a glare of warning, signalling for them to act more... couple-y. So Ricky took the iniciative of surrounding Juliette with his arm, getting close to her ear and whispering to tell him to stop whenever she felt uncomfortable. She just nodded.

     "Alex, Emmy, Carlos," E.J. began rehearsal. "Places for A little bit of you, please. Kill the lights."

     As the barn became dark, Juliette and Ricky took a seat in front of the stage in order to see the performance. Their minds, nonetheless, were too focused on what they had to do to pay attention to anything else. The song and the subsequent (pretend) argument were playing in the background for them as Ricky put one of his hands in Juliette's thighs, low enough so as not to be inappropriate but high enough so as to make it believable. She flinched lightly.

     From the corner of their eyes, they could see Channing zooming on them, which made Juliette nervous. Luckily for her, the attention was soon diverted from them as Gina threw a drink at Kourtney's face, making all of them gasp.