𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 || baxter radic (discontinued)

5.

𝒋𝒐𝒔𝒉'𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒗

Princess Stella has fallen off her high horse. I don't want to say I sat patiently waiting for her downfall, but I had. It's why I watched every scene. It's why I lingered. If she wanted to push my buttons, make me seem like the bad guy, I could do the same. The difference between her and I though, was I did it secretly—she wore it all on her sleeve.

Despite getting under her skin on purpose, I did care. There was a lot on the line. If this season crumbled, we'd lose a family that we all loved. Surviving Summer would end and we'd all become distant memories. I don't think any of us were ready for that.

After quite the shit show performance Stella had, Sky invites her to join us for a team bonding dinner. She declines at first, but I sweet talk her into it.

I walk into her trailer; she's shoving things into her bag getting ready to head home. "You should really join us." I'm leaned against the door as I speak to her. She jumps at my words, clearly not expecting my arrival.

"I'm good, thanks." She tucks her hair behind her ears before throwing her bag up and over her shoulder. Her words are short, but not short because she wants me gone—they're short like she's in a hurry to go nowhere.

"I'll run lines with you if you come." Compromise. I was beginning to learn that Stella loved winning. She wanted to be top dog. I was fine giving her that position if it meant all of this running smoothly.

A gleam tints in her eyes at the offer. "Actually run lines... or your version of running lines?" She crosses her arms and cocks her hips. I've started to notice that this is her go to stance—at least with me. It fully displays her attitude, just how she wants it.

"My version?" I question.

"The one where we don't actually run lines. The one where you end up pushing my buttons for forty minutes while I try not to lose my mind." She raises her brow in declaration.

Okay, that may have happened once, or twice, or maybe a few times. But she makes it so easy. I don't even have to try that hard to send her into a pissy mood. She's cute when she's pissy. What can I say? I'm a sucker for a girl who's easily flustered.

"We will actually run lines." I raise off the door and step toward her. "Now are you coming or not?"

"Fine." She groans and shoves past me. "But don't expect this to be a normal thing." She rolls her eyes as we walk together toward her car.

"I think you might actually enjoy yourself Buttercup." The nickname as her glaring at me in half of a second. I nearly burst out in laughter, my mouth clamping as hard as it can to stop the laugh from falling. The attempt has a smile breaking to her face, a real one I haven't yet to see up until now.

I don't know how I do it, but I convince her to let me ride with her to meet up with the others. I'm banished to the back seat, but I'll take it. It's a step in the right direction. I had to wiggle my way in somehow. I needed to break through her hard exterior, otherwise she'd read as dead as a door on camera. There would be no convincing the world we loved each other.

The dinner goes well, for at least one of us. I keep my eyes on Stella. I watch her carefully, watch the way she slips in and out of protective mode. They'll be times where the true her slips through. The acting stops and she becomes who she is when she's all alone. I like that side of her. She's less irritating, more fun.

João, who plays Marlon, leans over to me as I'm lost in a trance led specifically by Stella, "might want to stop staring."

I shake my focus and look at him. "I'm just trying to figure her out. She acts so high strung but she's not."

"Looks like you're just day dreaming about making out with her with those eyes." He nudges my side. I mean I can't deny the fact that making out with her has weighed heavy on my mind. I wouldn't mind a few practice ones before the on screen ones. Maybe that's the hormonal side of my brain kicking in. She's hot, even if she hated me, I couldn't deny that I did want to do it.

"Hey Buttercup." I call out across the table. Everyone's eyes draw to me, beside hers. Instead, she aggressively stabs her fork through a chip, slipping it past her lips. Finally, when she starts to chew she focuses her attention toward me. "How are you enjoying the meal?"

"What he wants to ask is how much are you looking forward to your make out?" João comments and both Stella and my cheeks flush a bright pink. Nothing like filling the air with the thickest tension he could ever invoke.

I whack his arm and stare a hole through the center of Stella's chest. I can't bear to witness the expression—whatever the expression maybe—the question has brought forward.

"I don't know how to respond to that." She breaks into a chuckle after she responds. "It's not something I've really thought about. I mean is it normal to think about it?" She looks around at the girls situated at her end of the table.

"He's just being weird." I interject, finally adjusting my focus to her. As much as I want to run away from this dinner and ignore this conversation, I've been thrown into it and there is no option to leave.

"Oh, I know you want to kiss me, it's okay Sugar Pie. No need to hide it." She shoots a wink at me and I've never wanted to be anywhere else more in my life. I guess two could play this game. She has just played a check mate.

"The tension is brewing." Lilliana, who plays Poppy breaks into the conversation. The in-show couple banding together outside of it. Just my luck.

"I'm the one that convinces her to join us and now I'm being thrown under the bus. What is this?" I throw my hands up in protest.

"Sugar Pie, you don't need to be upset. You didn't need to use this dinner to be able to spend more time with me. You could have simply asked." She smirks. Oh I have rubbed off on her too much.